“Mother, I … I’m terribly sorry.” Phillip had managed to cover himself with a horse blanket by then, and he was mortified at having been discovered. “It was one of those unusual things … I don’t know what happened …” he blustered, on the verge of tears.

“She does,” Sarah said brutally, looking straight at her. “Don’t ever let it happen again,” she said, looking deep into her eyes. “I warn you.” And then she turned on her heel and left. And once she had left them, and was outside again, she leaned against a tree and cried, out of grief and shame and embarrassment for them, and herself. But as she walked slowly back to the château, all she could think of was Julian and the pain he had coming to him. How foolish her children were. And why was she never able to help them?






Chapter 29





VONNE was unusually quiet with Julian on the ride home from the château. She didn’t seem upset, but she just didn’t talk much. There had been an odd atmosphere in the air the day they left, almost like a storm, Xavier had said innocently to his mother after they were gone. But the weather was hot and relentlessly sunny. Sarah had said nothing to anyone about what she’d seen, but Phillip and Yvonne knew. That was enough. And the others just moved along, oblivious to what had happened the night before in the stables, which was just as well. Everyone would have been stunned, except maybe Lorenzo, who would have been amused, and Julian who would have been devastated.