Chapter 17. Face to Face

Proserpina

The sound of a woman's voice

She was pleading, "Don't do this! Lucien Delano, don't do this to me!"

And then, raising her voice a trifle, she cried shrilly,

"Delano, are you listening to me? I said you can’t do this to me!"

I shrank back trying to hide as the man whom she was clinging to, replied coldly,

"I think you should leave before this becomes ugly."

He turned, and the light from the room fell on his chiselled profile, carved in granite. The strong jaw that I had kissed so feverishly on that unforgettable night, the crooked nose, and the mouth now turned down in contempt and displeasure as he turned away from the woman who was standing, stock still, dressed in a beautiful sea-green gown that clung to her slender hips. I imagined that I could make out the deep cleft in his strong chin, could feel the rasp of his unshaven jaw...

"Delano," she went on in a pleading tone, "We are having such a beautiful re