Tamsin took a puff on her cigarette and sighed with relief, then grinned widely.
“You marched full steam ahead into his lawyer’s office and negotiated. Boy, did you put him in his place. No one has ever done that. You are famous for it. You got everything you wanted for your client. And for Raoul it was love at first sight. He was so impressed he asked you out to dinner and the rest is history. You are the only one who has ever really stood up to him and he loves you for it. That’s why he had to marry you.”
“Really?” Sabrina chuckled. “He is quite a formidable character and he certainly likes to have his own way. He won’t even let me leave this house.”
Tamsin stared at her in amazement.
“Can you blame him? He’s never forgiven himself for what happened.”
Tamsin looked wistful for a moment.
“I remember what he was like when you were being stalked.”
She stopped, worried she’d said something wrong and given something away she shouldn’t have.
“It’s all right, I remember,” Sabrina informed her, sheltering in the doorway.
“Well, Raoul was fiercely protective. He collected you from work every night. He bullied the police into finding out who it was and hired people to double the security on the chateau.”
She began to laugh.
“A couple of us were here for the weekend when you had a row with him about it. You told him you felt suffocated and you could damn well look after yourself,” she said accurately imitating how Sabrina would have told him. “You nearly hit him when he said he wasn’t so sure. He was so angry with you for trying to deal with this man on your own. You tried to leave in disgust and go back to Paris to stay with me. He made you get out of the car and carried you back into the house when you refused to go back in. He even locked you in one of the tower rooms until you came to your senses and asked us to leave. He was going to have a stern discussion with you that weekend and force you to learn some rules of marriage,” she grinned. “I walked into a room and found you over his knee receiving a very much needed bare-bottom spanking. I have to say, Sabrina, if I had been your husband and you had kept all of that from me, I would have spanked you myself,” she finished with conviction.
Sabrina widened her eyes with amusement and surprise when the scene came to rest unexpectedly and vividly in her mind. She’d been so angry and embarrassed Tamsin had seen her in such a humiliating position, then riled when her friend had encouraged Raoul to spank her hard.
“I don’t think I will ever forgive you for not confiding in me about it. Never mind your husband. I do have to say it looked pretty hot,” she giggled. “I think I would like a man to take me in hand.”
Tamsin was staring into space looking wistful again. Sabrina got a fleeting memory of her looking the same way at a boy at school. She widened her mouth into a sensuous coy smile as he looked in her direction, making him trip over his laces, unable to tear his eyes away. Only Sabrina remembered there was nothing coy about Tamsin, quite the opposite where men were concerned.
“You took offense at his caveman attitude. Well, at least on the outside, but I think you secretly liked it. All I know is by the end of the weekend, you became more accepting of Raoul’s need to domineer and protect you in a loving way. I thought Raoul was being devastatingly sexy, the way he was protecting his woman. If you ever leave him and you don’t want him back, you can always pass him on to me,” she grinned and laughed, but the glint in her eye told Sabrina she meant it.
Sabrina groaned inwardly. Tamsin was yet another woman to be on her guard about and her best friend to boot. She decided to ignore Tamsin’s comment.
“Yes, he is a bit of a caveman,” Sabrina acknowledged in amused reflection.
“But you have to acknowledge that a part of you loves him to take care of you. You can’t possibly deny it,” she told Sabrina matter-of-factly. “I know you too well, Sabrina. You want him in control of you.”
Sabrina smiled. Tamsin had her assumption dead-line centre. There was no argument. Raoul satisfied all her needs and desires just as he had vowed to do on the day of their marriage. Her wish was his command. She sighed and nodded.
“He only wants to do the right thing, Sabrina. He shut down when you disappeared. He locked himself away in this fortress, the only place he felt close to you. The police blamed him at first and so did others. I still can’t believe they actually thought he had murdered you. It took a lot for him to pull himself through it all.”
