Scandals and Secrets

salvation was the sardonic expression that slid into his bright blue eyes as they raked over the smiling Luke.

'Thank you, Ruth,' she said dismissively to the secretary. 'I'll see you later, Luke,' she added in deliberate defiance of Byron's presence. 'We'll have lunch together. Book somewhere near, would you?'

To give him credit, Luke accepted these sudden arrangements with casual aplomb. Celeste realized she had found a gem in that young man.

The office door closed behind the departing people and Celeste was left to stare across the room at the man she both loved and hated.

'I take it that Luke is the Luke you referred to last night?' he said with cool derision.

'Of course.'

'You're sleeping with him?'

'Actually, no. Not yet. Cats like to play with their mice for a while first.'

'I'm no mouse, Celeste,' he warned darkly. 'You play with me at your own risk.'

'Maybe risk turns me on, Byron.'

'What doesn't?' he sneered.

'Losing.'

Darting a black look, he slid his hands into the pockets of his trousers and began to pace to and fro across the dark green carpet in front of her desk. 'I haven't come here to indulge in smart-arse repartee, Celeste. I've come for some answers.'

Celeste sighed and sat back down in her large black leather swivel chair. 'I told you before, Byron. I do not know where Damian and Gemma are.

You've wasted your time coming here. I cannot be browbeaten into confessing something I don't know.'

When Byron ground to a halt in front of her desk, his dark brows bunched together in a troubled frown, Celeste found herself staring at his firm male mouth and remembering the pleasure it had given her the previous evening. She squirmed on the leather chair, hating her vulnerability to this man almost as much as she found it exciting and irresistible.

'I haven't come here about Nathan,' he said curtly. Celeste forced herself to sit still and think clearly.

'You haven't told him yet about why Gemma left him?'

'Yes, I told him.'

'And?'

'I let him think she'd contacted me and told rile why she'd left,' he admitted grudgingly. 'I had to lie and say she hung up without telling me any real details and that I had no idea where she'd temporarily run off to.'

'And that satisfied him?'

'I wouldn't describe Nathan's reaction as satisfied. Frankly, I didn't understand his reaction at all! If I didn't know better I'd say he was relieved, which hardly makes sense.'

'No, it doesn't. What man would be relieved to find out his wife believes he's cheating on her? What other dark secrets does he have on his conscience, I wonder ... ?'

'God, not you too. Ava's been giving me curry over this as well. She heard me on the phone to Nathan. When I was forced to admit Gemma had left Nathan she ripped right into Nathan's character. Why does everyone speak so badly of him? What's he ever done to deserve such treatment?'

'Aside from his rather colorful background, Byron, he did divorce his wife and marry a girl almost young enough to be his daughter.'

'Lenore divorced him, god-dammit! She and Nathan only ever married in the first place because she was pregnant with Kirsty. As for Gemma... I can well understand his becoming besotted with someone young like her. She was innocent, you see, innocent and untouched. The complete opposite to that rotten mother of his, and that other old tart who got hold of him when he was only a boy. Good God, why can't people appreciate what a fantastic job he's done of turning his life around? The man's a credit to himself!'

'And to you?'

'No, not to me! I didn't do all that much. He did it all himself.'

'You gave him a home, Byron. And you loved him. Love can heal a lot of wounds.'

Byron didn't seem to hear the sad irony in her words, sweeping on with his usual insensitivity. 'This is why I want you to get a message to Gemma if you can. That girl loves Nathan. I know she does. She would forgive him anything.'

'Even adultery?'

'He swore blind he'd not been having an affair with Lenore. Apparently, she had been at his flat on the Sunday, which was stupid of him, I suppose. But he says he was helping her rehearse a difficult section of the play which opens this Friday. He thinks Gemma might have jumped to conclusions because he was also with Lenore at my party last Friday night. He can see it must have looked bad but all he wants is a chance to explain.'

'I wonder if he'd give her the chance to explain if the situation was reversed?' Celeste mused aloud.