By Royal Demand

by Robyn Donald

  At least she could take some satisfaction with what she'd done there.

  In spite of the too-white wall it now looked authentic she thought tiredly. Gone was the pretentious second-rate atmosphere the cheap attempt at sophistication and luxury. Now nothing was superfluous' once the stone pine walls were returned to their original mellow gold nothing would grate. The uncomplicated furniture and exquisite hangings and bedcover the chandelier newly polished by Marya and reinstalled by the castle handyman fitted the ambience as did the lamps on either side of the bed and the magnificent Persian carpet.

  But other decorators would have done this as well as she had-perhaps better. Others would now finish the redecoration. Gabe wouldn't want any reminders of her in the castle.

  As soon as she got out of here she was going back to Fala'isi the one place she could call home.

  And if that made her defeated well so be it. She crawled into bed pulled the covers over herself and let dull misery lull her into a kind of resignation.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  HER breakfast was delivered the following morning' dismayed Sara sat up and glanced at her watch as the maid approached the bed.

  ‘1 didn't know it was so Iatel' she exclaimed.

  The maid grinned and deposited the tray on her lap. ‘OK ' she said cheerfully, then smiled again and nodded at the tray. 'For you.'

  Sara looked down flushing when she saw the note there her name written in Gabe's strong handwriting.

  She waited until she was alone before opening it. No salutation no signature just an impersonal businesslike statement.

  1'11 come to your room in half an hour.

  She leapt out of bed.

  Half an hour later she'd forced down toast and coffee and an orange showered and dressed in jeans and a jersey and her boots and tied her hair back from her face in a very unsophisticated ponytail.

  Although she'd also gone through a set of breathing exercises that were supposed to keep her calm when she heard Gabe's knock on her door any benefit was lost in a rush of pure adrenalin.

  ‘Come in ' she said unclenching the hands at her sides and hoping he hadn't heard the betraying quiver in her voice.

  Tall and dark and dominant he walked into her room his ice-blue eyes hooded and his mouth severe. 'Good morning ' he said formally.

  His tone his air were like a slap in the face. 'Good morning ' she returned adding with a stark intensity that hid her bitterness ' The test was negative you'll be pleased to know.'

  Not a muscle moved in his handsome face yet she sensed a hardening in him a cold determination that sent a chill through her.

  He didn't answer directly. ‘can you come down to my office please'?' he said. 'There are things we need to discuss ' What on earth. . . ? 'Your cousin-' 'ls talking to his wife on the telephone.'

  An inexorable note in his voice warned her' she was going to have this discussion whether she wanted it or not. Anyway she thought defiantly as she walked beside him down the stone-flagged passages why should she shrink from this? Gabe couldn't hurt her any more than he already had.

  But oh how she wished they hadn't made love' before she'd been aware of him but now with every breath she took she felt his presence as though he'd somehow invaded her body marking her for all time as his possession. She could even taste him in her mouth. . . .

  Another person waited in the office looking uneasy and stiff.

  And on the desk stood the leather coffer that held the priceless Queen's Blood its lid open to reveal the brilliant cabochon-cut rubies in their chain of gold each crimson dome glowing in the morning sunshine. Beautiful and barbaric it possessed an aura that drew every eye.

  Sara's gasp was audible. ‘oh thank God ' she breathed almost giddy with relief.

  'Marya has something to tell you ' Gabe said evenly.

  The elderly maid looked at him and then at Sara her expression so woebegone Sara felt an involuntary pang of sympathy.

  ‘TeII her ' Gabe ordered.

  She began to speak in hesitant Illyrian but Gabe interrupted. ‘in English ' he said his voice so icily aloof that Sara flinched.

  Marya looked sideways at Sara and muttered miserably

  ‘1 took the Queen's Blood.'

  ‘1 know ' Sara said quietly, without looking at Gabe. ‘Why?' The old woman sighed. A test. The Queen set the Wolf three tests to see if he. . . if he. . . ' Searching for the right word she glanced imploringly at Gabe and said something in Illyrian.

  ‘Honourable ' he supplied his tone giving nothing away. He looked at Sara. ‘Itold you the story of the Queen who died on the mountain and was transformed into a sprite'?' Sara nodded wondering whether she'd by mischance stumbled into some Mediterranean fable.

  ‘Honourable ' Marya said nodding eagerly. After she marry him-still looking like old woman-like met' She gestured at herself and gave a lopsided smile. 'The first test. But on wedding day he kiss young beautiful woman-his. . . ' She hesitated then gave Gabe another beseeching look.

  He said crisply ‘His cousin apparently but the Queen thought she was his mistress. That night before they became true man and wife she showed herself in all her beauty and then disappeared. Presumably in a puff of smoke although no one has ever said so. However she left the Queen's Blood behind because she loved him.'

  Sara frowned. 'You didn't tell me-' His shoulders lifted in a shrug. ‘1 didn't think you'd be interested.'

  When the silence grew too long she said sl'm not sure I understand. I thought the Queen-sprite whatever-was an ancestor.'

