Destiny for Three Read online

  “Thank you, Jemma…” Trey Kingston’s voice dropped off and Elise looked up to see him frozen in the dining room doorway, his glare icy enough to make the mouthful of chicken she was swallowing lodge in her throat. “But I really should be leaving.”

  *

  “Nonsense, Mistuh Trey!” Jemma gripped his arm and pulled him into the room. “You just sit down here with Miss Lizzie and I’ll fix you a plate.”

  Trey grimaced. The very last thing he wanted to do tonight was have dinner with Elizabeth, alone. God. Where was Turner? They’d looked so cozy out on the porch earlier, he figured they’d sneak off somewhere and he could spend the evening with Edward without having to worry about another confrontation.

  Coward.

  He sighed. “Very well.”

  “Now that’s more like it,” Jemma nodded. “You just make yourself comfortable and I’ll be right back.”

  Comfortable. Indeed. Trey steeled himself and glanced up to the gilt-framed portrait on the far wall. Elizabeth McBride gazed haughtily at him from her place over the mantel, her delicate nose tilted up, the smile that played about her lips was one that spoke of infinite confidence and condescension. The artist had definitely captured the true nature of the woman. How he’d been fooled into believing the adoring girl who couldn’t get enough of his kisses was the real Elizabeth was a testament to her skills at lying and manipulation. He wasn’t the only one to be taken in. His brother, Rad, had been duped as well. A soft snort of disgust escaped him as he remembered how he and Rad had fought over her, beat each other bloody then made the mistake that had ruined them, forced them to build new lives elsewhere.

  “Good evening, Mr. Kingston.”

  His hand tightened on the silver knob of his walking stick.

  “I’m glad you decided to join me,” she continued.

  “Really?” Trey didn’t look at her as he made his way to the far end of the table. “I can’t imagine why.” He kept his tone frigid, as he had earlier. He'd shown her that he felt nothing for her but contempt. It had been easy. Seeing her with Turner, watching the pompous ass slobber all over her face and neck, made it so easy.

  Yet right now it was proving more difficult. She looked breathtakingly lovely in the candlelight, glinting jewels dangling from her ears and resting in the creamy valley between her plump breasts. If only she were wearing that smug, haughty smile she wore in the portrait. If only her nose were lifted an inch or so and her eyes cool and dismissive... but they weren't. Her lips were curved in an open, natural smile. Her eyes sparkled a brilliant deep turquoise as they moved over him, assessing and approving.

  Damn it. Why was she doing this? What did she want from him? All the biting comments he'd rehearsed over and over in his mind evaporated like morning mist, so Trey did the only thing he trusted himself to do, he turned his back.

  "I'm glad because I think we should talk about what happened earlier this evening."

  He twisted around to glare at her, blood rushing hot to his face, though surprisingly, he was able to keep his voice at normal level. "You want to talk to me about your little tryst with Turner? Is this your new game, Elizabeth, kiss and tell? You'll understand if I ask you to spare me the crude details." Pleased, Trey noticed two bright spots of color appear on her cheeks.

  She drew herself up defensively. "I wasn't talking about what went on between Jeff and me. Frankly, that's none of your business. What I meant was I think you and I should talk about what's going on between the two of us."

  Trey glowered at her, hoping she would back down, leave him the hell alone. "There's nothing between the two of us. Not a damn thing."

  "That's not true."

  "Leave it alone, Elizabeth."

  "Listen, Trey." His jaw muscle tightened at the sound of his name on her lips. It didn't sound at all like he remembered. "I know you and I were once...well, we were involved. But I know this only because Jeff told me. You have to believe I honestly don't remember anything before my accident and I'd like-"

  Trey released a snort of disbelief. "I don't have to believe anything you tell me. I'm afraid your track record for sincerity isn't very good, sweetheart."

  Trey saw her full lips press tightly together, but to his dismay, she appeared more determined than angry. She took a deep breath and was about to speak when providence stepped into the room in the form of Jemma bearing Trey’s supper.

