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'What's happened?' He grinned. 'Is Celeste back to her old obnoxious
self?'
Suzanne's answering smile didn't quite reach her shadowed eyes. 'Not
yet. I suppose love can change some people.' It had certainly changed
her, and not for the better; she felt so miserable it was unbelievable.
'I think the younger Martino will handle her just as well as the Conte
would have done. With his brother he may be a little weak, who
wouldn't, but with a woman I should think it's a completely different
story. He's a fine specimen, isn't he?'
'If you say so.' Vidal still wasn't her favourite person, in fact she felt
Celeste and Vidal deserved each other.
'I thought you went out with him first?' he probed.
'Only once or twice. What are we going to do this afternoon?'
'Changing the subject? Oh well, I suppose we've discussed the
Martinos enough. Oh, except well, I met the Conte earlier, he was
acting very strangely,' he frowned.
'Strangely?'
'Mmm, peculiar looks, things like that. I had the feeling he heartily
dislikes me.'
'I'm sure you're wrong,' she shook her head. 'It's me he dislikes. He
thinks I'm after a man, any man.'
Robert burst out laughing, signalling the waiter to bring their bill.
They had chosen to eat at a restaurant in town, leaving the exclusive
part of London where the hotel was situated, and walking until they
found a restaurant they liked. It was in a quiet side street and wasn't
too crowded.
'You've got to be kidding,' he chuckled. 'You, a man- chaser? It took
me months to get you to even have coffee with me. There's only one
man-chaser in your family, and we both know who that is.'
They spent the afternoon window-shopping, parting quite early as
Suzanne was feeling rather tired after her late night the previous
evening. She was in bed by ten o'clock, tossing about restlessly in
covers that seemed far too hot and heavy. By twelve o'clock she was
up and dressed again, deciding to take a stroll in the garden, at least it
was cool outside. Actually it was cool inside, it was just that she
wasn't in the mood for sleep. Where was Cesare? she hadn't seen
him all day. For all she knew he might have already left for Venice.
But no, Robert said he had seen him earlier, so he couldn't have gone
yet.
The hotel was deserted at this time of night, except for a few meagre
night staff, so she slipped quietly out of the side door. It was curiously
quiet in the garden, although she felt sure that in the centre of town a
mile or two away there would be plenty of people and traffic, and
noise that she couldn't stand at the moment.
'Who are you sneaking off so stealthily to meet?' demanded a taut
voice. 'Your married lover, or could it be my gullible brother?'
Suzanne swung round. 'Do you have to keep creeping up on me like
that?'
He looked very remote and she blanched at the contempt in his face.
'Answer the question, Suzanne.'
She turned away uninterestedly. 'I'm not sneaking off to meet anyone.
I came out for some air.'
'At twelve o'clock at night?'
'Why not? It seems as good a time as any, especially when you can't
sleep.'
Cesare moved closer to her, his dinner jacket gleaming whitely in the
darkness. 'And why can you not sleep?'
'I'm too hot,' she mumbled.
'Your room is air-conditioned, all the rooms are.'
'I didn't say the room was hot, only me.'
'Feverish thoughts of one of your lover's?' he taunted.
Suzanne just wasn't in the mood for his barbed comments at the
moment and she turned on him angrily. 'You're letting your
imagination run wild!' she said savagely. 'Or else you know
something I don't.'
'I know your body responds to caresses like a finely tuned
instrument,' he drawled, moving forward and smiling slightly as she
stepped back. 'It does not appear to be the reaction of a novice. I am
sure that while I was away you found someone else to entertain you.
And of course you now have Robert. God, you must really be
something for him to abandon his wife and run down here at your
bidding!'
'It wasn't my bidding,' she denied impatiently. 'Celeste asked him to
come here.'
'But only because of your condition,' he snapped. 'You have
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