Chapter 76

Somehow, he’d managed an enigmatic little smile, and experienced some satisfaction in seeing her green eyes darken with a frustration of her own.

Mark one up for Sebastian for a change!

But for how long could he manage such iron self-control? Not too much longer, he suspected.

Charles and Ali wouldn’t know what hit them if and when he exploded. Sebastian was all fun and easy going, but when he was pushed too far, he had a volatile temperament. A peasant, Angela had once labelled him, and he never forgot.

Sebastian’s other two Friday-night poker-playing partners were blue-blood gentlemen by comparison. His best friend, Charles, was Charles Brandon, a few years older than Sebastian and the owner of Brandon Beer. Ali was Prince Ali of Dubar, the youngest son of an oil-rich sheikh. Both men had been born into money, but neither was anything like the lazy, spoilt, silver-spoon variety of human being whom Sebastian despised.

Charles had spent years dragging