Enticing Eve: Scandalous Secrets, Book 2 (20 page)

“Oh, Tori,” Eve leaned forward in her chair. “I am—”

“Please, don’t apologize. I dare say it is quite annoying. Besides,” Victoria added with a wink, “we always detested the hideous thing. Good riddance.”

Smiling at her friend’s loyalty, Eve whispered “I don’t like the selfish chit I am becoming.”

“You are an absolute brat,” Tori concurred, pausing to study her blue reticule embroidered with butterflies and daisies. “That is why you began your own seamstress business, is it not? Certainly you don’t secretly design beautiful gowns for entitled snobs to help save your grandmother from your father’s debt. It must be because you are spoiled and self-absorbed.”

Eve leaned back against the fluffy cushions. “You realize you’re obliterating my attempt to wallow in self-pity.”

“That is indeed my intention,” Tori wrinkled her nose then stuck her tongue out at her friend, causing Eve to chuckle in spite of herself.

“My life is an absolute mess! My betrothal is broken, along with Tristan’s heart – I have no right to laugh.”

“Crying is far overrated,” Victoria chimed in, her sarcasm heavy.

“Stop, please,” Eve pleaded as she crossed the room. She stared out the windows, and the sunlight hurt her eyes. How could it be such a beautiful day after all that transpired the night before? “I hurt Tristan terribly last night. For that very reason, I don’t deserve to be happy.”

She turned to face her friend, “I am serious, Tori.”

“As am I.” Victoria crossed the room,
 
bridging the distance between them. “The past is just that, Eve, the past. There is no turning back.”

Tori’s declaration was similar to what Colin had said to Eve the night before. Damn him and damn Victoria for insinuating that she has no say as to which direction her life should take.

“I’m beginning to think that’s what you want.” Eve’s tone was more accusatory than she intended. In truth, she sounded paranoid and quite possibly insane. Without a doubt, she must be losing her mind but the suspicion that Tori had a hand in the previous evening wouldn’t rest, gnawing at her gut, scratching and clawing until Eve thought she would scream. “You wanted this all along, didn’t you?”

“Not this again.” Victoria rolled her eyes. “I understand that you’re upset and that you want to lash out at someone, anyone, but I beseech you not to say something to me that you will regret.”

Eve was sick of people telling her what to do. First, Tristan broke their betrothal without giving her a chance to explain, then Colin demanded she marry him without showing any interest in Eve’s wishes. Now Victoria was telling her what to do.

Enough! No more! Never again
, her inner voice screamed.

“You’re mistaken, Victoria,” Eve said, meeting her friend’s heated gaze, matching it. “The truth will help me feel much better. The fact remains that you’ve always loved Tristan and you wanted him for yourself.” Eve had never said it before, hadn’t even dared to see it let alone admit it to herself. Perhaps it was because she hadn’t wanted to hurt her friend?

Damn friendship!

She marched to the other side of the room. “I thought that you and Colin were …” she still couldn’t form the words. “Instead you were trying to ensure that Tristan was free for you. You used me to get what you wanted.”

“You dare call this the truth?” Tori tossed her reticule on the settee she had vacated earlier, matching Eve step for step. “No, I dare say this is nothing more than your own self-pity, pure and simple. This is your desire to wound someone, anyone, as much as you’ve injured yourself, and apparently you’ve chosen me as your target.”

Eve swayed, “I-I’ve hurt myself?” she sputtered.

“You say you want the truth?” Victoria’s eyes, the color of bright sapphires, flashed with fury. “Well, brace yourself because the truth is that no one forced you to kiss Colin last night. No one compelled you to love him despite the fact that you were betrothed to his brother.”

Never before had Eve witnessed her friend so angry. She had pushed too far, understood that this argument was her fault, but Eve couldn’t stop herself. Or wouldn’t. Perhaps it was a deliberate action? Her irrational mind wouldn’t heed her heart’s command.

“What did you say to Colin last night?” Eve refused to relent, her question drenched in desperation. “Did you send Tristan to that terrace to catch us?”
 

“You can’t honestly believe me capable of such a horrid, mean-spirited act.” Victoria’s expression softened and Eve got the distinct impression that she pitied her.
 

Though Tori was correct, Eve still needed someone to blame and if not Colin or Victoria, then whom? Then she would be forced to blame herself, and Eve was certain her heart could not withstand more soul searching.

“Are you going to deny that you love Tristan?” Eve asked. “Will you lie and dare to declare you haven’t always adored him?”

Victoria placed her hand on her hip. “No, I won’t deny it, nor will I apologize for it because I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Eve clucked her tongue.

“Two of the people I love most in this world were in love with each other. How could I have been anything but happy for you both?” Victoria asked, her voice strong and proud. “It would appear that I overestimated you. After all, you have turned my heartfelt admission against me. That is something a true friend would never do.”

Victoria shook her head as if trying to assimilate the events that had transpired since she entered the room. “It appears my instinct is flawed because I considered you to be one of my closest friends. I also believed that you deserved Tristan. Little did I know that you were pining after his elder brother the whole time you were with Tristan and that you would turn on me in an instant just to avoid placing the blame where it belongs – squarely at your own feet.”
 

The knot of guilt and shame coiled tighter in Eve’s abdomen, cutting off her every breath.

“Why did you push me today?” A tear drifted down Victoria’s rosy cheek. “Did you think I would choose Tristan over you? Or did you push me away so that I would do so without remorse?”

Dear God in heaven, Victoria was right.
 

“I’m sorry,” Eve whispered, her words so quiet that she could barely hear them. Did she really speak them aloud or was it her imagination? Eve couldn’t be sure since Tori failed to acknowledge them.

