Lessons in Seduction (Greentree Sisters 1)

“I saw the address on them,” Vivianna added. “I expect that means…”

“Yes, Lawson has finally overreached himself.”

They had come to a bolted door. She turned and met his eyes, and her own were large and bright. And frightened. Vivianna was frightened.

“Tell me,” he demanded. “How did you capture Lawson?”

She told him.

As she spoke, Oliver could feel fury tightening every sinew in his body. Lawson had dared to come to Candlewood after Oliver had done all in his power to keep her safe. If she had not taken him prisoner, he might have harmed her. Or worse. Oliver had expected his own life to be in danger—he had accepted it as part of the plan he was executing. But for Lawson to threaten Vivianna…

“Did he hurt you?” he demanded.

Vivianna blinked, startled by what she saw in his face. “No. He noticed that the door to the secret chamber was open and he went down into it. I was going to go with him, to stop him from taking the letters. And then Eddie came, and Ellen. But Lawson had seen the children—I knew he would come after them. And I…I couldn’t let him free to do that.”

“Vivianna,” he groaned, “do you know how dangerous he is?”

She bit her lip. “Yes,” she whispered, “I do.”

She would have gone into danger for the letters? For him? Suddenly Oliver could not bear it anymore. Anthony and his death had been the most important thing in his world for so long, and now, suddenly, he realized it no longer was. He wanted a future. He wanted to live again.

He wanted Vivianna.

Oliver reached out, wanting to hold her, needing to feel her, but she stepped back again. Away from him.

“I’m perfectly all right,” she said.

But he felt sick with rage and fear. “I wish I had been here to protect you,” he began urgently. “This was never meant to happen.”

It was the wrong thing to say. Vivianna’s brows rose. “I don’t need your protection,” she retorted stiffly. “We did very well on our own, the children and I.”

Oliver tried again.

“Vivianna, I never meant to involve you,” he insisted. “I tried to keep you out of Lawson’s way.”

“Yes,” she said, “you tried very hard to keep me completely out of the way. I’m sorry you had to bother with me at all. How boring it must have been for you, wasting your time seducing me when you had Lawson to catch.”

“Is that what you think?” he demanded incredulously. But of course she would think that. He had wanted her to, so that she would be safe. “Vivianna, I made you hate me that night on purpose, to keep you away from me, to keep you out of danger. I could have made you hate me before we went to the Anchor, but I was

too selfish for that. You asked for a night with the rake, and because I wanted you, I said yes. A night to remember, before I sent you away.” His laugh was bitter. “Believe me, I haven’t felt whole since.”

“So now you would have me believe that, too, was part of the game you were playing? I’m confused, Oliver. How many lies have you told me during our brief acquaintance?”

She sounded furious, but there were tears in her eyes.

Before he could answer, Vivianna unbolted the door and flung it open. A long, cold room stretched before them. Murals on the ceiling, a colonnade, unfinished statues and moldings. Oliver glanced at her, wanting to continue their conversation, but she clearly expected him to precede her into the gallery.

“The door is over here,” she said matter-of-factly. Vivianna led him toward a statue of a lion with a raised front paw. “The lion actually moves to one side, and there are stairs leading to an underground chamber.”

Oliver stared at where she was pointing. “And Lawson is down there?”

“Yes.”

“Alone in the dark?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”