Sabrina felt it then. Her already deep affection and attraction to Raoul was taking on new strength and knocking down her defences. The realisation made contact with her soul with the force of a punch, making her cry unexpectedly for what he’d been through at her expense.
“Sabrina, what’s wrong? What did I do?”
Tamsin’s arms were suddenly around her, desperately trying not to burn her with the cigarette.
“I keep getting memories of feelings, thoughts, images, everything. I try to hold on to them; some of them stay, but the others vanish. I feel so empty when they go. I remember Raoul and what he meant to me and how much I love him. Then it goes and he’s like a stranger again. I can’t believe I could forget my own husband.”
“Sabrina, I feel so helpless. I don’t know what to do for you.”
“I just feel as though I could tell you anything in the world, yet I don’t know who you are.”
“I am your best friend, even if you don’t remember I am.”
Sabrina nodded.
“So dry your eyes, Sabrina, and tell me what blanks I can fill in so you are fully armed when we go downstairs and face the vultures,” Tamsin said, giving her a wicked grin.
* * *
Tamsin led Sabrina down the stairs. Sabrina bit her lip, knowing fine well that her presence would cause a stir. She didn’t want to see them all looking at her as if she was the main attraction in a freak show. She didn’t want to feel them watching, wondering what she remembered about them.
Sabrina glanced at Tamsin and took a deep breath before entering the drawing room. The soft murmur of pleasant conversation hushed into an eerie silence as her presence was noticed. If she’d ever wanted to make a grand entrance, this was it. She felt apprehension flutter inside as she frantically searched the sea of faces looking for any familiar characteristics. Nothing.
Some of the strangers looked on in disbelief as if they were witnessing the presence of a ghost. Others looked confused, even afraid. Three didn’t look surprised at all, merely smiled with glee at the others, having been close enough to the couple to be let in on the secret of her return. There was no sound in the room; all she could hear was the hiss and spit of the wood burning in the open fire. Raoul was suddenly by her side.
“Sabrina, let me introduce you to our friends.”
Sabrina allowed Raoul to introduce her to the strangers cluttering the large room filled with antique furniture, which she had a distant memory of having chosen herself.
“Sabrina, this is my brother Luc.”
Luc Valoire was dark and handsome, just like his brother, but he lacked the unmistakable masculine firmness and definition to his frame and facial characteristics. His appearance was reckless; a devilish dark shadow lined the contours of his jawline, giving him a magnetic rough charm that would attract more than his fair share of women. But his wide smile that bore down on Sabrina gave him a dangerous, almost leering countenance that activated her guard. Her fleeting memory told her he was a man that loved to live life to masculine excess without apology and took what he wanted without remorse. He was a constant headache for his older brother, who more times than enough had sorted out his gambling debts and disagreements with angry husbands.
Luc reached out to put his arms around his sister-in-law, but Sabrina found herself taking two steps back before she even realised what she was doing. Her back hit a solid muscled wall, Raoul. His arm slipped protectively around her shoulders.
“One step at a time, Luc. To Sabrina, e
veryone in this room is a stranger, including myself.”
Luc frowned but nodded, watching Raoul’s fingers trace the smooth skin of Sabrina’s shoulder as though he was mesmerised. But his attention was quickly turned when a woman appeared by his side, wearing a revealing backless blue dress that clung seductively to her tall svelte body. His arm slipped around her waist.
“And you already know Cressida.” Raoul’s voice was stiff.
“How could I possibly forget?”
Sabrina smiled condescendingly, holding the reins of her irritation and outrage tight. She couldn’t believe Raoul had the nerve to invite his mistress to dinner. But now was not the time or the place and she was damned if she was going to give Cressida the satisfaction of seeing her lose control.
Cressida looked her up and down, assessing her appearance in comparison to her own and gave her a mocking pitiful smile. Sabrina clenched her fist at her side, wishing she could wipe the smile off Cressida’s face.
“Raoul, the snow is falling heavily. It makes the grounds look quite beautiful. Wouldn’t it be romantic if we were snowed in together all weekend.”
