Tempted By Desire. Carole Mortimer

       CHAPTER ONE

      ‘Do stand up straight, Suzanne!’ snapped Celeste, herself coolly and sophisticatedly beautiful in a green halter-necked sun-dress, a perfect foil for her shoulder-length auburn hair. The two of them had just entered the hotel lounge, its quiet luxury exactly to Celeste’s liking. This holiday was costing enough, so why not expect and receive the best? She looked critically at her stepdaughter. ‘And do take that expression off your face!’

      Suzanne looked at her with wide green eyes. ‘What expression?’ she asked innocently.

      ‘What expression!’ Celeste scoffed cruelly. ‘The one of self-pity you’ve been sporting all week. You look like a lamb for the slaughter. Anyone would think it was you who had to marry an old man simply for his money.’

      Suzanne cringed at the crudeness of her stepmother’s words. ‘Neither of us needs to marry anyone!’ she objected. ‘It’s just you!’

      ‘I don’t intend to live in poverty for the rest of my life.’ Celeste’s blue eyes flashed dangerously. ‘If that father of yours hadn’t wasted and frittered away all his money, none—–’

      ‘Now that’s enough!’ Suzanne’s words came out in an angry whisper. Celeste had picked the unlikeliest places to have an argument, the lounge of one of the most exclusive hotels in London! But it had to be exclusive. How else could Celeste meet this ageing millionaire of hers? Suzanne stood her ground, her eyes silently saying she would go no further. ‘My father spent what little money he possessed on you. And this is how you repay him, with recriminations and scorn.

      What he ever saw in you I’ll never know.’

      She knew she had gone too far by the two bright spots of colour that appeared in Celeste’s usually creamy cheeks whenever she was about to forget she was supposed to be a lady. Her manicured and lacquered nails clenched into fists, and if she had been a child, Suzanne would have said the other woman was about to have a tantrum. As it was, she was probably about to make a scene.

      ‘All right, Celeste,’ she sighed deeply. ‘I’m sorry for that remark. Put it down to the fact that I’m tired and we’ve been in each other’s company constantly for six days. We probably need a break from each other.’

      Celeste wasn’t so easily mollified. ‘Tired!’ she burst out. ‘What on earth have you to feel tired about? Oh, I agree with you about the company—I’m getting sick and tired of looking at you if the truth be known. But you have no reason to feel tired, living here in the lap of luxury, your every whim arranged with ease. Tired!’ she repeated in disgust.

      Suzanne looked about the room self-consciously, aware that they were causing quite a lot of eyes to be turned in their direction. Although their words couldn’t be heard, Celeste’s stance was obviously one of anger and her own one of obstinacy. ‘We’ll continue this conversation some other time, Celeste,’ she said stiffly. ‘I’m going to my room, but you go ahead and have your afternoon tea as planned.’

      ‘Well, thank you! I’m so glad I have your permission,’ Celeste said sneeringly.

      ‘Oh, I’ve had enough!’ Suzanne turned on her heel and left the lounge, walking uncaringly to the lift that stood empty. The other two lifts seemed to be either going up or down already, and although it seemed rather selfish to take the lift up to the sixth floor just for herself, she didn’t feel like waiting for one of the others to arrive.

      Celeste was daily becoming more and more impossible. She wouldn’t mind if she had wanted to come on this visit to London with her stepmother, but she hadn’t. Oh, the lure of luxury for a few weeks had been all too tempting, but the thought of sharing the so far unseen sights of London with Celeste of all people had rather put the damper on her enthusiasm. And so far Celeste had proved just as unreasonable as she had thought she would be. Celeste hated sightseeing, in fact, the hotel and the pool were Celeste’s only haunts, and Suzanne had perforce to share them.

      God, it was so restricting! She wanted to explore the depths of the town, wanted to walk about London until she knew every inch of it. Maybe that would be a bit impossible, she had heard that even some Londoners could become lost in the more densely populated areas, each street looking like the last. But that had been the reason behind her coming here with Celeste, the reason she had told her friends that the idea sounded so appealing.

      Robert, especially, had been against the idea of at least six weeks’ separation, but Suzanne had thought this perhaps another thing in London’s favour. Robert was all right as a friend, but what had started out as a mild flirtation was deepening into something more serious on his side. But it certainly wasn’t on hers. Robert was fun and he made her laugh a lot with his crazy ideas, but surely there had to be more to love than making her laugh. What had happened to the romantic, passionate side of a relationship? Robert’s kisses certainly did no more for her than anything else she would enjoy in an apathetic sort of way. There were certainly no flashing lights and sounds of thunder when they kissed, just a warm pleasant feeling, the same as she might feel after an enjoyable evening or meal.

      But then according to Celeste the flashing lights and thunder were purely a figment of the romantic’s imagination. Romantic rubbish

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