Conquering Sabrina (12 page)

She stopped. Raoul’s face wore a mixture of horror and anger. He was hanging on every word. It made her shake all the more as she worried how he was taking what she told him.

“I tried to escape several times, but he kept getting me back. He hit me so much and forced himself on me.”

She began to cry and then took a breath, composing herself.

“I eventually escaped. I don’t remember how, I just did. I remember running through the fields. I must have planned it well because I somehow had money. I must have stolen it from him. I managed to get myself on a ferry. We were so close to the channel and I wanted to go back home to England. I don’t know why I just didn’t go to the police. I was so injured. I started bleeding and I knew I had to go to the hospital when I reached London. I collapsed when I went to reception. I don’t remember any more after that.”

Raoul’s arms wound tightly around her body, pulling her towards him.

“He won’t touch you or take you away,” he told her firmly. “Trust me, Sabrina. Trust me as your husband. This time I won’t let you down. I will be there for you.”

His grip tightened as she found herself instinctively pressing her face against his shoulder, seeking his warmth and protection. Somewhere a part of her had to trust him. She listened to him whisper French words of endearment and felt him stroke the softness of her hair and kiss it. She trusted him implicitly after this afternoon and freely allowed herself to feel safe, warm, and loved. Her eyes swept over him appreciatively, studying his tall muscled form framed to perfection in a tailored tuxedo. He smiled with satisfaction, appearing to welcome her scrutiny.

“You look breath-taking in the dress, Sabrina, yet all I can think about is removing it and taking you,” he teased, returning her silent compliment.

She gave him a coy smile.

“There is someone downstairs who is dying to see you again and can’t wait until dinner. I think it will be good for you to talk to her now,” Raoul spoke softly.

He started to speak again, but a frantic knock at the door cut his speech short.

“Tamsin.” He forced a smile. “She is so eager to see you, she must have run up those stairs.”

He opened the door to reveal a tall elegant blonde woman. She was dressed in a black bustier and flared evening trousers slit just past the ankles. Her black-and-white sandals were high and complemented the white-and-black patterned motif on the bottoms of the trousers and across the top of the bustier. It was a simple outfit but stunning, showing the woman’s long legs off to perfection. Her chocolate eyes danced with excitement as if she was a small child who had just got her hands in the cookie jar. But she said nothing, her full sensuous peach lips clamped tightly shut as if to prevent any errant words from escaping. She glanced at Raoul with impatience, waiting for his introduction.

“Sabrina, this is your best friend Tamsin.”

The woman rushed at her, throwing her arms around Sabrina’s body.

“Sabrina, I really can’t believe it’s you. Let me look at you. I don’t believe it; we almost have the same hairstyle.”

Her eyes turned serious.

“That’s good. I never liked that long bob.”

Raoul shook his head.

“I’ll leave you to get reacquainted.”

He caught Tamsin’s eye.

“Take your time to catch up and talk.”

Tamsin gave him a gentle nod of understanding, and then he left the two of them alone.

“Do you remember me, Sabrina?” Tamsin asked, excited again.

Sabrina shook her head. She could felt Tamsin’s disappointment land on her like a heavy weight threatening to crush her.

“I’m sorry. I seem to be disappointing a lot of people at the moment.”

She moved away and sat back down on the bed. Tamsin flopped down beside her, resting a hand on Sabrina’s shoulder.

“It will all come back to you. You will of course remember me,” she giggled. “How could you forget.”

“Were we close?”

“Close? We were like sisters and still are, I hope. I never gave up thinking you were alive and that you would come back one day. I figured it had to be something like losing your memory that prevented you from making your contact. Just like in the movies. It was never your style to walk away from anything.”

“I know; he told me. Where did we meet?”

“We met at boarding school in England. My father was the English Ambassador in Paris. We went right through school and University together. This is weird. It’s like I’m filling in the blanks, Sabrina. Anyway, you chose law and became a professional. I on the other hand decided to spend my life loafing around on my father’s money.”

She gave a wicked grin.

“And I still am. You came to work in Paris and I followed. That’s when you met Raoul. You were suing his company on behalf of a client.”

