An Irresistible Temptation (11 page)

Sophie realized she’d stopped playing because
suddenly, she could hear the din of voices and glassware clinking,
where normally, she heard nothing but the music. She had no idea
how she’d heard Riley over the crowd. Her heart was racing—
had
she just seen Mr. and Mrs. Riley Dalcourt?

“Something wrong, lass?” she heard Percy say
behind her. She shook her head and started to play again, not even
caring what it was, so long as her fingers kept moving.

Finally, it was her dinner break. As part of
their agreement, Freddie allowed her to take a meal in their dining
room each evening, without charge. Tonight, she had no appetite,
but instead, wanted to escape the bar for ten minutes. She craved
fresh air, hoping it would clear her head of what still seemed an
unlikely apparition: Riley in a hat very unlike what he wore in
Colorado and a clean dark suit; Eliza in a grey dress, perhaps
traveling clothes. Maybe they’d only just arrived. Maybe they were
on their honeymoon.

They’d pledged their troth and joined as man
and wife; they could now enjoy themselves in the marriage bed. She
could imagine his lips on Eliza’s skin, his hands undressing her.
She hurried to The Palace and ran right through the courtyard,
passed through the large glass doors, heading for the
employees-only office. She dashed to Egbert’s desk, with its
imperious clock perched on a grand structure behind it, with all
sorts of drawers and cubbies. He was stuffing mail into a cubby and
turned at her footsteps.

“Is Carling nearby?”

Egbert frowned. “Miss Malloy, she is working,
and her duty demands—”

“Please, Mr. Hull . . . Egbert, I need to
speak with her.”

He sighed. “You may try The Tapestry Room.
She may still be showing it to a prospective renter. Do you know
where it is?”

“Yes,” she said, “thank you.” Ignoring the
curious look on his face, she turned and left. The Tapestry Room,
she murmured to herself. It sounded as lovely as it was. Carling
had taken her on a private tour of the hotel and they’d stopped in
to the exquisitely furnished private dining area that wealthy San
Franciscans rented for what they considered small dinner parties.
She practically ran to one of the five richly carpeted staircases,
eschewing the nine elevators as being too slow. She needed to talk
to Carling. Now.

“Sophie?”

She felt all the blood drain out of her head
at the sound of Riley’s voice, uncertain and loud in the echoing
space. Too late to discuss this turn of events with the sole friend
she had in the city, Sophie gripped the banister.

“Sophie!” His voice was certain now. She
turned around and inwardly cursed herself, for the sight of him
literally made her knees go weak.

“Riley,” she said, acknowledging him with a
tilt of her head, as if they were the most casual of
acquaintances.

He took a couple hurried steps toward her,
and, for a moment, she feared he was going to catch her up in a
hug, and then he slowed down.

“I can’t believe it’s you. My God. What are
you doing here?” he asked, looking flummoxed.

She couldn’t tell if he was happy or just
shocked. “I . . . I live here.”

“In San Francisco?” A grin spread over his
face, ushering in his enchanting dimple.
Oh, Lord, don’t let him
smile like that at me.

“I take it congratulations are in order,”
Sophie offered.

He frowned.

She rushed on, “I saw you and Eliza earlier.
I assume you’re staying here at The Palace?”

“You saw us, where?”

She ignored his question. “So, is she here,
now, at The Palace?” She regretted the fact that her voice was
rising, but she couldn’t seem to breathe deeply.

“Yes, well, Eliza’s father wanted her to have
the best. She’s upstairs, but I—”

“I have to go . . . back to work.” Carling
had shown Sophie some of the rooms. They were elegant and had
beautiful beds. Instantly, that’s all she could picture: Riley and
Eliza in one of them tonight. Sophie certainly didn’t want to hear
about it. She started to step around him but he grabbed her
arm.

“Sophie—”

“I have to go.” He was so close and his hand
on her arm was like a fire brand.

“Please, Sophie. I can’t let you disappear
again. Sarah wouldn’t tell me where you went.”

She paused. She couldn’t live in San
Francisco and not see him, could she? Was she that strong?

“I . . .,” she looked up into his soft brown
eyes and melted. “I work at The Grand, next door. I’m the . . .
piano player,” she confessed. Wrenching her arm free from his grip,
she walked away without looking back. But she knew he would
come.

