Scandal and Secrets

by Miranda Lee

  'Why does any of us care about him? Because we love him, I suppose, no matter what he is or what he's done. He does have some good qualities, you know.'

  'Name one.'

  Cora was clearly at a loss, but Celeste knew what she meant. Damian had a way with women in general, not just the ones he wanted to seduce. He remembered things like birthdays and anniversaries. And he seemed to know just what to say sometimes to make you feel special. No doubt it was mostly only manipulative flattery and clever conning, but it worked.

  'The problem is,' Celeste went on sadly, 'he's ruining other people's lives as well. He has to be stopped.'

  'How?'

  She shook her head, her heart heavy. 'I don't know.'

  Both women fell silent, and it was into this depressed silence that the telephone rang.

  'Maybe that's him now,' Cora suggested. 'He's usually fairly thoughtful when it comes to telling me if he's not going to be home for dinner.'

  Nerves fluttered in Celeste's stomach as she made her way back to where an extension rested on a table in the front hall. If it was Damian, what could she possibly say to him? He'd already told her to mind her own business back in her office.

  'Campbell Court

  ,' she answered, trying to stay cool.

  'It's Damian, Celeste. Just ringing to let Cora know I won't be home for dinner.'

  'Oh? Aren't you coming home at all?'

  'No.'

  'Where are you staying, then?'

  'With a friend.'

  Celeste swallowed then decided to take the plunge. 'Damian, are you with Gemma Whitmore?'

  There was no doubting his sharp intake of breath. 'Please don't lie to me,' she raced on.

  'Nathan Whitmore was waiting here when I got home.'

  'Nathan? At Campbell Court

  ?'

  Celeste could hear a female make a frightened gasping sound in the background. Who else but Nathan's wife would react like that to the sound of his name?

  'Hold on there a moment, Celeste.'

  There was some kind of muffled interchange before Damian came back on the line.

  'What did Nathan want?' he asked.

  'He didn't really say. He didn't make much sense. I don't think he was himself. She is there with you, Damian, isn't she?'

  'Yes.'

  Celeste closed her eyes for a second on a silent groan. 'Have you been having an affair with her, Damian?' she asked, trying to keep the weary exasperation out of her voice.

  'No,' he denied sulkily. 'I bloody well haven't.'

  'Then why did she come to you?'

  'She didn't know anybody else in Sydney.'

  'What happened, then, to make her leave Nathan? He seemed genuinely perplexed about it all.'

  'I have no doubt. He thought he was safe with Gemma out at Lightning Ridge.'

  Celeste let out a frustrated sigh. 'Not you, too. Please try to make sense. What on earth has Lightning Ridge got to do with anything?'

  It vaguely crossed Celeste's mind that this was the second time Lightning Ridge had come into her life lately. Firstly, the Heart of Fire was supposed to have turned up again in Lightning Ridge, and now this. No doubt it would pop up again a third time, since things did seem to happen in threes.

  'That's where Gemma grew up,' Damian informed her. 'She'd gone back for a visit and while she was away Nathan spent the weekend with Lenore. Gemma came back unexpectedly early and caught them together.'

  Celeste contained her shock while she got the facts. 'Now wait a minute till I get this straight. If Gemma caught Nathan and his ex-wife together then why is he so confused over why she left him?'

  'Because Gemma didn't make her presence known.

  She left without them seeing her.' 'I see .. .'

  'She doesn't want to see him or talk to him ever again. She says he knows in his heart why she left him.'

  'He was very upset.'

  'Tough. So's Gemma.'

  Celeste frowned. 'What is she to you, Damian?'

  ‘Butt out, Celeste.'

  'If you hurt her, you'll have me to answer to.' There was dead silence on the other end.

  'I want to speak to her,' Celeste demanded.

  'No. She's too upset to talk.'

  'Bring her home here, then, where she can be properly looked after.'

  'Are you serious?'

  'Yes, I am.' At least here at Campbell Court

  , she could keep on eye on things, could perhaps drop a few words of gentle warning about Damian.

  'I'll think about it.'

  'She'd be safe here,' Celeste argued with quiet logic. 'Nathan probably wouldn't think of looking here again, but we have good security if he does.'

  'Yes ... yes, I didn't think of that. Nathan's the sort of man who won't let go easily. But Gemma's too tired to go anywhere else tonight. The poor darling's wrung out. I'll bring her there tomorrow.'

  'I think that would be wise.'

  'Do you just? Goodbye, Celeste,' he said brusquely. 'I'll see you tomorrow some time.'

  He hung up, leaving Celeste to stare down into the dead receiver. Damian's manner puzzled her. He sounded as if he was genuinely fond of the girl. Could it be that he had finally fallen in love? Really in love?

  If he had, it would be the first time that she knew of. The only person Damian had previously been in love with had been himself.

  Her thoughts turned to Nathan and his affair with his ex-wife. Much as she didn't like the man, this news had shocked her. He'd only been married for a few months, after all. Not that she should be surprised by the things men did when in the grip of lust.