  “Here you go, Mistah Trey. Chicken and dumplins and a nice big slice of apple pie.” Trey took a seat as she bustled around to the sideboard, served him a glass of wine, then turned to Elizabeth. “You ready for your pie now, Miss Lizzie?”

  “No thank you, Jemma. I think I’ll skip the pie. But I would love a glass of wine.”

  Jemma paused and blinked. "But you don’t drink spirits."

  "Really? Well, I guess I'm starting tonight."

  Trey watched her over the rim of his glass as he took a deep swallow of wine. She cast him a look that told him she wasn't about to give up on the conversation he absolutely did not want to have. His eyes narrowed. He knew Dr. White believed Elizabeth was suffering from a legitimate memory loss, but Trey couldn’t help but be skeptical. She was an accomplished liar and manipulator, he’d learned that well, and he was reluctant to play along if this was some sort of new game she’d dreamed up.

  But what if he was wrong? What if she really didn't have any memories of her life before the accident?

  It was a possibility, though one he didn't relish considering. He couldn't deny she was acting differently, but it could be just that: acting. Yet, there was something different about the way she looked. It was almost imperceptible, but somehow her face, though still beautiful, had lost that sense of practiced emotionality. Now, her feelings seemed to flit unguarded over her features in a way he’d never seen before.

  Could Elizabeth be that good an actress?

  Mumbling, Jemma poured another glass of wine and handed it to Elizabeth. “You go easy on that now, you hear? I don’t wanna find you stumblin’ around here drunk as a skunk.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be fine.” Elizabeth smiled at Trey as the grumbling old woman left the room.

  Trey ignored her contemplative gaze and dove into his food with quick efficiency. The sooner he finished, the sooner he could leave. The silence stretched between them, the only noise in the room the soft clinking of Trey’s fork and knife against his plate.

  When he paused to take another sip of wine, he sneaked a glance up and saw that she had drained her glass and was staring at him, studying him.

  “Were we lovers?”

  He choked on his mouthful of wine, swiped at his mouth with the napkin, then sputtered. “Wha-what the hell?”

  “Were we lovers?” she repeated, as if she really believed he didn’t hear her the first time.

  Trey shot up from his seat and grabbed his cane. “No!”

  *

  Elise steeled herself against the waves of negativity that rolled from him to her. She needed to know why he disliked Elizabeth so, and she'd decided earlier not to beat around the bush. The direct approach was best.

  “Really? Jeff told me you were my beau at one time. He seemed so angry about it, I thought maybe we had-”

  “We weren’t lovers. Luckily for me, it didn’t get that far.”

  “You want me to believe there was nothing serious between us, but I can sense that’s not true. I may have lost my memory, but I’m not stupid,” Elise persisted, despite the daggers he was glaring at her. She wanted to push him, pay him back a bit for his earlier insults. “You acted like a jealous lover out there, Mr. Kingston. Or are you always such an ass to ladies you once dated?”

  Trey’s eyes widened as he gaped at her in disbelief, then he shocked her by blurting out, “Fuck!”

  She didn’t know people in the nineteenth century used that curse word. Evidently they did, if they were really, really pissed.

  Trey stalked toward the dining room door, his limp pronounced, his walking stick clacking heavily
against the wood floor. Damn. She’d pushed him too far. Rising, she moved quickly up behind him, hoping to salvage the situation.

  “Trey, please. Don’t go.”

  He stopped, but kept his back to her. "Damn it, Elizabeth. Let it go. We have nothing to say to each other. Nothing."

  She stopped a few feet away from him, as close as she dared go. "I can tell you don't want to believe it, Trey, but I'm not the same person I was before the accident."

  "Is that so?" His voice was low and tight.

  "Yes, it is so," Elise replied with determination. "I don't even know that woman anymore. She's a complete stranger to me. During these past few days, I'm finding out that Elizabeth McBride wasn't a very nice person. She obviously hurt you."

  Trey wheeled to face her, eyes narrowed dangerously, and for a moment Elise thought he might actually strike her. "Stop it! Stop talking like you're two different people. It's crazy!"

