Once Tempted Read Online Free

from inside his jacket and thrust it at her as if it were a weapon, a weapon he’d been carrying next to his breast for God only knew how long. The painful vigil she’d shared with him and his wife hadn’t eased his disdain at all. Right after shoving the check at her, he’d ordered her to leave. As a parting shot, he’d icily informed her that she would not be welcome at the funeral service.
    Stupid with shock, she’d put the envelope in her bag. Numb, she nonetheless recognized that refusing the money would have accomplished nothing. The man had judged and condemned her the second he’d learned thathis son had married her, a nobody from Astoria who worked at an events company.
    She’d left the hospital feeling dirtied and ashamed. But upon arriving in New York, she’d gone directly to her parents’ neighborhood bank and made arrangements to open a special account to pay for her brother Christopher’s care at the private facility. The million dollars as such meant nothing to Christopher, yet he needed what that money would buy more than anyone she knew.
    Edward and Hope Bradford would never know what she’d done with their money. Tess was glad. Their knowing wouldn’t change their belief that somehow she’d tricked David into marrying her.
    “Hey, Tess. It’ll be okay, really.” Anna’s arms were wrapped protectively around her. With a shock, Tess realized her shoulders were shaking, racked by the memories assailing her. Yet still her tears remained locked inside. Her shame, too.
    She couldn’t tell Anna about the Bradfords’ money. The details were so sordid. Of course Anna would defend her actions. Tess could even predict her response. She’d give one of her inimitable shrugs and then say something along the lines of, “Really, Tess, what’s one million when you’ve got, what, five hundred of them? Chump change. No biggie,
cara
, let it go.”
    But it was a biggie in Tess’s mind, and she couldn’t let it go, or confess aloud how dirtied that final episode with the Bradfords had left her feeling. So much during this past year had hurt her, but for some reason being treated with such withering animosity, as someone who was nothing more than a gold digger, was the cut that sliced deepest. She didn’t want to show the wound to anyone.
    Though Anna was as close as a sister, she couldn’t share this with her. She simply wanted to forget it all.Perhaps after David’s funeral Hope and Edward Bradford would find peace, too. And if their hatred of her provided some release from the grief of losing their only child, well, so be it. She would never see them again. Tonight she’d be taking the next step in her plan to get as far away as she could from everything that had happened in the last year.
    With a sniff she straightened her shoulders and tried to smile. “I’m sorry I’m such a mess.”
    “Don’t apologize, silly. I’m just glad you’re back home. The guy Giorgio hired to replace you is like Martha Stewart on steroids. I think even Giorgio’s getting a little weirded out. He’s probably forgotten half the things he said when you told him you had to stay in Boston—”
    “I felt so bad leaving you guys in the lurch. It must have been crazy at La Dolce Vita.”
    “Everyone understood, even Giorgio in his heart of hearts.” Anna leaned forward with sudden energy. “Why don’t I call him for you, Tess? Tonight’s event was a birthday party for a ninety-year-old stockbroker who still plays ice hockey with his great-grandchildren and takes them out on his yacht every summer in Newport. It’s a small gathering, only forty people. It’ll be over by now.”
    This was it. Slowly Tess shook her head. “I can’t come back to La Dolce Vita, Anna. I’m leaving New York after Christmas.”
    “Leaving? For where?”
    “California.” It was as far away from Boston and the Bradfords as she could get without leaving the continent.
    “California.” From the way Anna pronounced it, Tess could