Now, when it was too late, Lee wished she had told Michael the complete truth. But how did you tell a man that you were being blackmailed by a letter you had never written? In not challenging Gilles to do his worst, she had already tacitly admitted that Drew would believe she had written that letter, and why should Michael not do the same?
‘In fact it could work out very nicely for us, altogether,’ Michael commented, not entirely joking. ‘As your husband Gilles would be sure to sell us his lesser quality wine. We’ve won the award for the best supermarket suppliers of wine for the last two years, and I’d like to make it three in a row, which would be almost definite if we get this wine.’
Her vague hope of appealing to Michael for some solution faded; he was, after all, first and foremost, a wine buyer, Lee reminded herself fairly, and as far as he knew what Gilles was proposing was merely an arrangement between friends.
‘Well, Comtesse,’ Michael commented with a grin, ‘I’d better let you get some sleep. When’s the wedding to be, by the way?’
‘I haven’t given Gilles my decision yet,’ Lee protested lightly.
‘Umm—well, I can’t see him accepting it if it isn’t in his favour,’ Michael warned her. ‘Your husband-to-be didn’t strike me as a particularly persuadable man, my dear, so I should tread warily if I were you.’
Lee was already awake when dawn streaked the sky. She washed and dressed, then hurried downstairs. The house might have been deserted. In the courtyard where they had arrived she could hear the soft coo of doves. The clatter of horse’s hooves over the drawbridge warned her that she no longer had the morning to herself, and she shrank back into the shadows as Gilles rode into the yard, astride a huge black stallion. Man and animal made an impressive picture, and Lee held her breath as they walked past her, unwilling to be found watching like a voyeur of two intensely male creatures.
The housekeeper stopped her in the hall, and Lee wondered how such a large woman managed to move so quietly, materialising almost as though by magic. ‘Le petit déjeuner will be served in the small salon,’ she told Lee in repressive tones, her eyes sliding over the slim-fitting rose linen trousers Lee was wearing with a soft cream blouse and a matching rose linen sleeveless tunic.
It was on the tip of Lee’s tongue to deny that she wanted anything to eat, but to do so would be an admission of defeat, and something in the housekeeper’s eyes told her that the woman would dearly love to see her humiliated.
She paused by the stairs, her eyes drawn against her will to the portrait she had noticed before.
‘René de Chauvigny,’ Gilles commented quickly behind her, his hand on the banister over hers, preventing her flight. ‘He was with Napoléon at the sack of Moscow and saved the Emperor’s life. For that he was given these estates, which had belonged to his family before the Revolution, but which had passed into the hands of a second cousin who hated his aristocratic relatives enough to send them to the guillotine without compunction. The man you see portrayed there was little better. He stole a young Russian girl away from her family, ravished her and then married her. The family legend has it that the Chauvigny betrothal ring was part of her dowry. So much did she hate her husband that she locked herself in one of the towers and refused to come out.’
Lee was appalled, contemplating the poor girl’s fate. ‘What happened to her?’
Gilles laughed mirthlessly. ‘If you’re comparing her fate with yours then don’t. My foolish relative made the cardinal error of falling deeply in love with his captive bride, and the story goes that upon learning that he loved her enough to send her back to her parents, the girl relented and came to love him in turn. What is more like it is that she discovered that languishing alone in a tower can be dull and lonely, and decided to make the best of matters. Whatever the truth, she bore my ancestor three sons and two daughters.’
‘She must have been very lonely and frightened.’
As she was frightened, Lee admitted, although not for the same reasons. How could she keep this temporary marriage a secret from Drew? She would have to tell him. If only she had told him about the letter, this would never have happened. But she had seen no reason—or perhaps suspected that he would not understand; that he too would condemn her for something for which she was not to blame. For the first time Lee wondered exactly how much value she put upon Drew’s trust, if she was already doubting that it existed, and wasn’t mutual trust, after all, a very important cornerstone for any marriage?
‘Do not try to pretend that you are frightened,’ Gilles taunted. ‘Or is that why you hid from me in the shadows of the courtyard?’
So he had seen her! Lee turned, her eyes already darkening angrily, and found herself trapped against the banister, the warm, male smell of him invading her nostrils; his chest darkly shadowed beneath the thin silk shirt. She ought to have been repelled by such maleness. She preferred fair-haired men, men whose bodies were not so openly masculine, and yet some deeply buried nerve responded to the sight of his bared chest and long tanned throat in a way that made her lips part in soft dismay, her eyes clouding in disgust at her own reaction. Had Gilles been right after all? Was she the sort of woman who responded only to the savage maleness of men?
‘Come, I have not yet had your answer; not yet heard from those sweet untouched lips that you will be my bride,’ Gilles jeered. ‘But then we both know that you will, don’t we, Lee?’
‘I don’t have any choice in the matter. If I don’t …’
‘I will acquaint your fiancé with exactly what sort of female he is introducing to his correct Puritan family. Does he not care about all the men who have passed through your life, Lee, or is he so besotted that he has convinced himself that none of them matter?’
‘Why should they?’ Lee lashed back furiously. ‘Not all men think it essential to find themselves an untouched virgin for a wife. Would you respect the academic whose chooses only to debate with those of inferior intellect? Or perhaps that’s why men like virgins; it prevents women from discovering their shortcomings!’
‘You wouldn’t by any chance be issuing me a challenge, would you, Lee?’ Gilles probed softly. ‘Your body is very desirable—more desirable than I remember.’ He studied her with insulting thoroughness; her soft breasts, outlined by the creamy fabric of her blouse; her narrow hips and long, slim legs. ‘But no, I have no wish to be landed with you permanently, although any allegations you might make would hardly stand up in a court of law. Still, it might be as well were you to sign a document stipulating that this marriage will last only so long as I decree.’
His arrogance took Lee’s breath away.
‘You can’t believe I would want to prolong it?’ she exclaimed bitterly. ‘I can see no means of escaping from it, and much as it goes against the grain I shall have to agree, but make no mistake about it, Gilles. I’m not sixteen years old any longer. I’m not impressed by your chauvinistic machismo …’
‘Marriage is a very intimate undertaking, and who is to say what you will and will not feel?’
‘I love Drew, and I hate you. This farce of a marriage can’t be over soon enough for me. And I should like my engagement ring back.’
‘You shall have it—when our marriage is dissolved. For now, you will wear this.’
Lee gaped at the emerald ring he was sliding on to her finger. It was huge, glittering green fire through the darkness of the hallway, and as he slid it on to her finger Lee heard Gilles exclaim triumphantly, ‘As I thought! It matches your eyes exactly. So, now we are betrothed.’ And before Lee could stop him, his hands had left the banister to grasp the soft flesh of her upper arms, his dark head blotting out what little light there was as his lips grazed hers in a kiss which was more a stamp of possession than any tender gesture.
CHAPTER THREE
THEY