He frowned darkly. ‘Why the hell should I dislike you?’
‘Because—well, you might.’
‘I won’t,’ he said firmly. ‘Look, if it helps I’ll just sit here and not even look at you. How would that be?’
‘I—Do I have to tell you?’
‘I think so, Helen. Whatever it is it’s warped you long enough. I’ve noticed the way you flinch from my every touch. If you don’t talk to someone soon you’ll never get over it.’
‘I don’t think I will anyway,’ she said dully. ‘You can have no idea—all right,’ she sighed, ‘I’ll tell you. But don’t blame me if you hate me afterwards!’
‘I won’t blame you for anything that happened. As far as I’m concerned it was all Mike West’s fault. Now, tell me where you met him?’
‘In Switzerland.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I was on holiday there.’
‘At a West hotel?’
‘Yes. I—I’d saved all year for this skiing holiday. And it—well, it was everything I ever dreamt it would be. When the son of the owner of the hotel spoke to me one evening in the lounge I couldn’t believe it. He was so handsome, such good fun, and when he asked me out to dinner I was speechless.’
‘Didn’t you know his reputation?’ Leon rasped.
‘Only a little of it, and the newspapers do tend to exaggerate at times—sensation is what sells.’
‘There was never any exaggeration about Mike West, more underplaying if anything.’
‘His mother probably had something to do with that. They’re a powerful family, and Michael’s mother always protected him when she could. That was something I found out later.’
‘A hard lesson?’
Helen looked up at him and then looked hurriedly away again at the warmth shining in his eyes for her. ‘Very hard. You must have seen the evidence of it yourself.’
‘The bad publicity you got at the breakdown of your marriage?’
‘Yes,’ she said huskily.
‘I didn’t see too much of that,’ he told her. ‘I was in the States filming at the time, we only got a small coverage of it.’
‘Lucky you,’ she muttered bitterly.
‘Okay, so that explains how you met him. It doesn’t explain how you came to marry him.’
‘I married him because I loved him—at least, I thought I loved him.’
‘And why did he marry you?’ he probed quietly.
‘Because—Why do you think?’
“ ‘I think,’ Leon said slowly, ‘I think he married you because he couldn’t get you any other way.’
Helen gasped, her face pale. ‘You’re right, of course,’ she sighed. ‘But I didn’t know that until after we were married.’
‘I’m sure you didn’t,’ Leon acknowledged dryly. ‘If I know him he wrapped good old-fashioned lust up in a declaration of love.’
‘Yes!’ The word came out as a hiss. ‘His mother was furious when she found out Michael had married me. He took me to see her after the ceremony, and she became almost hysterical. I could have died of embarrassment.’
‘And Michael?’
‘He revelled in it. That was when I got my first feeling of apprehension.’