Bride of Desire (29 page)

 
She’d almost forgotten how icily autocratic Grace Marchington could sound—even at a distance. And this was a reminder she certainly hadn’t bargained for.

 
She said slowly, ‘Lady Marchington—this is a surprise. Is there something I can do for you?’

 
‘Yes,’ Grace Marchington said. ‘I’d like you to bring my grandson home where he belongs. At once.’

 
‘I’m afraid I’m not prepared to do that,’ Allie returned. ‘We’ll be returning at the weekend, as arranged.’

 
‘But it should be perfectly possible to book an earlier crossing—this evening or early tomorrow—and I require you to do that.’

 
Alice took a deep breath. ‘Lady Marchington, you seem to have forgotten I came to spend some time with my great-aunt.’

 
‘Ah, yes.’ There was sudden venom in the other woman’s tone. ‘The famous sick woman who has, in fact, nothing wrong with her at all. Quite the contrary, I’m told. I suppose this was a scheme you cooked up together—to get Thomas away from me? Well, it won’t work. You are to bring him back immediately, Alice . After which I shall consider your position very carefully. So be warned. The child belongs here—with me.’

 
Allie stiffened. The point of no return, she thought, had finally been reached.

 
‘No,’ she said quietly. ‘He doesn’t. And you know that as well as I do. I should also warn you that his real father knows it too, and intends to sue for custody.’

 
There was a silence. Then, ‘My dear Alice ,’ said Grace Marchington. She sounded almost amused. ‘You have either been drinking or had too much sun, because you are clearly delusional. My beloved Hugo was Thomas’s father. And that is the end of the matter.’

 
‘No,’ Alice said strongly. ‘It’s just the beginning. And all this pretending has to stop. You have to see that. Remy wants his child, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get him.’

 
‘Remy?’ the older woman said slowly. ‘I suppose you’re referring to that wild-eyed young Frenchman who appeared here one morning after your last ill-advised trip to Brittany , demanding to see you. Claiming he wished you to accompany him to—Brazil, perhaps? I did not pay much attention.’

 
‘Remy came to Marchington Hall?’ For a moment Allie felt as if her heart had stopped beating. ‘And you sent him away—without letting him speak to me?’

 
‘Naturally. You were my son’s wife. I told him that you were not there. That you had confessed everything to Hugo and been forgiven, and that you had both gone away for a few days. A second honeymoon to enable you to put an—essentially trivial piece of foolishness behind you.’

 
She paused. ‘I may even have hinted that it was not the first time you had—strayed, but that in the end you would never seriously jeopardise your comfortable lifestyle inEngland . That you would always know which side your bread was buttered.’

 
She gave a light laugh. ‘A vulgarity, but he seemed to understand what I meant, and left without further protest.’

 
‘Oh, dear God.’ Allie’s voice was hushed with shock. ‘He came for me, and you told him—all that?’

 
‘I would have done more,’ said Lady Marchington. ‘To prevent our family name being tarnished by a slut like you. And you have not changed. Because now, it seems, you are using my grandchild in a pathetic attempt to get your former lover back. Using any lie, any subterfuge, to rekindle your affaire with him—just as she said.’

 
‘She said?’ Allie repeated. ‘What are you talking about? Who is she?’

 
‘I had a hysterical phone call from a young woman—a Mademoiselle Geran. It appears she once read some magazine article about your wedding to Hugo, and remembered our name. Traced me because of it,’ she added with distaste.

 
‘Solange?’ Allie found she was fighting for breath. ‘Oh, God—I don’t believe it.’

 
‘I suppose I should be grateful to her. She said you were pursuing this man—throwing yourself at him—although she was on the point of getting engaged to him herself. She told me that she had seen you together, and she was convinced you were trying to make him believe Thomas might be his by pretending that some—superficial resemblance meant more than it did. She thinks you should be stopped. And I, my dear Alice, tend to agree with her.’

 
Alice felt sick. She said curtly, ‘I can’t speak for Mademoiselle Geran’s relationship with Remy, but there’s no question of my being reconciled with him. Quite the opposite, in fact. And he saw Tom completely by accident and drew his own conclusions, so she’s wrong about that too.’

 
‘But you—you stupid little bitch—you told him the truth?’ Grace’s voice was a menacing snarl.

 
‘Grace—modern science will provide him with all the proof he needs.’ Allie spoke wearily. ‘Denial was totally pointless. And, anyway, I wasn’t prepared to lie to him. Not now, or in the future when—if—it goes to court.’

 
‘Thomas is my grandson.’ The older woman’s voice rose furiously. ‘A Marchington, and the last of his name. I will admit nothing different, and I will not allow this Frenchman to have him. Now, you will bring the boy back toEngland within twenty-four hours. Do I make myself clear?’

 
‘As crystal,’ Allie flung back at her. ‘But it doesn’t change a thing. Tom is my child, and Remy’s his natural father. And, the way things are, I stand to lose him too. So I’m fighting for myself here, Grace. Not an inheritance to which my son isn’t entitled, and which doesn’t really matter a damn.’