*****

Less than twenty minutes later, he was there.
She felt him before she saw him. He sat down at a table against the
wall, ordered two drinks and when they were placed in front of him,
he walked over to the piano.

“Will you join me for a drink?”

“I’m working,” she said, without looking up.
What would Freddie think if he walked in to his bar to find her
sitting with a man?

“When do you get a break? I’ll wait.”

Christ! How was she supposed to focus on
playing, with Riley seated a few feet away?
If she had a drink
with him, he’d go back to Eliza at The Palace.

“I’ll be over in a minute,” she told him and
finished up the piece, though she was fairly certain she’d flubbed
the ending and missed out an entire measure. Riley and a few others
clapped anyway.

She curled and uncurled her fingers and went
over to his table.

“That was lovely,” he said as she sat
down.

“It was not.” Sophie felt immensely
resentful. All her hard work at not thinking about him and at
putting the image of his tawny eyes, sensual lips, and saucy smile
out of her mind was undone in an instant.

“Where’s Eliza?” she heard herself snap.

“In her room, getting freshened up.”

She had looked perfectly fresh earlier,
Sophie thought. “I think she saw me earlier.”

Riley nodded and sipped his drink. “That’s
why she hustled me out of here so quickly, I guess.”

“Did you tell her . . . that we kissed, I
mean?”

“Yup.”

“Oh, God,” Sophie muttered, lowering her head
into her hands. She’d be branded a harlot in the entire state of
Colorado and now in California, too.

He reached across and touched her arm,
causing Sophie to jerk her head up, the feel of his warm hand both
welcome and disconcerting.

“I didn’t have to offer the information,
actually. When you skedaddled from Spring the way you did, Eliza
came right out and asked what was up. Particularly after she heard
me pressing Sarah for information. Eliza’s a smart woman and I
guess she saw something between us.”

Something between them
. Eliza had been
right. And was she already Riley’s wife?

“So, why are you sitting here with me . . .
on your honeymoon?” She could barely get the last word out.

Riley looked stunned. “Oh, Sophie, is that
what you think? We didn’t get married yet.”

Sophie couldn’t deny the immediate sense of
relief.

“You must really believe I’m a cad, if you
think that I’d be on my honeymoon and having a drink with you. I
tried to tell you at The Palace, but you ran off so fast. Eliza’s
staying there, but I’m not. I’ve got my old rooms that I’ve had
ever since I started medical school.”

“She came away with you unmarried and
unchaperoned?”

Riley shrugged. “She told her father we’d be
in separate accommodations and it’s true. Who else does she have to
explain herself to?”

“But why not just get married?” Even Sophie
was getting tired of their games and she’d been witness only to the
tail end of over two years of pussyfooting around.

“She didn’t want to. She wanted to see San
Francisco; that’s all. Also, she’s still a bit sore about you.”

“And now she knows I’m here.”

He rubbed the back of his neck and then
downed his drink. “She didn’t mention it. I guess she didn’t think
I’d run into you standing in the lobby of The Palace. But it’s
probably going to eat at her. Even though we have a solid
agreement, she doesn’t want to be made a fool of. I can’t blame
her. If she were publicly eyeing another man while engaged to me,
I’d feel betrayed.” He looked thoughtful. “Why
were
you in
the lobby?”

“My friend works at The Palace,” Sophie said.
No need to tell him she’d gone half-crazy at seeing him and needed
some counsel. “How long is Eliza staying?”

“She’s booked in for a week. She won’t leave
her father longer than that. I’ll put her on the train home.”

“Then what?” Sophie asked, ignoring the
horribly matter-of-fact way he discussed his fiancée, not to
mention the grim look on his face. She wondered what he would do if
he could pay Eliza back for his tuition.

“Then I finish up and become a doctor. Doc’s
plan was always that I’d take over for him.”

Sophie didn’t miss Riley’s lack of
enthusiasm.

“Is that what you want? To go back to Spring
City?”

