Sale or Return Bride

When she arrived in London it was pouring with rain, the sky cloudy and ominously grey. Thinking bleakly that the weather suited her mood, she took a taxi into London and arrived at the top hospital in time to talk to the doctor who was in charge of her mother’s care.

‘How is she?’ she asked anxiously and he gave her a sympathetic smile.

‘It was a big operation, as you know, but she came through it well until the last few days. Unfortunately she’s picked up a bug and we’re running a series of tests to identify the cause.’

‘Can I see her?’

‘If you’re Alesia then you are more than welcome,’ the doctor said immediately. ‘She talks about you constantly. I understand you’ve been working abroad?’

Alesia flushed. That was the story she’d given her mother as an excuse for not visiting before but suddenly she felt torn by guilt. She should have tried to come sooner—

But how could she? In order to fulfil the contract and get the money she’d had to play a role and without that money her mother couldn’t have had the operation.

Deciding that life was one long round of impossible decisions, Alesia followed the nurse to her mother’s room, tugging off her wedding ring as an afterthought and dropping it into her pocket.

At this moment in time her mother didn’t need to know that she’d married a Fiorukis.

Her first sight of the fragile, pale woman in the hospital bed made her choke back tears and she struggled for control. Her mother had enough to worry about without having to comfort her.

‘Mum?’

Her mother’s eyes flew open at the sound of Alesia’s voice and a wonderful smile spread across her pale face. ‘Darling! I didn’t expect you to visit.’ Her voice was so weak it was barely audible. ‘You thought you might not be able to for a while.’

‘It’s fine.’ Alesia swallowed hard and hurried across the room to give her mother a hug. ‘You’ve lost so much weight.’

‘Hospital food,’ her mother joked weakly, lifting a hand to stroke her daughter’s hair. ‘You look tired. And pale. Have you been working too hard? How’s the new job working out?’

‘It’s great,’ Alesia said, avoiding eye-contact and settling herself in a chair that had been placed beside the bed.

Her mother gave a sigh and her eyes drifted shut again. ‘Well, it was lucky for both of us that you got yourself that job when you did. And that it pays so well. If it weren’t for you—’

‘Don’t. I love you.’ Alesia gave a wobbly smile. ‘And I hated not being able to visit you—’

‘But you phoned every day,’ her mother murmured, ‘and you gave me the greatest gift that there is. The chance to walk again. Now we just have to wait and see whether the doctors have succeeded. Until this infection they were optimistic.’

‘They’re still optimistic.’ Alesia felt her eyes fill and struggled to hold back the tears.

‘Don’t cry.’ Her mother’s voice was gruff. ‘I rely on you to be strong. You’ve always been so strong. Even as a little girl you were fiercely determined.’

Alesia forced a smile. She didn’t feel strong or determined. She felt sliced into pieces after the events of the last few weeks, but she knew she couldn’t unburden herself on her mother. ‘I’m fine. Just a bit tired.’

And ill. She felt so sick.

‘How much time off have you been given?’

‘As much as she needs.’ A deep masculine drawl came from the doorway of the hospital room and Alesia sprang to her feet in shock, her heart suddenly thudding at an alarming rate as she stared at Sebastien.

He stood in the doorway, grim-faced and almost unbearably handsome, his lean, dark features set in anger. Gone was his characteristic cool. With one flash of those molten black eyes he told her everything she needed to know. That he was furious with her.

And then he dragged his gaze away from her, focused on her mother and the air hissed between his teeth. ‘Theos mou—I had no idea. You are alive. You survived the explosion.’

Alesia felt her insides plummet in panic. This was one scenario that she hadn’t prepared herself for. ‘I thought you were in Paris—’

‘Tracking my moves, Alesia?’ His eyes locked with hers, the derision in his gaze intensifying her guilt. ‘Well, now I’m back—’

Before she could find a suitable answer, her mother gave a strangled moan and covered her mouth with her hand.

Immediately Alesia forgot about Sebastien. ‘Mum?’ She leaned forward and felt her mother’s forehead, just frantic with worry. ‘Are you feeling worse? Are you sick? I’ll call a nurse.’ She reached for the buzzer but her mother caught her hand.