Sabrina shook her head in disbelief.

“I still find it hard to believe I was a lawyer.”

“Hasn’t he told you how you both met?”

“No, he is very guarded in what he does tell me. It makes me wonder if there are some things he doesn’t wish me to remember.”

Tamsin looked uncomfortable, making Sabrina wonder if she knew exactly what she was not to remember. Maybe Raoul’s affair with Cressida?

“He wouldn’t do that. He’s just being protective.” She didn’t sound so sure.

Tamsin smiled, trying to mask her concern.

“Let me tell you how you met Raoul,” Tamsin gushed, changing the subject quickly.

“You arranged a meeting between your client and Raoul and his lawyer over some business dispute. I forget what it was, you know that stuff bores me.”

Sabrina looked at her blankly.

Tamsin gave a small nervous laugh and then shook her head.

“No, I suppose you don’t know…”

She smoothed her palms down the tops of her trousers. Nervous habit. Sabrina smiled reassuringly and asked her to continue, more than interested to know how Raoul supposedly fell in love with her.

“No one envied you taking him on. The most feared and revered predator of the business world was not an opponent to be taking lightly and you were just a new lawyer trying to make your mark on the world. He could have destroyed you. But you said he was only a man.”

“I was worried. When I told my father about it, he shook his head. He thought you should just get your client to settle for the offer Raoul had already made for an out-of-court settlement. It was well known that if you made an enemy of Raoul, you would be made to regret it.”

Tamsin slipped her hand in her pocket and took out a silver cigarette case and a lighter. She stood up, opening the case, and took out a cigarette. She tapped it on top of the case.

“I know you hate me smoking but I didn’t expect to be so nervous around you. Do you mind if…”

She gestured at the French doors that led out to a wide balcony. Sabrina nodded and stood up to follow her. Tamsin opened the doors on to the cold air.

“It’s bloody freezing. Look at the snow. Doesn’t the place look picturesque?” Tamsin said, lighting her cigarette and giving a shiver.

“Yes, it does.” Sabrina felt impatience to know what happened gnaw at her. The woman loved to take her time telling a story. “Here, let me get you something to wear or you will freeze to death.”

Sabrina rummaged around in one of the drawers and eventually found where Francine had put her cardigan all neatly folded up. She draped it around Tamsin’s shoulders as she nodded thanks. “You always did look after me.”

“So are you going to carry on and tell me what I did,” Sabrina asked with a smile, desperate for her to carry on.

Tamsin took a puff on her cigarette and sighed with relief, then grinned widely.

“You marched full steam ahead into his lawyer’s office and negotiated. Boy, did you put him in his place. No one has ever done that. You are famous for it. You got everything you wanted for your client. And for Raoul it was love at first sight. He was so impressed he asked you out to dinner and the rest is history. You are the only one who has ever really stood up to him and he loves you for it. That’s why he had to marry you.”

“Really?” Sabrina chuckled. “He is quite a formidable character and he certainly likes to have his own way. He won’t even let me leave this house.”

Tamsin stared at her in amazement.

“Can you blame him? He’s never forgiven himself for what happened.”

Tamsin looked wistful for a moment.

“I remember what he was like when you were being stalked.”

She stopped, worried she’d said something wrong and given something away she shouldn’t have.

“It’s all right, I remember,” Sabrina informed her, sheltering in the doorway.

“Well, Raoul was fiercely protective. He collected you from work every night. He bullied the police into finding out who it was and hired people to double the security on the chateau.”

She began to laugh.

“A couple of us were here for the weekend when you had a row with him about it. You told him you felt suffocated and you could damn well look after yourself,” she said accurately imitating how Sabrina would have told him. “You nearly hit him when he said he wasn’t so sure. He was so angry with you for trying to deal with this man on your own. You tried to leave in disgust and go back to Paris to stay with me. He made you get out of the car and carried you back into the house when you refused to go back in. He even locked you in one of the tower rooms until you came to your senses and asked us to leave. He was going to have a stern discussion with you that weekend and force you to learn some rules of marriage,” she grinned. “I walked into a room and found you over his knee receiving a very much needed bare-bottom spanking. I have to say, Sabrina, if I had been your husband and you had kept all of that from me, I would have spanked you myself,” she finished with conviction.