  God, how she wanted to tell him the truth: that they were two completely different people. But she didn't dare. He wasn't buying the memory loss, so how could he ever accept the fact that she was a woman from the future trapped in the body and time of Elizabeth McBride?

  "I know it's crazy," she blurted in frustration. "How do you think I feel being surrounded by strangers who claim they're my family, my friends? To find out I'm supposed to marry a man I don't even know, that I don't love, and face the hatred of the one man I--I..." Elise couldn't stand to see the anger and disbelief in his face any longer, so she turned away.

  She gasped as Trey grabbed her arm and wrenched her back around to face him. "The one man you what, Elizabeth?"

  The situation was clearly getting out of hand. What was she supposed to say? You’re the hottest man I’ve ever met? Your touch on my arm is making me cream my panties? Oh, God.

  Elise looked up from where his grip bit into her arm and into his hard eyes. She could see the pain there, behind the anger. "What did she do to you? What made you hate her so much? Please, I need to know."

  Elise watched the conflicting emotions move across Trey's angular face like shadows in the flickering candlelight. He dropped her arm. Finally, when the tension nearly sparked in the air between them, he erupted.

  "All right, Elizabeth. You need to know? Then look down, right here." He slapped his injured leg and winced slightly. "Take a good long look at what you did to me, Elizabeth. Remember now? I was fool enough to want you once and this was my reward. This was your going away present to me, sweetheart!"

  Elise's hopes plummeted as she stood there and watched Trey's fury, his anguish. This was worse than she could ever have anticipated. "How?"

  Trey's expression softened, just slightly, as his gaze searched her face then he shook his head. "You really don't remember, do you?"

  "I told you I didn't. I’m not lying. Please, Trey, what happened?"

  He looked as though he wanted to walk away, but he took a deep breath instead. "Let’s just say we had different expectations regarding our relationship.” His voice was thick with self-disgust. “But I was determined to have you as my wife, so I proposed what I thought would be an agreeable solution to our problem. You disabused me of that notion quick enough. You’d been toying with us--with me all along.”

  "And Eliza- I did this to you?" Elise prompted, looking down at Trey’s injured leg and not understanding how a woman of such small stature could best a man of his obvious strength.

  "Your horse did the work for you. But you did leave your own personal mark." Trey motioned to the faint scar near the hairline at his temple. "You always did wield a crop with a kind of vicious delight. And you enjoyed it. You reveled in the power of seeing a man lying broken on the ground. I saw your smile before you rode away."

  “But why? Why would I do something-”

  Trey made a slicing motion in the air with his hand, cutting her off. “Stop, damnit! No more. Don’t you realize how humiliating it is for me to stand here and talk about this, to you of all people?” He composed himself again, and his mouth curved in a harsh, cynical smile. “I must admit, I envy your position. I wish I could forget it so easily.”

  Suddenly, Elise could see beyond his mask of cold contempt. She saw hurt and need. She was struck with an intense hatred for Elizabeth McBride, for what she’d been, for what she’d done to Trey. Without thinking, she reached out to him, her fingertips tracing the thin white scar at his temple. She saw his eyes close, his jaw tense, as if her touch burned his skin. Drawn by some invisible force, she leaned close to him. God, she couldn’t believe she was doing this! But she was overwhelmed by a need of her own, a need to make his pain disappear.

  His eyes stayed shut until the first brush of her trembling fingers against his mouth. She traced the hard line of his set lips. "Trey, I'm so sorry." Her words hung in the tension-thick air between them and she waited for his reaction, her pounding heart audible above the deafening silence, or was that his?

  Trey stared down at her. His eyes were burning--with anger or arousal, Elise couldn't tell. He stood motionless, so close she could feel the waves of heat pouring off his body, his face, his breath mingling with hers in the inch of space that separated them, warm and ragged. It was a huge risk, she knew, but something inside her warned that if she didn't take the chance, it might never pass her way again. She swayed forward a tiny bit more.

  Her lips met his, feather-soft and tentative, and Elise thought she heard a muffled rumble deep within his chest. For a moment he stiffened, his chest stilled. Her heart lurched, terrified he was going to push her away.

