Sale or Return Bride

She gave a sigh. She felt flattened and exhausted by the intense outpouring of emotion. ‘There’s nothing to talk about, Sebastien,’ she said quietly. ‘We both know that. You clearly can’t bear being in the same room as me, so I’ll leave today.’

For some reason his tension seemed to increase. ‘I don’t want you to leave,’ he breathed, tension spreading through his powerful frame and making the air throb and sizzle. ‘You are my wife.’

‘A wife who can’t give you children,’ she reminded him painfully, and he inhaled deeply.

‘That may be true, but you are still my wife and you will not leave.’

Alesia felt her insides give a leap. Was he thinking about how happy their week together had been? Was he growing fond of her? Was he—

‘Last night I was so angered by what I had heard I wasn’t thinking clearly,’ he confessed in a raw tone, turning away from her and pacing towards the window. ‘But on reflection I can see that you have led an extraordinarily difficult life. Because of the accident on my parents’ boat you were left orphaned at a shockingly young age with no means of financial support. All your life you have worked and slaved to keep a roof over your head and food on the table. It is hardly surprising that, presented with an opportunity to improve your circumstances, you took it. You blamed my family for the death of your parents and for your own injuries.’

‘Sebastien—’

‘Let me finish,’ Sebastien interrupted. He turned and dark eyes collided with hers. ‘Whatever caused the explosion, my family was ultimately responsible for what happened that day and we should take responsibility for that.’

She swallowed painfully. ‘What are you saying?’

‘That you have a right to the life you have chosen,’ he said stiffly, turning again and staring out of the window. ‘My family owes you and I intend to honour that debt. You will remain as my wife and you will continue to receive the allowance we agreed. How you spend it is entirely your decision.’

Flayed by the knowledge that his desire for her to remain as his wife was driven totally by his sense of responsibility rather than anything deeper or more personal, Alesia flopped back against the pillows.

She didn’t want to stay here under those circumstances and yet how could she do anything else? She needed Sebastien’s money to support her mother. She had no choice but to stay. And if he hated her for what she’d done—well, she’d just have to live with that.

The next few weeks dragged by.

Sebastien spent most of his time at the office and returned home after she’d fallen asleep. He slept in a different room, as if to emphasize the fact that he could no longer stand the sight of her.

Days passed without them laying eyes on each other and, on the rare occasions that they met at a meal table, he was polite and courteous but kept a distance that filled Alesia with utter misery. His tense civility was worse than his anger.

And, to make matters worse, the sickness hadn’t passed as the doctor had predicted. If anything it was worse but she hid the fact from Sebastien because she knew that he already felt ridden with guilt for having thrown her in the swimming pool.

The final straw came when she rang the hospital to check on her mother only to be told that she’d developed a rare infection and was dangerously ill.

Stricken with guilt that she hadn’t somehow contrived to visit her mother before now, Alesia packed a bag and asked Sebastien’s driver to take her to the airport.

The chances were he wouldn’t miss her, she reasoned as she watched Athens slide past from the comfort of the passenger seat. She knew he had a business meeting in Paris because she’d watched him board the helicopter that morning from the window in the drawing room.

Like a lovesick teenager, she often stared out of the windows of his Athenian villa, hoping for a glimpse of him.

How had this happened?

How had she managed to fall in love with him?

But she knew the answer to that, of course. From the moment she’d first laid eyes on him the extraordinary tension had been there between them. She’d entered the marriage full of contempt and determined to hate him, but those feelings had rapidly grown into something very different.

When she’d sorted out this latest crisis with her mother, she’d find a way of getting over Sebastien, she vowed as she slid out of the car with her small bag and quickly dismissed the bodyguard who had insisted on accompanying her to the airport.

She spent the whole flight to London trying not to be sick and decided that as soon as she got the chance she was going to have to consult a doctor. She must have picked up some bug or other from the water she’d swallowed.