“The one thing I’ve always wanted was to
become a doctor. I always thought it wouldn’t matter where. But
truthfully, now that I’ve lived here and been in the hospitals . .
. well, they’re magnificent. And the medicine they’re practicing,
the new techniques, they’re amazing. Why I’ve seen more interesting
cases in one week at City-County Hospital than Doc has seen in ten
years in Spring.”

He was quiet a moment, spinning his empty
glass around and around on the table. “But I owe him.”

It seemed to Sophie that Riley’s problem was
he felt he owed too many people too much for him to make his own
decisions and have a life that made him happy.

Luckily, that wasn’t her problem or her
concern.

“I have to get back to work.” She pushed her
chair back. “Thank you for the drink.” Though she hadn’t touched
it.

“Sophie, will you . . . that is, do you mind
if I come back and listen to you again?”

She tried to shrug nonchalantly though she
felt anything but.

“The Grand Hotel Bar is open to the public,”
she remarked. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t stop you.”

He stood up, next to her, too close. She was
sure he could hear her heart beating fast and furious.

“But you don’t want to, do you?” His eyes
locked on hers and if they’d been alone, she was sure it would have
ended in an embrace, so strong was the connection.

She cleared her throat and looked away a
moment, glancing at the boxy-shaped piano she’d come to think of as
hers. She would not answer his question. It was pointless.

“Goodbye, Riley.” Just a few steps and she
sat down and surrounded herself with music. She didn’t watch him
leave.

“Oh, my God. And I missed it! Stupid Egbert,
if he’d sent someone else to The Tapestry Room, I would’ve seen
your Riley; it was the only time I was off the floor all day.”

Sophie sat in Carling’s kitchen. Her friend
was taking a bit too much delight in the drama of the situation,
perhaps forgetting that Sophie’s heart was involved, not to mention
Eliza’s.

“I don’t understand the woman,” Sophie said,
pausing to sip her second drink in the last half hour. “She has
eyes, doesn’t she? Riley Dalcourt is the easiest thing on a woman’s
eyes ever, I swear. And Eliza strings him along as if men ask her
to marry them every day.”

Carling snorted. They were drinking something
stronger than tea and it was starting to take its toll. “Maybe they
do.”

“Well, she is about the prettiest woman I’ve
ever seen,” Sophie confessed. “Tomorrow, you can see her, too. Find
out what room she’s in and—”

“And what? Spy on her,” Carling asked. “See
if your Riley does spend his nights in her room?”

Sophie blanched. Actually, she didn’t want to
know that. For some reason, it was easier to imagine him taking his
release with a paid prostitute than with a woman he could become
emotionally tied to. Why the hell wasn’t he in love with the blond,
blue-eyed, petite Miss Prentice? What was wrong with the man,
anyway?

“No, don’t spy. Just take a look if you want
to.”

“I’d rather take a look at your Riley.”

“Stop calling him that. And what about
Egbert? You know, if you overlook his humorlessness and his snotty
manners, he’s quite dishy.”

“That’s a lot to overlook,” Carling said,
beginning with a small giggle. Then she laughed so hard the tears
pricked her eyes. “But I have thought the same thing, if we’re
being honest. Under his starched uniform, there seems to be quite a
strapping man.”

Sophie started to laugh, too, then covered
her glass when Carling tried to pour her more wine. Her thoughts
lurched from Egbert to Riley to one of her early conversations with
him.

“You know what we should do?” She moved her
hand and let Carling fill her glass after all. “We should head over
to the Barbary Coast.”

Carling’s hazel eyes became large as
doorstops. “Are you serious?”

Sophie nodded. Ever since Riley told her
about the wonders of the place, while sitting in bucolic Fuller’s
restaurant, she’d been dying to see it.

“What? You mean now?” Carling’s eyes darted
to the window and the darkness beyond.

“No better time,” Sophie said, standing up a
little wobbly. “After all, from what I know, they’re just getting
started over there. It doesn’t get into full swing until the wee
hours.”

“Full swing,” Carling echoed. “Jesus, Mary,
and Joseph!”

In half an hour, they were stepping off the
Presidio trolley on the corner of Union and Columbus with still a
few blocks to walk toward the water. Sophie was right, no one was
settling in for the night. Rather, the streets were busy and
getting more crowded with each passing moment, everyone seemingly
good-humored, jostling each other, moving in a general tide from
one building to the next.