  Then his breath left him in a desperate groaning rush. The rigidness left his lips and his right hand moved behind her to slide up her back in a slow, halting caress. His fingers slipped beneath the mass of ringlets that fell between her shoulder blades, up to the nape of her neck, and his mouth began to move against hers.

  Elise opened for him eagerly, wanting to taste him, feel his hot, penetrating possession. His fingers tightened on the back of her head, holding her firm as he slanted his mouth across hers and plunged his tongue inside. She moaned and sucked his tongue deeper into her mouth, stroking it boldly with her own. He tasted of wine, smelled of soap and sandalwood and enticing, delicious male. He filled her senses until they spilled over and pooled in an aching puddle between her legs, making her shudder and melt against his hard body, whimper with a need more acute than she’d ever experienced.

  At that moment, she felt Trey go still. The hand that had cradled her head slid down to her arm and grasped it, tightly--so tight it bordered on painful--and he tore his mouth from hers.

  "Don't do this." His voice was ragged. His eyes were closed again, as if he couldn't bear to look at her, and a muscle pulsed in his jaw.

  Elise felt as though her heart had moved up to become a hard lump in her throat. "You still don't believe me?"

  Trey opened his eyes, his gaze intense and glistening. "It doesn't matter whether I believe you or not. What happened between us can never be undone. Don't you understand? Whether you can or can't remember... it will always be there, Elizabeth. I can't forget."

  "But I'm not the same person I was then. I don't know how to explain it to you, but I know I've changed. I'm not the Elizabeth McBride who hurt you. I'm a different woman, meeting you for the first time, and I...I think I may be falling for you."

  The words were out before Elise could stop them, and the surprise she saw on Trey's face mirrored what she herself felt about her abrupt confession.

  She couldn't believe it.

  Yet she couldn't deny it. The feelings she had for this man she'd only known for such a short time were unlike anything she'd felt before. It was ridiculous, she knew, but somehow she sensed that her future lay with Trey Kingston. She wanted desperately to be with him.

  It took Trey a moment to recover from the shock of her words, then his face went blank, his voice flat. "If that's true, then I'm sorry for you, Elizabeth, because we can never be together."

  He removed her hands fr
om his shoulders and turned to leave. Elise could do nothing but stand there, her arms hanging like dead weights at her sides. Trembling, fighting the tears that trickled down her cheeks, she watched him leave the dining room then listened to his uneven footfalls and tap of his cane on the hall floor as he made his way out the front door. She slumped down in her chair and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, silently cursing herself for being such an idiot.

  How could she have thought a simple kiss could heal the wounds that scarred Trey so deeply, that a whispered apology could magically erase the nastiness that had passed between him and Elizabeth? She knew better than that; relationships weren't that simple. But she hadn't been thinking with her head. She'd followed her heart, made a complete fool of herself. And he'd rejected her.

  Bruce came to mind, and a short, bitter laugh rose from her throat. Rejection. She should be an old pro at handling it. After all, what was this little episode compared to being jilted on her wedding day?

  Elise touched her lips, still able to feel the heat of his mouth upon hers. It was crazy, but this felt worse. Far worse.

  Chapter Four

  "Mistuh Kingston!" Ned, the McBride’s butler, stood in the doorway, waving him inside. Trey bounded awkwardly up the steps, leaning heavily on his cane for support. "Thank the Lord you's here! The massa, he done took a turn for the worst real fast. He’s been askin' for you."

  Trey felt a stab of guilt that he’d stayed away from Cottonwood for the past few days, hadn’t spent enough time with Edward, and now the end was near. He really was a coward. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to come here because of her.

  Elizabeth had gotten to him, found the chink in his armor, and he'd let his old desire for her resurface despite his better judgment. It was lunacy! Even if she was telling the truth about her condition, even if she was indeed a changed woman, there could never be anything between them. He couldn't let it. Not when there was the likelihood that her memory would return. For when it did, she'd remember the truth of what had passed between them and hate him once again.