For Love or Money Bundle (Harlequin Presents)

by Sarah Morgan

  CHAPTER NINE

  ALESIA spent a sleepless night feeling sicker and sicker and totally miserable. Remembering what the doctor had said about her swallowing water when she’d fallen in the swimming pool, she assumed the nausea would go away at some point and tried to ignore it.

  She longed to find Sebastien but she had no idea where to look for him and she wouldn’t have known what to say even if she found him.

  She was guilty as charged.

  She had deceived him. She had lied. She had married him for money.

  He was right. How could she possibly defend the indefensible?

  His opinion of her shouldn’t have mattered, but somewhere along the way she’d fallen crazily in love with him and the knowledge that he clearly hated her depressed her in the extreme.

  The situation was irretrievably bad and she’d already decided that she might as well leave and go back to London when he stalked into her bedroom, dressed in a sleek designer suit, looking every inch the successful billionaire businessman that he was.

  Struggling with nausea that refused to shift, Alesia sat up in bed, trying not to let the longing show in her face. The fact that she wanted him so badly that she ached wasn’t relevant. He didn’t want her.

  ‘I’ll leave today,’ she said shakily, unable to hold that penetrating dark gaze for more than a few painful seconds. ‘You can’t divorce me but you don’t have to live with me and I promise I’ll—’

  ‘I came to apologize,’ he muttered stiffly, cutting through her awkward attempt to bridge the silence between them with his customary impatience. ‘Last night I lost my temper. There’s no excuse for that.’

  He was apologizing to her?

  She blinked. ‘You have every right to be angry—’

  ‘Last night you looked very ill—’ His gaze swept over her and a frown touched his bronzed forehead. ‘You still look ill.’

  She gave a wan smile. ‘I think it was just swallowing the water—I feel a bit sick, but I’m fine—’

  His eyes slid back to hers but the frown remained. ‘Today you must rest. Spend the day in bed,’ he ordered, his tone cool and formal. ‘We’ll talk later.’

  She gave a sigh. She felt flattened and exhausted by the intense outpouring of emotion. ‘There’s nothing to talk about, Sebastien,’ she said quietly. ‘We both know that. You clearly can’t bear being in the same room as me, so I’ll leave today.’

  For some reason his tension seemed to increase. ‘I don’t want you to leave,’ he breathed, tension spreading through his powerful frame and making the air throb and sizzle. ‘You are my wife.’

  ‘A wife who can’t give you children,’ she reminded him painfully, and he inhaled deeply.

  ‘That may be true, but you are still my wife and you will not leave.’

  Alesia felt her insides give a leap. Was he thinking about how happy their week together had been? Was he growing fond of her? Was he—

  ‘Last night I was so angered by what I had heard I wasn’t thinking clearly,’ he confessed in a raw tone, turning away from her and pacing towards the window. ‘But on reflection I can see that you have led an extraordinarily difficult life. Because of the accident on my parents’ boat you were left orphaned at a shockingly young age with no means of financial support. All your life you have worked and slaved to keep a roof over your head and food on the table. It is hardly surprising that, presented with an opportunity to improve your circumstances, you took it. You blamed my family for the death of your parents and for your own injuries.’

  ‘Sebastien—’

  ‘Let me finish,’ Sebastien interrupted. He turned and dark eyes collided with hers. ‘Whatever caused the explosion, my family was ultimately responsible for what happened that day and we should take responsibility for that.’

  She swallowed painfully. ‘What are you saying?’

  ‘That you have a right to the life you have chosen,’ he said stiffly, turning again and staring out of the window. ‘My family owes you and I intend to honour that debt. You will remain as my wife and you will continue to receive the allowance we agreed. How you spend it is entirely your decision.’

  Flayed by the knowledge that his desire for her to remain as his wife was driven totally by his sense of responsibility rather than anything deeper or more personal, Alesia flopped back against the pillows.

  She didn’t want to stay here under those circumstances and yet how could she do anything else? She needed Sebastien’s money to support her mother. She had no choice but to stay. And if he hated her for what she’d done—well, she’d just have to live with that.

