Scandals and Secrets

'I hate to admit it,' Byron said with a weary sigh, 'but I think you could be right. Even when he was a young lad, he didn't say much. He let me do all the talking. I used to think he was listening, that he was really taking in the advice I was giving him, but how do I know if he ever did? Maybe I failed him. Maybe he wasn't even the essentially good boy I thought he was. " Maybe he's not turned out as well as I'd hoped.'

Gemma suddenly remembered Damian's earlier claim that Nathan had had a sexual liaison with Byron's wife shortly after he came to live with them. How odd, she thought, that now, even after what Nathan had done, her faith in her husband's moral fiber was stronger than ever. Perverse as it might seem, she was sure that there had never been anything between Irene and Nathan. Not ever. Nathan might be capable of a lot of things, but not that kind of treachery.

'Nathan is not easy to understand, Byron,' she told her father-in-law, 'but in his heart he is a good man. You should feel pride in what you've achieved with him. He would surely have been lost if you hadn't taken him in and I know he loves you dearly. He would hate for you ever to think him unworthy as his son which is another reason why I don't want you to confront him this morning. He might feel belittled somehow in your eyes. That would never do. No, I can't allow that. .. '

Byron and Ava were both staring at her as though they couldn't believe what they were hearing. Her smile was softly wry, tears pricking her eyes. 'My love is not blind any more,' she murmured, 'and it's stronger for not being so. Nathan is a man worth fighting for. I won't let misunderstandings come between us, and I won't let his past come between us.'

'He's a lucky man,' Byron muttered. 'It must be really something to have a woman love you like that.'

A hushed silence fell on the table.

Ava eventually broke it by abruptly scraping back her chair. 'Anyone for more coffee?'

'I'm going to wait outside here,' Byron stated firmly as he slid his Jaguar into the kerb. 'I don't care how long you take. I'll just sit here and read the newspaper till you come back down.'

'I might be ages!' Gemma protested. 'You should go on to your office.'

'And what if things don't work out?'

'But they will,' she insisted, refusing to think of any other outcome.

'I'll wait,' he repeated stubbornly.

'Oh, all right.' She dragged in a steadying breath, letting it out slowly. 'Are you sure Nathan will still be there? I mean ... how do you know that after your call this morning he hasn't done a flit? He might not want to see me.'

'He doesn't know it's you who's coming to see him.'

Gemma's head whipped round to stare at him.

'I thought it best,' Byron said ruefully.

Gemma sighed. 'Yes, it probably was.'

Still, she was not fond of deception. Suddenly, she was reluctant to make a move to get out, her stomach churning. 'How ... how do I look?' she asked nervously.

She'd taken a lot of trouble with her make-up and clothes, choosing a dark green slim line dress which was one of Nathan's favorites. It had a wide self-covered belt that pulled her tiny waist in even further, emphasizing her hour-glass figure. A gold chain necklace filled the deep V crossover bodice and gold drop earrings dangled from her ears. Red Door perfume wafted tantalizingly up from where she'd sprayed it between her breasts.

It did cross her mind that it would seem crazy to anyone else that she was making herself physically attractive for the same man who'd virtually raped her the day before. But understanding and love made her see Nathan's

actions as an expression of extreme pain, not violence, a reaction to an imagined betrayal that he could not cope with. He had struck out at her in a horrible way, admittedly, and she had been devastated at the time, but there was no future in keeping those feelings of anger and vengeance going. Her future, she felt sure, lay with understanding her husband, and unconditionally loving him.

'I haven't overdone things, have I?'

'You look absolutely delicious,' Byron complimented with such a look Gemma was taken aback for a moment. She'd never thought of her father- in-law as a member of the opposite sex before. He was simply Nathan's adopted father. The formidable head of Whitmore's. An invincible, almost machine-like individual.

Now her woman's eyes took in his strongly handsome face, his penetrating blue eyes, his highly sensual mouth. He might be fifty years old but he didn't look it. In fact, he looked fit enough to go quite a few rounds, either in the ring or in bed.