Apollo's Seed by Anne Mather

Author:Anne Mather [Mather, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4603-4754-6
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE sunlight filtering through the slatted blinds awakened Martha. It was still very early, but she no longer had any desire for sleep. She was too restless, too confused to lie there, at the mercy of her anxieties, and drawing in a trembling breath she flung back the silken sheet which was all that had covered her.

The room was limpid amber in the morning light, the hazy blue curtains at the windows melting into the shadows. The mahogany chest and matching dressing table looked almost golden as they reflected the sun’s rays, the polished blocks of the floor shafting dust motes in a transparent cascade.

As she padded across to the windows, she glanced back half apprehensively at the bed, but she was alone. She had been alone all night, and the trembling anticipation which had kept her awake until the early hours had heralded nothing more than a restless night’s sleep.

Jerking on the cord, she half opened the blinds, gazing out broodingly at the colour-washed garden. She felt a little sick and headachy, a sense of bewilderment and disbelief vying with the relief she knew she ought to be feeling. Why hadn’t Dion come to bed? Where had he slept? Had he slept at all? And if so, what had all that conversation been about earlier?

It would be foolish to feel disappointed, but she was confused, and her tired brain refused to find reasons for his absence. He had intended to come, she was sure of it—though could she honestly be sure of anything in this uncertain situation?

Reviewing the events of the previous evening, she had had no reason to doubt his intentions. But then she had not spent a lot of time with him—with any of them—involved as she had been with Josy’s little upset.

No doubt the heat, and too much exercise, had been responsible for her sickness and irritability, and Martha had spent most of the evening attending to her daughter’s needs. Dion had suggested that one of the servants could attend to her, but Martha would not hear of it, and as always when she opposed Dion, Sarah came to her aid.

‘A child needs her mother at a time like this,’ she declared, when Martha was called away from the table for the second time. Josy had had her meal earlier, as had become her habit, but for some reason she was hot and restless, and a gastric upset had left her pale and tearful. ‘You can’t expect Martha to leave Josy in the hands of strangers, Dion. She’s cared for her for too long. They’re too close.’

‘Oh, I agree.’ Dion’s meaning was chillingly clear. ‘They are too close, much too close, but I intend to change that in the not-too-distant future.’

Martha, hurrying away from the table, had heard his remarks with a sense of alarm. Was that why her husband was so keen that she should accompany him to Athens? Was his intention to wean them apart so gradually that neither of them would necessarily

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.