Twice the Temptation

Twice the Temptation

  Beverley Kendall

  Copyright © Beverley Kendall 2013

  Published by Season Publishing 

 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

www.theseasonforromance.com

www.beverleykendall.com

Cover Design © Hot Damn Designs

 All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

License Statement

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the author and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication 

To the love of my life, Ryan.

Mommy loves you always.

Acknowledgments
 

Anastasia, need I say more. You are fabulous. Mary, thanks for always being available for those grammar questions. Kristin, thanks for your valuable input—which you'll see it in the finished version. Ladies, your hard work is truly appreciated. 

And to my lovely beta readers who helped to find those irritating little mistakes and whose turn-around time was amazing. Ladies you've helped in  preparing me to release my "baby" to the public. 

Gentlemen of the ton…prepare to be tempted.

Temptation is as old as Adam and Eve. Unfortunately, succumbing to it is as natural as breathing to the gentlemen in the haut ton. For prospective brides bent on fidelity, three of the
ton's
most ravishing beauties will help determine the faithful from the philanderers. What they hadn’t counted on was emotional entanglements…
 

A Temptress in Love
 

Catherine Rutherford has been smitten with the sinfully handsome American, Lucas Beaumont, since their introduction the year before. And he appears just as enamored of her, for following his return to London he launches a seductive campaign to ensnare her heart and capture her hand in marriage. Never has Catherine been so confident in the outcome of a courtship…that is until she discovers her
would-be
groom proposed marriage to her sister first. 

Although she and her twin share the same face, Catherine refuses to share a man’s affections much less be any woman’s substitute. So with the aid of her twin and two friends, she challenges the man she loves to the ultimate test of fidelity. Posing as her heartbroken sister—who is really anything but—Catherine seeks his solace from an “unhappy marriage” and begins a tempestuous game of seduction where the true proof of his love lies in his ability to resist her charms. 

T
ABLE OF
C
ONTENTS
 

Also by Beverley Kendall
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Epilogue
An Heir of Deception Excerpt
 

Also by Beverley Kendall

Historical Romance

The Elusive Lords Series
 

Sinful Surrender
A Taste of Desire
All’s Fair in Love & Seduction (enovella)
An Heir of Deception

~~~

New Adult Romance
 

Unforgettable You Series
 

Only For You

All Over You (enovella)

P
ROLOGUE

Berkshire, 29 March 1864

L
ucas was here.

Catherine Rutherford’s stomach dipped and rolled at the knowledge.

The sharp click of her heels on the glistening hardwood floors echoed throughout the hallway as she returned to the entrance hall of Rutherford Manor.

A movement at the top of the staircase drew her eyes upward. She was certain her heart literally skipped a beat when she saw the man who now consumed her thoughts, descending the stairs two at a time.

In the moment before he saw her, she took that time to take him in. Good gracious, Lucas Beaumont was a handsome one, possessing the kind of masculine beauty that could—and invariably did—steal enough of a woman’s breath to leave her light-headed and disoriented. Trying to keep one’s feet planted solidly on the ground wasn’t so easy a feat with one’s head in the clouds. Catherine slowed as she approached the foot of the double staircase.

His mouth was set in a grim line, and his brows were furrowed as if he’d been deep in thought, and not altogether pleasant ones. But the moment he spotted her, the severity of his countenance eased…somewhat.

“Lucas?” she asked, for it was clear something
was
wrong. Another thorough check of his person affirmed he and her brother-in-law, Alex Cartwright, the Marquess of Avondale, had not come to blows as no doubt her twin sister, Charlotte, must have feared given her mad dash upstairs after her husband had arrived a quarter hour ago. To say her brother-in-law had taken an instant and vehement dislike to Lucas would be vastly understating the matter.

Instead of answering her question, his gaze remained riveted on her as he continued down the stairs.

A frisson of pleasure coursed down her spine at the desire she saw there. But it was banked so quickly, she wasn’t sure what to make of his mood. In the weeks since he’d arrived from America, she’d only seen him like this once—after his first encounter with Alex.

“I didn’t know you had come.” Catherine smiled, happy to see him and uncaring of how obvious she was being about it. And why should she hide it? They were more than mere acquaintances now.

He halted in front of her. “Actually, I was coming to look for you. I called today to say goodbye.”

Goodbye? He hadn’t come to call on her? In recent weeks, they’d been spending so much time together, she’d assumed his presence today meant another outing. There was a lovely old elm down by the creek, and as the day had favored them with excellent weather, it would make an ideal spot for a picnic.

“Oh.” It was impossible to keep the disappointment from her voice, or from settling like lead in the pit of her stomach.

“I have business in London today.” But the strain in his voice didn’t signify the loss of her company for a
single
day.

“Wi-will you be coming back?” she asked as she tried to convince herself she was reading too much into things. Why shouldn’t he miss her so much that the prospect of the time apart from her would reduce him to a state of melancholy?

“Unfortunately, I am due back home the week after next, so from London, I’ll be returning to America.”

At his seemingly carefully worded response, Catherine felt poleaxed. Her breath stuttered before ceasing completely. Her heart thudded too loud in her ears, but it was a hollow, empty sound. Images of her throwing herself at his person to prevent him from leaving came to mind in such vivid clarity, she clutched her hands behind her back. She dare not move an inch from where she stood for fear of doing just that—and thus making an utter fool of herself.

As it was, she had no choice but to withstand the razor-sharp pain that sliced through her heart without visibly flinching.

“I see.” She drew in a breath, trying not to inhale too deeply as not to feed the overwhelming pain, hurt, and panic inside her. Numbness was preferable in this situation. When she spoke, she attempted to speak without undue inflection in her voice and congratulated herself on doing a fair job of it. “Well then I shall wish you a safe passage back.”

The self-flagellation came all too quickly and was ruthless in its execution. She’d thought something rare, something special had developed between them. She now realized that the entire time she’d been allowing herself to hope for something more, he’d been toying with the English girl adrift in Society—never wholly rejected, yet never fully embraced.

She, Catherine Rutherford was all kinds of fools. Had she thought herself so special that he would ask her to leave her home to live with him in America? And how utterly deluded of she to retain a flicker of hope that he would uproot his life to be with her in England. Why hadn’t she seen what was so clear now? That the whole affair had been impossible from the start.