The Holiday Escapes Collection. Sandra Marton

memories of Eleni with this would be unforgivable.’

      Charlotte let out her breath in a stuttered stream. ‘No…I guess you’re right. It wouldn’t do to burst Damon and Alexandrine’s bubble right now.’

      ‘Emily is doing a power of good,’ Iona said. ‘I have not seen Alexandrine smile for months and yet in the company of your little girl she beams from ear to ear.’

      ‘Do you think there will ever be a time when I can clear my name?’ Charlotte asked.

      Iona gave her a long and studied look. ‘I think Damon will come to that realisation himself, if he hasn’t already. Besides, wouldn’t it be better for him to believe you because he has come to trust you rather than because someone proved your innocence?’

      Charlotte could see the sense in Iona’s point, even though she desperately wanted to be cleared of any wrongdoing.

      ‘I saw the way he looks at you, as if he cannot quite believe you are back in his life,’ Iona continued. ‘He might not be ready to admit to his feelings, but he definitely feels something.’ She paused delicately and then asked, ‘Forgive my asking such a personal question, but is your marriage a physical one?’

      Charlotte could feel her cheeks answering for her even as she mumbled in the affirmative.

      Iona gave a satisfied smile. ‘I thought so. You have a certain glow about you. Is there any chance you could already be pregnant?’

      Charlotte nibbled at her bottom lip before answering. ‘I don’t think so.’

      ‘A baby would be wonderful for you and Damon right now. I am three months gone and I cannot believe how close it has made Nick and I.’

      ‘We should get back to dinner,’ Charlotte said. ‘Thank you for telling me about Eleni. I realise it must have been hard for you, keeping it to yourself for so long.’

      ‘I wish I could do more for you, Charlotte, but I could not live with myself if I broke my promise to Eleni. It was the very last thing she said to me before she died. She begged me to keep her actions a secret.’ She gave her a searching look. ‘You do understand, don’t you?’

      Charlotte let out a tiny sigh. ‘I understand,’ she said, even though she wasn’t entirely sure she did.

      Damon turned to Charlotte once the guests had left and his mother had retired to her room. ‘Would you like a nightcap?’

      ‘No…I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll go straight to bed.’

      ‘You handled this evening very well,’ he said. ‘I was worried that Iona was going to make a scene. She was sending you some rather strange looks to begin with. What did you talk about when you left the room during dinner?’

      ‘Nothing much, just girl stuff.’

      ‘Nick has been worried about her for weeks,’ he said. ‘She has apparently been on edge ever since she heard about us meeting up again.’

      Charlotte avoided his eyes. ‘I expect she wondered if I had changed.’

      ‘In what way?’

      She gave a little shrug. ‘Who knows? Perhaps she was watching to see if I was going to pilfer the family silver or something.’

      He stood watching her for so long that Charlotte began to feel her heart pound in the silence.

      ‘Iona knows nothing about the sculptures,’ he said.

      ‘Eleni was her best friend,’ she said, mentally kicking herself. ‘Perhaps they discussed it some time.’

      He shook his head. ‘No. Eleni gave me her word she would not tell anyone. I cannot believe she would have let me down in such a way.’

      ‘Lucky you to have such a devoted and trustworthy sister,’ she remarked with a touch of irony.

      Damon frowned. ‘What is that supposed to mean?’

      She turned to look at him. ‘Do we have to talk about this now?’

      ‘Yes, we do,’ he said. ‘Have you some reason to believe Eleni spoke to Iona about this?’

      Charlotte couldn’t think of a way to answer without breaking her promise to Iona. She stood in silence, feeling the burning heat of his dark eyes as they probed her soul.

      ‘Answer me, Charlotte.’

      ‘I would like to go to bed.’

      ‘You will go to bed when I say you can.’

      She threw him a defiant glare. ‘Don’t push me too far, Damon,’ she warned him, her voice rising in anger. ‘I’ve had just about enough of your caveman tactics.’

      ‘You only defy me to get me to subdue you,’ he said. ‘You like to goad me into losing control. I can see the challenge in your eyes.’

      ‘What you can see is my dislike of you.’

      He had the gall to smile. ‘So the love you confessed to me earlier has suddenly been downgraded to dislike. I knew you were lying. You wanted me to confess similar feelings so you could ridicule them.’

      ‘That’s not true!’

      His dark eyes glinted cynically. ‘I know how your mind works, Charlotte. It would be the ultimate revenge, would it not, for you to hear me confess my love for you, only to reject me as I once did to you.’

      ‘Unlike you, I don’t have such a ruthless disregard for people’s feelings,’ she threw back. ‘Don’t judge me by your own appalling standards.’

      There was a sound at the doorway and Charlotte turned to see Emily standing there with a bundle of bed linen almost as tall as her gathered in her arms, her bottom lip trembling. ‘I did a wee-wee in my bed…’ she said and began to cry.

      ‘Oh, darling.’ Charlotte rushed to her and held her close. ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll get you some new sheets and pyjamas.’

      Emily’s little shoulders shook with sobs. ‘I heard you fighting with Daddy,’ she said. ‘He won’t stay with us if you’re angry at him. Dat’s what happened to Janie’s daddy. He went away.’

      Guilt knifed through Charlotte as she encountered Damon’s gaze over the top of Emily’s head. ‘We’re not really fighting,’ she said soothingly. ‘It was more of a discussion, really.’

      ‘You were shouting,’ Emily said with a little sniff as her thumb crept up to her mouth. ‘I heard you.’

      Damon crouched down to his daughter’s level and hitched up her tiny wobbling chin. ‘You are right, little one. We were fighting, but it is over now. It is normal for adults to sometimes disagree, but as long as they say sorry, no harm is done.’

      ‘Are you going to say sorry?’ Emily asked with big crystal tears still clinging to her sooty lashes.

      He smiled at her tenderly and brushed a tear off her tiny cheek with the pad of his thumb. ‘Of course I am, little one.’

      Emily gave another little sniff, her tiny chest rising and falling with the effort to control her sobs. ‘Now?’

      He immediately straightened and turned to Charlotte. ‘I am sorry for being so pig-headed and arrogant. You do not deserve to be spoken to like that,’ he said. ‘Will you forgive me?’

      Charlotte swallowed against the ridge of emotion in her throat. He had sounded so sincere. If only he really meant it.

      ‘Of course I forgive you…’ she mumbled self-consciously.

      ‘Mummy always kisses me when she says sorry,’ Emily said. ‘Don’t you, Mummy?’

      ‘Er…yes…’

      ‘Then I had better kiss Mummy so she knows my apology is genuine,’ Damon said. ‘What do you think, Emily?’