Bond of Hatred(29)

Androula...'looking a bit peaky and strained,' ac-cording to her mother. Sarah broke out in a cold sweat of discomfiture. Dear God, she had been so wilfully blind in refusing to see the view from the other side of the fence! Sarah had been outraged when she'd realised that Damon had gaily married another woman while Callie was carrying his child—it had been the final insult in Sarah's book! She had regarded Androula as her sister's triumphant rival.

But how triumphant could a newish bride be, faced with the knowledge that another woman was having her husband's child and then ultimately being presented with the demand that she take on that same child and bring it up as her own? Sarah wasn't a bit surprised that Vivien's daughter was looking strained. After all, at what point had Androula learnt of Callie's condition? Before or after the wedding?

Sarah groaned out loud. Suddenly she was being forced to face yet again that there was another side to the coin of her own bitterness. Clearly Androula was suffering too and she was an entirely innocent party.. Damon, she reflected grimly, spread misery wherever lie went, it seemed.

Her luggage was brought up by a manservant and then a maid arrived to tell her that dinner would be served in an hour. The maid stayed to unpack. Sarah hovered, uneasy at being waited on for the very first time in her life, and in the end took refuge in the en-suite bathroom to freshen up and change for dinner. That achieved, she employed her schoolgirl French to the task of asking di­rections to the nursery.

Nanny had put up the barricades all right. Nicky was tucked into a great brass cot, fed, changed and put down for the night. 'He's settled... finally,' the older womanstressed before Sarah could cross the threshold of the room.

'Great...'

'It wouldn't be a good idea to disturb him.'

Gritting her teeth, Sarah withdrew again. If she dis­turbed her nephew and he started to cry, she would be leaving Nanny to cope while she went down to dinner.

'And I'll be retiring now, Mrs Terzakis. I'm very tired.'

'I'll see to his night feeds,' Sarah said cheerfully.

Nanny looked at her in amazement. 'Not at all, madam. There is no necessity for that. I'll manage to­night and tomorrow, I believe, some help will be ar­riving—a young girl to step in for the late feeds and cover for my time off.'

Glory be. Nicky was going to be under twenty-four-hour surveillance! Sarah went downstairs at speed, her wide green eyes furious. Nicky was being taken over by staff hired by Alex. Sarah was being replaced and made superfluous.

A hovering manservant, evidently awaiting her arrival in the hall, flung wide the door of the dining-room.

'I hate unpunctuality.'

Alex was standing by a massive fireplace, cradling a drink in one brown hand. As she took in his immaculate appearance in a tailored dinner-jacket, Sarah tensed, ac­knowledging her first social error. She should have put on the single evening gown she had purchased. Did he dress up every night to dine?

She took her seat at one end of the long, polished table, lit by an ornate set of silver candelabra, and ran an uncertain hand through her tumbling hair, intimi­dated, though the sensation ran strongly against her natural spirit.

'Your stepmother's very nice,' she murmured. 'Astonishingly nice actually. She made me feel very welcome.'Alex's expressive mouth twisted sardonically. He sig­nalled the manservant. A minute later all the candles on the table had been doused and the great chandelier above had been illuminated to shed blinding light on the vast contours of a room which had been romantically shrunken into intimacy by the candles.

'The staff may believe we have something to cel­ebrate; I do not.'

Sarah appraised his darkly handsome features, an odd tugging pulling at the pit of her stomach and interfering with her thought processes. But his gesture of cynical rebellion against the expectations of his servants made her want to throw something at him. The staff were not to know that this was not a normal wedding night, and the exquisite flowers adorning the table made it obvious that Alex's staff, presumably encouraged by Vivien, had gone to a lot of effort.

Alex took one outraged look at the oyster starter de­livered and swore only half under his breath. Oysters were supposed to be an aphrodisiac, Sarah reflected, her fine complexion wreathed by sudden colour. She won­dered if Alex was thinking what she was thinking. Vivien had been very busy. Not that she could eat the oysters anyway. Sarah had once had a very strong allergic re­action to seafood and she hadn't touched shellfish since.

'How does it feel to be my wife?'

It was a rough demand. Startled, Sarah glanced up from her untouched plate. She was shaken by the seething quality of his glittering golden eyes. They seemed to reach down the table and threaten to go for her throat. All of a sudden she was very grateful that they were seated a ludicrous distance apart.