The Secret Wife

REVENGE? Stunned by the accusation, Rosie reacted on instinct. Sliding out of bed at speed, she made an unwittingly pleading movement towards Constantine.

‘Forget it. The last thing on my mind right now is that deceptively tempting little body of yours!’ Constantine asserted with biting derision.

Swept by abrasive dark eyes, Rosie suddenly felt appallingly naked. She grabbed up the towel lying on the rug by the bed and hurriedly wrapped it around her. ‘Where did you get that photo from??

?

In answer, Constantine withdrew a whole handful of photos from the envelope and cast them down on the mattress like a thrown gauntlet. ‘Rosie from birth to the age of nine. And not a happy child according to this pictorial account. You’ve got tears in your eyes in half of them and what look like slap marks all down your leg on another.’ His deep, dark drawl wavered slightly and his eloquent mouth compressed hard. ‘I imagine Anton was suitably tortured in receipt of such heartbreaking reminders of your existence. Theos ... your mother must’ve been bitter!’

‘Maybe.’ Her tortured breath caught in her throat. ‘I did try to tell you who I was—’

‘And your mother taught you that same bitterness,’ Constantine stabbed as if she hadn’t spoken, murderously bright golden eyes lancing into her.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘You were planning to unveil yourself as Anton’s child only when Thespina was present to enjoy the full effect of your revelation.’

Rosie’s eyes flew wide, shock freezing her facial muscles. ‘I would never have done that! Never!’

‘Well, you certainly weren’t about to waste any time trying to convince me of your true identity, not once you’d had the opportunity to think the idea over,’ Constantine condemned between gritted teeth. ‘Keeping quiet was much more fun, wasn’t it?’

Hopelessly confused by his attacks, Rosie gasped, ‘I still don’t understand—’

In one powerful stride, Constantine reached her and closed two strong hands round her slender forearms to force her closer. ‘Christos... you were waiting for your moment and hoping to cause the maximum damage. You weren’t prepared that day in London when Thespina arrived without warning. But you told me—you just blurted it out like a bad joke and then you never referred to the subject again. OK, I didn’t listen, but you made no real attempt to convince me that you were serious! What was I supposed to think?’

‘I had no way of making you believe me. I have no proof of who I am!’ Rosie protested fiercely.

‘Anton had the proof and you must have known that. You didn’t even care that this file might have fallen into Thespina’s hands!’ In unconcealed disgust, Constantine thrust her back from him again.

‘I didn’t even think about it, for heaven’s sake. Do you think I was expecting my father to die?’ Rosie prompted jerkily. ‘And Anton never mentioned any file to me... What’s in it?’

‘Your history from birth. Evidently he knew every damn thing about you before he even approached you!’

The news shattered Rosie. There had been so many painful events in her life which she had deliberately not shared with her father. She had wanted to protect him. And yet all the time he had known exactly what her life had been like.

‘How did Anton get involved with your mother?’ Constantine demanded.

Rosie’s legs wouldn’t hold her up any longer. She sank down dizzily on the side of the bed. ‘His secretary was sick. Mum was an agency temp. Their affair only lasted a few weeks before he finished it—’

‘Because my parents died and Anton and Thespina became my legal guardians. I imagine you’ve often thought how very different your life might have been had that not happened.’

It was strange, Rosie registered in deep shock, but she had never made that final connection until Constantine made it for her. Almost twenty-one years ago, she had been accidentally conceived when Anton’s marriage was on the rocks. And then ironically, within weeks of her conception, a tragic car crash had quite miraculously given her father and his wife the child they had both been longing for. A nine-year-old boy had become their shared responsibility and had effectively healed the breach between them. And that little boy had been Constantine.

‘I never appreciated that timing before...not properly,’ she admitted tautly. ‘But Anton had no idea that my mother was pregnant when they parted. He didn’t find out until it was far too late for him to try and help her.’

‘No, he got a photo and a cold little note through the post telling him that he was the father of a daughter he could never know because your mother had married another man. When the photos stopped coming, I assume that he couldn’t live with his curiosity any longer and he started looking for you.’

‘He didn’t even know my stepfather’s name... he had so little to go on and a couple of times he gave up.’

‘Christos ... you must hate me as much as you hate Thespina for the life you have led!’ Constantine ground out half under his breath. He swung violently away from her as if he could no longer bear to look at her. Every powerful line of his lean, muscular body sizzled with whip-taut tension.

‘I don’t hate anyone.’ But Rosie still felt ashamed because she could remember occasions before her father’s death when her resentment of his legitimate family had risen to explosive proportions... only that had been before she had met Constantine and Thespina and before she had made herself face reality.

‘Anton didn’t love my mother,’ she pointed out tightly. ‘He never stopped loving Thespina. Even if he had known about me, he wouldn’t have divorced her for my mother. I think she knew that and that’s why she never gave him a choice.’

‘You didn’t give me a choice either,’ Constantine condemned with ringing bitterness. ‘You allowed me to go on thinking that you had slept with Anton. Even when you knew that that belief was tearing me apart, you let me go on believing it!’

‘I kept on telling you that we weren’t lovers—’