Fortune in the Stars by Kate Proctor Page A

tingling
with the memory of the brief roughness of its touch.
    'Mind you, if my worries were all over, I could settle
down to finding out whether or not you're the one I'll finally succumb
to,' he drawled softly. 'Mind you, that would only create another set
of worries to plague me, were I to—wouldn't you say, Penny?'
    Penny flashed him the most withering look that her
feelings of total exhaustion allowed her to summon up. And despite her
exhaustion, she was alert enough to detect a strange element of
half-heartedness in his present baiting of her—as though his
mind were on other matters.
    'I wouldn't worry too much, if I were you,' she replied.
'Habits of a lifetime aren't that easily broken.'
    'God, what a relief!' he exclaimed dourly. 'I'd always
heard that love was one of those unpleasant occurrences that slunk up
and took unsuspecting folks unawares… Are you actually
telling me I'll have some choice in the matter when the time comes?'
    'Dominic, I'm really not in the mood for this,' she
replied wearily; she had no intention of being the butt of his sarcasm
while he sought distraction from his groundless worries.
    'But you know how I enjoy a lively discussion,' he
protested with patently false innocence. 'No wonder my star-struck
little sister made no attempt to bring us together. She must have
realised how badly suited we'd be. I thrive on argument, but according
to Lexy all Scorpios do—'
    'You're
not
a Scorpio—Lexy
is. You're a Libran, for heaven's sake,' snapped Penny, weariness
sapping her of any sense of caution. 'And the reason she keeps any
woman she cares about as far from your clutches as possible is because
she's fully aware of your appalling record with women—as are
the couple of friends unfortunate enough to have slipped through her
protective net and fallen foul of your charms!'
    'A Libran,' he murmured, as though hearing the word for
the first time—an impossibility with Lexy as a sister. 'An
appalling abuser of women… Well, well. I really must pay more attention to Lexy's astrological
incantations in future. Tell me, Penny, are you by any chance a Libran
too—an appalling abuser of men?'
    'No, I'm not—I'm a Leo!' she blurted out in
exasperation.
    'Are you, now?' he chuckled. 'And what do they
do—rip men to shreds with their pussy-cat claws?'
    'I've really no idea,' she muttered, wondering if a
subject existed that he couldn't eventually fan into a blazing row. 'I
know practically nothing about astrology.'
    'Neither do I—so what are we arguing about?'
    'For heaven's sake, you're the one who's just said how he
loves arguing!' she shrieked.
    'So I did, and it's sweet of you to be so obliging,' he
said softly, the quick glance he gave his watch only strengthening her
feeling that his mind was on other things. 'So now let's discuss
falling in love—it's such an uncharted area for me.'
    'And one, therefore, that there's little point in your
trying to discuss,' retorted Penny.
    'But it's such fun learning from an expert,' he persisted,
before his entire body suddenly froze rigid at the distant sound of a
ringing phone. 'And now all my worries will be over, is that right,
Penny?' he asked flippantly, but the darkness of the stubble on his
chin accentuated the sudden pallor of his face before he turned from
her and strode from the room.

    'Dominic…what is it?' demanded Penny, fear
prickling against her skin as he appeared in the kitchen doorway, a
granite harshness immobilising the unmistakable rage suffusing his
still-unshaven face.
    'Don't ask me!' he rasped. 'Just—'
    'What on earth are you saying?' she gasped, a sudden surge
of fear driving the breath from her lungs. 'Lexy…what's
happened to her?'
    'I wouldn't have thought even a bitch as stupid as you
could be foolish enough to ask that,' he enunciated with barely
controlled fury. 'Pack—we're leaving.'
    Fear now a choking panic, she raced after him as he strode
off.
    'Dominic, please… I
beg
you! Tell me what's happened!'
    He spun