Arielle’s mouth tightened. She ignored him as he filled his cup and took a mouthful. Instead, she stared out over the gardens. Emotion rose like a tidal wave within her, but she fought it down. She found herself blinking, trying to fight the feelings.
‘Tell me,’ he said, his voice penetrating her grief. ‘Why do you believe theMas Delfineis yours? That it was stolen from you by your stepbrother?’
She turned to look at him.
‘It was my stepmother who stole it. She persuaded my father to leave it to her. He died eighteen months ago.’
Her voice was steady, but it was hard for her to say it out loud, even now, and to acknowledge a betrayal of trust that was still hard to believe.
A faint frown appeared on Lycos Dimistrios’s brow.
‘You told me it belonged to your own mother. French law gives you a right to inherit. So, what happened?’
She took a breath, abandoning her croissant, and looked straight across at him—this marauder who’d turned up here to take from her what was hers by right. ‘Themas…’ she began, ‘…was my mother’s and her mother’s before her. It’s been in my family for over two hundred years. But when my mother met my father there were debts on the property. My mother hopedmy father would pay off the debts once they were married, but instead he made her a different offer. He suggested she actually sell him themas, before she married him, because the sale price would clear the debts. He pointed out that he would then leave themasto the children they would have. So, my mother agreed. My father became the legal owner of the property and my mother was confident that, naturally, it would one day pass to me as their only child.’
She reached for her coffee, needing its support. She was doing her best to keep her voice steady, unemotional, but she could feel the old tide of anger and hurt rising up inside her.
‘But when my mother died three years ago, my father remarried. To my stepbrother’s mother, Naomi. When my father died, eighteen months ago, I discovered…’ her voice wobbled, and she had to fight it, ‘…that he had left everything to Naomi in his will. Everything.’
She steadied her voice with an effort.
‘My father was English. His estate was English. The will had been proved under English law. I fought and fought it. But he owned themas. As he’d bought it outright from my mother, it was his to dispose of as he wished. And he wished for Naomi to have it.’
Lycos frowned.
‘Why?’
Anger burned in Arielle’s eyes, a familiar and bitter feeling.
‘Because she is a manipulative gold-digger who ran rings around my father and got everything he possessed! She dotes on her son and she’s given him themas. Now he intends to sell it—’
She caught herself.
‘And now he has sold it.’ Her voice was hollow.
She saw his dark head shake.
‘Not quite.’ He said in a dry voice.
Arielle stared at him as he continued to speak.
‘He didn’t sell it to me. I won it from him last night in a game of cards. It was all he had left to stake.’
Chapter Three
Lycos saw herface pale.
‘Youwonit from Gerald?’
‘Yes. He was angry that I’d won every game and he stupidly let his anger get the better of him. Then he played badly, recklessly, which is always a sign of stupidity.’ Lycos didn’t bother to hide the contempt in his voice. ‘And I took advantage of it.’ He took a breath. ‘So, theMas Delfineis now mine.’
‘It can’t be! Not like that!’ There was disbelief in her voice, as well as outrage and dismay.
He shrugged and said, ‘It’s legal. I made sure of it. The transfer of ownership was signed and witnessed. The formal paperwork will follow.’ He let his eyes rest on her impassively. ‘Why object? If I hadn’t won it off him he’d have sold it anyway, so you’d be the loser still. What’s it to you who owns it now or how they acquired it?’
Something glimmered in those deep blue eyes of her. Anger, again, and outrage.
‘To make agame, awager, abet, with myhome—’she broke off, overcome with emotion.
