Scandals and Secrets

His unexpected sympathy today had got to her for a while but, in the end, he'd turned it to his own advantage, using her momentary vulnerability as a springboard to yet another sexual encounter. If ever Celeste needed a recent example of male selfishness, then that would suffice. Or she could gaze upon this crushed creature and her big bruised eyes.

Damn, but she wished she could help her, really help her. But she felt so helpless.

'Get lost, Damian,' she bit out, taking his place on the armrest of Gemma's chair and putting a sympathetic arm around her slender shoulders.

'Things might not be as bad as you think, love,' she said softly once Damian had departed. 'I was speaking to Byron today and it seems Nathan insists he's innocent of any wrong-doing with Lenore.'

'Then he's a liar!' the girl bit out heatedly. 'I. . .I heard him, with my own ears. He ... he spent the night with her. And he said other things. Awful things.' She shuddered violently and Celeste wanted to kill Nathan anew. But she had to give this child some hope.

'Sometimes people say things they don't mean to say, Gemma. And they do things they don't mean to do. Men will be men, my dear. Nathan's spending the night with his ex-wife might not be as black and white as it seems. Have-er-things been all they should be between you two in the bedroom lately?'

Celeste could not misinterpret the guilty color that flooded the girl's cheeks. So! Things hadn't been all hunky-dory between them.

'It had been a couple of weeks since we'd made love,' she admitted unhappily.

'You ... you haven't been having an affair with Damian, have you?' she asked carefully.

'No!' There was no doubting the girl's horror at this suggestion. 'I would never do a thing like that. I love Nathan. I always will!' She burst into tears at that, weeping into the crumpled handkerchief in her hands.

'There, there .. .' Celeste patted her gently on the shoulder. 'Perhaps you should go upstairs, get yourself together, wash your face and then we'll have dinner. I'll walk up with you.'

Celeste kept a comforting arm around her waist as they walked slowly up the stairs together, surprised at the tug of emotion she was feeling for this sweet child. It was not just sympathy. It was a real empathy.

She's so like I was at her age, came the dismaying realization. Basically innocent and naive, yet extremely sexual and emotional. Falling in love

meant giving of oneself utterly and totally. What a pity the men we fell in love with didn't return the same unfailing devotion.

Celeste resisted telling Gemma that men were not as simple and straightforward as women. She saw no point in making her as cynical and world-weary as she was, or in explaining to her that a man could sleep with one woman, claiming he loved her, then marry another a few months later. Or that, while married to that woman, he could still lose himself in that first woman's body to such an extent that all reality had ceased to exist, only to turn on her a few minutes later, deriding her most cruelly and banishing her from his life.

Or maybe she should? Maybe it was time the girl heard some of the facts of life.

'How old are you, Gemma?' she asked as they turned at the landing and mounted the rest of the stairs.

'Twenty. I think.'

Celeste frowned. 'What do you mean, you think?'

The girl sighed. 'It's a long story. My birth certificate turned out to be full of lies and I'm not sure when my birthday is.'

'How awkward for you.'

Gemma shrugged a type of weary resignation.

'Would you be offended, Gemma,' Celeste asked carefully, 'if I told you that not many husbands go through life being faithful to their wives?'

Those big brown eyes slanted her way, shocking Celeste with their sudden coldness. 'I don't want to be married to that kind.'

Goodness, Celeste thought admiringly. She's not so softly sweet after all. Damian doesn't know what he's in for if he tries anything with this girl.

Celeste found herself feeling much better about that situation. 'I fully agree with you,' she said drily. 'That's why I've never married. What guest room did Damian put you in?'

'That one,' Gemma indicated, pointing ahead to the third door on the right.

'Have you got everything you need?'

'Yes, thank you.'

'Don't bother to change for dinner. You look delightful in what you're wearing. I'm going to slip into something more casual, however. I'll drop back at the door and collect you on my way downstairs.'