  'she was. The rest of the story details how the first Wolf fought for his love and eventually won her and

  happiness by passing the tests she set him. Marya felt that I should be tested ' Gabe said adding indifferently, A test I clearly failed. AII right Marya you can go. But first you have an apology to make.'

  With dignity Marya said ‘1 am sorry to make you unhappy. But you are strong woman-and always best to know the truth.'

  What on earth did she mean? Sara said 'Why have you confessed now'?' Marya looked at Gabe who translated.

  She shrugged. 'You leaving so all over. Not good to go in anger. Not good for you not good for him.'

  'That's enough.' Gabe's voice was glacial.

  Mind churning Sara watched the maid leave the room shrunken but indomitable.

  She had so desperately wanted to know why Marya had stolen the necklace but the explanation didn't answer any questions.

  Gabe said with formidable restraint ‘I have to apologize too.'

  An apology would change nothing. Everything had been tainted by his distrust.

  On the other hand how would she have felt if she'd found Gabe in a similar situation? Struggling to rise above the black void of her own emotions she said huskily

  ‘strangely enough I'm glad she told you in the end. Why did she'?' 'Because she knew I was sending you away for good today ' he said grimly.

  She made a startled little sound and he went on. ‘I had no right to bring you here. My own strategy has rebounded on me and it serves me right. I know it's too late and this sounds like an excuse but possibly if I'd grown up here I'd have had some understanding of why Marya felt our relationship should be tested. I'm sorry.'

  Exhausted she gave a listless shrug. ‘1 suppose she was right in the long run-it's better to know the truth.'

  ‘l'm not entirely sure what she-or you-mean by that.'

  The satirical edge to the words lit a flame of anger in the wasteland of her emotions. ‘WeII when it came to the crunch you didn't trust me enough to believe me did you'?' He said curtly 'There was a reason.' But the statement sounded flat and unconvincing.

  ‘so give it to me.'

  Gabe looked at her and in spite of the total mess he'd made of everything his body stirred. Even with smoky shadows beneath her glorious eyes her beauty wielded too much power over him.

  Without thinking, he said ‘lt doesn't matter.'

  Her brows shot up and she looked at him with such utter d
isbelief that he made an abrupt and probably stupid decision. He turned and opened a drawer taking out the envelope he'd kept there for the past year-kept but never opened again after the first time.

  She gave him a startled glance when he handed it over but took it saying uncertainly, 'What is this'?' ‘Open it '

  With concentrated attention Gabe watched her face as she opened the flap and pulled out the glossy print scanning her features for any change of expression any sign of guilt or shame.

  Instead her brow wrinkled and the only emotion he could see was complete astonishment as though she couldn't believe what she saw there.

  But when she looked up her eyes were blazing and in a voice that shook with outrage she said 'What the hell is this'?' 'Notice the time and date ' he said some dispassionate part of him admiring her acting ability.

  She looked down. Silence taut as a bowstring stretched between them sharp with unspoken emotions. The colour faded from her skin leaving her white and suddenly haggard.

  Her voice uneven and thin she said 'This-this travesty purports to be taken the night of your cousin's wedding-the night Marya took the Queen's Blood.'

  At two in the morning, to be exact ' he returned deliberately. ‘Just after Marya discovered'' that the Queen's Blood had gone.' He paused and when she didn't say anything he added in a voice so coldly sarcastic that she flinched 61 may have been extraordinarily stupid but it doesn't take much intuition to guess how you and Hawke planned to occupy the rest of the night.'

  She'd been shaking her head as though she couldn't believe it but at his words she looked up, her eyes huge in her pale face her mouth trembling. ‘so this is why you were so sure I'd stolen the necklace. Why didn't you tell me'?'

  He shrugged. ‘Pride' he told her laconically, adding with lacerating self-derision ‘1 have as little liking as any man for being made a cuckold.'

  Sara swallowed. Her pictured face wavered in front of her eyes. The photograph was explicit' Hawke Kennedy was holding her in his arms looking at her with an expression that could have been desire. She was looking at him with what certainly appeared to be incredulous eagerness. And they were both naked-except that those weren't her breasts and she'd be prepared to bet that they weren't Hawke's shoulders either. He'd been fully clothed and she'd been wearing a wrap.

  ‘lt's a fake ' she said hoarsely, and let the photograph flutter to the ground as though it soiled her fingertips.

  ‘Do you think I didn't have it checked'?' She shook her head again stopping when she saw the hard constriction of his mouth. Why bother trying to make him see the truth when he so obviously didn't want to? Lassitude crept through her clouding her mind.

  'Where did you get it'?' A paparazzi had staked out your bedroom presumably stuck up a tree somewhere in the garden with a telephoto lens. I imagine he wanted photographs of us together.' His thin smile slashed at her.

  ‘lnstead he got this-you and Hawke Kennedy naked in each other's arms. I imagine he couldn't believe his luck and being astute he surmised he could well get more from me than from the newspapers. He was right.'

  At least she thought with an odd lift of her heart she now knew why he'd so flatly refused to believe her.

  'You were cheated. But Marya was right' it's always better to know the truth.' She swallowed calling on the last fragile remnants of pride to help her make it out of here.