Raoul laughed.
“Yes, it would be romantic,” he said, looking down at Sabrina.
Sabrina felt her shoulder shrink from his grasp. She was desperately trying to maintain her absolute faith in Raoul, but Cressida was now making it extremely difficult with her presence.
“Well, I think it’s time we went into dinner, everyone. If you’d all like to go through, Sabrina and I will join you in a moment,” Raoul instructed.
Sabrina ducked to move out of Raoul’s hold. She took up position at the fireplace for the second round of their battle regarding the issue of his infidelity. Irritated by the slow movement of their guests from the room, she drummed her fingers against her folded arms.
“I had no idea she was coming,” he said quietly, his voice as smooth and rich as dark chocolate.
She tried to ignore the caress it made over the ache of her restless anger and anxiety. She spun on her heel.
“Liar.”
It was a vicious accusation, tripping all too easily from her mouth.
Raoul’s eyes darkened, but his voice retained its spellbinding smoothness. She’d never been able to resist the French language; now he was using it to every advantage to calm her.
“Luc brought her with him, just to cause trouble like he usually does. He had no right. I thought at least on this occasion he would behave himself.”
He turned to one of the tall windows and looked out at the heavy snowfall.
“I would ask them to leave, but I’ve been informed the roads are blocked. They are predicting more heavy snowfall and it looks like we will be cut off.”
Sabrina said no more. Too hurt and confused.
Francine entered the room, stopping their conversation dead.
“Monsieur Valoire, Madame Valoire’s brother has arrived.”
Julian Michaels rushed into the room. He hadn’t even taken his coat off and he was moaning about the French traffic and the snow holding him up. He stopped and stared at Sabrina.
“Sabrina, it really is you.”
Julian Michaels’s handsome fair features paled for a moment and then a smile widened his mouth and lit his face, providing it with much needed warmth. He rushed to put his arms around her and hugged her close. She felt such warmth and sibling love in his embrace and it pained her that she was incapable of reciprocating.
He looked down at her with deep affection, studying her features, staring into her eyes for the merest hint of recognition. She watched his face crumple with dismay. But he expertly covered the betrayal of emotion quickly. There was determination in his voice that signalled that he would not allow his unhappiness to spoil the reunion. Sabrina looked at him with glassy eyes.
“I’m so glad you are alive and well. Sabrina, I have missed you so much. It just hasn’t been the same. It doesn’t matter that you can’t remember me. That will all come in time.”
She glanced at Raoul. He was leaning against the white fireplace, striking a tall formidable pose. He was as still as one of the sculptures in the Louvre, carved from perfect smoothly toned muscle. He watched Julian with suspicion. Sabrina felt her back straighten with affront as her distant mind acknowledged her need to protect her brother. There was a tension in the air between the two men. Both were too formal in their language with each other. Julian kissed the top of her head.
“I’m going to take you back to London. I have doctors waiting in Harley Street to help you retrieve your memory.”
“Sabrina is not going anywhere.”
Both brother and sister turned to face Raoul.
“Sabrina is not leaving the chateau,” Raoul repeated with heavy warning in his tone.
Julian pulled his sister protectively to his side. Sabrina felt her heart begin to thud with anxiety.
“Sabrina is coming with me,” Julian insisted. “She isn’t staying here one moment longer in this house. I want her home with me. She came to me the night of the ball to tell me you were having an affair and she wanted a divorce. She is coming with me.”
Sabrina’s eyes shot questioningly at Raoul. One dark eyebrow rose, making the pit of her stomach throb with a pleasurable ache. Raoul straightened to his full height.
“I will not continue to defend myself. I am not, nor have I ever had an affair. And Sabrina has no reason to be afraid of me. I would never hurt her, I love her. But then you have never been able to cope with that, have you, Julian?”
“My sister did not imagine anything, Raoul.” Julian continued, ignoring Raoul’s question.
