CONTENTS

      CHAPTER ONE

      CHAPTER TWO

      CHAPTER THREE

      CHAPTER FOUR

      CHAPTER FIVE

      CHAPTER SIX

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      CHAPTER EIGHT

      CHAPTER NINE

      CHAPTER TEN

      CHAPTER ELEVEN

      CHAPTER TWELVE

      CHAPTER ONE

      WHEN she was certain the balcony was empty Joscelyn Hunter hid behind one of its pillars and let her smiling mask slip. For what seemed like hours she’d laughed and chatted and circulated like the perfect guest. But enough was enough. It had been a test to come to the party alone tonight. But Anna was her oldest friend. Missing her engagement celebrations had never been an option.

      The breeze was cool, and Joss shivered as it found her bare arms. Soon she could make some excuse and go—where? Home to the empty flat? She stared malevolently at the view, lost in angry reverie, until at last a slight cough alerted her to unwanted company. Joss turned with bad grace, to see a tall man with a glass in either hand.

      ‘I watched you steal away.’ The stranger held out one of the glasses. ‘Something told me you might be glad of this.’

      Because there was no way she could snap at one of Anna’s guests and tell him to get lost, Joss muttered perfunctory thanks and accepted the drink.

      ‘Would you rather I left you to your solitude?’ said the man, after a long silence.

      Joss looked up into his face. A long way up, which was a novelty. ‘You’ve as much right to look at Hyde Park as me,’ she said, shrugging.

      ‘I’ll take that as a no.’ He touched his glass to hers. ‘What shall we drink to?’

      ‘The happy pair?’

      He echoed her toast, but barely tasted his wine.

      ‘You don’t care for champagne?’ she asked politely.

      ‘No. Do you?’

      She shook her head. ‘Secretly I detest the stuff.’

      ‘Your secret’s safe with me,’ he assured her.

      Joss relaxed against the pillar, surprised to find she rather welcomed the man’s company after all. It was certainly preferable to her own. ‘Are you one of Hugh’s friends?’

      ‘No.’ He shrugged rangy shoulders. ‘I’m a friend of a friend. Who dragged me along.’

      She looked him up and down, amused. ‘You’re a bit on the large side to be dragged anywhere. Why were you unwilling?’

      ‘I’m no party animal. But the friend disapproves of my social life. Or lack of it.’ He leaned comfortably on the other side of the pillar. ‘All work and no play is bad for me, he tells me. With monotonous frequency. So once in a while I give in and let him have his way. Don’t drink that if you’d rather not,’ he added.

      ‘I’ve been on mineral water so far. Maybe a dose of champagne will improve my mood.’ She drank the wine down like medicine.

      Her companion nodded slowly. ‘I see.’

      She tilted her head to look at him. ‘You see what, exactly?’

      ‘I’ve been watching you for some time. Noting your body language.’

      She stared up at him in mock alarm. ‘What did it say?’

      ‘That something’s not right with your world.’

      ‘So you came charging to my aid with medicinal champagne.’ She shook her head in pretend admiration. ‘Do you often play Good Samaritan?’

      ‘No. Never.’

      ‘Then why now?’

      He leaned closer. ‘Various reasons. But mainly because I’m—curious.’

      ‘About what, in particular?’

      ‘The mood behind the smiles.’

      ‘I’d hoped I was concealing that,’ Joss said gruffly, and turned away to stare across the park.

      ‘No one else noticed,’ he assured her.

      ‘I hope you’re right. The last thing Anna needs is a spectre at the feast.’

      ‘Anna’s a friend of yours?’

      ‘Oldest and closest. But too euphoric tonight to notice anything amiss.’

      Her large companion moved until his dark sleeve brushed her arm, and to her astonishment Joss felt a flicker of reaction, as though he’d actually touched her.

      ‘Do you live with Anna?’ he asked.

      ‘No, I don’t,’ she said flatly, and shivered.

      ‘You’re cold,’ he said quickly. ‘Perhaps you should go in.’

      ‘Not yet. But you go, if you want.’

      ‘Do you want me to?’

      ‘Not if you’d prefer to stay,’ she said indifferently, but hoped he would. In the dim light all she could make out was the man’s impressive height, topped by a strong-featured face under thick dark hair. But what she could see she liked very much.

      ‘Take this.’ He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it round her shoulders, enveloping her in a warm aura of healthy male spiked with spice and citrus. ‘Otherwise you might get pneumonia in that dress,’ he said, his voice a tone deeper.

      Joss gave a