Scandals and Secrets

'Yes.'

'It's a precious thing, love. It doesn't come your way too often.'

Celeste found her eyes drifting to Byron's but the gaze he returned was so hard that she flinched. He'll never believe how much I love him, she realized wretchedly. He'll never believe how much he's lost ...

'I'll go now,' Lenore said, turning to Byron. 'Maybe if you talk to him, Byron. He obviously needs someone to talk to him. To be honest, I'm frightened what he might do.'

He's already done it, Celeste thought bitterly.

'I will, Lenore,' Byron reassured her. 'Don't worry. Nathan's a reasonable man.'

Celeste only just stopped herself from laughing. 'Here,' Byron said, picking up the script from where it had fallen from Gemma's limp fingers to the floor. 'Take this with you. I think we've seen enough.'

'I don't know how I'm ever going to do that scene now,' Lenore said with a shudder.

'You're an actress, Lenore,' Byron told her with his usual lack of sensitivity. 'Act!'

Celeste returned Gemma to the sofa while Byron shepherded Lenore from Belleview. By the time he returned, Gemma had, been persuaded to drink all the brandy and she was sitting there like a zombie.

'I didn't get any answer from Nathan's number,' Byron told them both. 'If he's been drinking he might be out to it. Or maybe he's not at home at all.' He threw Gemma a worried look. 'I think she'd better stay here for the night, Celeste. I'm sure I could find her something to sleep in. '

'She has her luggage with her,' Celeste told him, aware that Gemma seemed incapable of talking. She was almost catatonic, sitting there. 'She was going to go to the airport Hilton tonight and catch a flight back to Lightning Ridge tomorrow.'

'But why? I didn't think she liked it there.'

'She didn't. It was something about unfinished bus iness. Anyway, you go and get the suitcases. They're on the front porch. And then we'll take her upstairs and put her to bed.'

Amazingly, Gemma seemed to go to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Celeste still sat with her for a while, then tucked her in, turned off the bedside lamp and was creeping out when she saw Byron still standing in the doorway, watching her. There was the most peculiar expression on his face which was something akin to pain.

'What?' she whispered. 'What is it?'

He shook his head, abruptly ushering her from the room and closing the door.

'Did you get on to Nathan?' she asked.

'No. He doesn't seem to be home. But I contacted the Hilton and cancelled Gemma's room as well as her flight to Lightning Ridge. She's not going anywhere tomorrow and that's final. She has things to patch up here first.'

'Mmm,' was all Celeste said.

'You don't think she can patch it up with Nathan?'

'We'll see,' she said non-committally.

Byron gave her a narrow-eyed look. 'What do you know that I don't know?'

'Have you got all night?'

'Very funny.'

'I'm tired, Byron,' she said and began striding away from him down the hall. 'I'm going to call a taxi and go home.'

'You don't look tired,' he called after her. 'You look fantastic. '

Celeste ground to a halt, whirling to stare at him standing there, his handsome face unbelievably arrogant as he began blatantly to look her over. Not a second look all night and now this ... this blisteringly sexual appraisal.

'You're sex on two legs, Celeste,' he said in a desire thickened voice, 'and you know it.'

She folded her arms and lifted her chin, but behind her outward cool was a madly beating heart and pounding blood vessels. 'Do you honestly think you can treat me as you treated me when I arrived, then think a couple of tossed-off compliments will get you back in my good books?'

'I'm not interested in being in your good books,' he said with chilling honesty. 'My interests lie elsewhere ... '

'No kidding. But if our interests aren't mutual, Byron, then I'm afraid it's a no go.'

'But our interests are mutual, Celeste,' he drawled, and started walking slowly towards her. 'Why else would you have come here tonight dressed as you are if you didn't want me to look at you, if you didn't want me to want you, if you didn't want me to do this?'

Celeste was stunned when his hands shot out to drag her into his arms, taking her mouth in a savage kiss while he shoved her back against the wall so hard that all the breath was knocked out of her lungs. He must have crushed his hands in the process but he didn't seem to notice, all his concentration on what he was doing inside her lips.