Sabrina widened her eyes with amusement and surprise when the scene came to rest unexpectedly and vividly in her mind. She’d been so angry and embarrassed Tamsin had seen her in such a humiliating position, then riled when her friend had encouraged Raoul to spank her hard.

“I don’t think I will ever forgive you for not confiding in me about it. Never mind your husband. I do have to say it looked pretty hot,” she giggled. “I think I would like a man to take me in hand.”

Tamsin was staring into space looking wistful again. Sabrina got a fleeting memory of her looking the same way at a boy at school. She widened her mouth into a sensuous coy smile as he looked in her direction, making him trip over his laces, unable to tear his eyes away. Only Sabrina remembered there was nothing coy about Tamsin, quite the opposite where men were concerned.

“You took offense at his caveman attitude. Well, at least on the outside, but I think you secretly liked it. All I know is by the end of the weekend, you became more accepting of Raoul’s need to domineer and protect you in a loving way. I thought Raoul was being devastatingly sexy, the way he was protecting his woman. If you ever leave him and you don’t want him back, you can always pass him on to me,” she grinned and laughed, but the glint in her eye told Sabrina she meant it.

Sabrina groaned inwardly. Tamsin was yet another woman to be on her guard about and her best friend to boot. She decided to ignore Tamsin’s comment.

“Yes, he is a bit of a caveman,” Sabrina acknowledged in amused reflection.

“But you have to acknowledge that a part of you loves him to take care of you. You can’t possibly deny it,” she told Sabrina matter-of-factly. “I know you too well, Sabrina. You want him in control of you.”

Sabrina smiled. Tamsin had her assumption dead-line centre. There was no argument. Raoul satisfied all her needs and desires just as he had vowed to do on the day of their marriage. Her wish was his command. She sighed and nodded.

“He only wants to do the right thing, Sabrina. He shut down when you disappeared. He locked himself away in this fortress, the only place he felt close to you. The police blamed him at first and so did others. I still can’t believe they actually thought he had murdered you. It took a lot for him to pull himself through it all.”

Sabrina felt it then. Her already deep affection and attraction to Raoul was taking on new strength and knocking down her defences. The realisation made contact with her soul with the force of a punch, making her cry unexpectedly for what he’d been through at her expense.

“Sabrina, what’s wrong? What did I do?”

Tamsin’s arms were suddenly around her, desperately trying not to burn her with the cigarette.

“I keep getting memories of feelings, thoughts, images, everything. I try to hold on to them; some of them stay, but the others vanish. I feel so empty when they go. I remember Raoul and what he meant to me and how much I love him. Then it goes and he’s like a stranger again. I can’t believe I could forget my own husband.”

“Sabrina, I feel so helpless. I don’t know what to do for you.”

“I just feel as though I could tell you anything in the world, yet I don’t know who you are.”

“I am your best friend, even if you don’t remember I am.”

Sabrina nodded.

“So dry your eyes, Sabrina, and tell me what blanks I can fill in so you are fully armed when we go downstairs and face the vultures,” Tamsin said, giving her a wicked grin.

* * *

Tamsin led Sabrina down the stairs. Sabrina bit her lip, knowing fine well that her presence would cause a stir. She didn’t want to see them all looking at her as if she was the main attraction in a freak show. She didn’t want to feel them watching, wondering what she remembered about them.

Sabrina glanced at Tamsin and took a deep breath before entering the drawing room. The soft murmur of pleasant conversation hushed into an eerie silence as her presence was noticed. If she’d ever wanted to make a grand entrance, this was it. She felt apprehension flutter inside as she frantically searched the sea of faces looking for any familiar characteristics. Nothing.

Some of the strangers looked on in disbelief as if they were witnessing the presence of a ghost. Others looked confused, even afraid. Three didn’t look surprised at all, merely smiled with glee at the others, having been close enough to the couple to be let in on the secret of her return. There was no sound in the room; all she could hear was the hiss and spit of the wood burning in the open fire. Raoul was suddenly by her side.