  The next few weeks dragged by.

  Sebastien spent most of his time at the office and returned home after she’d fallen asleep. He slept in a different room, as if to emphasize the fact that he could no longer stand the sight of her.

  Days passed without them laying eyes on each other and, on the rare occasions that they met at a meal table, he was polite and courteous but kept a distance that filled Alesia with utter misery. His tense civility was worse than his anger.

  And, to make matters worse, the sickness hadn’t passed as the doctor had predicted. If anything it was worse but she hid the fact from Sebastien because she knew that he already felt ridden with guilt for having thrown her in the swimming pool.

  The final straw came when she rang the hospital to check on her mother only to be told that she’d developed a rare infection and was dangerously ill.

  Stricken with guilt that she hadn’t somehow contrived to visit her mother before now, Alesia packed a bag and asked Sebastien’s driver to take her to the airport.

  The chances were he wouldn’t miss her, she reasoned as she watched Athens slide past from the comfort of the passenger seat. She knew he had a business meeting in Paris because she’d watched him board the helicopter that morning from the window in the drawing room.

  Like a lovesick teenager, she often stared out of the windows of his Athenian villa, hoping for a glimpse of him.

  How had this happened?

  How had she managed to fall in love with him?

  But she knew the answer to that, of course. From the moment she’d first laid eyes on him the extraordinary tension had been there between them. She’d entered the marriage full of contempt and determined to hate him, but those feelings had rapidly grown into something very different.

  When she’d sorted out this latest crisis with her mother, she’d find a way of getting over Sebastien, she vowed as she slid out of the car with her small bag and quickly dismissed the bodyguard who had insisted on accompanying her to the airport.

  She spent the whole flight to London trying not to be sick and decided that as soon as she got the chance she was going to have to consult a doctor. She must have picked up some bug or other from the water she’d swallowed.

  When she arrived in London it was pouring with rain, the sky cloudy and ominously grey. Thinking bleakly that the weather suited her mood, she took a taxi into London and arrived at the top hospital in time to talk to the doctor who was in charge of her mother’s care.

  ‘How is she?’ she asked anxiously and he gave her a sympathetic smile.

  ‘It was a big operation, as you know, but she came through it well until the last few days. Unfortunately she’s picked up a bug and we’re running a series of tests to identify the cause.’

  ‘Can I see her?’

  ‘If you’re Alesia then you are more than welcome,’ the doctor said immediately. ‘She talks about you constantly. I understand you’ve been working abroad?’

  Alesia flushed. That was the story she’d given her mother as an excuse for not visiting before but suddenly she felt torn by guilt. She should have tried to come sooner—

  But how could she? In order to fulfil the contract and get the money she’d had to play a role and without that money her mother couldn’t have had the operation.

  Deciding that life was one long round of impossible decisions, Alesia followed the nurse to her mother
’s room, tugging off her wedding ring as an afterthought and dropping it into her pocket.

  At this moment in time her mother didn’t need to know that she’d married a Fiorukis.

  Her first sight of the fragile, pale woman in the hospital bed made her choke back tears and she struggled for control. Her mother had enough to worry about without having to comfort her.

  ‘Mum?’

  Her mother’s eyes flew open at the sound of Alesia’s voice and a wonderful smile spread across her pale face. ‘Darling! I didn’t expect you to visit.’ Her voice was so weak it was barely audible. ‘You thought you might not be able to for a while.’

  ‘It’s fine.’ Alesia swallowed hard and hurried across the room to give her mother a hug. ‘You’ve lost so much weight.’

  ‘Hospital food,’ her mother joked weakly, lifting a hand to stroke her daughter’s hair. ‘You look tired. And pale. Have you been working too hard? How’s the new job working out?’

  ‘It’s great,’ Alesia said, avoiding eye-contact and settling herself in a chair that had been placed beside the bed.