 
She paused. ‘No doubt the lawyers will be able to come up with some long-forgotten distant cousin to take his place, and you’ll just have to bite the bullet and retire. You’ve played and lost, Grace, and you have to accept it. My only regret is that I ever let you do it. I must have been crazy.’

 
And she replaced the receiver and stood for a while, staring into space, her arms wrapped tightly round her body.

 
So, she thought, it’s all out in the open at last—and that has to be totally the right thing. So why am I feeling more scared now than I’ve ever been before?

 
And she shivered.

 
‘I’ve decided to go back toEngland , but not to Marchington Hall,’ Allie said quietly as she and Tante sat together that evening. ‘That’s quite impossible. There’s no point in turning to my mother either, so I’ll try and find somewhere cheap, look for a day nursery for Tom, and get a job before what money I have runs out.’ She forced a smile. ‘I’m sure Grace will already have taken steps to cancel my allowance from the estate.’

 
She added with difficulty, ‘If you could just make it clear to Remy that I’m—not running away or hiding. Just trying to get my life in order. And that as soon as I have a permanent address you’ll pass it on to him, so that things can be settled—one way or the other.’

 
‘No, Alys.’ Tante’s voice was anguished. ‘I cannot let you do this. Remy would never wish it, I know. You must stay here, so that you can meet with him and talk calmly. Decide what is best for your child. That is the only way.’

 
‘I don’t think Remy and I can do calm.’ Allie tried to speak lightly. ‘Too much has happened. But perhaps if I’m not around, and he has time to think—to weigh up everything involved—perhaps there could be—some kind of compromise.’

 
She shook her head. ‘Otherwise it means a court case, scandal and tabloid headlines. All the sordid details. And I don’t want that kind of stigma attached to my son. Because he won’t be a baby for ever, and one day he’ll know. And I—I couldn’t bear that.’

 
‘It will not come to that,’ Madame Colville said fiercely. ‘It cannot.’

 
‘That,’ Allie said sadly, ‘is what I’m trying very hard to believe.’

 
She was restless the next day, unable to settle to anything, her mind in turmoil. And Tom was in full grizzling mode over the new tooth, one reddened cheek advertising his discomfort.

 
Between us, we’re the pair from hell, Allie thought wryly.

 
‘I think I’ll drive into Ignac,’ she announced. ‘Go to the pharmacy before it closes, and see if they can recommend something for him.’

 
And maybe, she thought, give it one last shot with Remy before she departed forEngland .

 
It took all the nerve she possessed to walk into the medical centre and ask for him. But she was to be disappointed. The receptionist told her that Dr de Brizat had left for the day, and asked if she wished for an appointment for the following morning.

 
Allie thanked her, but refused.

 
I shall be packing tomorrow, she thought. And perhaps this wasn’t such a good idea anyway.

 
She applied some of the teething remedy to Tom’s sore gum, and gave him a spoonful of the pink medicine that had also been suggested, and he fell asleep halfway back to Les Sables.

 
About half a mile from the house, she saw a car parked on the verge, and realised that someone had stepped into the road and was waving frantically at her. To her astonishment, she saw it was Madame Drouac.

 
She pulled over and opened the window. ‘What’s the matter,’ she gasped in French. ‘Is it madame? Has something happened?’

 
‘Non, non,’ the other woman assured her. She pushed a folded sheet of paper into Allie’s hand. ‘Lisez, madame.”

 
It had begun, Allie saw, as a shopping list, then abruptly changed.

 
Do not come to the house. Your mother-in-law is here, with a woman she claims is a psychiatric nurse. She says you are suffering a breakdown caused by postnatal depression and grief for your late husband, and she is here to take charge of Thomas. I am afraid for you, my child, and for your little son. Go to the Hotel du Parc in Ignac and I will contact you there when it is safe.

 
‘Oh, dear God,’ Allie whispered. She looked numbly at Madame Drouac. ‘Will you go back to madame? Make sure she’s safe.’

 
A warm, capable hand descended on her shoulder and patted it. ‘Allez, madame. Allez vite.’

 
Allie turned the car and set off. But after she’d gone about a mile she pulled into the side of the road and stopped. She was shaking and nauseous, her mind reeling.

 
She smoothed the crumpled paper and read it again.

 
Grace is mad, she thought. Completely mad. She has to be—to imagine she can get away with something like this.

 
Yet why shouldn’t she? said a voice in her head. You were ill after Tom was born, so the medical evidence is there. And she’s already discussed your ‘problems’ with Dr Lennard. Therefore, what’s to prevent you being whisked into some convenient nursing home and kept there, under sedation if necessary, while she does as she wishes with Tom?

 
And somehow she’ll make bloody sure that Remy never sees him again—even if she has to take him to the other side of the world.

 
While I—I’ll have just—disappeared.

 
She shook her head. Oh, come on, she adjured herself. This is conspiracy theory gone berserk. People don’t behave like this. Grace couldn’t. She wouldn’t…

 
She stopped. Forced herself to consider. To remember. Grace and Hugo, she thought. Hugo and Grace. Both single-minded, both suffering from tunnel vision where the Marchington name and inheritance were concerned. At what point, she wondered, did obsession tip over into something even darker? A place where ordinary rules no longer applied?