Scandals and Secrets

'Did you know that owning a, pet can lower your blood-pressure?' she purred. 'It has something to with the stroking. You look like you could do

with a pet, Byron. Not a dog, though. A cat. A nice soft sensual cat that enjoys a lot of stroking ... '

Their eyes locked, Celeste lifting a saucy eyebrow at him while she awaited Byron's reaction to her provocative words.

Those beautiful blue eyes of his blazed for a second before they turned icily contemptuous. Celeste smiled her satisfaction with the way the encounter was going.

Byron was so predictable.

'Thank you for the advice, Celeste,' he bit out, 'but I think I know what clothes suit me after all these years. As for my blood-pressure,' he went on drily, 'it's just fine. I have no need of a cat, nor any other artificial method of relaxation.'

'Really?' Her smile was a deliciously sarcastic curve. 'Oh, I see! Silly me. I did hear you were getting married again. I forgot. Yes, you're right, there's nothing to compare with mother nature's natural relaxant, is there?'

Byron's frozen stare unnerved Celeste for a moment. 'I am not getting married again,' he said coldly. Celeste thought she hid her reaction very well.

'You're not?' she said airily. 'Well, there you are. People say you should only believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.'

'Where you're concerned, Celeste,' he returned frostily, 'I believe everything I see and add considerably to all that I hear.'

Her laughter was light and flirtatious. 'You're such a flatterer! Shouldn't we be going inside?'

Without waiting for his reply, she turned and began walking up the never- ending steps. He automatically fell into step beside her, Celeste suddenly finding his nearness claustrophobic, which was rather perverse. Hadn't she wanted to tease him, to inflame his unrequited desire for her?

'You came in a taxi,' he remarked on the way up. 'What happened to your Rolls?'

'Nothing. It's in the garage at home. It's simply minus one chauffeur.'

Byron slanted her .a sardonic glance. 'What happened? Didn't he come up to expectations?'

'Obviously not. Didn't your fiancée?'

Byron ground to a halt. 'Catherine was never my fiancée.'

'

Oh? What was she, then?' Celeste was unnerved by the pleasure she found in the word-was.

'A friend.'

'A close friend, from all reports. And quite a deal younger than you.'

Byron's handsome face darkened. 'At least she wasn't on my payroll!'

'You think women like that are free?' Celeste countered caustically. 'I'll bet she knew what you were worth, right down to your last dollar. And I'll bet she thought an affair was a down-payment on a more permanent contract.'

'Then she thought wrong.'

Celeste heard the harsh note in his voice. 'What happened, Byron?' she queried softly, moving closer and reaching out to touch him on the wrist. 'Did you find out she was a mercenary gold-digging bitch? You poor darling ... ' Her fingernail slid down his sleeve, over his cuff and on to bare flesh. 'Better to stick to the devil you know in future, don't you think?'

For a few excruciatingly tense seconds, Celeste thought he was actually going to drag her into his arms and kiss her. His eyes were like hot coals on her softly parted lips, his chest rising and falling with visibly unchecked passion.

But Byron did not let her down. He gathered himself superbly, giving her the coldest look while he lifted her hand from the back of his with obvious distaste.

'I'd appreciate it if you would keep your hands to yourself,' he drawled. 'I don't know where they've been.'

Celeste's heart contracted fiercely at this open insult. You'll keep, Byron, she thought savagely. You'll keep.

Outwardly, she delivered a silky smile. 'Shall we adjourn to courtroom six?'

'By all means,' he returned, just as smoothly. Courtroom six, however, was not where they ended up. Instead, they were shuffled into a waiting-room where there was nothing to do but wait till they were called to the witness stand. The minutes ticked away with endless tedium, Celeste finding it difficult to remain in the same room with Byron without the soothing comfort of his ongoing contempt. A silently brooding Byron was far too attractive to her recently renewed desire for him.

Celeste contemplated starting a conversation about the night of the ball, and the robbery, and what he was going to say in the witness stand. But that would lead to talk about the Heart of Fire. And while she would have liked to question Byron again over how that rotten opal had come to turn up again, she couldn't bear dredging up any more memories today, certainly not those memories ...