  Still, it was perfectly clear to Celeste that Nathan had no idea his wife was au fait with his adultery. Perhaps if he knew the reason why she'd left him then he'd let her go quietly, without any fuss. It worried Celeste that violence might erupt between Nathan and Damian, if and when he found out who Gemma was with. Men were violent creatures. That, she was sure of.

  Telephoning Nathan directly was out of the question. He would quite rightly jump to the conclusion that his wife was with Damian. For how else would Celeste have gained such information? She wanted him to know Gemma knew about his being unfaithful, but she didn't want him to know where Gemma was.

  It didn't take Celeste too long to come up with the perfect person, the only person who she could trust to do the job tactfully and with discretion.

  A rueful smile creased her mouth at her putting words such as trust and tact in the same sentence as Byron Whitmore. But her hatred for the man was not a blind hatred. She knew his good points as well as his bad.

  Telephoning Byron, however, after what had happened today, was not something Celeste was keen about. In fact, she just couldn't face it on an empty stomach. What difference would an hour or two make? She would ring him after dinner, and after several glasses of wine.

  'That was Damian,' she told Cora on re-entering the kitchen. 'You're right. He won't be home for dinner.'

  She headed straight for the refrigerator where she extracted a bottle of her favorite Chardonnay, then proceeded to open it. With the cork dumped into the bin, she selected a good-sized wine glass from the glass cupboard, picked up the bottle and headed for the door.

  'I'm off to shower and change, Cora. I'll eat here with you in the kitchen. You won't mind if I'm in my nightwear, will you?'

  .

  'You could go to a ball in your nightwear,' Cora called after her.

  Celeste laughed, for she did have a penchant for glamorous lingerie, but the word 'ball' quickly reminded her of Byron and what she had to do after dinner. Groaning, she stopped at the base of the staircase and poured some wine into the glass, gulping it all down before giving a wry chuckle and starting up the stairs. If only some of her business associates could see her now, having to get some Dutch courage out of a bottle.

  She paused on the landing halfway up the stairs to have another deep swallow, lifting the glass to the stained-glass window in front of her. 'Here's to you, kid,' she toasted
the angel who stared expressionlessly back down at her. 'Not much to say for yourself, have you?' she muttered. 'Still, I guess I'd get a damned shock if you ever did talk back to me. Good grief, I must be going potty talking to a window. Is that one step up from talking to the wall or one step down? See you later, window. I dare say by the time I pass this way again, I'll have sorted out that crucial question. If not, it certainly won't bother me any more.'

  Celeste laughed, poured herself another glassful of wine and headed for the shower.

  CHAPTER SIX

  CELESTE liked the feel of satin against her bare skin. No other material was as cool, or as smooth or as soft. All her nightwear was made of satin, mostly in neutral or smoky colors that looked good at night and flattered her rather delicate coloring. Ivory, oyster, pearl, champagne and a silvery grey, they were her favorite colors. Occasionally, she would wear a dusky blue or pink. Never black. She didn't like to wear black, yet she wasn't sure why. Black looked well against her blonde hair, but she always shied away from it.

  The nightie she put on after her shower was a silvery grey, full length and quite simple with a deep V neckline and tiny shoe-string straps. Her arms raised, it slithered down over her freshly washed and powdered skin, the top molding around her small firm breasts, the rest falling in deep folds to the floor. Slipping her feet into low-heeled fluffy white mules, Celeste drew on the matching robe, which flowed and floated around her as she swanked back down the stairs, pausing briefly to send a mocking glance up at the angel.

  'You still there?' she taunted. 'What do you think of this outfit? You don't like satin? Too bad. I do. What about my hair? It looks good caught up at the sides like this, doesn't it?'

  Hell, I'm smashed, she thought as she sashayed down the rest of the stairs, still carrying the glass and wine bottle, though both were now empty.

  It had been years since she had drunk a whole bottle of wine-before dinner, that was-and it had really gone to her head. She had to get some food into her before she dissolved down on to the floor somewhere.

  Cora, God bless her dear heart, said not a single critical word during the meal, despite Celeste dropping her cutlery, missing her mouth with a forkful of food, at which point she giggled uncontrollably for a while. Despite all this, the alcohol did not dull the distressing awareness that she had to contact the enemy after dinner and tell him something he wasn't going to want to hear.

  Celeste went to help Cora clear up afterwards, but the housekeeper waved her away. 'You pay me to do this, Celeste. You go have a swim or something.'

  'Straight after dinner?'

  'Since when did a little thing like a full stomach stop you going for a swim?' the housekeeper said drily. 'Besides, the exercise might sober you up a bit.'

  Celeste laughed. 'What an awful thought. I'll be up in my bedroom if you want me.'

  'And I'll be in my room if you want me. There's a movie on television tonight I've been looking forward to seeing.'

  'In that case I'll answer the phone if it rings.'

