Yesterday's Sins (19 page)

Kate sensed Alex's shock and she glanced at him.

"I didn't know that." He sounded horrified.
 

"Of course you didn't know the music box was a treasured memento of my mother. How could you? You never wanted to know about me, my hopes or dreams, or my family."

Her accusations sent ruddy colour seeping up under his tan. "By the time I wanted to ask questions, you were gone."
 

"And even now, you wonder why," she asked, her voice soft with contempt. "After you'd reached out an imperious hand, Alex, and snatched away my dreams, there was no way I could stay with you."

He raked a hand through his hair. "You think I don't know that?"

"Now maybe, then I don't think it even crossed your mind that I was a person with hopes and dreams."

His colour faded as he crossed the space and laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" She looked at him shaking her head.

Alex no more understood her now, than he had then. Didn't he understand how much it had damaged her when he'd taken her from the brink of womanhood to the dark place beyond, without the leavening of love?

Shaken by the insight, Kate touched the wooden box, steeped in the wisdom of ages past. The women who'd treasured it through the centuries had surely known unhappiness as well as joy. Life was surely a mixture of both.
 

"There's no way we can turn back the clock," he said, his expression grim.

"No we can never go back." Kate shook her head. "And no apology, no amount of remorse, can undo what you did. Surely you must understand that?"

"I understand far more than you realize," he said, his grim tone sent a shiver down her spine.
 

Did he?
Kate shook her head. Her girlhood, finished before it had begun, was irretrievable. Wisdom decreed she leave it behind. And look to the future.
 

"Do you want the music box back?"

Kate recoiled as if he'd struck her. How could he be so insensitive? Regretful tears stung her eyes and brimmed over. "No. How could you even suggest it? It's hers by right. She must love it."
 

Clinging to the past and its wrongs had brought her far too much heartache and grief.

"Tears, Cat?" He caught her chin tipping her face up. His hands framed her face, thumbs smoothing the errant tears tumbling onto her cheeks.

"I never saw you cry," His flat grave voice robbed her of words. "I remember you in so many moods, angry, defiant, stubborn, laughing, and slumberous with passion. But never in tears."

"I've never cried."
 

Until you reappeared in my life, now I can't seem to stop.

Desperately she pulled away, seeking a less contentious subject.

"To answer your earlier question, Sarah does love the music box." Alex gripped her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Do you have regrets?"

"Of course I have regrets." She wrenched away from his hold, her muttered words sitting in the lengthening silence. She walked across to the bed stroking the duvet with trembling fingers.

"Too late," he replied grimly. "I was stupid to have allowed you to come here. It can only cause upset."

Of course he didn't want her here, bringing the past to life, when he'd finally decided to put it all behind him and marry.

"I believe congratulations are in order," she said on a shaky indrawn breath.

His brow descended in a black scowl. "Congratulations?"

"You told Dave Storey you were getting married. I'm glad for you."

His expression had her taking an agitated breath. She knew she'd just crossed some unseen barrier and destroyed their fragile truce.

"Are you Catriona?" He raised a sardonic eyebrow. "How very civilized of you."

"It's Kate," she said in a low angry voice.

"To me, you'll always be Catriona. Do come and take a look at the matrimonial bower I've prepared. Do you think my wife like it?"

He caught her hand, pulling her along with him, ignoring her struggles. He threw open the doors of the room that crossed one end of the whole of the top floor.

She'd spent a lot of time in this room showing it to clients.

But nothing prepared her for the charm and beauty Alex had achieved. The kauri panelling on the doors and skirting, and the built-in window seat, gleamed.

Cream walls a perfect foil for two landscapes.

But Kate's attention was riveted on a huge four poster bed, spread with a white, crocheted spread. The bed posts, draped in a delicate rose tapestry fabric, repeated in the curtains, wingback chairs and sofa day bed.

The floor was covered with plush piled, grey green carpet.

The simplicity was timeless and elegant.

But it was the huge bed that captured and held her attention. It was a bed made for lovers.

It took no effort to visualize Alex's powerful, naked body resting back against the snowy linen, sated and relaxed from shared pleasure, herself relaxed and pliant from his ardent caresses.

Heat surged up her neck and cheeks at the image of sharing that bed with Alex.

Am I losing my mind?

Her throat was dry. Repressed need churned her stomach. Desire spread its invasive tentacles.

"Do you think my wife will approve?"

"Who wouldn't?" Kate hunched in her jacket, desperate to be anywhere but in this room, with this man.

