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."She gently withdrew from his grasp and took a sip of her mineral water.Chris had looked at her with puzzlement when she had refused all repeated offers of spirits."Ellie came to the cottage yesterday," Blythe disclosed conversationally, although her pulse rate felt as if it were speeding up at the mere mention of their previous encounter."Did she tell you?"Chris nodded."She did, indeed—quite fulsomely." He took another draft of champagne and then gazed at her steadily over the rim of his glass."I hope you'll believe me when I say that I didn't ask her to do that.In fact, I told her to stay away, as you requested.""It felt just like old times," Blythe replied sardonically."Pretty poisonous, I gather.""She demanded that I sign over the Scottish property, of course."Christopher began to toy with his fork.Then he cast a glance across the dining room at their waiter, who leaped to attention as if galvanized by an electric cattle prod.The attendant uncorked the Lafite Rothschild '89—a spectacular claret—and, before Blythe could decline, poured them each a glass.Then the waiter took their orders and discreetly retreated to an alcove, awaiting, she supposed, the next wave of Chris's hand.He just makes movies! she wanted to yell at everybody in the room.He's not the Dalai Lama!After a moment Blythe's former husband looked up from the silverware and declared quietly, "Surely you must also feel—as I do—that Ellie is sometimes driven by demons even she doesn't understand." When Blythe offered no further comment, he ventured, "Was your sister always such a… volatile, solitary soul?""Are you asking me, 'Is she moody?' or 'Does she prefer spending time on her own?'""Both," Chris replied."I've discovered, to my shock, that she hates to travel.She cannot stand living on location, she says… and she utterly detests the industry functions one must attend constantly.""I could have told you that, if only you'd asked earlier," Blythe commented evenly.Letting the remark pass, Chris set his fork back down beside his plate."Everything seems such a drama to her," he added glumly, "especially since the baby arrived.She's sure I'm having it on with every bit of fluff who looks at me cross-eyed.""Well, are you?" Blythe inquired, taking another sip of her Perrier.She certainly didn't want to play Mother Confessor to her ex-husband about her sister, for God's sake!"No!" Chris replied, draining his wineglass.Just then the waiter appeared without being summoned and refilled it."One major disaster in my life will suffice, believe me."Blythe ignored his leading statement as another white-coated waiter accompanied by a grinning assistant arrived to serve their dinner with elaborate ceremony.She and Chris began to tuck into their roasted rack of lamb encrusted with mustard and rosemary-mint sauce while he guided their conversation in a safer, more amusing direction.He recounted witty tales about the shooting of In Kenya, including astonishing anecdotes starring her replacement, Patrick Corrigan, and the havoc the Irish production designer had wreaked on the film's budget.As soon as the waiter had served their chocolate soufflé with appropriate ceremony, Blythe's former husband emptied another wineglass and stared somberly across the table."You've been a model of restraint through all of this, you know," he declared abruptly."Any other female would have tried to ruin me… to punish me for the dreadful things inflicted on you this past year." Then he added morosely, "And before."Blythe nearly choked on her Perrier.Was this a fullfledged apology she was hearing? From Christopher Stowe?"Thank you for acknowledging that," she responded quietly.Chris reached across the table and clasped Blythe's hand for a second time, his thumb fingering the spot where she'd once worn her diamond anniversary band."We were a good match, you and I," he continued in a regretful tone, "and then I went and blew it all to hell!""Christopher, this isn't going to solve the problem you came all the way to Cornwall to talk about," she reminded him, deliberately lowering her voice almost to a whisper.Then he made an admission that startled her into utter speechlessness."I was a proper bastard to have denied you a child and then allowed Ellie to get pregnant," he confessed.He lowered his eyes to the wilting scoop of soufflé that lay on his plate awash in vanilla custard sauce."However, in actual fact, I may have done you a favor.I don't think I'm much cut out for fatherhood.At least, that's what Ellie tells me."So! she thought with a flash of satisfaction.Her sister's vicious parting shot at her cottage door had merely been a projection of her own desperation that Christopher was not enthusiastic about becoming a parent.Then Blythe's reflections drifted to poor Kit Trevelyan, who had grieved for little Angela and would have so loved to welcome Blythe's second child—if it had not been conceived in an act of betrayal.There were some men who wanted to be fathers, she reminded herself firmly.Not the ones she fell in love with, though."I don't know what it was, really," Chris mused almost to himself
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