The Holiday Escapes Collection. Sandra Marton

Emily said with a borderline reproachful glance in Charlotte’s direction.

      ‘I am sure your mummy was worried about your things taking up too much room,’ Alexandrine said graciously.

      ‘Do you have a swimming pool?’ Emily asked as she slipped her tiny hand into her grandmother’s outstretched one.

      ‘Yes, we do.’ Alexandrine smiled. ‘Would you like to see it?’

      Emily turned to Charlotte with a beseeching look. ‘Can I, Mummy?’

      Charlotte nodded, her face cracking on a smile. ‘Of course you can.’

      ‘Can you swim?’ Emily asked her grandmother as they made their way through the house to the sun-drenched terrace outside.

      ‘But of course,’ Alexandrine replied. ‘Can you?’

      ‘Only a little bit,’ Emily confessed as her thumb began to move towards her mouth. ‘Mummy has been taking me to lessons but I’m not berry good.’

      Damon turned to Charlotte once they had gone, his expression softened with concern. ‘Are you all right? You look very pale.’

      Her body slumped on a sigh. ‘I don’t know why I feel so exhausted,’ she said, rubbing the centre of her forehead. ‘Maybe it’s the heat.’

      ‘It is certainly a change from what you are used to, although as far as I could tell Sydney was not having a particularly cold winter.’

      ‘Would you mind if I lie down for a while?’ she asked.

      ‘Of course not,’ he said with another one of his rarely used smiles. ‘My mother will relish this opportunity to get to know her granddaughter.’

      ‘If Emily needs me, please wake me up,’ Charlotte said a few minutes later when Damon had shown her to their room.

      ‘Do not worry about her,’ he said as he pulled a cool sheet over her. ‘She will undoubtedly soon crash from jet lag just as you are doing now.’

      ‘I never used to suffer from jet lag,’ she said as she brought a hand up to cover her aching eyes. ‘I used to trip between time zones without a problem.’

      ‘You have been working hard for the last few weeks,’ he reminded her.

      ‘Yes…’ Her soft sigh deflated her chest as she nestled into the pillows and closed her eyes. ‘I guess you’re right…It’s been one hell of a month…’

      ‘If you do not feel up to joining us for dinner, do not worry,’ he said. ‘I can get the housekeeper to bring something up to your room.’

      Charlotte felt her stomach shrink away at the thought of food and buried her head further into the soft-as-air pillow. ‘I’m not hungry…’

      ‘My mother is the happiest I have seen her in two years,’ he said after a long silence.

      She opened her eyes to look at him. ‘I’m glad…I really am…’

      ‘The loss of a child is huge in a mother’s life,’ he said, looking down at his hands for a moment before bringing his dark, unreadable eyes back to hers. ‘I hope you will forgive me for threatening to take Emily from you. If things do not work out between us, I will try to ensure she has regular contact with you.’

      ‘Thank you…’ she murmured, wondering if she could trust him to keep his word.

      ‘You have been a good mother to her,’ he said. ‘Do not be hurt by her occasional divided loyalties. It is understandable that she will be trying to work out who is now in charge. Children do that in order to feel secure; there is nothing personal in it, I am sure.’

      ‘I could never afford the toys you’ve bought for her,’ she said, not quite able to remove the hint of resentment in her tone.

      He put his hand on her shoulder, the warmth of his palm seeping through her skin like a brand. ‘I am only trying to make up for lost time. The things I buy for her are not bribes to win her away from you.’

      Charlotte did nothing to hide the cynicism in her eyes as they connected with his. ‘I can’t compete with overseas holidays and expensive gifts. I can only give her myself.’

      His hand dropped from her shoulder as his expression tightened. ‘You at least have had that opportunity for the last three years. I have not.’

      She buried her head into the pillow, her voice sounding muffled as she spoke. ‘Please close the door. I don’t want to be disturbed.’

      ‘I do not like it when you turn away from me when I am speaking to you.’

      ‘Get over it.’

      She heard his indrawn breath, his anger at her curt dismissal pulsing in the air. ‘Look at me, Charlotte,’ he commanded.

      She flipped over to her back to fling him a frosty look. ‘Just because we’re married doesn’t mean you can order me about all the time. If you wanted a compliant wife, then you should have married someone of your own culture. No doubt they would have sat at your feet licking your boots in subservience. If I don’t want to look at you, I won’t and there is nothing you can do to make me.’

      His eyes flickered with fury at her mutinous glare, his hands in tight knots by his sides as he ground out, ‘You are the most maddening woman I have ever met. I am trying to bring about peace in our relationship and yet you consistently resist all of my attempts to effect a truce.’

      Her eyes flashed back at him. ‘I don’t trust you, that’s why. For all I know, you could be leading me up the garden path, making me fall in love with you all over again before you snatch Emily away from me.’

      ‘It is not my intention to have you fall in love with me.’

      Charlotte felt her anger draining away to make room for her disappointment. She felt it gradually filling her chest until she could scarcely breathe for the weight of it. She fought hard to hide it from him, schooling her features into bland indifference. ‘Good, then at least you won’t be setting yourself up for disappointment.’

      ‘That is what I figured,’ he returned with equal indifference. ‘Love would only complicate our situation as it stands. We share the bond of a child and at the moment a lingering attraction that will no doubt burn itself out in time.’

      A small frown found its way back to her forehead. ‘So what happens then?’ she asked.

      ‘We will deal with that when it happens,’ he answered evenly.

      ‘Are you talking weeks or months or years?’

      His dark eyes were as unfathomable as ever as they held on to hers. ‘I would hazard a guess and say it could take some time for me to flush you out of my system.’

      She rolled her eyes in disdain. ‘You make me sound like some sort of unpleasant stomach virus.’

      His mouth stretched into an unwilling smile. ‘That is indeed what it feels like at times,’ he conceded.

      ‘Yeah, well, you’re more or less a major pain in the rear end for me too,’ she tossed back.

      He was still smiling. ‘I will come in later to check on you.’

      She turned her head back into the pillow. ‘Don’t bother.’

      ‘It is no bother; besides, my mother will suspect something is wrong if I do not act like a devoted husband. She is delighted we are together again.’

      Charlotte lifted her head out of the downy pillow to look at him. ‘Why? Has she suddenly changed her mind about what happened four years ago?’

      ‘This may surprise you, but my mother always found it difficult to believe you were responsible.’

      She hunted his expression, hoping for some sign of his own belief in her innocence, but as far as she could tell there was none. The blade of his gaze relentlessly