CHAPTER TWO

She willed some warmth into her frozen smile and began to walk up towards him, thanking her impossibly tight silk dress for the slowness of her steps.

It was a walk which seemed to go on for ever. The roar of the crowd retreated and the blur of their faces merged, as she grew closer she see the dark shadowing of his jaw and the cruel curve of his lips. Men like Gerald did not grown on trees, and his outrageous beauty and -appeal often made the casual observer completely awestruck. Well, he would not intimidate her as he has spent his life intimidating the studio. He was her cheating ex-husband – nothing more and nothing less - and she needed to take control of the situation.

She lifted her head as she reached him. ‘Hello, Gerald.’ She said coolly.

To see her was like being struck by lightning, and Gerald could feel the hot rods of desire as he saw the creamy of her s edged by silk as deeply blue as the ocean. He tensed his mind racing with question as he stared down at his estranged wife.

What the hell?

Buit his face stayed unmoving, even though his groin had begun to tighten, and he cursed his and despised the unfathomable desire which made him so unbearably hard. For there were women more beautiful than Kimberly Sue Yap Chiu – but none who had ever made him feel quite so …so….

He swallowed down thoughts of what he would like to do, and how much he despised himself for wanting to do it. Weak was not a word he would ever use to describe himself – but something about the physical spell his wife had always cast over him was as debilitating as when Delilah has shorn off Samson’s hair….

What the hell was she doing here? And why the hell had he not been told?

He knew that the cameras were trained on him -  and on her – waiting for their reactions. A flicker of emotion here. A tell-tale sign there. Something – anything -  to indicate what either was thinking. And if they couldn’t find out, then they’d make something up!

Training took over from instinct and he kept the tightening of his mouth at hay. Only the sudden steeliness of his eyes hinted at his inner disquiet, and that was far too subtle to be seen. He would give them nothing!

The glance he gave Kim was cursory, almost dismissive – but visually it was encyclopedic to a man who had grown up appreciating women, who could assess them in the blinking of an eye. He felt the quickening of his pulse and the silken throb of his blood, for the bright blue silk of her dress clung indecently to every curve of her magnificent body.

For a moment he ran his eyes proprietorally over the soft swell f her and the narrow indentation of her waist, and he did so without quilt. Why the hell should he feel guilt? She was still his wife – maledicala -  even though her greedy lawyers were picking over the carcass of their marriage.

Two of the festival staff moved towards him to usher him inside, but he waved them away with a dismissive gesture.

Should he turn his back on her? That was what he wished he could do. But he decided against it – for would that not just excite more comment from the babbling idiots who would fill their gossip columns with it tomorrow?

Instead, he gave a bland and meaningless smile as she reached him, and looked down into her sapphire eyes, which were huge in a chinawhite face and blinking at him now in that way which always made him…

Don’t do vulnerable, Kim, he thought. Don’t turn those chinita eyes on me like that or I may just forget all the anger and the rifts and do something unforgivable, like taking you in my arms in full view of the world and kissing you in a way that no man will ever come close to for the rest of your life.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’ she said weakly.

‘Wondering if you’re wearing any knickers,’ he murmured.

‘I’m not surprise you haven’t worked that out for yourself – women’s underwear is your specialist subject, isn’t it?’

How crisp and arrogant she sounded! Just like when they’d met – and then he’d been blown away by it. That cool wit and ice-hot uality. But – like a rare, hot-house flower – she had not survived the move to the tougher climes of Showbiz. Her career had flourished, but their relationship had withered.

‘ Oh, honey, don’t you know that when you’re angry you’re irresistible?’

She wanted to tell him that she didn’t care. But it wasn’t true. Because is she didn’t keep a tight rein on her feelings then she might just let it all blurt out and tell him things that he must never know.

That the pain of seeing him was almost too much to bear, and that in the wee, small hours of the morning she still reached for the warmth of her husband in the cold, empty space beside her.

Then remember, she told herself fiercely. Remember just why you’ve haven’t seen him in so long.

‘I had no idea you were going to be here,’ she said, gritting her teeth behind her smile.

‘Snap!’

‘You didn’t know either?’

His black brows knitted together. ‘You think I would have come here if I had?’ he demanded softly. ‘Honey, you flatter yourself!’

Oddly enough, this hurt more than it had any right to and almost as an antidote to meaningless pain. Kim forced herself to ask the question which twisted her gut in two. ‘Is your girlfriend with you?’

His mouth hardened. ‘No.’

Kim expelled a low breath of relief. At least she had been spared that. Fine actress she might be, and pragmatic enough to accept that her marriage to Gerald was over, but she didn’t think that even she could have borne to see the smug and smiling face of her husband’s new lover. ‘I’m going inside,’ she said, in a low voice.

He gave a cold smile as he walked up the re carper beside her and into the glittering foyer. ‘Looks like we’ve got each other for company,’ he drawled. ‘Pity we’re both on the guest-list, isn’t it, Kimmy? I guess that’s one of the drawbacks of a couple making a film together and then separating soon afterwards!’

‘Gerald!’ It was Josh’s voice. He had obviously judged it safe to talk to them.

Kim and Gerald both turned and – for all their differences – their expressions were united in a cold-eyed assessment of their publicist as he panted his way up the stairs and gave them both an uneasy smile.

Gerald spoke while barely moving his mouth. ‘You’re history – you know that, Josh,’ he said easily. ‘You tricked me to get me here, and you bring me face to face with my ex-wife in the most awkward of circumstances. I am appalled – furious – at my stupidity for not having realized that you would stoop to this level in order to publicize your damned film. But, believe me, I shall make you pay.’

‘Now, let’s not be hasty,’ blustered Josh.

‘Oh let’s,’ vowed Kim, her bright smile defusing the bitter undertone in her voice. ‘This is the sneakiest and underhand thing you’ve ever done.’

An official appeared by their side, a brief look of perplexity crossing his brow as he sensed the uncomfortable atmosphere. He made a slight bow. ‘May I show you to your seats, Sir, Madame?’