Sleeping Love (25 page)

He stood next to her looking out of the window at Maxim’s tall form. Something made him turn around and look up at the window.
A feeling of being watched perhaps?
Raoul watched him look at Sabrina with curious interest. He’d always known most of his friends were attracted to Sabrina, and he had always been astute enough to watch for any attempts to steal her away. It was therefore no surprise to Raoul to find a flicker of attraction lighting Maxim’s eyes at seeing Sabrina’s semi-naked form wrapped in the duvet. But Sabrina’s response was a surprise. She flinched and moved back from the window as though she’d been stung. Raoul’s brow creased as he took hold of her shoulders.

‘What’s the matter?’

She tried to laugh her action off, but he could see the fear in her eyes.

‘I am just letting my imagination get the better of me again. I thought I saw someone out in the woods. I did it last night as well.’

He hugged her close trying to reassure her of her safety.

‘Why don’t you have a warm shower while I talk to Maxim and find out if they know anything about that man in the grounds yesterday. Then I will make you some more breakfast, and we can think about going back to the house. We need to get you checked over. You had concussion, Sabrina, and I want to make sure that you are all right.’

She nodded, allowing him to kiss her forehead. He watched her go and threw on his sweater before leaving to open the door for Maxim.

* * *

Sabrina closed the bathroom door and ran the shower. She was confused. It was the way Maxim had looked at her. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but her instinct demanded extreme caution. Maybe it was because he was a police officer there to investigate herself and what happened that put her on edge. It sounded an adequate explanation, but it did nothing to lessen her fear of the man.

She let the hot water cascade down across her aching neck and closed her eyes catching a new set of memories playing in her head like a movie. They were all of Maxim and his friendship with Raoul. She shook her head. There was no reason to be afraid of Maxim, he’d always been so kind. He was Raoul’s best friend and had always been there for him and herself. But the way his eyes had burned into her own bespoke an attraction and a hidden communication that her mind seemed to recognise. She groaned wishing all of her memory had returned so she could work out just what had been going on before she disappeared.

Sabrina dressed in her riding clothes that Raoul had dried, unable to shake the feeling of impending doom. The house was quiet and the air still outside making it easy to hear Raoul’s voice in the kitchen talking to Maxim. They were discussing what Sabrina had already told Raoul about Luc and Alain. She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on her boots. Her body was shaking with anxiety, a tremor shook in her hands, and she was finding it hard to breathe. She tried to ignore the sensation casually dismissing it as nonsense and made her way downstairs.

‘Ah, Sabrina I’ve just been telling Maxim what you told me. Both he and the local police haven’t had any success in finding anyone in the grounds, but he’s arranged for Luc and Cressida to be arrested. Alain has also been taken in for questioning.’

Sabrina glanced at Maxim and then away quickly for fear of meeting his eyes. She folded her arms as she sat at the small kitchen table making Raoul watch her with interest.

‘How are you feeling, Sabrina?’ Maxim asked with genuine warmth.

She tried to smile and felt her mouth tremble with the effort of pretence. Her flesh was crawling, and she was growing cold with fear.

‘I’m ok. I just want this all to be over.’

‘Can you tell me anything you remember about the man who attacked you in the study? Anything will help.’

He stubbed out a cigarette and lit another one. There was something about the smell. She recognised that particular odour of cigarette on the breath of her attacker. It was French unlike the English brand Amelia used. She put her hand to her mouth feeling nausea rise. She let out a slow breath to calm her agitation wondering if she was about to have another flashback and answered.

‘No, I just remember Luc being there first and someone else in the room. Luc left after threatening me, and the other person was the man who raped me.’

Her eyes steadily met Maxim’s searching his for a reaction. She ascertained nothing but a coldness that chilled every bone in her body. Raoul put down a mug of hot tea on the table beside her at the same moment. Every time she mentioned what happened, she could feel him physically tense. He rubbed his hand along her shoulders and stood behind her. She rested a hand on the table not knowing what to do, not knowing why she was feeling so bad and so distrustful of Maxim.

His presence made her feel so uncomfortable, she wished he would just leave and lift the heavy oppressive weight that had settled in the small cosy room. Maxim leaned over and covered her hand with his own.

‘We’ll find him, don’t worry.’

Her response to his touch was instant making her memory trigger as though a bolt of lightning had hit it. She slipped back in time. She was in the study looking up at the man who was brutally pulling the necklace from her throat and pushing her to the ground. He was shouting so hard at her that she belonged to him and not Raoul. He was shaking her, shouting abuse and saying he was going to take her away from Raoul. She was going to be his wife. She would never escape him.

Sabrina heard herself sob as he pushed her to the ground, banging her head off the wooden floor. The man leaned over and Sabrina found herself looking up at the man who was about to rape her and lock her away from the world. His face was no longer a blur but a clear image.

Sabrina snatched her hand away as the room came back into view. Raoul was kneeling down running his hands up and down her arms coaxing her back into the present. She stared at Raoul, tears streaming down her face and then forced herself to look round into the eyes of the man who had so viciously abused her that night.

Maxim looked sympathetic for a brief moment. Then she saw comprehension in his eyes, a fleeting fear of discovery and then resignation. She felt nausea swell like a giant tidal wave and fled from the room pushing Raoul’s hands aside. She leaned over the toilet in the bathroom adjoining the bedroom upstairs and was violently sick.

Sabrina slowly lifted her head that was now pounding and listened to the voices downstairs in the kitchen. Raoul was talking to Maxim of her flashbacks, and then she could hear his reassuring footsteps tapping up the stone steps. She splashed some cold water on her face and walked out into the bedroom determined to find a way to tell him everything and warn him of the danger they were both in.

He stood impossibly tall in the doorway making her take a breath. His eyes were black with fierce anger. She stopped in her tracks, too afraid to move, to say anything.

