Enemies at the Altar by Melanie Milburne Page A

part? ‘I didn’t realise the reason my mother was so happy was because she was having an affair with your father,’ she said after a little silence. ‘I think I would’ve acted differently if I’d known about that at the time.’
    He stopped walking and turned to look down at her, an embittered frown slicing between his dark brows. ‘Your mother wanted a quick leg up in life,’ he said. ‘She ruthlessly set her sights on my father. He was to be her next meal ticket. To this day I don’t understand why he was so foolish to get involved with a shameless slut like her.’
    ‘My mother loved him,’ Sienna said, glaring at him for painting such a tawdry picture of her mother. ‘Hewas the only man she had ever loved. She told me a few days before she died. Her life before that had been a litany of meaningless affairs. But once she met your father she fell deeply in love. She was devastated when he refused to acknowledge her publicly. I think she thought after your mother passed away that he would marry her.’
    Andreas’s expression was cynical. ‘Are you sure it was him she loved or the lifestyle he could give her?’ he asked.
    Sienna gave him another flinty glare. ‘I don’t expect you to understand what love feels like,’ she said. ‘You’re exactly like your father in that sense. You take what you want from people and give nothing back. Emotion doesn’t come into it. Your life is a series of cold, hard business deals conducted one after the other.’
    ‘Ah, but is that not just like you?’ Andreas asked with a sardonic slant to his mouth. ‘You married Brian Littlemore for money. You have married me for exactly the same reason. Is that not rather cold and businesslike? You want money in exchange for your body, but you will not give your heart.’
    ‘Do you
want
my heart, Andreas?’ she asked with a deliberately taunting look.
    His gaze ran over her like the scorching stroke of a naked flame. ‘I think you know what I want,’ he said. ‘It’s what we both want. And tonight there is nothing to stop us from having it.’
    She lifted her chin at him. ‘I haven’t said I’ll sleep with you.’
    He bent his head and pressed a brief but searing kiss to her mouth. ‘Not yet, but you will,’ he said, flashing one of his satirical smiles. ‘You won’t be able to help yourself.’
    ‘Let’s see about that, shall we?’ she said.
    He touched her cheek with a soft brushstroke of one of his fingers, his eyes burning hers with the glinting fire of his. ‘I can hardly wait,’ he said and, with another mocking smile, he left.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    S IENNA felt in an edgy mood by the time she joined Andreas for pre-dinner drinks downstairs. She had successfully managed to avoid him since their meeting in the garden but she had been aware of him all the same. She had heard him come upstairs to shower and change for dinner. She had imagined him standing under the showerhead as she had done only minutes before, his body lean and tanned, all rippling muscles and toned naked male flesh. Her stomach had triple somersaulted at the thought of standing there with him, of feeling his hard body dividing the softness of hers to claim her as his. Her body seemed to be intent on having what her mind tried so valiantly to resist. Her traitorous body was clamouring for more of his touch, for more of his kisses, for more flesh on flesh contact—for everything.
    And Andreas—damn him—knew it.
    Sienna entered the large
salon
overlooking the chateau’s formal garden with her nerves jangling in irritation. ‘Where are Jean-Claude and Simone?’ she asked. ‘Aren’t they joining us?’
    Andreas gave her a crooked smile that made his eyes glint. ‘It’s our honeymoon,
ma chérie
,’ he said. ‘Four’s a crowd, don’t you think?’
    She averted her gaze and reached for the champagne he had poured for her. ‘I can see why you wanted to secure this place,’ she said to change the subject. ‘It’s very