The thought of Alex sharing that bed with another woman made her sick with jealousy. He gripped her chin turning her face upwards. Kate stared mesmerized, into eyes that were almost black. Embers she'd thought long dead were fanned into life.

Dark, forceful and irresistible.

"What's the matter, Catriona Are you remembering how it was between us?"

"No."

Kate struggled against a desire so strong, it frightened her.

Alex's nearness stoked it to white heat.

So much for her vow never to overruled by the dark force of her sexuality again. Her attempt to pull away was thwarted by strong arms pulling her closer.

"Aren't you?" His mouth found a sensitive spot by her ear, wreaking havoc. "Shall I remind you?"

Her incipient struggle was dashed as his lips found hers with a seeking force she was unable to deny.

Passion flowered after its long, bleak winter.

So lost was she in sensation, she floated weightless, onto that pristine white coverlet.

"We mustn't?" She strived for sanity in a world rendered asunder.

"I must," he rasped, lifting her hand to his neck. "Touch me before I die from wanting."

His deep agonized tremor found its echo in her heart.

In helpless surrender, her hands caressed his neck, sliding into his hair, moulding its contours.

He kissed her with such ravenous hunger she was lost to reason as he reawakened the sensuality of her deepest nature.

Her hands moved to the rippling muscles of his back, craving to be reacquainted with every familiar, remembered inch of his hard, muscular body.

His hands were just as seeking.

He groaned as she pulled up his shirt and feathered her fingers over his back. His arms tightened, pulling her even closer. With a husky groan he gripped one of her hands, pulled it down, and covered his engorged masculinity through the fabric of his trousers.

"Purr, little Cat," he whispered, kissing her neck, her cheeks, her eyes and then her mouth.

"Daddy? Kate? Where are you?"

The shocking sound jerked them back to awareness of where they were.

In seconds, she was alone on the bed.

Alex crossed the room in two strides, his hands tidying his shirt and flattening his hair. He met Sarah before she could come into the room.

"What is it, possum?" he growled, his voice rough edged with passion.

"Maria has afternoon tea ready."

He blocked Sarah from seeing Kate as she sat unmoving on the bed. "That's great. We'll go on down. Kate wants to use the bathroom."

For several minutes Kate sat there, hugging herself as she tried to control the tremors of denial wracking her.

How could Alex regain control so effortlessly?

Kate moved off the bed and straightened the covers.

The sensation of being watched brought her whirling around. In shocked surprise, she faced the old Greek woman who'd been her jailer on Maude Island.

"You."

"So you came back," she hissed in deep, accented English.

"You speak English?" Bitterness soured Kate's voice as she remembered her desperation to make this woman understand her.

"Of course I speak English." The old crone laughed, the harsh sound sent a shiver down Kate's spine. "Have you come back to destroy Alex's peace of mind? You're a wicked, evil girl."

Kate took a step backward, bringing her hard against one of the carved bedposts. "I've returned to see my daughter."

"Phwzzt." The virulent hiss made Kate shiver. She wouldn't put it past the old witch putting a spell on her. "Sarah is Alex's daughter. Harlot. You still have to get him on the bed. Look at you. Hair messed up, clothes handled. Slut. How many other men have had what you give so freely? And you, you refused to accept Alex's wedding ring."

The insults had Kate clenching her hands but she refused to glance at her dishevelled clothes. "How dare you say such things?"

"Easy. You ran away." She snapped her fingers crudely, making a guttural noise in her throat and stepped closer pushing her nose into Kate's face. "Leave. Alex wasn't good enough for you before. You refused to have his son. Why come back now? He has another woman."

Feeling sick, Kate knew that the old crone was right. None of which had stopped him making love to her on the bed he'd prepared for his wife.

That thought made her ill with shame.

"Who are you?"

"Noni." The old woman cackled. "I'm the only mother little Sarah knows. You can never take my place."

Kate was filled with blind rage.

This woman must have understood her all those years ago. "You're a nasty old witch. Why did you pretend to speak no English?"

"What Alex wants is nothing to do with me." Noni shrugged her bony shoulders. "You killed Marcos, it's right you pay."

"I never killed Marcos. My cousin stole my car and hit the child." Then she remembered Emily. "You! It was you who drove Emily away and prevented her marrying Dimitri."

It was a wild guess but Kate knew she was right when the old woman backed away.

"Dimitri loved his Helen."

"You loved him, didn't you? And your jealousy stopped him finding happiness with another woman," she said harshly, moving closer. The old crone's eyes moved from side to side, avoiding Kate's. "You won't get rid of me so easily. Shall I tell Alex how you prevented Emily becoming his new mother?"