The Cattle King's Bride by Margaret Way

Author:Margaret Way [Way, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-05-24T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

By the time Ava joined her, Mel had managed to compose herself. Dev hadn’t come after her. He might well have come to the end of his tether. Who would blame him? It was she who had kept their tempestuous relationship in check. Life had set her down in a maze so intricate it required a heroic effort to find a way to break out. Yet few people were able to resolve every issue. She thought she’d been close to a turning point, only her mother’s mind-blowing legacy had put paid to that. Her mother mightn’t care that she could be exposed to public scrutiny, but Mel cared a great deal. Few people knew her background. Now there was the distinct possibility they all would.

She longed for a father. A strong man who would have stood by her. A father she could turn to. Her stomach was tied in knots. She wouldn’t have a moment’s peace until she found out who had worn that crown. That Michael Norton wasn’t her father could be a complete lie. Had Michael truly understood the woman he had married? No answer to that. He had gone and left her and the world behind.

Now she was battling to cope with an additional burden, the memory so recently dredged up. Was it possible Michael’s death was somehow Mireille’s doing? The thought didn’t altogether shock her. Mireille had indeed wielded power and Koorakai was an enclosed kingdom.

* * *

When Ava arrived, looking grave, they moved out onto the balcony. Mel had ordered coffee for two. It had been sent up on a beautifully set silver tray. Her mother had got some things right training the staff. It occurred to her, as it had so often in the past, her mother must have had a gracious upbringing. There was the way she looked, the way she spoke, the things she knew, as if she had been accustomed to a fairly privileged lifestyle herself. A huge family rift over a shock pregnancy fitted a familiar scenario. Her mother, too young, had fallen pregnant to an unsuitable man outside the sanctity of marriage? Her strict Italian father, who until that point had adored his beautiful daughter, then banished her as the daughter who had dishonoured her family?

When and where had Sarina and Michael met? She couldn’t erase Mireille’s comtemptuous cuckold from her mind. At the time she didn’t even know what a cuckold was. She’d had to look it up. All the questions she could have asked Michael had gone with him to the grave. She had learned she was a ‘premmie baby.’ Mireille had informed her of that as though it was some kind of a stigma. Another thing Sarina had kept to herself. Again, at that time she hadn’t properly understood what ‘premmie’ meant. For some reason Mireille had always spoken to her as though she were well on the way to being a woman instead of a child.

* * *

Ava took a chair opposite Mel, a small circular wrought-iron table between them.

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.