In the Garden of Seduction Read Online Free PDF Page A

blocking
her throat.
    Righting his chair, her father sat down
heavily and stared, eyes unfocused. He looked at her then and a sad
smile eased his haunted expression.
    “I’m sorry, lass,” he said, his voice
rumbling with feeling. Leaning over, he opened the bottom drawer of
his desk and pulled out a small wooden chest with a carved lid. He
placed it on the ink blotter in front of him and slowly pushed the
box toward her.
    “Your mother gave this to me a few days
before her death. I swear, until then I didn’t know the truth.
Louise knew she was dying…” He stopped, visibly grappling with
emotion then cleared his throat. “She didn’t think it was right to
rob you of your heritage by taking this information to her
grave.”
    Cassandra hesitated briefly before reaching
for the chest with shaking hands. Sitting down, she placed the
container on her lap but did not immediately lift the lid. She felt
as if she held Pandora’s mythical box and, once opened, her life
would be irrevocably changed.
    She shifted her gaze to Mr. Peters where he
stood alone. Cassandra saw the regret on his face, and she could
almost pity him his embarrassment.
    Almost…
    “Who are you, Mr. Peters?” she asked in a
quiet voice.
    The detective blinked. “Well, I…that is to
say, I’m employed with an agency hired by your grandfather nearly
twenty-five years ago to find you. Of course, I wasn’t there
then—I’m much too young. But I’ve been working on this case for six
years.”
    “Six years—that’s a long time on one case,”
she said thoughtfully.
    “There have been others, but we were ready
to give up on this one. However, Lord Whittingham is a powerful man
and we did not want to disappoint him.”
    Cassandra glanced at her father, who watched
her pensively, then resumed her conversation with the detective.
“Suppose, Mr. Peters, just suppose I accept everything you have to
say. What do you or, more accurately, Lord Whittingham hope to gain
by disclosing this information now? I mean, it is long past the
time it will alter anything.”
    The young man looked surprised. “Miss,
James, I thought it was obvious. You are the only child of the
earl’s only child. And unfortunately, his son is deceased. You are
Lord Whittingham’s sole descendant. He wants you to take your
rightful place in your natural family.”
    “Impossible,” Cassandra said. “If that is
why you are here, it would be best if you left at this time.”
    Mr. Peters sighed. “We are prepared for your
refusal, Miss James,” he said. “If you do not go home freely and, I
might add, immediately, Lord Whittingham will bring charges against
Mr. James accusing him of kidnapping.”
    Cassandra was robbed of speech. She looked
frantically at her father again, but his expression told her he had
already been informed of this possibility.
    “My father said he knew nothing about my
birth!”
    “When did your mother die, Miss James?”
    “Just before my fifteenth birthday.”
Cassandra answered slowly, unsure where the detective was headed
with this line of questioning.
    “Then by his own admission, your father did
learn of your origins at that time. For close to ten years he’s
kept quiet even as your natural family continued to search for
you.” Mr. Peters paused as if driving home his point. “There will
be little sympathy for his motives, pure as they may seem to
you.”
    Cassandra closed her eyes, appalled by the
sheer inevitability of her situation. Of course, they would know to
choose her one great weakness, she thought. She loved her father.
She would protect him.
    “Do I have Lord Whittingham’s word, if I do
as he asks, he will not press charges?” How could she sound so calm
when her heart was breaking?
    “Miss James, your grandfather is very
relieved that you have been found. He says the matter will end here
if you come home.”
    Cassandra looked directly at the young man
through scornful eyes, her voice taking on a biting quality. “Do
not fool