'Corrupting you?' she scoffed. 'I was only seventeen, for pity's sake. You were twenty-seven. Who was the corrupter, I ask you?'
His face darkened with fury. 'Don't try to blame me, Celeste. You know damned well what you did. You found every excuse to come into my office those two weeks. You wore the most exotic perfume I've ever smelt on a female. You never wore a bra. Sometimes I wondered if you had any underwear on. You flicked those cat's eyes of yours my way all the time and you let me know with every movement of your lush, nubile young body that I could have you whenever I wanted you.'
An irritatingly guilty heat flamed in her cheeks. Yes, she had been provocative. She had to admit that. But she'd been in love, dammit. She'd adored the man. How else was she to get him to notice her when he could have any woman he wanted? She had to show them that she was a woman, or nearly one.
'I see you agree with me,' Byron snarled, seeing her betraying blush.
'I do not!' she snapped. 'I was a silly young girl, I admit, but only silly because I was in love. You took advantage of me, Byron. You made me think you loved me.'
'I made you think I loved you!' he exploded, rolling her over and spreading her arms wide on the pillows, his grip quite brutal on her flesh.
Once again, she was pinned to the mattress, and once again, her skills of self-defense were useless. 'That's a laugh. I would have said the very opposite was true if it didn't make me look a fool. Not that you didn't make a fool of me back then, Celeste. It was only after you'd gone back to school and I found out what an experienced little seducer of older men you already were that I appreciated the extent of my stupidity. You say you were in love with me. Well, you seem to fall in love a lot, don't you, Celeste? Is it that you need to tell yourself you're in love to justify what you do with me?'
Celeste's eyes widened at his astonishing accusations, her heart racing. 'What do you mean, I was already an experienced seducer of men? You were my first lover.'
'Oh, for pity's sake, Celeste, even if Irene hadn't told me all about you, I still knew there'd been others before me. You were no virgin when I made love to you that day in the office.'
Celeste bit her lip as she realized that that awful incident when she'd been only fourteen would have destroyed her technical virginity. Even the doctor who examined her back then had waffled over the possible extent of her sexual activity. When she'd reported the teacher for attempted rape, he had claimed she'd been more than co-operative, then another teacher on the staff had backed him up by saying the same thing about her.
It had been a conspiracy, of course, for the first man to escape retribution for his vile act. The two men had been devils in arms and she had unfortunately left it a couple of weeks before reporting the frightening incident. By then any damage to her young body had healed and she was left with no evidence of forcible entry.
Her mother had believed her, however, taking her away from that school and putting her in another. She'd also put her on the Pill for safety, aware that Celeste had the sort of looks men found it hard to resist.
'What. .. what did Irene tell you?' she asked shakily, staring up into Byron's glittering blue eyes.
'The truth! That you'd slept with half the male staff at your school when you were only fourteen. That you were expelled and that your mother had to put you on the Pill because she was scared you'd be pregnant before you were fifteen, you were so sex-mad. From the way you acted with me, she did the wise thing.'
'And what if I said I didn't sleep with those teachers or any other men before you? What if I told you one of the teachers tried to rape me, that he actually had me on the ground before I kneed him in the groin and got away?'
'What would you say if I said your behavior over the years hardly backs up that story?' he countered savagely. 'You're verging on being a nymphomaniac, Celeste. Admit it. You are sex-mad. Over the years you've craved younger and younger men because they can probably last longer and can do it more often. But let me assure you, sweetheart, I'm not done yet tonight. I'll give you what you crave.'
He used his massive legs to push hers apart, settling his weight between her thighs. Without letting her arms go he began to probe with his body. Celeste tried not to feel anything as his desire rubbed and pressed against hers, but she could not prevent the exciting sensations he was evoking or the way her blood began to pound in her head.