A Marriage Betrayed. Emma DarcyЧитать онлайн книгу.

      CHAPTER ONE

      IN EVERY life there are turning points, some brought about by conscious choices, others caused by sheer accident. When Kristy Holloway broke her trip from London to Geneva for a one-night stopover in Paris, she had no idea that Fate was about to deliver a major turning point from which there would be no going back. Ever.

      The stopover was not a considered decision, nor part of a deliberate plan. Kristy acted on impulse, a sentimental impulse. A nostalgic tribute to Betty and John, she told herself, easing the guilt of going to Geneva to do what she would never have done while her adoptive parents were alive.

      They were both gone now, beyond any sense of hurt or betrayal, and their love remained in her heart, swelling into a prickling of tears as she stepped out of the taxi and stared up at the stately façade of the Hotel Soleil Levant.

      The Renaissance architecture was very impressive, as befitted one of the most prestigious hotels in Paris with its privileged position between the Avenue des Champs-Elysées and the Tuileries. Even the lowliest room available in such a place as this would undoubtedly make a significant hole in her carefully calculated finances, but Kristy brushed aside any concern over cost. A remembrance of two people she had dearly loved was more important than money.

      Over forty years ago, Betty and John Holloway had spent their three-day honeymoon in the Soleil Levant. The once-in-a-lifetime extravagance had formed a romantic memory which Betty had related to Kristy many times. The stories had been poignantly recalled when she had come across the old postcard in John’s effects, a snippet of memorabilia he’d cherished.

      Laying the past to rest... that was what this stopover in Paris and her trip to Geneva was all about. A last treasured memory of the people who had brought her up as their daughter, then her quest to find out, once and for all, if there were any records of her real family at the Red Cross Headquarters in Geneva.

      She had been letting herself drift since John’s death, feeling without purpose or purposefulness. It was time to take control, do something positive, settle the restlessness inside her, the yearning she couldn’t quite identify. The future stretched ahead but she couldn’t put any shape to it. Not yet.

      It would always be possible to pick up her nursing career again, somewhere down the track. She didn’t want to go back to it right now. The long time spent helping John fight his losing battle with cancer had been a deep, emotional drain on her. She felt she had nothing left to give in that area, not for a while, anyway.

      As for a man in her life...no prospects there since Trevor had given up on her, frustrated by her commitment to John’s well-being. Too many broken dates to sustain a relationship. Not that Trevor had been the love of her life. She didn’t know precisely what that felt like, only that her experience with men hadn’t produced it.

      She had regretted losing Trevor’s pleasant companionship but in the face of John’s illness, on top of the grief over Betty’s death...choice hadn’t really entered into it. She’d owed her adoptive parents too much to even think of not giving John all the support and solace she could.

      So here she was, twenty-eight years old, no family, no partner, career on hold, nothing important or solid enough to hang her life on.

      The hotel in front of her was certainly solid, she thought with ironic humour. Sighing away her reflections, she crossed the sidewalk towards the entrance doors and encountered the first unnerving little incident that made her wonder if the stopover impulse had been foolish.

      The doorman finished chatting to a stylish couple emerging from the hotel and caught sight of her approach. The benevolent expression on his face changed so abruptly, Kristy’s feet faltered. A sharp scrutiny slid into puzzlement, then startlement with an edge of disbelief, which swiftly built into utter incredulity and outright shock.

      Was it her clothes? Kristy wondered. Admittedly her blue denim jeans and battle jacket were hardly sophisticated garb, and her comfortable Reeboks were somewhat the worse for wear, but surely they constituted a kind of universal uniform amongst travellers these days, acceptable practically anywhere. On the other hand, the canvas carryall she was toting did not convey an aura of class and this was a very classy hotel.

      Kristy