Page 85 of Temptress in Disguise
“Not all women.” Naomi was different. She was honest and intelligent and didn’t try to manipulate him. “You need someone who isn’t afraid of you. Someone who understands we all carry traumas from our imperfect lives. You need?—”
“Don’t tell me what I need.” He gave a nonchalant shrug. “So, I might think about bending a certain woman over my desk. I might fantasise about seeing something other than disdain in her eyes. The reality is I need to own things. It’s obvious I could never own her.”
Aaron never spoke about his personal feelings.
It was a move in the right direction.
If only he could make Aaron see the beauty of a meaningful relationship. Perhaps that’s how he would repay him for his many sacrifices. Help him to find the mysterious force that binds two souls together.
But to love a woman, a man had to embrace change. He had to be prepared to adapt and evolve. Love made a man challenge his old patterns and beliefs. That’s why he feared Aaron would always be alone. He feared Aaron would never know the life-altering love he had found with Naomi.
ChapterNineteen
Croft Manor
Uxbridge
The outside shutters were closed. The drawing room door was locked. Naomi pressed her ear to the wooden panel and tried to determine the strange scraping noise echoing through the hall.
She glanced at Melissa and Lydia. They hadn’t stopped bickering since Jacob Adams threatened to shoot anyone who disobeyed his orders. “Please be quiet. Can you stop arguing for just a moment?” She was certain Mr Adams was hauling the console table in front of the door, an extra measure to prevent them escaping.
“Be quiet? The devil is going to kill me.” Melissa paced back and forth, frantically wringing her hands. “He’s going to kill us all. Why else would he bring us here? Where are the servants? Surely he’s not killed them, too.”
“Edwin is not a murderer,” Lydia protested most vehemently. “He’s been helping me to prove you’re a deceitful witch.”
Melissa threw her hands in the air. “Have you heard yourself? You sound like a raving lune. His name isn’t Edwin. It’s Jacob Adams, and he’s been lying to you for months.”
Lydia refused to listen and repeated the story they’d heard minutes ago. “My modiste introduced us during one of my trips to London. I met his brother. It was Edwin who persuaded George to hire me. It was Edwin who gave me the money to secure the apartment. He owns the Belldrake theatre. You have him confused with someone else. That, or you’re inventing stories to shift the blame.”
Naomi should add naivety to the list of Lydia’s failings. Jacob Adams had been plotting his revenge. He had used her to punish Melissa and hoped to gain a small fortune in the process.
“Did your husband suggest you bribe Mr Ingram to attack me?” Naomi had been equally gullible in this game of subterfuge. She didn’t want to think what Lydia had promised Mr Ingram in return. Aramis was right. Lydia could not be trusted.
“Mr Ingram had no intention of hurting you. It was all a ruse. I don’t know why you’re making such a fuss.”
Such a fuss?
A man had stolen into her room at night. He’d pinned her arms to the mattress and pressed his body on top of hers. He’d ignored her pleas and dismissed her tears. It was the most terrifying moment of her life. That was until she’d been torn away from Aramis, fearing she might never see him again.
“I had to find a way to make you leave Hartford Hall,” Lydia said, full of excuses. “How else were we to gain our rightful inheritance?”
“The inheritance Jacob means to steal from under your nose.” Melissa moved to the window and peered through the tiny gap in the shutters. “People will probably die because of your stupidity.”
“People have died,” Naomi corrected. She was tired of Melissa’s hypocrisy. “They’re dead because you tried to kill Jacob Adams. Let’s not forget you smothered my father with a pillow”—it was an educated guess—“forged the will and stole the inheritance. It’s too late to play the victim.”
Melissa did not deny the claims. “None of that matters now. If we want to live, we must work together.”
“Edwin is not going to kill us,” Lydia countered.
Melissa grumbled under her breath. “I cannot speak to an imbecile. And I thought Naomi was the simple one. There’s more to her character than meets the eye. Aramis Chance is no fool.”
The last comment roused Naomi’s ire, a burning need to defend the man she loved. “After what you did to him, you don’t deserve to utter his name. You used him in the most despicable fashion. Have you seen the scar on his arm? Do you know how he’s suffered?”
When she left him at Hartford Hall, he looked defeated. But he was practical and logical and would comb the ends of the earth to find her. She just prayed he wasn’t too late.
The turning of the key in the lock stole their attention. The drawing room door swung open, and Jacob Adams strode into the room. He waved his pistol at them, forcing them to shuffle back against the wall.
“Please, Edwin. Tell me what you plan to do.” Lydia stepped forward, but he didn’t threaten her or shoo her away.
