Page 71 of The Secrets We Left Behind
“It’s the only way,” Addy said. “You can go with them to lead them there, and I’ll come up with a ruse.”
“What kind of ruse?” Cate asked.
“Nokind of ruse,” Elise countered. “Adelaide is not risking her neck for this. I forbid it.”
“Youforbidme?” Addy asked. “Elise, you need to think this through, pretend I’m not your sister. I’m in the unique position of having influence here, an influence that no one else has.”
“And what if he finds out what you’ve done?” Elise asked, her voice quiet, low, full of so much emotion that all Adelaide’s anger disappeared.
“He’ll never find out,” she murmured back. If she were careful, if she made him think she was more loyal to him than anyone else ...
“Please tell me you haven’t fallen in love with him?” Elise whispered, tears swimming in her eyes.
“Of course I haven’t,” Addy answered quickly, shaking her head. “But I have him wrapped around my little finger, so it won’tbe a problem to keep him busy, away from the house.” Her lies had become too easy, falling from her tongue with barely a second thought. She might have him wrapped around her finger, but the question of love wasn’t so easy to answer.
“I don’t want to speak against you, Elise, but I think Addy could be right,” Cate said. “How else can we be sure of getting Harry and Jack out of the house?”
“She’s right.” Jack spoke up then. “Having the boat organized is one thing, but getting us out of here?”
Elise didn’t answer. Instead, she rocked back and forth for a moment, then collected some of the plates and left the room.
Addy hurried after her. “Elise, wait!”
But Elise only held up her hand without turning. “Just give me a minute, Addy. I need time to think.”
Adelaide didn’t return to the attic, instead going to her parents’ room and standing at the dresser to look over her mother’s things.
I miss you so much, Mama,she thought as she lifted her bottle of perfume and inhaled deeply, feeling traitorous that she’d dabbed a drop to her wrist before going to meet Wolfgang. She lifted her mother’s pearls then, holding them, needing something, anything to connect to her again, guilt washing over her as the day’s events unfolded in her mind. She should have put an end to Wolfgang’s advances, should have kept him at arm’s length instead of letting him get so close. But Elise had been right. Her sister wasalwaysright, and this time was no different. Only this time, Adelaide had lied instead of admitting the truth.
Because the truth was, shewasfalling in love with him, no matter how much she tried to remind herself of who he was or what he was capable of. Because when she was in his arms, with his whispers in her ear and his eyes dancing over hers, it was impossible to believe he was a monster. He made her feel alive; he was like noman she’d ever met before, and she couldn’t stop thinking about the last time she’d seen him.
“You came.”
The surprise on his face was genuine as she skipped across the grass and ran into his open arms. The cool buttons of his jacket crushed against her chest as she lifted her face to him, no longer thinking about what she was doing. In the beginning, she’d been careful; but now she was following her heart and little else. It had started out as a dangerous game, and she’d just made it even more dangerous.
“Did you think I’d leave you waiting here for me?”
Wolfgang laughed. There was a vulnerability about him that hadn’t been there before. Every other time she’d been with him, he’d been almost impossible to read, slightly guarded perhaps, but today she sensed something almost boyish behind his smile. Maybe for once they’d both dropped their guards to show their true selves.
“My men are going to stop respecting me if they find out I’m sneaking off to see you so often,” he grumbled, but he was anything other than grumpy when he bent down and brushed a kiss over her lips.
Everything about him made Adelaide’s heart race. The pistol he kept on him made her nervous, the way he looked at her made her feel beautiful, the way he held her made her shiver with anticipation.
“I think my sisters would like you,” Wolfgang said as he sat down on the grass and pulled her down with him.
“I doubt that very much,” she replied, landing beside him and not bothering to make a show of resisting when his arm went around her. “Why would they like a French girl?”
His laughter was soft. “Look at you,” he murmured. “You’re perfect. Soft blonde hair, blue eyes, and skin as creamy-pale as butter. You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever set eyes on.”
“You’re just saying that so I’ll keep kissing you,” she teased, embarrassed by his compliments.
“Not true,” he said. “I’ve thought that from the moment I first saw you. I think I ended up in Le Paradis for a reason.”
She froze then, an image flashing through her head, feeling like she was back in her bedroom looking out, watching all those men falling to their death. Only she still couldn’t see Wolfgang, still couldn’t believe it had been him, even though she knew deep down that it must have been.
Adelaide scrambled to her feet and walked a few steps, catching her breath.
“What’s wrong? Was it something I said?” Wolfgang came after her, as attentive as ever, his hand warm on her arm, his voice low.
