Hellfire Publishing, all rights reserved 2011
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Sara Curran-Ross
http://www.saracurranross.com
http://www.saracurranross.blogspot.com
sara@saracurranross.com
http://www.saracurranross.com
http://www.saracurranross.blogspot.com
sara@saracurranross.com
Historian Sabrina Michaels lost her memory seven years ago after waking up in a London hospital badly beaten. When she travels to a French chateau owned by handsome wealthy businessman Raoul Valoire to research his famous ancestor, he lays claim to her as his wife.
Afraid of confronting her past, Sabrina attempts to leave the chateau but finds that her husband is more than determined to have his wife back in his arms and in his bed. He is prepared to hold her prisoner until she uncovers her true identity and remembers her love for him.
Sabrina embarks on a journey into her own past in the hopes of uncovering what caused her to disappear from the chateau without a trace the night of her birthday party and the man responsible for her attack. She only hopes it is not the husband she is falling in love with all over again.
Afraid of confronting her past, Sabrina attempts to leave the chateau but finds that her husband is more than determined to have his wife back in his arms and in his bed. He is prepared to hold her prisoner until she uncovers her true identity and remembers her love for him.
Sabrina embarks on a journey into her own past in the hopes of uncovering what caused her to disappear from the chateau without a trace the night of her birthday party and the man responsible for her attack. She only hopes it is not the husband she is falling in love with all over again.
Nothing appeared safe or trustworthy. Leaving would give her some control back until she could decide what to do. Surely, Raoul would understand that. Frantically, she headed for the door and reached out for the handle with a shaking hand when she stopped dead, hearing the cracking whip of Raoul’s reprimand across the air.
‘Sabrina. Where are you going?’
Sabrina turned sharply, tilting her chin defiantly at him.
‘You can’t stop me leaving,’ she threatened. ‘I will call the police.’
He gave a laugh and began walking towards her with determination.
‘It will do you no good,’ he told her softly. ‘They know that you are home and that your memory loss may have made you unstable. They are more than likely to advise hospital care if I can’t keep you under control, than help you leave.’
‘I knew you would be like this so I dug our wedding certificate out of my pile of personal papers last night.’ He unfolded the piece of paper he held in his hand and offered it to her. ‘Your signature will prove that this is not some elaborate hoax. You belong to me, Sabrina, and I am not letting you walk out of that door again.’
She glanced at the certificate and the signature that he pointed to.
It is definitely my writing. Blind panic filled her mind. She didn’t know what to do. What if Raoul is the man who beat me so badly I lost my memory? What if he really is the man who put me in the hospital seven years ago? Maybe I had tried to leave him, and he’d become violent. Too many questions. I need to get out.
‘Do what the hell you want, but I am still leaving, and there is nothing you can do,’ she shouted, wasting no more time in turning the door handle.
But to her dismay she was not to get very far. Raoul leaned over and raised his hand above her head, slamming the door shut hard. Sabrina gave a yelp of fear and turned around to face him, finding her back pressed against the door with no means of escape. Raoul’s dark eyes looked down at her threateningly. He closed the distance between them, sweeping his arm around her waist when she made a gesture to duck out from under the cage of his arm. He pushed her back against the door once more and restrained her there.
‘I am going to keep you here even if I have to tie you down. I want to know why you walked out on my life. We were in love. I have spent years wondering what happened. I never once thought you were dead. Did you leave me for another man? Your absence has tormented me. One moment we were happy and the next you were gone from my life. I didn’t know what to think. At first I thought you had left me. Then when I saw there had been a struggle in your study, I was terrified.’ Raoul’s tone grew more intense with anger, leaving Sabrina trembling.