“Look, that’s enough, both of you. Who do you think you are? I am here, you know. Stop talking about me as if I am not here. Don’t I get a say in my own life?” Sabrina interrupted.
Both men were suitably silent. She stared at them, angered by their lack of response.
“I am staying, Julian. I want to find out what happened to me. Once I know the truth, then I will make decisions about my marriage,” she announced with authority.”
She turned on her heel and made her grand exit from the room, ignoring both men and their argument.
Chapter Ten
Sabrina glanced around the table at the faces of the guests in the flickering candlelight. Beatrice and Jacques were married and worked with Sabrina as lawyers. Clearly their relationship was strained with Jacques’s wavering eye that frequently rested on Cressida, roved around to Tamsin, and finished with Sabrina herself. Marie-Claire and Floren were very much in love and planning a family. Alain and Sophie were Raoul’s top executives. Both were eyeing her nervously.
Maxim was unnerving. Maybe because he was a police inspector; she didn’t know. His eye wandered around the table as frequently as her own did, but with more suspicion. He also made her feel uneasy. Then there was the bitch from hell, Cressida, pawing Luc Valoire whilst trying to catch Raoul’s eye. But Sabrina was having her own battle with Luc; his constant vigil of every move and lift of her eyes made her feel scrutinised and embarrassed. He wore the same knowing smile on his lips that Raoul often did.
Then there was Raoul, the man who she was beginning to remember as husband. He did not engage her in conversation and spent most of his time watching his guests with dark suspicion. And her brother didn’t stop watching Raoul and Cressida with a steely eye. If it weren’t for Tamsin’s constant attention, she would have left the room. By the end of the meal, Sabrina was feeling isolated and anxious about everyone. These people were strangers. She knew nothing of their lives, hopes, and dreams. And their conversation amongst each other made her feel ignored once they had recovered from their initial shock of her miraculous return.
By the time coffee was served in the lounge and further stories of the life she didn’t know were recounted with amusement, she couldn’t take anymore. The room full of people made her feel like a freak and lonely with the unnerving notion that they all knew more about herself than she did. Luc’s constant
staring and Alain’s nervous suspicious looks made her want to seek the solace of sleep. Once she was sure Tamsin and Raoul were both engaged with conversation, she slipped unnoticed from the room.
“Going somewhere?”
It was Cressida, standing at the bottom of the stairs. She mounted them and stopped on one down from Sabrina. She smoothed her red-tipped fingers over one of the straps on Sabrina’s dress, a flute of champagne in her other hand.
“I suppose it would be tiring and quite uneasy to be in a room full of people who know you much better than yourself,” she smiled, pausing to take a sip of her drink and lean against the marble balustrade. “Maybe they know things you don’t? Such as how much Raoul prefers the company of my bed to your own.”
“Really?”
Sabrina faked indifference, watching the vixen’s cherry lips pout when she didn’t receive the reaction she was looking for.
“He only wanted you back so he could prove he didn’t kill you. He wants a divorce so we can be married. You were never good enough for him, you could never give him what he wanted and needed in his bed. You were always so inhibited; that’s why he always came to me…”
Sabrina’s hand shot out in a reflex action, swiping neatly across Cressida’s polished face. Cressida’s eyes narrowed, but she laughed.
“You should pack your bags and leave. He doesn’t want you now. Make it easy for him to get a divorce. Or maybe I should tell him about the affair you were having with Luc. I’m sure he would love to hear the details of your torrid affair with his brother.”
“You lying bitch.”
Sabrina’s hand shot out again, but Cressida caught her wrist.
“Do as you are told and nobody will know anything. Then you won’t be responsible for tearing a family up, especially when old delightful Maman Valoire is recovering from a stroke. You wouldn’t want to make her ill again by putting a rift between her sons, would you?”
Sabrina wrenched her hand free. She was about to retaliate with disbelief when Luc appeared. Sabrina gave him a thunderous look as he smiled wickedly.
Conquering Sabrina Page 10
