'Thank you for the vote of confidence.'
But Sarah was suffering from increasing turmoil. He was threatening her but that alone would not have plunged her into her current slough of self-examination. What threatened her most of all was her very first acknowledgement of Alex as a male with feelings and possible frailties of his own.
He was very bitter. Three weeks ago, she hadn't given two hoots for that, would have felt equal to holding off Alex with one hand and an army with the other. Grieving for Callie, distraught with bitterness and fiercely driven by her own need for revenge, Sarah had closed her eyes to one inescapably basic reality. Damon was the male who had lied to Callie, got her pregnant, abandoned her, neglected to support her and furthermore lied about herto his brother. Acting on information received, Alex had moved into action. Damon could have gone ahead and married Callie, defying his brother, if he had wanted to. But the simple truth was that Damon hadn't wanted to marry Callie and indeed had scarpered, leaving Alex to extract him from an embarrassing situation.
So Damon was the real sinner but Alex was the one making the sacrifices. Dear God, how come that was only penetrating her confused brain now? Why had the entirety of her hatred focused solely on Alex Terzakis? He had been a far more worthy opponent on which to target her rage than his wimpy little brother, who had been assiduously careful to put in only the most fleeting appearance at Callie's funeral. Yet she had forced Alex to make restitution on Damon's behalf.
Sarah felt suddenly like someone emerging into the sunlight after a long period of being lost somewhere underground. 'It's not too late to change your mind, admit you had a brainstorm and that you really didn't mean it,' Gina had urged over and over again before the wedding. But Sarah had been deaf and blind to such persuasions. She had had a Terzakis male in her sights and she had taken aim and fired in the name of revenge.
And for Nicky, she reminded herself. And for Nicky. Unfortunately, it was only now registering that she had just about wrecked Alex's life while Damon got off scot-free and that was not justice. From below her fluttering lashes, she appraised the husband she had acquired by force, collided electrifyingly with fierce golden eyes as hot as flames and hurriedly dropped her gaze again, a dismaying sinking sensation afflicting her stomach. Bloody hell, girl, she said to herself furiously, this is not the time to lose your bottle!
CHAPTER FIVE
A chAteau in the Loire Valley...what else for a Terzakis? Sarah asked herself as the limousine wafted them at a stately pace down an avenue girded on both sides by a marching procession of huge lime trees, their graceful, pendent foliage shimmering as the light breeze played with the leaves.
'How long have you lived here?' Sarah was entranced enough to speak freely as a resplendent building, fashioned of pale creamy stone and built in the classical tradition, began to come into view at the foot of the avenue. 'Gosh...it's huge!' she gasped when she belatedly absorbed the two wings curving back in symmetrical style from the three-storey-high central block.
"This was my mother's family home.'
'She was French? When did she die?' Sarah asked, suddenly thirsty for information.
'When I was a child,' Alex retorted in a quelling tone that suggested she was trespassing on forbidden territory.
Sarah bent her head, suddenly embarrassed by her own adolescent excitement. But she had never been abroad in her life before, hadn't even crossed the Channel on a day trip to Calais. It was very difficult to take her abrupt change in circumstances coolly in her stride when she was faced with a fabulous chateau looking like something out of a fairy-tale.
Without warning, Alex leant forward to stare out incredulously at the female figure surging out of the palatial main entrance towards their car as it drew to a halt. He ground out a stifled imprecation in his own language and then groaned out loud. Momentarily, beneath Sarah's astounded gaze, he looked like a male waiting for an express train to drive over him—helpless.
'If you dare to betray by even a hint that Nicky is not our child, I will kill you,' Alex hissed half under his breath.
And the way he looked at her, Sarah believed him. 'But who is-----?'
She got no further. The chauffeur opened the car door. The small blonde woman, waiting impatiently, enveloped her straight into an enthusiastic and affectionate embrace.#p#分页标题#e#
'I'm your mother-in-law,' she said cheerfully.
'Sarah, this is 'Vivien, my stepmother-----'
'Always so precise when anybody could tell you that I've loved him like my own for over twenty years,' Vivien sighed.
'You're English,' was all Sarah could find to say weakly, feeling engulfed.