Victoria studied her, her gaze piercing Eve’s weary soul. “You were like a sister to me. My mother, God rest her soul, Sebastian, and I invited you into our family.”

“I’m sorry, Tori,” Eve repeated, louder. This time Victoria heard it and, for a moment, a brief glimmer of recognition shone in her watery blue eyes.

In a split second, though, she averted her gaze.

“Colin has been through hell and has come home to you,” Victoria crossed the room, bending down to retrieve her gloves and reticule. “He thinks you are worth sacrificing his brother for.”

“Victoria—”

“After your behavior towards me today, I disagree, but my opinion matters not.” Tori wiped back tears with her fingertips before tugging her gloves over fingers with force. “I will offer you one piece of advice, Miss Weston. Do not dare inflict pain upon Colin the way you did to Tristan … or me for that matter.”

Tori returned her attention to Eve, her eyes cold and unyielding. “You may believe that you know me but hurt one more person that I care about and you will learn what I am truly capable of.”
 

She walked to the door and paused, placing her gloved hand on the brass knob. “One day you will realize that you wounded me today for no other reason than to feed into your own grief and helplessness. I will forgive you.”

Turning toward Eve, Tori’s expression was a mask of anguish that sliced Eve’s heart like a sharp pair of shears. Then her expression hardened. “But take care, Eve, because I will never forgive you if you break Colin’s heart.”
 

Tori jerked the door open and marched out of the room without another word, a regal figure clad in periwinkle and cream proceeding gracefully down the hallway. Eve studied her from the doorway noting that though Victoria was furious, she remained flawless. From her pristine white gloves and the jaunty hat resting perfectly upon her auburn curls, to her composed posture. No one but Eve would sense that Victoria had just held her own with an irrational friend who had broken her spirit.

 
The sound of her friend’s final words echoed in Eve’s ears as realization dawned – she had just pushed her dearest friend away.
 

But why?
 

Could it be that Eve realized she never loved Tristan? Certainly not to the extent that she loved Colin.
 

Damn her for loving that man, but love him she did and always will.
 

Burying her face in her hands, Eve’s pulse pounded against her temples. After hours of frantically searching for reasons not to marry Colin, the fact remained that she loved him.
 

How could she not marry him?
 

She had been unknowingly preparing herself for just that. By alienating herself from Tristan and now Victoria, Eve was ensuring that she had no other allies.
 

His return had already changed her, Eve noted with a pang of regret as she caught sight of her pale reflection in the gilded mirror on the opposite wall. She walked towards it, like a moth to a flame, pressing her fingertips against the cool glass.

“Look at you,” she muttered to her ethereal reflection.
 

Colin hadn’t been back in her life a full twenty-four hours and Eve already allowed his return to shred her once tidy life, leaving it in tatters. Even worse, she was to blame as her behavior towards Victoria proved.

Of course, the man was hiding something. Eve remained certain of it. Though she may not be privy to where he went or what he did there, she did suspect that Colin was keeping at least one secret, perhaps more.
 

Would she survive a lifetime married to the man?
 

A part of Eve, within the hidden corners of her already battered soul, feared the answer.
 

May God protect her from herself.

Chapter 9

“You did what?” Eve dropped the fern she was attempting to transfer to a larger pot, unable to believe her ears.

Her grandmother repeated her words with care as if speaking to a child. “I said that I visited Mister MacAlistair this morning.”

“I heard you, Grandmamma,” Eve shook her head as she tugged her soil-encrusted gardening gloves from her hands, “but why would you do such a thing?”

“He is about to become my grandson-in-law; why wouldn’t I wish to meet him?” Fiona asked as she averted her gaze from her granddaughter’s bewildered expression, instead focusing her attention on a bunch of lavender tied with string and hanging upside down against the far wall.

What has become of my neat little existence?

Eve crafted a life free of drama, one in which she was entrusted to make her own decisions. Like marrying Tristan – her grandmother allowed Eve to accept or not. Eve considered it and made the logical choice.

Where had her grandmother’s trust gone in regards to Colin? Eve tossed her gloves on the planting table in front of her.

I abused her trust and in turn, my future is in ruins. Who would trust me on matters such as this?
 

Victoria’s observation returned to Eve – she had done this to herself.

“Grandmother, look at me,” Eve insisted.

She never called Fiona
Grandmother
, and the woman must have grasped the significance of her doing so, for the Viscountess’s pale face turned at once.

“Are you that angry with me, dear?” the elder woman asked, her pale eyes wide with unchecked emotion.

The sight made Eve feel like a selfish brat who had just thrown a tantrum. She’d behaved so earlier today with Victoria and now with her grandmother. Pausing, Eve inhaled a deep, calming breath before trusting herself to speak.
 

When she spoke at last, her voice was controlled, “You acknowledged my hesitation in regards to marrying Colin during our conversation last night.”

“Yes, but you agreed to reconsider,” her grandmother paused, reaching for the fern that had fallen upon the worktable in the midst of being transplanted. “Since I know you love the man, I thought it only proper for me to visit him this morning. Quite early this morning. Before visiting hours.”

Eve narrowed her eyes. “Your intention was to catch him off guard?”

“Quite right,” her grandmother replied with a sprightly smile.
 

“What happened?” Eve’s flesh tingled in anticipation.

The Dowager Duchess averted her gaze. “We had a long chat—”

“He’s won you over!” Eve’s mouth was agape.

Her grandmother turned towards the wall as if to hide from the truth.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Eve marched around the table then stepped in front of the elder woman. “Don’t you hide from me. Admit it. You’ve been taken in by him.”