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The moment they were gone, Lissa rounded on him.
‘I’m going nowhere with you.’
Xavier’s face hardened. ‘Do you want your sister upset, today of all days? Have consideration for her feelings instead of indulging yours.’
The sheer effrontery of his admonishment took Lissa’s breath away. But his hand was closing around her elbow. It might look as if he were merely guiding her along the path, but the iron grip burned on her skin.
He walked her down the cascade of steps that led through the terraced gardens. So brief a while ago he had raced up here, with no thought in his mind other than preventing the marriage of his brother.
Now the universe he had been living in had become a completely different one. Urgency impelled his steps.
I have to talk to her.
It was all he could focus on.
He got them down to the gazebo, a pretty little stone-built folly that afforded privacy, as well as views and shade and a sea breeze. The moment she could, Lissa broke away from his grip and went and sat at the far side of the gazebo, on the stone bench that ran around the interior. He rounded on her instantly.
‘Why didn’t you tell me? That’s all you had to do. Tell me the truth.’ It was all he could think about. It blotted out everything else. ‘Why did you let me say those things to you? Why didn’t you hurl them back in my face?’ His voice was vehement, eyes dark and stormy.
In return, baleful eyes glared at him, her face stark and stretched.
‘Why should I have? Like I said, your twisted mind had it all worked out. Worked out so well you wouldn’t have believed an alternative explanation if it had landed on your head with a twelve-ton weight. And in case you’ve forgotten I did try to explain to you. But you just sneered and said that of course I’d have an explanation—a very touching one, you said. And then, when you demanded to know if I’d already succeeding in parting Armand from his money, I knew—’ She gave a harsh, bitter choke of laughter, cut off immediately. ‘I knew that it would be impossible for me to justify myself. Because Armand had already spent his money on Lila—she was already in America and he’d already paid for the operation and all the care she had to have at the clinic afterwards. So there was no chance at all of clearing my name.’
He was staring at her.
‘I don’t believe this. I don’t believe you are saying this. Good God, how can you possibly think that I would have continued to think badly of you if you’d told me what Armand’s money was being spent on?’ He shook his head heavily. ‘Do you really think me so low?’
She said nothing, and Xavier felt a knife slide into him. Then another one as she spoke again.
‘Yo
u said I would come up with some fairy tale—”a sick relative in need of care” was one suggestion.’ She quoted the words that had writhed in her memory ever since.
He blanched. ‘But your sister did need care. She existed. She was real.’
‘And you really would have allowed your brother to spend that kind of money on her? To actually marry her? You told me I was a gold-digger—why not Lila? Go on—why not? And she was worse than a gold-digger—she was a cripple, as well. Hardly an ideal bride.’
In Xavier’s mind he saw the words of Armand’s e-mail to him—the one that had announced he had found the woman of his dreams.
I know there will be problems, but I don’t care if she isn’t the ideal bride you think I should have …
His blood ran cold as he realised, now, why Armand had said what he had. In a harsh, bleak voice, he said again, ‘Do you really think me so low that I would object to your sister because of her injuries?’
‘It was what they were both worried about—and not just you, but Armand’s parents, as well.’
‘And did my mother and stepfather react with hostility?’ Xavier demanded. His eyes bored into Lissa’s.
‘No,’ she said, her chin lifting. ‘They have been …’ her voice worked ‘… wonderful. They have welcomed her like a daughter.’
‘As I welcome her as a sister—my brother’s bride.’ He spelt out each word. ‘God Almighty, how monstrous would I be not to do so?’
His eyes lasered hers, and she felt their force drilling through her. ‘Do you know how I felt when your sister came into the room? When everything I held to be true, knew to be true, turned upside down? When I realised just how devastatingly wrong I had been?’
‘I hope it hurt. I hope it damn well crucified you.’ Lissa’s voice lashed like a whip.
His mouth was a thin line. ‘Your hopes are well founded,’ he said. ‘And you may also know how much worse I felt when my brother told us of how you had tried to earn the money to pay for Lila’s operation yourself. What you were prepared to put yourself through for your sister’s sake. And yet again I ask you—why did you not tell me why you were in that sordid job? Do you think I would have condemned you if I’d known why you worked there? So why, why did you never tell me?’ There was accusation in his voice.
Lissa’s eyes widened disbelievingly.