‘It was Maxim, wasn’t it?’

It was all he asked. His voice was low, almost a whisper, and incredibly calm to the point it made her feel frightened. She didn’t appear to answer quick enough and his eyes narrowed, piercing her soul for an answer. She nodded.

‘Stay here,’ he commanded.

She flew across the room as he caught the handle of the door and swung it shut with a slam behind him. She tried the handle, but he was turning the key in the lock, making her a prisoner of safety within the confines of the bedroom. She stopped pulling on the handle and began kicking manically at the door on hearing Raoul’s raised voice confront Maxim in French.

At first he attempted to deny everything. A fight quickly ensued and Sabrina could hear knives and forks clattering to the tiled floor and a heavy bang. She heard the small kitchen table scrape noisily across the tiled floor and the sound of fists making contact with firm flesh. Raoul was shouting at Maxim demanding his confession. He eventually gave Raoul what he wanted.

Maxim told Raoul how he’d always taken everything from him. He always got what he wanted even when they were at school. Maxim loved Sabrina and was determined to have her. He had kept her locked away in the basement of his deceased mother’s farmhouse in Brittany. Every moment he could, he spent with her. He’d travelled back and forth to see her from Paris. His brother had kept watch over her when he couldn’t be there. After seven months of indulging himself with her over and over again, she had planned and executed her escape to England. Now he was going to take her back, and there was nothing Raoul could do about it. This time Maxim would be more successful in making it appear to the local police that Raoul had murdered her. He wouldn’t escape the charge as he had done last time. Raoul was finished, and Sabrina was his again.

The sound of fighting stopped abruptly. Sabrina held her breath. There were two sets of footsteps on the stairs. Maxim must be forcing Raoul to lead him to her. He must have a gun.

‘You go near her, Maxim and I will kill you.’

She knew Raoul meant every word by the dangerous tone lining his calm voice. The key turned in the lock, and Sabrina let go of the handle, taking a step back, knowing fine well what was about to happen. She picked up the heavy bronze statue of a man and woman romantically entwined that lay on a chest of drawers beside her and stood at the side of the door as it creaked open. Raoul was shouting a warning at her, and Maxim was calling her name.

Maxim walked into the room dragging Raoul by the front of his jumper, his arm outstretched with his firearm in his hand. Before he fully entered the room Sabrina brought the statue down hard on his arm. The gun dropped to the floor. Maxim cried out in pain and dropped to the floor reaching out to retrieve it. Sabrina kicked the gun away as Raoul lunged forward and landed on top of him. The man fought back hard, but Raoul was the stronger opponent. When Maxim lay slumped against the bed unconscious, Raoul stood back to admire his handiwork.

Sabrina sank to her knees suddenly feeling exhausted. Raoul was pulling out one of his ties to restrain Maxim’s hands and another for his feet. He quickly pulled Sabrina up and led her out of the room.

‘Let’s get out of here. I don’t want you in the same room with him. I’ll call the police and get them to pick him up.’

He locked the door and ran down the stairs to grab some keys out of the kitchen that was now in complete disarray and led Sabrina outside. The air was bitterly cold, but the sun was shining and the sky was clear. His hand was firmly enclosed around her small one, and there was no escape. This time she didn’t want to argue. She was more than grateful that he was taking charge. He unlocked the Range Rover parked outside the front of the house and told her to get in.

‘Raoul, you’re injured.’

Sabrina brought her fingertips up to the side of his forehead to examine the cut that was lightly bleeding.

‘It’s nothing. We need to get into the village and report this as soon as possible. I can’t get any reception on my mobile out here. We’ll have to see how far we can get in the car in the snow. We might have to get out and walk.’

He expertly drove the vehicle over the slippery snow covered terrain using the chains on the wheels until they reached the gate that Sabrina had jumped on horseback. Raoul jumped out and undid the lock.

Sabrina heard her door being opened. Luc Valoire’s arm reached into the passenger side and took hold of the front of Sabrina’s long riding coat and pulled her out of the vehicle. She hit the ground, rolling uncomfortably in the fresh wet snow. When she pulled herself up, Alain was pressing a gun to Raoul’s temple, making him walk over to where Luc and Cressida stood.

‘You’re all involved in this aren’t you?’ Sabrina heard herself shout.

Luc pulled her up until her feet stood on tip toes. Raoul was struggling to gain his freedom, shouting in French at Luc. But Alain jammed the gun hard against Raoul’s head, halting any further movement.

‘Aren’t you the clever one, Sabrina? But then you always were so clever, except on that night of course,’ Luc grinned. ‘I hear you have your memory back, so unfortunately, we will have to do something about that. If he hadn’t found you, everything would be all right. And we all did such a good job of keeping him from finding you.’

Cressida stood beside her as Raoul began to struggle like mad again.

‘Why did you have to come back, you stupid bitch? You’ve ruined everything. You know I would have been better suited to Raoul than you.’

She looked at Sabrina with contempt.

‘I’ve ruined nothing. Raoul never loved you, and you can’t stand it. You’ve tried to keep us apart for seven years, but he still doesn’t want you. I can’t believe you all did that to us. You cruel, hateful people. You will never have Raoul, Cressida, if it’s the last thing I do.’

Cressida reached out to hit Sabrina, but Luc impatiently pushed her away.

‘Give it a rest Cressida. You are just kidding yourself that Raoul loves you. He’s rejected every overture you made to him. He doesn’t want you, Cressida. He never has despite all of your scheming to make him have an affair with you. Give it up. You are as deluded as Maxim. Now if you just thought about the money like I have, you wouldn’t have been so damn disappointed.’

Sabrina glanced at Raoul. He was scowling at Luc with murder in his eyes.