‘The police believed you were murdered, and I was their main suspect. I was an obvious target after someone told them that they had heard us arguing that night. The police even dragged the lake on the grounds looking for your body. How the hell do you think that made me feel? Even our own friends began to suspect me, and the English press went out to get me. I spent two nights in a jail cell while the police questioned me. I thought I was going to lose my mind. The only thing that stopped them from charging me with your murder was the lack of a body and help from my old school friend in the police, who believed in my innocence. I lost friends. I nearly lost my business, but worst of all I had lost you. I hid myself away in this Chateau like some kind of recluse. Here I could be close to you. I wasn’t sure I was going to pull through, and I spent some dark nights alone wondering whether or not I should carry on life without you.’
Sabrina’s eyes filled with unexpected tears as she listened to Raoul’s impassioned speech as he recounted his pain at her disappearance. Their appearance only seemed to fuel his anger even more.
‘I want answers, Sabrina, and after everything you have put me through these last seven years, you are going to give them to me, darling wife. So yes you will stay, and yes I will make you a prisoner if I have to.’
‘Sabrina. Where are you going?’
Sabrina turned sharply, tilting her chin defiantly at him.
‘You can’t stop me leaving,’ she threatened. ‘I will call the police.’
He gave a laugh and began walking towards her with determination.
‘It will do you no good,’ he told her softly. ‘They know that you are home and that your memory loss may have made you unstable. They are more than likely to advise hospital care if I can’t keep you under control, than help you leave.’
‘I knew you would be like this so I dug our wedding certificate out of my pile of personal papers last night.’ He unfolded the piece of paper he held in his hand and offered it to her. ‘Your signature will prove that this is not some elaborate hoax. You belong to me, Sabrina, and I am not letting you walk out of that door again.’
She glanced at the certificate and the signature that he pointed to.
It is definitely my writing. Blind panic filled her mind. She didn’t know what to do. What if Raoul is the man who beat me so badly I lost my memory? What if he really is the man who put me in the hospital seven years ago? Maybe I had tried to leave him, and he’d become violent. Too many questions. I need to get out.
‘Do what the hell you want, but I am still leaving, and there is nothing you can do,’ she shouted, wasting no more time in turning the door handle.
But to her dismay she was not to get very far. Raoul leaned over and raised his hand above her head, slamming the door shut hard. Sabrina gave a yelp of fear and turned around to face him, finding her back pressed against the door with no means of escape. Raoul’s dark eyes looked down at her threateningly. He closed the distance between them, sweeping his arm around her waist when she made a gesture to duck out from under the cage of his arm. He pushed her back against the door once more and restrained her there.
‘I am going to keep you here even if I have to tie you down. I want to know why you walked out on my life. We were in love. I have spent years wondering what happened. I never once thought you were dead. Did you leave me for another man? Your absence has tormented me. One moment we were happy and the next you were gone from my life. I didn’t know what to think. At first I thought you had left me. Then when I saw there had been a struggle in your study, I was terrified.’ Raoul’s tone grew more intense with anger, leaving Sabrina trembling.
‘The police believed you were murdered, and I was their main suspect. I was an obvious target after someone told them that they had heard us arguing that night. The police even dragged the lake on the grounds looking for your body. How the hell do you think that made me feel? Even our own friends began to suspect me, and the English press went out to get me. I spent two nights in a jail cell while the police questioned me. I thought I was going to lose my mind. The only thing that stopped them from charging me with your murder was the lack of a body and help from my old school friend in the police, who believed in my innocence. I lost friends. I nearly lost my business, but worst of all I had lost you. I hid myself away in this Chateau like some kind of recluse. Here I could be close to you. I wasn’t sure I was going to pull through, and I spent some dark nights alone wondering whether or not I should carry on life without you.’
Sabrina’s eyes filled with unexpected tears as she listened to Raoul’s impassioned speech as he recounted his pain at her disappearance. Their appearance only seemed to fuel his anger even more.
‘I want answers, Sabrina, and after everything you have put me through these last seven years, you are going to give them to me, darling wife. So yes you will stay, and yes I will make you a prisoner if I have to.’
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