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you safely home.”

 
 
    CHAPTER THREE

 
    Maddy settled back into the butter-soft leather of the limousine,
trying to relax.   Tessa Parker had
been all slightly dazed cordiality, and as she felt herself maneuvered through
the crowds she wondered if the woman had had too much champagne.   She would have felt a lot better
herself if she’d had a nice, single malt Scotch under her belt.
    D’Angelo had taken the seat facing them, his back
to the driver.   It was a full-sized
limo, and he was able to stretch out his long legs without touching them.   She’d been afraid he would sit next to her,
but there was plenty of room in the car, and she’d been handed in next to
Tessa, who was so small and frail a good gust of wind could blow her away.
    “You’re very kind to do this,”   Maddy said, hiding her ridiculous nervousness, focusing on the woman
next to her and trying to shut out the amused brown eyes across from them.  
    “But of course, Miss Banks,”   Tessa Parker said smoothly.   “You looked so forlorn standing there that it seemed like the kindest
thing to do.   D’Angelo agreed with me, of course.”
    She relaxed slightly.   For
some reason she thought it had been the man’s idea, and the idea had unnerved
her.   Instead it was simply a kind
gesture on the part of a fellow American.  
    The afternoon with the man must have unsettled her even more than she
thought.   Here she was suspecting
dire motives from everyone she met.   These were the glitterati – they would have no interest in someone
like her apart from an act of random kindness. Though she wouldn’t have thought
acts of kindness were much in their repertoire.   Even if they’d known she was a reporter they were the kind
of people who avoided cameras and journalists, rather than seeking them
out.   And she was not much more
than a newbie, lucky enough to be working freelance in Paris thanks to her
family connections.
    “Who was the man you were with?”   D’Angelo murmured as they swept by the rain-wet
streets.   “He seemed very much in
love with you.”
    “Ah, D’Angelo is such a romantic!”   Tessa said fondly, her voice slightly,
delicately slurred.   The man smiled
mockingly but didn’t demur.   As far
as Maddy was concerned his girlfriend was dead wrong.   This man was a cynic, through and through.
    But she answered his polite question anyway.   “My boyfriend.   God, that sounds absurd at my age.   He’s presumably about to become my fiancé, but since I haven’t said yes
yet I’ll simply have to call him my boyfriend.”
    “Like D’Angelo ,”   Tessa said.
    Maddy couldn’t help it – her eyes met the man’s eyes, and he
smiled wryly, the knowledge passing between them, whether she wanted it to or
not.   Her so-called boyfriend was
nothing at all like D’Angelo .   No one was.
    “You’re tired, Tessa,”   he
said in a soothing voice.   “Go to
sleep.”
    To Maddy’s uncomfortable surprise Tessa did
exactly that, immediately closing her eyes.   Maddy met his gaze again, and held it, refusing to look
away.   “Do you practice some kind
of mind-control on her?”   she said,
not bother to mask the asperity in her tone.   “Or is that simply a post-hypnotic suggestion?”
    He didn’t bother to react, apart from a possible glint in his dark
eyes.   “She takes drugs,”   he said calmly.   “There’s nothing I can do about it, but
it’s better if she sleeps for a bit.   You could have probably put her to sleep the same way.   Shall I wake her up and we’ll try it?”
    She looked at him with sharp dislike.   “It’s not a game, it’s a disease.”
    “You have a very soft heart, Miss Banks.   Around here we tend to think of it as a moral failing, or at
the very least a weakness.   Tessa
has been given everything in this life – wealth, beauty, even a decent
amount of brains, though you’d never know it.   And she’s chosen to throw it all away.”
    She stared at