Master of Her Virtue - By Miranda Lee Page 0,14

very long balcony. The tables at each end were square and had four chairs around them; the other three were smaller and circular and had only two chairs positioned on each side. Violet chose to sit at the glass-topped table right in the middle, a decision which seemed to please Leo.

‘An excellent choice,’ he said as he deposited the ice bucket in the centre of the table and sat down opposite her. ‘Just look at that view!’

In truth, the view was spectacular from anywhere along the balcony, as well as from inside. Violet had been impressed on the two occasions she’d been here before. But she’d never seen it at night, with the lights of the city as backdrop to the already beautiful harbour, not to mention the lights on the bridge, the Opera House and all the boats on the water, many more boats than was usually the case.

‘I can’t wait to see what it looks like when the fireworks go off,’ Leo said, glancing at his watch. ‘Only nine minutes to go. Now, does your champagne need a top-up yet? Yes, it certainly does.’

Violet was surprised to see that she’d already half-emptied her glass. Nerves, she supposed. Plus it was delicious. Very easy to drink.

‘Henry tells me you’ve never been to one of his New Year’s Eve parties before?’ Leo asked once both their glasses were refilled.

‘Well, no...no, I haven’t.’

‘Why’s that?’

What to say? Hardly the truth. ‘I guess I’m not much of a party person.’

Leo nodded. ‘I’m getting that way myself. I used to love a good bash but that was before I turned the big four-O last year.’

‘You’re only forty?’ Violet blurted out before she could stop herself.

Leo laughed. ‘Dear me, do I look that ancient and dissipated? And there I was, imagining that I was aging rather well.’

‘But you are!’ Violet exclaimed, flustered and flushed with embarrassment. ‘I was just thinking a moment ago that you didn’t look a day over thirty-five. But then I remembered you had a twenty-year-old son and I assumed that...that...’

‘That a man of my supposed intelligence would not have fathered a child before becoming an adult myself?’ he finished for her with a surprisingly bitter edge in his voice. ‘Unfortunately, no amount of brains can control the hormones of a twenty-year-old male, a reality of life which I have been drumming into my own twenty-year-old son. Still, things are a little different these days. Get a girl pregnant and you don’t necessarily have to get married.’

‘I wouldn’t have thought you had to get married twenty years ago either,’ she ventured, somewhat boldly for her. The effect of the champagne, perhaps?

‘You’re right, of course. I didn’t have to get married. Another hormonal error on my part. I thought I was in love. The marriage was doomed from the start, but not a total disaster. I have a wonderful son whom I love dearly.’

He took a deep swallow from his glass, then glanced over at Violet, his expression puzzled. ‘What on earth am I doing, boring you with my life story?’

‘I’m not bored,’ she said, her eyes meeting his. ‘Not one little bit.’

He smiled and she thought again how very handsome he was.

‘That’s sweet of you to say so, but I’d much rather we talked about you.’

‘Now, that would be really boring,’ she said, and took another sip of champagne.

‘I beg to differ. Henry has told me quite a bit about you already and none of that was boring.’

‘Nothing bad, I hope.’

‘Hardly. He’s full of compliments. He did mention, however, that you don’t have a boyfriend, something which I find very hard to believe. Yet here you are tonight all alone. So what’s going on, Violet? Why don’t you have some young man in your life? What’s the real reason?’

Her eyes dropped from his, her embarrassment acute.

Leo reached across the small table and touched her on her wrist. It was the lightest of touches but it sent an electric charge racing up her arm and down through her body, zapping her nipples to attention and tightening her belly. Violet stiffened at the alien sensations, yet she recognised them instantly for what they were. For this was what Lady Gwendaline had felt when her pirate had touched her.

‘I’m sorry, Violet,’ she dimly heard him say. ‘It was wrong of me to ask you such a personal question. I apologise.’

Even when his hand dropped away, there was no peace for her body. It felt like it was on fire. As her eyes lifted slowly back