  Her mother gave a sigh and her eyes drifted shut again. ‘Well, it was lucky for both of us that you got yourself that job when you did. And that it pays so well. If it weren’t for you—’

  ‘Don’t. I love you.’ Alesia gave a wobbly smile. ‘And I hated not being able to visit you—’

  ‘But you phoned every day,’ her mother murmured, ‘and you gave me the greatest gift that there is. The chance to walk again. Now we just have to wait and see whether the doctors have succeeded. Until this infection they were optimistic.’

  ‘They’re still optimistic.’ Alesia felt her eyes fill and struggled to hold back the tears.

  ‘Don’t cry.’ Her mother’s voice was gruff. ‘I rely on you to be strong. You’ve always been so strong. Even as a little girl you were fiercely determined.’

  Alesia forced a smile. She didn’t feel strong or determined. She felt sliced into pieces after the events of the last few weeks, but she knew she couldn’t unburden herself on her mother. ‘I’m fine. Just a bit tired.’

  And ill. She felt so sick.

  ‘How much time off have you been given?’

  ‘As much as she needs.’ A deep masculine drawl came from the doorway of the hospital room and Alesia sprang to her feet in shock, her heart suddenly thudding at an alarming rate as she stared at Sebastien.

  He stood in the doorway, grim-faced and almost unbearably handsome, his lean, dark features set in anger. Gone was his characteristic cool. With one flash of those molten black eyes he told her everything she needed to know. That he was furious with her.

  And then he dragged his gaze away from her, focused on her mother and the air hissed between his teeth. ‘Theos mou—I had no idea. You are alive. You survived the explosion.’

  Alesia felt her insides plummet in panic. This was one scenario that she hadn’t prepared herself for. ‘I thought you were in Paris—’

  ‘Tracking my moves, Alesia?’ His eyes locked with hers, the derision in his gaze intensifying her guilt. ‘Well, now I’m back—’

  Before she could find a suitable answer, her mother gave a strangled moan and covered her mouth with her hand.

  Immediately Alesia forgot about Sebastien. ‘Mum?’ She leaned forward and felt her mother’s forehead, just frantic with worry. ‘Are you feeling worse? Are you sick? I’ll call a nurse.’ She reached for the buzzer but her mother caught her hand.

  ‘No.’ Her voice sounded scratchy and her eyes were fixed on Sebastien. ‘For years I’ve thought about you. In my dreams. In my darkest moments. You were always there.’

  Alesia looked at her mother in consternation. She hadn’t expected her to recognize Sebastien but clearly she did and it was equally clear that she hated him. The last thing she needed now was this sort of shock and it was all Alesia’s fault.

  She should have guessed that Sebastien would follow her.

  She never should have come.

  She turned to Sebastien, desperate to rescue such a disastrous situation. ‘You’re upsetting her. I think you should leave,’ she pleaded urgently, taking her mother’s hand in her own and squeezing it tightly. ‘We can talk later—’

  ‘If that is what your mother wants, then of course I will respect her wishes,’ Sebastien said roughly, walking into the room with his customary air of purpose. ‘But there are clearly things that need to be said.’ He turned to Alesia’s mother. ‘I had no idea you were alive.’

  Alesia closed her eyes. They just didn’t talk about the accident any more. Her mother found it all too distressing. ‘Please, will you go—?’

  ‘I don’t want him to go.’ Instead her mother stretched out a hand towards Sebastien, her blue eyes so like her daughter’s brimming with unshed tears. ‘Not until I’ve thanked him. If you only knew how much I’ve longed to thank him but I had no way of discovering who he was and tracing him. I didn’t know his name—’

  At that confusing declaration Alesia stared in astonishment and, to her surprise, Sebastien stepped up to the bed and took the hand that was offered, enveloping slender fingers with his own large, strong hand. ‘No thanks are needed. Not then and not now—and I had no idea who you were until very recently.’

  ‘There were so many people on the yacht that day—’

  Alesia glanced between them in confusion. ‘Mum—?’

  ‘How did you make contact with him?’ Her mother turned towards her and the tears spilled over and trickled down her pale cheeks. ‘You knew how much I wanted to find the man who rescued me. Without a name, how did you ever find him, you clever girl?’

