In Her Rival's Arms by Alison Roberts

Author:Alison Roberts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

IF HE WAS SHOCKED, he was hiding it well.

There was, in fact, a softening in his eyes that looked curiously like joy.

‘Maggie remembers her?’

It made it worse that Nic seemed happy to have been found out. It was rubbing salt into what felt like a very raw wound.

How could he? Just a breath after she’d bared her soul and told him about how devastating Simon and Brie’s betrayal had been. How hard it was for her to trust anyone’s motives.

He wasn’t even considering how she might be feeling right now but maybe he’d realise if she kept talking. Surely the strain in her voice was obvious?

‘She said she was very beautiful, with long dark hair, but she was very shy because she thought she didn’t speak English very well. And she didn’t need anyone else in her life, anyway, because she totally adored her husband.’

The way she could have adored Nic. Not that he had any idea that she’d been ready to give him her whole heart. Her trust.

She couldn’t go there now. No way.

Stupidly, though, her heart hadn’t caught up with what her head was telling her in no uncertain terms.

And Nic was oblivious. He was hanging onto every word she spoke. This was important to him. Far more important than picking up on the sense of betrayal Zanna was fighting with because he hadn’t told her about any of it.

It was a real effort to keep her voice steady. ‘She remembers that she was a brilliant musician and she gave piano lessons to local children. She could sing beautifully too and your father played the guitar and she would hear them at night, singing French love songs in the garden.’

And how easy would it have been to hear that when it was coming from the garden right next door? From the people who’d lived in one of the small cottages that had been removed to make the public park.

His eyes were so dark. They caught the candlelight just then. Because of the moisture of unshed tears? The accusation that had unmistakeably laced her last words seemed to have gone as undetected as how upset she was.

‘They had a baby they called Dommi. Maggie said she’d never seen such a happy little family.’

He looked away from her and his mouth tightened. Was it painful to hear this?

Good. Why should she be the only one suffering here?

‘You said you were taken back to France when you were six years old.’

A single nod but Nic didn’t say anything.

‘You didn’t tell me it was because your mother got evicted from her cottage because she couldn’t manage her rent. That your father had been killed in a tragic accident at his work a year or more before that.’

‘No.’ The words were raw. ‘I didn’t tell you that.’

Her heart made her want to reach out and touch him because she knew he needed comfort. Her head made her throw an even bigger verbal spear.

‘It’s a bit of a coincidence that the

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