The Secrets of Seduction - Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,2

in his blue eyes? “Fine,” she replied with a tilt of her head.

He chuckled softly and Ella ignored the tightening of her stomach at the sound. “Good to hear. Why don’t you stop by my office some time? We could catch up.”

She nodded, thinking he was playing right into her hands. Into the lion’s den, she thought! “I might just do that.” Although, mentally, she added on the possibility of finding clues about his dark deeds during that “catch up” meeting.

“Good. I look forward to seeing you again,” he said, then looked at the two other ladies and nodded. “Ladies,” he said to Naya and Cassy, then he turned and walked out of the restaurant.

There was a heavy silence at the table after he left. Ella watched until she couldn’t see him any longer, then turned and drained her wine glass in a single gulp, shuddering with fury. “Goodness, I hate that man!” she hissed.

Naya and Cassy chuckled, sipping on their wine. “So that’s the man, huh?” Cassy commented. “Interesting. He’s much more handsome than I would have thought.”

Naya nodded. “Yeah, I couldn’t see his horns under that head of thick, dark hair. Did you see them pointing out the back?” she asked of Cassy.

Cassy shook her head, straight-faced. “Not a horn in sight.”

Ella rolled her eyes. “Right. Aren’t you two supposed to be on my side?”

Cassy and Naya laughed, leaning forward. “Absolutely,” Cassy replied. “We’re here for ya. But he’s really is more handsome than I would have thought after what you told us about him back in high school.”

Ella toyed with her water glass, contemplating Malcolm and her almost violent reaction to him. “Yes, well, my mother thought he was sweet and adorable, up until the day that his father kicked her out of his house and out of a job.”

“But that wasn’t the son’s fault,” Naya pointed out. “You said he was rarely around. So how can you blame the son for the father’s sins?”

Ella pressed her lips together. “You know that the duke fired my mother as soon as he found out that she had breast cancer, but that wasn’t all that was going on in that house.”

“You mentioned something about wild parties,” Cassy replied, leaning forward, both of them eager to hear a mystery.

Ella nodded slowly, her eyes narrowing as she glanced at the doors where the man had disappeared. “We never knew what those parties were about,” she explained. “But one thing I didn’t tell you –because I didn’t think it was relevant back then– was that my mother found a small pin, the sort of thing that a man would wear on his lapel.”

Her friends leaned forward, their eyes full of curiosity. “One of those small, round pins?” Naya asked, tucking her dark, curls impatiently behind one ear.

“Exactly. At the time, my mother didn’t think anything of it. She’d just put it into the pocket of her apron and continued cleaning up. She’d found it right after one of the duke’s big, super-secret parties and it was behind one of the heavy chairs in his study. She accidentally brought it home that night but put it on the counter to remind herself to return it the next day.”

“Ooh, I’m sensing a mystery here!” Cassy scooted forward on her elbows. “What did the pin look like?”

Ella tilted her head slightly, picturing the pin in her mind. “It was a brass or gold pin with the image of a hand with a flame coming out of the open palm.”

Naya nodded eagerly. “Okay, so…what did it represent?”

Ella sighed, twisting her water glass slightly. “I don’t know. But when I was in Africa doing that story on teens and pregnancy…”

“The one that got you a Gemstone Award?” Cassy asked.

Ella shrugged and waved her hand impatiently, dismissing the award. “Yeah, but…”

Naya laughed, elbowing Cassy. “Don’t you love the way she shrugs off one of the most coveted awards in journalism? Every reporter all over the world would love to win a Gemstone and yet, our Ella just shrugs the award off, as if it were a pointless trophy.”

Cassy nodded, grinning as they both stared at their long-time friend. “She probably doesn’t even display it.”

Cassy and Naya turned to look at Ella who immediately blushed. “Okay, so it might be stuffed into a box somewhere,” she admitted. “I haven’t unpacked from my last move yet.”

Cassy rolled her eyes. “You moved two years ago!”

“In her defense, she’s rarely home,” Naya pointed out. “Not all of us can be globe trotters.”

Ella