  The man who had rescued her?

  Stunned into silence, Alesia sat still, unable to speak or move for a long moment. When she finally managed to produce words, her voice was croaky. ‘This was the man who rescued you when the boat exploded?’

  That couldn’t be true.

  It couldn’t have been Sebastien.

  ‘And you. He rescued you too,’ her mother said, a tremulous smile on her face as she looked at Sebastien. ‘He risked his life so many times going under the water to find you. I saw you on the gangplank only seconds before the explosion. I knew you were in the water, probably too badly injured to help yourself. I was screaming and screaming for someone to save my baby.’

  ‘Your mother was trapped under wreckage on the boat,’ Sebastien said gruffly, his dark eyes shadowed by the memory. ‘She refused to cooperate with any sort of rescue until I’d found her daughter.’

  Alesia was in shock. The vision in her head. The man she remembered. ‘It was you?’ Her voice was barely audible. ‘The man who rescued me—the man I remember—that was you?’

  His jaw tightened. ‘I didn’t realize myself until the night when you told me your story,’ Sebastien confessed, lines of tension visible around his dark eyes. ‘I realized then that it had to have been your mother that I’d rescued but I had no idea that she was still alive. Philipos informed everyone that she had died along with Costas.’

  ‘That’s what he wanted people to believe. He wanted me out of his life. You went back on to the boat to rescue others,’ Alesia’s mother said quietly, ‘and the ambulance took the two of us to hospital. I asked everyone about you but no one knew anything. Then Dimitrios had us flown to England and I was forbidden from ever visiting Greece again. We kept our identity secret under his instructions.’

  Sebastien frowned, every inch of him suddenly alert. ‘How could he make such a threat? How could he prevent you from visiting? And why?’

  Her mother closed her eyes. ‘He hated me from the first moment that Costas brought me home to Corfu. When Costas was killed there was no one to defend me. He threatened to take Alesia from me,’ she said wearily, ‘and bring her up as a Greek. As his own. He didn’t really want her. It was just a threat to punish me. Few people know just how evil that man is. There was no way I wanted him near my daughter. I agreed to disappear. To break all contact. It suited him. It
was what he always wanted.’

  ‘He paid you to disappear?’ Sebastien’s eyes darkened with shock and disapproval and Charlotte Rawlings gave a tired laugh.

  ‘Pay? Dimitrios? That shows how little you know him. No, he didn’t pay me a penny.’

  Sebastien stilled. ‘But you were severely injured with a young daughter to support—how did you manage? You had family of your own to care for you?’

  ‘I had no family, and I managed because my daughter is a unique and very special person,’ Charlotte said in a gruff voice and Alesia coloured.

  ‘Mum, I think you should rest now—’

  ‘Not yet.’ Sebastien tightened his hand around her mother’s. ‘Please—if you can manage it, I really need to hear the rest of this story.’

  ‘Alesia recovered remarkably quickly from her injuries and she was a bright little thing.’ Charlotte smiled lovingly at her daughter. ‘One of the doctors who was treating me and knew our circumstances suggested she try for a scholarship at a top boarding school. She was accepted. It was a difficult decision but the right one. I was having endless operations. In the holidays she stayed with one of her tutors and they brought her to see me all the time.’

  Sebastien was listening intently, all his attention focused on her face. ‘Go on—’

  ‘By the time she went to university I needed all sorts of care that we had to pay for.’ Charlotte shot her daughter a tortured look. ‘Alesia worked night and day to provide for me. She would do anything. And when she discovered that there was a chance that this operation could help me walk again she got herself this amazing job in Greece—’

  A tense silence followed that announcement and Alesia closed her eyes, waiting for Sebastien to tell her mother the truth.

  ‘You should rest now,’ he said calmly, standing up and arranging the sheets more comfortably around her mother, ‘but before we leave you for a while, I have one more question. Why, when Alesia grew up and he could no longer take her away, did you not ask Philipos for money once again? You are his only family. He had a duty to provide for you.’