  ‘our marriage wouldn't have stood a chance even if she hadn't got hung up on her old fair/ales and the paparnppo hadn't doctored that photo. I wonder how many other people he's done private deals with.'

  Although she kept her eyes fixed on some ancestor on the wall she sensed Gabe's predatory stillness.

  Adrenalin returned in another rush.

  ‘so nothing has changed? You deny this'?' She turned to stare him straight in the eye. ‘1 do deny it-absolutely and with as much conviction as I denied stealing the Queen's Blood ' she said steadily her heart beginning to thump unevenly as he started towards her the strong male contours of his face hardened by anger and contempt.

  Instinctively her arms came up to ward him off. 'Don't you touch met' He stopped so close to her that she could smell him the faint disturbing scent almost overpowering her willpower. Emotions raged through her but she couldn't let him take her in disdain again.

  ‘Are you trying to tell me that you don't feel anything for me'?' he asked the sardonic gleam in his narrowed eyes making her feel gauche and foolish.

  'Beyond lust'?' she fired back desperate to protect herself. 'Yes you can kiss me into submission. That means nothing and you know it-otherwise you wouldn't be sending me away.'

  His magnetism surrounded her splintering her defences as he bent the full force of his formidable will on her.

  But this time she would not surrender. Physical longing addiction-whatever this was-might be powerful but not as powerful as love And Gabe had never spoken of love.

  He didn't speak of it now. Instead he turned away, as though the sight of her was distasteful and said ‘TeII me one thing-how long had you been sleeping with Kennedy'?'

  How glad she was that she hadn't given in! 'The only time I touched him was when he gave me a hug after telling me that the Queen's Blood was gone ' she said woodenly. ‘presumably that's what the photographer caught. I don't care whether you believe it or not.'

  The silence in the room became oppressive. Sara stared blindly at the bank of computers the high-tech paraphernalia of modern business jarring and anachronistic against the massive stone wall and the vaulted arcade outside. Gabe might look like a twenty-first-century magnate who'd made his fortune using the most up-to-date information but at heart he was like his forebears a battle-hardened warrior with a fiercely territorial attitude.

  'Your clothes are already being packed ' he said at last his voice so cold she felt it to the marrow of her bones. 'The jet will take you to London.'

  'Thank you,' she said and turned and walked out of the room and out of his life.

  He made no effort to keep her. Why should he? What he got from her was available from any number of women.

  Back in the room she thought of now as hers she found her suitcase open on the bed and someone too familiar packing her clothes.

  'What are you doing here'?' she asked Marya bluntly.

  The maid cast her a look of entreaty and to Sara's astonishment began to weep her face wrinkling up as the tears slid down her cheeks.

  Sharply, the words tumbling over each other Sara demanded 'What is it Marya? What's the matter'?' ‘1 am wrong,' Marya sobbed. ‘1 not know-'Her English degenerated into choked words that Sara couldn't make out.

  'sit down ' she said gently pushing her onto the side of the bed and snatching up a box of tissues. 'Here wipe your eyes and tell me what's happened. Has Gabe sacked you'?'

  Marya gulped and hiccuped and blew her nose. ‘He not love you ' she wailed into the tissue. 'But you love him. His other women-not love him like you. So I want him to know-in his heart-'she struck her own chest with vigour a-how precious you are-to him. To test him ' she repeated as though the words were a charm.

  Sara nodded. Yet although Marya had realized that something was wrong with their relationship, she didn't understand that Gabe's desire was based on nothing more than a raging carnality that would have burned out within months.

  ‘Go on,' she said quietly, walking across to the armoire to pull out the skirt she'd worn that first night.

  Settling down enough to twist the tissue in her work-hardened hands Marya leaned forward and said earnestly

  And he unhappy when you go-went ' she corrected herself. ‘1 thought Soon he know she never steal the Queen's Blood. But no-so he don't love you? Better to know before than after the wedding. I wait and wait.

  Then going to tell him where the Queen's Blood is. But then he bring you here so he love you.' She stared at Sara accusingly. 'But it all go wrongs Even after you share a bed it go wrongl' Colour stung Sara's cheekbones. 'Because he doesn't love me.' She folded the skirt and put i
t in her case each small practised movement an echo of finality.

  ‘He does he does' Marya insisted. ‘I see him look at you-and none of his other women he look at like that.'

  She took a deep breath and calmed herself-and her syntax-down. 'But he is Considine-face like fallen angel and will of iron and too many women wanting his money and his body and his power' She darted a glance at Sara.

  ‘He afraid.'

  ‘Gabe'?' Sara barely managed to rein in a hysterical bout of laughter. ‘He doesn't know what the word means.'

  Marya screwed up her face. 'You wrong too. He knows. I tell him ' she said scrambling to her feet. And then you will stay, and he will be happy, and the Queen happy, too.'

  Sara whirled around. ‘1 know you love and respect him but you don't know him Marya. I'm not staying. And trying to convince him that he's in love with me will only make him angry. It wouldn't make any difference anyway because I won't marry a man who doesn't trust me enough to believe me.'