It's time that Brian heard that from you and stopped throwing you up to Antonia! Believe me, I don't like having to ask you for help,' the older woman informed her bitterly, resentfully, 'but I think you could get through to Brian where nobody else can.'
'I'm sorry, but I don't want to interfere and Antonia | would be furious, and rightfully so, if I did.' Sara stood Up..
'You're being very selfish, Sara. You wouldn't be where you are now if it hadn't been for this family's generosity!' JaniceDalton shot at her in furious reproach. 'I wonder how much interest AlexRossini would have had in you if you'd been brought up in some council home?'
Sara had lost all her natural colour. It shook her that her aunt could cruelly throw that debt in her face. Over the years Sara had always shown her gratitude. But maybe she was being selfish. All that crossed her mind was that to meet Brian she would have to lie to Alex because Alex would never agree to such a meeting. Alex was extremely possessive…
'You owe it to me to do whatever you can to help,' the older woman spelt out harshly. 'Antonia need never know.'
'And then I melt back out of your lives again… right?'
For the first time JaniceDalton looked embarrassed. • 'That's all right. Alex is all the family I need.' 4 'Sara…'
' ButSara walked away, knowing that she would never walk willingly back into that house again. She wasn't wanted there. The little orphaned niece whom the Daltons had so generously taken into their home had committed the unforgivable sin of obscuring the family star in terms of material advancement. Sara felt slightly sick.
Further down the street she parked the car and lifted the mobile phone. Get this over with, she urged herself when she hesitated. What Alex doesn't know about won't hurt him. This isn't going to hurt anyone. Aunt Janice is right. If there is any possibility that you could help, you should try.
She called Brian at work.
'What do you want?' he snapped.
A wry smile touched her strained mouth. Hardly the response of a man in love, she thought.
'You've heard about Toni and me, haven't you?' he assumed peevishly.
'Do you want to talk about it?'
'Why should you care?' Brian demanded bitterly.
'Once we were good friends. It might help if we talked.'
'I don't see how… but why not?' he muttered in a self-pitying tone.
She agreed to meet him after work at the house. Evidently her cousin had refused to live there and Brian had
moved in alone. She was sitting in a traffic jame when,
Alex phoned.
'How did it go with your aunt?' he enquired straight off.
Her stomach twisted with guilt when she thought of the lie she was about to tell. Shakily she breathed in. 'I'll be back late. I've actually just popped out for a few messages. My aunt's invited over some friends and I promised to stay for the evening,' she said stiltedly.
There was a long pause.
'No problems, then?'
She bit her lower lip and tasted blood. 'Well, my aunt's a bit cool-'
'The friends don't include Brian, do they?'
Sara almost choked. 'Of course not!'
'Just checking, bellamia. You sound upset. Why don't you develop a headache and bow out? I was planning to finish early tonight.'
Her eyes burned. 'I'll be home as soon as I can.'
'You stay under the speed limit. No racing,' Alex warned. 'I want you back all in one healthy piece, SignoraRossini.'
The constrictions in her throat ballooned. 'Yes… Sorry, the traffic's very heavy. I have to go now…'
Damn Brian and Antonia, she reflected with sudden, desperate resentment. It was one thing to wish them well, quite another to get involved to the extent of being forced to lie to Alex. But then she should have told the truth and faced the music. She was a lousy liar. And Alex was so attuned to her emotions now that he picked up on her tensions. She had this awful feeling that she was going to have to tell him anyway. And that would cause trouble. Lying had only made it worse, she saw now, and writhed with guilt.
Brian was waiting for her. Sara tried not to stare at the wallpaper half-ripped off the wall in the hall. 'Toni,' Brian said succinctly.
'You can't blame her for not wanting to live here. In every way that matters, I made this my house.'
'I blame her for everything.'
'It takes two people to have an affair.'
'But it only takes one liar to force an affair into a shotgun marriage!' Brian stabbed back bitterly. 'She told me she was pregnant…she's not! She was lying and I was the mug who believed her!'
Sara sank down on a sofa in the small sitting room and suddenly understood a great deal. For the second time that day she was forced to listen to a catalogue of woes, this time from Brian's side of the fence. She had some sympathy for him but she didn't let it show. She let him vent the worst of his spleen, knowing that it would cool him down. 'Had it ever occurred to you that she must love you an awful lot?' she asked when he'd finally finished.
'The only person Toni loves is herself.'
'She deceived you and that was wrong but she must have been desperate for you to marry her.'
'You would never have done anything like that.'
'Brian… Antonia and I are chalk and cheese and always will be, but don't forget that it was Antonia you really wanted.'
'That's not true…'
'Be honest with yourself. She didn't suit you as well as I did but you never stopped being attracted to her. Reminding her of me isn't fair. Where is she now?'
'Staying with a friend. I told her I wanted a divorce…'
'But you don't want one, do you? You only want to punish her,' Sara guessed, and watched him redden. 'Don't you think you could give her another chance?'
'Why should I?'
'It's up to you. But Antonia won't wait forever and she won't crawl. She was very hurt when you didn't stand by her after I found the two of you together. That was the time when you should have admitted how you really felt about her. She was afraid that you and I would get back together again. I'm sure that's the only reason she lied and pretended to be pregnant.'
Well over an hour later Sara climbed back into her car. She was exhausted and she had talked herself hoarse but only time would tell whether she had done any good. At least Brian had been a lot less bitter when she'd left him.
It was a long drive back down to Ladymead. She thought about Alex all the way and hoped that he wouldn't lose his temper when she admitted that she had been with Brian.
The manor house was all lit up. Alex's chauffeur was putting a case in the boot of the limousine. Sara frowned slightly. She found Alex in the spacious library which he used as an office. He was slinging files into a box. She paused on the threshold. 'What are you doing?'
Alex lifted his dark head, ice-cold eyes landing on her in glancing assault. His strong features clenched cruelly hard, his mouth flattening. 'I'm leaving you,' he said.
CHAPTER TEN
DEVASTATED by the announcement, Sara stared back at him in wide-eyed disbelief.
'In pursuit of points for being a supportive husband, I decided to join the surprise family gathering you
