A Treacherous Seduction

‘The lustre is very beautiful,’ Beth had sighed.

Yes, it was very beautiful, she thought now as she left the gift shop.

The factories she had already visited today produced nothing even approaching the quality of the piece in the gift shop. The people she had met there had been friendly and helpful, eager to do business with her, but Beth had known the moment she saw their glassware range that it was not right for her shop—they specialised in highly individual pieces, highly covetable pieces. But it had not been her disappointment over the quality of what she had seen that had caused her to storm back to the car several paces ahead of Alex Andrews, her lips pressed together in a tight, angry line.

Still, at least this evening she would be seeing the stall holder in Wenceslas Square, who had promised her that she would bring her samples of the kind of glass she wanted to buy.

Yesterday, after Alex Andrews had left her to go and organise a hire car, Beth had spent an anxious hour restlessly walking by the river, trying to convince herself that she had not been as reckless as she feared in accepting his offer of help. For some reason, although technically she was the more senior ‘partner’ in their ‘relationship’, and she therefore held the power, the control, she couldn’t quite escape the feeling that Alex had manoeuvred her into employing him, and that he was deliberately trying to manipulate her.

She’d known that she was going to have to be on her guard with him, and that she couldn’t trust him. He was a man, after all, just like Julian. Another charmer…another chancer…

By the time he had returned she had told herself that she was fully armoured against him.

She’d deliberately had her lunch early, so that he wouldn’t suggest they could eat together, thus ensuring that she wouldn’t be tricked into paying for his meal. But even then he had nearly caught her out.

Eating so early had meant that she hadn’t been particularly hungry, and so she had left the hotel dining room having barely touched her meal. Just as she had done so, Alex had walked into the hotel foyer. The warmth of the smile he had given her could quite easily have turned another woman’s head, and Beth had certainly been conscious of the envious looks she’d attracted from the three female tourists who’d been watching them.

‘We still haven’t discussed exactly what you want to do,’ Alex told her as he reached her. ‘I thought we would have lunch together so that we can do so. There’s a very good traditional restaurant not far from here that I know you’d enjoy…’

What she would not give for just one tenth of his impressive self-confidence, Beth thought enviously as she started to tell him curtly, ‘No, I’ve already…’

‘And these are the factories you want to visit,’ Alex was saying as he picked up her list.

‘Yes,’ she agreed tersely.

‘Mmm…Well, they certainly produce reasonable-quality crystal, but if what you’re looking for is more along the lines of the pieces you were looking at in the gift shop then I would recommend…’

Alarm bells began to ring in Beth’s brain. She had been warned at home to be wary of the touts paid by some of the more dubious manufacturers whose aim was to sell inferior-quality goods to the unwary at inflated prices.

‘None of the reputable manufacturers would want to tarnish their reputations by becoming involved in that sort of thing,’ she’d been told by a friend. ‘The Czechs are a very artistic and a very proud people, but unfortunately, like any other nation, they have their less honest citizens. But that shouldn’t affect you.’