Seduced by a Stranger by Silver Eve Read Free Book Online

her seat, her skirt brushing St. Aubyn’s knee as she passed.
    He studied her for a moment, then set his cup on the tray and rose. His expression did not change, yet Catherine recognized something dark swimming just beneath the surface. It gave her pause.
    “No, thank you. I have overstayed my welcome,” he murmured, his voice taut. “Please excuse me.”
    There was something frightening there, something at odds with his controlled manner and golden good looks. He appeared for the moment to be a creature of mystery and shadow, and Catherine watched him with the caution she would afford a predator, half expecting him to burst into a tumult of energy and power.
    But her expectations were not met. Instead, he strode from the room without a backward glance, leaving her alone with Madeline. She had wanted exactly this, yet she felt oddly out of sorts as she watched him depart. His presence had been a stimulant, though in all truth, not a pleasant one. She was left wondering why in heaven’s name she would regret its loss.
    As the faint shush of his footfalls on the carpet faded away, she had the incongruous realization that his hair had dried and lightened during their strange, tense time together. It was not so dark as honey, after all.
    Madeline stared at St. Aubyn’s now empty chair and shuddered. “I am glad he is gone. We…” She shook her head and sighed. “We do not get on well.”
    An understatement. It was apparent that they loathed each other, could not bear to be in the same room. The question was, why? A mystery Catherine meant to investigate. But now was not the time to force inquiry on Madeline. She would wait for a moment of calm and amiability.
    Striving for normalcy, she arranged a choice of small cakes on a plate and attempted to entice Madeline to sample the fare. Her friend looked at her in somber silence, and then shook her head, a tear trickling from the corner of her eye.
    “I dare not,” she whispered.
    “Dare not have a tart?” Catherine asked, instilling the question with cajoling good humor. “Not even one? I thought I recalled a fondness for sweets…”
    Madeline cast a glance at the open door, and lowered her voice further still. “Poison. They lace my food with poison. Some days it is there, the bitter almond taste so strong on my tongue that it makes me retch. Other days, there is nothing. They only try to keep me guessing, to confuse me and make me question my own perceptions.”
    A chill crawled across her skin, but not by word or manner did Catherine betray her shock. Surely such accusation was fueled by fiction rather than fact. What had happened to make Madeline so afraid, so distant from the world, so lost in her own terrible imaginings?
    “But I would like more tea,” Madeline murmured.
    Catherine set the plate on the bed and turned to pour Madeline another cup of tea. Madeline accepted it with thanks, and Catherine lifted the plate once more. Determined to show Madeline that there was nothing to fear, she lifted a tart from the plate, sniffed it and, sensing naught amiss, took a dainty bite.
    “No!” Madeline reached out, her hand fluttering weakly, the cup rattling, tea sloshing over the rim onto the saucer.
    Catherine took the cup from her and set it aside, then took another bite of the tart. She was not particularly hungry, but she thought perhaps seeing her eat the offered cake might entice Madeline to do the same. She looked so small and frail and weak lying on the wide bed. So afraid.
    “It is quite tasty,” Catherine said. “There is nothing to fear.”
    With a sharp cry, Madeline crushed the coverlet in her curled fingers. “Oh, but there is. I tell you, there is.”
    Her gaze holding Madeline’s as she chewed and swallowed, Catherine finished the tart. It tasted of raspberry.
    Only after a moment did she wet her lips and frown, wondering if a faint bitter taste of almond did, in fact, linger on her tongue. Resisting the urge to cross to the washstand and