Educating Aphrodite

Educating Aphrodite by Kimberly Killion

Book: Educating Aphrodite by Kimberly Killion Read Free Book Online
Authors: Kimberly Killion
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on was falling for Vincent.
    She couldn’t endanger him. Not now. Not ever. Emotions
battled inside her until the sting of tears burned her eyes. Her mask would
hide them, but naught could be done to prevent the convulsions attacking her
gut.
    “Are you crying?” When he pushed her back, she panicked and
pounded on the wall.
    “Stop the carriage!” She had to get away from him to protect
Vincent. She wrenched herself off Sebastian, gathered her cloak tight around
her person, then burst out of the carriage. After picking herself up off the
grassy slope, she ran as fast as her slippered feet would carry her.
    “Alexandra! Wait!” Sebastian called for her the same moment
she recognized the lights of Pendleton.
    She jerked to a stop, confused.
    He was upon her in seconds, his mask now gone. “Get back in
the carriage. I’m taking you home.”
    “You knew it was me?” She shook her head and backed away
from him. “I don’t understand.”
    “Get back in the carriage, love. Please.”
    “No.” She couldn’t begin to fathom what was happening, but
somehow felt betrayed. She pulled off her mask, tightened the seams of her
cloak, and glared at the driver—her driver. “George, take the carriage back to
Pendleton. Now!”
    The reins snapped and the horses jerked the carriage into
motion.
    She stomped in its wake, grinding her teeth. In truth, she
didn’t know why she was angry, only that she was.
    “Goddammit, Alexandra!” Sebastian caught her elbow and spun
her around to face him. “I was against this whole farce from the start. I
warned you this would happen. I love you, and you think I’m a bloody
philanderer.”
    Her brow pinched tight in the middle. Her head shook. She
had so many questions, but she clung to his last words. “You insult me if you
think I believe you’ve been faithful to me.”
    He released his hold on her, scrubbed his face, and sighed.
“The only women I’ve had in my bed in the last seven years are the few you
brought there.”
    “Seven years?” Her head spun. Her body felt heavy.
    “We’ve been married nearly ten years. You wrote and
choreographed Aphrodite to celebrate your thirtieth birthday. How else
do you think you could have learned the dance in four days?”
    She held her head with both hands, searching her mind for
answers, but none were there.
    “This whole affair was your idea. Five weeks ago you asked
Delacroix to erase the last six years of your life. A task that took several
sessions of hypnosis.”
    “This is madness! Why in God’s name would I want to do such
a thing?”
    “You wanted to fall in love with me and Delacroix all over
again. But the bastard accidentally set you back nearly seven years.” The
expression on Sebastian’s face was one of regret. “I was not a very good husband
to you then. We grew distant while you carried our first child, and I lost my
way. You went to Delacroix for help and fell in love with him.”
    “No. ’Tis not true.” She wasn’t in love with Vincent. Was
she?
    “When I uncovered your affair, I felt betrayed, but more by
him than you. We’d been devoted friends for years. Delacroix and I shared many
things before you and I married—including women. A truth I never admitted to
you until you refused to give him up. The prospect of having both of us in your
bed is what saved our marriage. Since then, we’ve become a most unusual, but
happy family.”
    “I’m utterly speechless.”
    He wiped tears from her cheeks she didn’t know were there.
“Please come back to Pendleton so Delacroix can pull you out of this spell. I
want you to remember that you forgave me and that I love you, and I want you to
remember the children.”
    “The children?”
    “We have six between the four of us.”
    She didn’t know which number shocked her more. “The four of
us?”
    “You, me, Delacroix, and Daphne.”
    Her mouth opened to respond, then all went black.
    * * * * *
    “You told her?” Vincent’s question penetrated through

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