He leaned towards her and she stopped breathing, waiting for him to speak. Waiting to hear what he suddenly wanted to say to her—
‘My mother is about to come and speak to you,’ Sebastien murmured softly in her ear, lean, bronzed fingers toying idly with a strand of her hair, ‘and you are to say nothing which upsets her in any way, do I make myself clear? As far as she is concerned, we are crazy about each other. One wrong move on your part and the money stops.’
Crazy about each other?
Her heart thudding uncomfortably, Alesia froze. She was totally thrown by the contrast between the seduction in his eyes and the lethal tone of his voice.
There was no missing the warning in his tone.
‘Surely she knows this is a business arrangement—’ Her own voice was little more than a croak and she struggled to breathe. ‘We only met two weeks ago.’
‘My mother is a romantic,’ he murmured, smiling down at her with what must have seemed to a casual observer a flattering degree of attentiveness. ‘She believes that we were destined to meet and fall in love. The feud has come full circle. Your parents died and now we are together.’
Finding that she just couldn’t think straight when he was leaning so close to her, Alesia swallowed hard and then turned to greet the woman who had approached while they’d been talking. They’d been introduced briefly before the ceremony but that was all and Alesia had barely paid attention. As far as she was concerned his mother was just another Fiorukis. Another member of the family who had been directly responsible for her father’s death. She ought to hate her. She was the enemy.
Alesia stared up at Diandra Fiorukis, saw the warmth in her eyes and the pride in her expression and suddenly found she couldn’t hate her. Nor could she see her as the enemy. She was just someone’s mother.
A mother attending her beloved son’s wedding. Proud. Nervous.
Drawn. Strained.
‘You look beautiful, Alesia,’ the older woman said wistfully. ‘Your own mother would have been so proud of you if she could see you now.’
The reminder that her own mother didn’t even know she was getting married tore at Alesia’s heart. Her mother would have been horrified had she known that she was getting married. And to whom.
Unable to speak for a moment, knowing she couldn’t reveal that her mother was alive, she struggled with the emotion that threatened to erupt inside her.
‘This is a happy day for our two families. I’m pleased that your grandfather agreed to come today.’ His mother settled herself in the chair next to her. ‘Everyone wants family around them when they marry.’
Family?
Alesia remembered that his mother had no idea that she and her grandfather had only met two weeks earlier. That they had no relationship at all and never would.
That her grandfather had brutally cut both her mother and herself out of his life.
It was on the tip of her tongue to protest that she didn’t consider her grandfather to be family, but fortunately she realized in time that such a statement would reveal far too much about the true situation and she couldn’t risk that. There was still too much at stake. If they discovered that her mother was alive and that her grandfather had disowned both of them then they would guess that this wedding was about revenge, not unity.
Feeling guilty for deceiving the other woman, she changed the subject.
‘I never realized Sebastien was part of such a large family,’ she said stiffly, watching as yet another giggling teenager fought for his attention. Everywhere she turned there seemed to be sisters, cousins and aunts hugging him, small children waiting to crawl on to his lap.
His mother smiled serenely. ‘They are your family too now.’ She reached out and took Alesia’s hand in hers. ‘You’ve no idea how much I’ve longed for this moment. I thought Sebastien would never be willing to sacrifice his bachelor life for a girl. I’d given up hoping that he’d ever find anyone good enough for him.’
Seeing that the woman was genuinely moved, Alesia squirmed uncomfortably. She couldn’t pretend—she just couldn’t.
‘My mother is a romantic,’ Sebastien drawled, turning his attention from the younger members of his family to the older. ‘She dreams only of happy endings.’
There was a clear warning in his eyes and Alesia clamped her lips together, holding back the words that she wanted to speak, reminding herself that she didn’t have to apologise to these people. That she didn’t have to explain herself.
‘I dream of grandchildren,’ his mother confessed, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Alesia. ‘As I’m sure your grandfather does.’