Vengeful Seduction by Cathy Williams

Author:Cathy Williams [Williams, Cathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-10-09T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

THE subject was dropped as gracefully as it had arisen, but throughout the light-hearted chat about gardens Isobel could feel her head swimming with the desperate implications of her mother’s remarks.

She had never, not once, mentioned any such thoughts to her. What on earth had possessed her to mention them now? In front of Lorenzo?

She looked at him, a sideways look, and wondered whether it was her imagination, or was a smile of satisfaction hovering on his lips?

She poured herself another glass of wine, throwing him a defiant look which met with an amused curve of his mouth, and only considered it safe to resurface back into the conversation when, inevitably, they began discussing old friends.

‘Isobel tells me that Richard Adams is doing rather well,’ Lorenzo murmured casually.

Probing, Isobel thought sourly. Did he want to find out from another source whether there was anything more to their relationship than she had told him? Did he think that they had carried on a torrid, clandestine affair behind Jeremy’s back? She wouldn’t have put it past him. In fact, there wasn’t much she wouldn’t put past him.

‘What a nice young man,’ Mrs Chandler said warmly. She looked at her daughter. ‘You rather enjoy working with him, don’t you, Isobel?’

‘Immensely.’ She noticed the slight frown on Lorenzo’s face and smiled. ‘He’s bright, he’s sympathetic, he’s thoughtful.’

‘A paragon, in other words,’ Lorenzo said with an edge of coolness in his voice. ‘How odd that he never married.’

‘Waiting for the right woman,’ Mrs Chandler said.

‘How odd that you never married, Lorenzo,’ Isobel said brightly. She sipped her wine and looked at him over the rim of her glass.

‘Why?’

‘Because you’re free, single and, I suppose, quite eligible.’

‘You think so?’ he asked in that lazy, charming voice of his. He sat back and gave her the full brunt of his attention.

‘I’m sure there are some women who would find you appealing,’ Isobel replied, lowering her eyes. ‘Especially in America. Don’t women outnumber men over there?’

‘Do they? I wasn’t aware of that statistic.’ He threw Mrs Chandler a semi-offended smile and said, reverting his attention back to Isobel, ‘I’m not sure I like your back-handed compliment, that I’m only eligible because there’s a surplus of women waiting to trap an unsuspecting man.’

Mrs Chandler laughed, which she was meant to, but there was a certain gentle calculation in her eyes that Isobel didn’t care for.

‘Anyway, I won’t pry into your personal life, Lorenzo,’ Isobel said briskly.

‘Feel free. What would you like to know?’

‘Nothing.’

‘I find that difficult to believe. Surely you must be curious about me after four years.’

Mrs Chandler was watching them closely, with the amused half-smile of an adult watching the antics of two children, but that didn’t fool Isobel. She knew her mother too well to be taken in by that bland, pleasant expression.

‘No,’ she said, hastily retreating from the conversation, and he shrugged, willing to let it go for the moment.

They had managed to proceed through the main course, and her mother now brought dessert to the table.

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