  Cora smiled her thanks. 'Everyone should have a boss like you.'

  'You're the only one who think that, Cora. I'm nicknamed Attila the Hun around the traps.'

  'Ah, yes, but they don't know the real you. You're a softie underneath.'

  Celeste laughed her way out of the kitchen and along the hall. When she turned to walk up the stairs and encountered the glass-cold eyes of the angel looking down at her, she stopped laughing. 'So what are you turning your nose up at?' she snapped. 'Don't you agree that I'm a softie underneath?'

  Lifting up her own nose, she careered back up the stairs and into her bedroom where she flopped her tipsy self down on the bed and reached for the telephone before she lost her nerve. She was actually punching in Byron's number before it occurred to her that she knew his damned number off by heart, yet she hadn't dialed it in donkey's years.

  But she'd looked it up plenty of times. Looked it up and stared at it and been tempted to call, call and tell him the awful truth, the crippling truth, the soul-destroying truth. Her courage had always failed her, as it was in danger of doing now. But she persisted, gripping the receiver more tightly with each successive unanswered ring, with a bit of luck, he wouldn't be home.

  'Belleview,' Byron answered curtly on the sixth ring.

  'It. . .it's Celeste here, Byron.'

  Dead silence.

  Celeste hoped and prayed his reaction was shock that she'd called him at all, and not because she'd sounded as rattled as she was sure she had. Pulling herself together, she continued in a much more controlled manner.

  'Sorry to call you at home, or at all for that matter, but this was an emergency.'

  More silence.

  Damn the man! Now she was getting angry. Gritting her teeth, she launched forth again, quite bluntly. 'Nathan's wife has left him.'

  'What did you say?' Byron stormed down the line so loudly that she flinched and held the receiver away from her ear.

  It was a pleasure to keep her cool while he was losing his.

  'There's no need to shout, Byron. I can hear you as well as I'm sure you can hear me. And you heard me correctly the first time, I'm sure. Gemma has left Nathan. When I arrived home this evening, he was waiting for me in the driveway, looking for her.'

  'And he thought he might find her at your place?'

  'Believe me, I found it as odd as you do. He seemed pretty upset, I'm afraid, and not thinking straight. I gather he hasn't contacted you about any of this yet?' Celeste had already guessed that he wouldn't have. Men like Nathan solved their own problems, their own way. They didn't run to their fathers for help.

  'No, he hasn't,' Byron growled. 'Where is he now, do you know?'

  'Probably at home. I told him I couldn't help him and he went away.'

  'So why have you rung me? Surely it's not merely to crow, is it? I wouldn't have even taken you for being that vicious!'

  It irritated Celeste that Byron could still hurt her, but she staunchly ignored the jab of dismay and went on. 'I have since found out some information which you might like to relay to Nathan.'

  'What kind of information?'

  'When I spoke to him earlier, I gained the impression he had no idea why Gemma had left him. I have since found out the reason.'

  'You found out the reason?'

  'That's right. Gemma made a trip to Lightning Ridge this weekend, didn't she?'

  'Yes. She flew there last Friday and was due home today. But what the hell does that have to do with anything? Nathan knew she was going there.'

  'I realize that, but the thing is she flew home earlier than expected. When she arrived at wherever she and Nathan live, his ex-wife was there with him in compromising circumstances.'

  'Lenore? In bed with Nathan? I don't believe that. I won't believe that.'

  'Don't, then! But Gemma does and she's the one who's left Nathan. Apparently neither Nathan nor Lenore actually saw her and she simply left.'

  'Who told you this? None of this makes sense. Or maybe it does,' he muttered, Celeste almost able to hear his sharp mind ticking over.

  'Nathan for some reason thought Gemma would be at Campbell Court

  . .. Since she wouldn't be going out there to see you, then that only leaves that snake of a brother of years. Damian's behind all this, isn't he, Celeste?' Byron pounced. 'He's turned Gemma against Nathan somehow, twisted things, made things look bad for him.'

  'That's not true!' Celeste defended.

  'Bulldust! I saw the way he looked at her the night of the ball and I know his reputation for seducing other men's wives. Can you swear to me that Gemma's not with Damian at this very moment?'

  'I'm not going to swear to anything! I was just trying to do the right thing by ringing and telling you this. I thought if Nathan understood that his wife had uncovered his adultery then he wouldn't go running around Sydney like a chook with his head cut off.'

  'You mean you thought he wouldn't force his way into that fortified castle you call a house and
strangle Damian with his bare hands. You're a fool, Celeste. A damned fool. I'll relay your message, but God help your brother. Nathan loves Gemma, really loves her. He would not be unfaithful to her. There is a reasonable explanation for what she saw, or thought she saw, and I aim to make sure she hears that explanation before your brother does something he's likely to get killed for!'

  He slammed the phone down in her ear, so forcefully that she cried out. Celeste dropped the receiver back into place then slumped back on to her pillows.

  Oh,God ...