The Mistress's Secret

"Are you mad?" Her voice was hollow.

"Are you mad," he echoed harshly, "to imagine I will leave my nephew here, to be raised in this dump?"

"There's nothing wrong with this flat! It's clean and in a quiet part of town! It's all I could afford once I'd —"

Her voice broke off.

Another emotion worked in Leon's face. He stood up.

"Why did you do it, Alanna?" There was something strange about his voice.

She shut her eyes, then opened them again. She looked at Leon but did not see him. Saw only the tormented face of his brother — her husband. Who had married her to save her — and himself.

And doomed them both.

"How could I keep it?" she answered brokenly, staring down into her coffee, unable to keep looking at Leon.

A sound like a rasp came from his throat.

"How? Very easily I imagine! It's what you married him for — his money!"

Her fingers tightened on the teaspoon. She lifted her head.

"For financial security — and I kept enough to ensure that!"

His mouth tightened, and he glanced involuntarily around the little kitchen at the old fashioned appliances, which she was not able to afford to replace, and the worn vinyl flooring.

She met his eyes. "I'd been poor before, Leon," she said quietly. "It wasn't so hard to go back to being poor. And Nicky is having a good childhood — I don't have to work; I can be with him all the time. This is a decent suburb; he's having a normal life. I know it's not normal by your standards, but for most of the population this is perfectly adequate. When he goes to school I'll start working, and that will bring in more money as Nicky grows older."

"And when he asks for his father?"

The question was harsh — her answer strained.

"Many children now have no fathers. There's no stigma."

His brows drew together. He looked formidable suddenly, and she felt a tremor go through her.

"Stigma? Why should there be a stigma in being the son of my brother — and his wife?"

Her fingers clenched. "I — I meant…" Her voice trailed off.

Leon's eyes rested on her like weights.

"The point is irrelevant. All that is relevant is that the child needs a father — and he will have one."

Her gaze stretched, uncomprehendingly.

"He will have me," said Leon. "As his stepfather I will adopt him, and he will grow up as my son. And you —" a sardonic note entered his voice "— you will attain the very goal you once longed for. You will be my wife after all!"

As he spoke, every last shred of color drained from her face.

The dream she had once had so long ago had just turned into a nightmare.

Chapter Seven

"You don't mean that — you can't." Alanna's voice was faint.

Shock was starting to take over — shock upon shock. She couldn't cope, not with what had happened in the space of less than an hour….