Christakis's Rebellious Wife(59)
Zarif appeared in the doorway. Tall and startlingly handsome with olive skin and very dark eyes, the young King of Vashir took in the situation at a glance and waded between his brothers, ducking a blow that would have sent him flying had he not been so agile. Mercifully that near miss of their sovereign was all it took to provoke Zarif’s four accompanying guards into plunging straight into the fight to forcibly separate the battling siblings. An exchange of furious Italian and Greek followed but Zarif flung open the door of Cristo’s study and said drily, ‘We will discuss this in a more private setting.’
Betsy dealt the younger man an appreciative appraisal, grateful for his intervention. While Zarif was technically merely a kid brother, he had been raised as an Arab prince in a royal palace and, having trained as a soldier and seen actual combat, he had a habit of command and a mature and level-headed presence far beyond his years.
‘Oh, my heaven, what have I done to this family?’ Belle was whispering, distraught, dashing her auburn hair off her brow in a feverish gesture. ‘I’ve caused so much trouble between the brothers. Cristo will never forgive me for opening my big mouth.’
‘No matter how he felt, Nik shouldn’t have just exploded like that and assumed the worst,’ Betsy breathed ruefully. ‘He should have talked it over with Cristo first.’
‘Nik would still have hit him,’ Belle opined without hesitation. ‘Nik’s very much the dark, jealous, passionate type.’
Somehow Betsy had never viewed her husband in that light before and her lashes fluttered in confusion.
‘And Cristo explained to me once that Nik’s not good with emotional things, which I suppose explains why you almost got all the way to the divorce court before it finally dawned on Nik that you’re still the most important person in his world.’
‘I wouldn’t put it quite like that,’ Betsy muttered uncomfortably, wishing that she could crash into Cristo’s study to find out exactly what was happening between the three brothers. It was the very first time that she had seen Nik lose his temper and his self-control to that extent and she was still in shock, her legs feeling a little wobbly at having been witness to the kind of violence she abhorred, even more particularly when it broke out between members of the same family. That welter of exchanged blows had torn apart the brothers’ close relationship and she was distressed by that reality.
‘Nik’s absolutely crazy about you!’ Belle protested. ‘And Cristo says he always has been...from the first moment he saw you.’
A lump formed in Betsy’s throat. Was it possible that Nik truly cared about her? That he could have been as misled as she had been about her own feelings? After all, hadn’t she believed that she hated Nik for a while? Hadn’t that been her way of coping without him? Her way of getting by and surviving life without him?
‘Cristo is just going to kill me for this mess,’ Belle muttered guiltily, tears sparkling in her lovely eyes. ‘I don’t always think before I speak. Deep down inside me, I never forgot that time when I believed Cristo might care more for you than for me—’
‘I don’t believe that could ever have been the case,’ Betsy countered staunchly.
‘Maybe I wanted to test you, see how you reacted,’ Belle acknowledged shamefacedly.
‘I’ve just never seen Cristo as fanciable.’ Intercepting Belle’s rather chagrined glance, Betsy smiled wryly. ‘There’s never been anyone but Nik for me.’
Her steps uncertain, Betsy approached the study door and knocked on it before opening it. From the threshold she peered in at the brothers, all three of whom were posed with varying degrees of strain and annoyance etched in their remarkably similar lean features. ‘I think we should go home now,’ she told Nik flatly.