The Party

As for Lucien, he did not say a word but the hand that fastened itself around my upper arm, presumably to help me, was like a harsh vice, tight and painful. I dabbed at my mouth furtively but I felt his cold eyes follow my gesture.

'What was that?' he snarled, his voice low and vibrating with a slow-burning rage. I turned to look up at him fearfully, wide-eyed. I had fashioned my long hair in a chignon, to make myself look older and more mature but at that moment, I felt like a guilty schoolgirl caught by the harshest teacher ever, preparing for the inevitable punishment.

'I...I wanted to thank him...' I whispered, aware that the bodyguards were with us, a few feet away. And aware that they could hear us.

"Thank him?', Sneered Lucien, his hand tightening even more, 'What has he done for you, eh?' I felt a coldness inside me.

How Lucien regarded me in suspicion troubled me. When would he realise that for me, there was no other man in my life but him? Not wanting to create a scene in pu