Hidden Talents

started to thrust aside the covers.
    The sight of the three black-and-white glossies scattered across the quilt caused him to go completely still.
    For a long moment Caleb gazed at each picture in turn. Ambrose Asterley had done the impossible. He had captured a creature of light and magic on photographic film.
    In one of the shots Serenity reclined on a large boulder, looking back over her shoulder at the camera. Her eyes held the innocently sensual curiosity of a woodland nymph. The curve of her hip and thigh echoed the shape of the sun-dappled rock beneath her.
    The second pose showed her sitting on the rock, knees drawn up to her chin. There was nothing explicit about the pose, although she was clearly nude. Asterley had obviously been more intrigued by the play of light and shadow on feminine skin than he was with titillating the viewer.
    The third shot showed Serenity lying on her stomach, trailing her fingers in a stream. Once again there was an enthralling, earthy innocence about the picture as she gazed into the water. She was not just a woman lying on a rock beside a stream, she was Woman, a gentle goddess secure in the power of her femininity.
    Caleb looked at the three pictures and knew that he had just been given a very rare and precious gift.
    With a sense of reverence, he gathered the photos together. The beaded curtain clashed and shimmered as he pushed it aside. He laid Serenity's pictures on the bedside table and walked toward the bathroom.
    The phone in the living room rang just as he started to open the bathroom door. Caleb hesitated, shrugged, and closed the door again. He scooped up his trousers from the floor where he'd tossed them sometime during the night and went into the front room of the cottage to answer the summons.
    “Hello?”
    “Caleb, for God's sake, is that you?” Franklin's voice was harsh, almost frantic on the other end of the line. “Your secretary gave me this number this morning. I've been trying to reach you since yesterday.”
    Caleb went cold. “What's wrong? Has something happened to my grandfather?”
    “No, it's not that.”
    “Then what's the problem?” Something inside Caleb untwisted. Roland was all right . Someday, Caleb realized with a strange jolt, he would have to deal with the news of his grandfather's death. But not today, thank God. Not today .
    He was startled by the force of his reaction. He never allowed himself to think too much about his feelings for the old man, beyond his anger.
    “Caleb, I think you should know that yesterday afternoon I paid five thousand dollars for a set of pornographic pictures.”
    “That's a little steep for porn, Uncle Franklin. Sounds like you got ripped off.”
    “This is no joke,” Franklin whispered in a hoarse, strangled voice. “I paid five thousand dollars to a blackmailer, do you hear me? Five thousand dollars. I got a call after you left Ventress Valley yesterday. I was told I had to come up with the money or photos of your new lady friend would be sent to the papers.”
    “Serenity?” For an instant Caleb didn't comprehend. Then it hit him. “Shit. Someone sent you the photos?”
    “You know about these pictures?”
    “Hell, yes.”
    “She's naked in them, Caleb. She posed nude for these pictures. They're obscene. This is Crystal Brooke all over again. What have you done ?”
    “Calm down, Franklin.”
    “The man threatened to send these pictures to the Ventress Valley News . Just like last time. So I paid him. I had to do it for the sake of the family.”
    “Calm down, Franklin.”
    “The family will be humiliated if this gets out. It's all your fault, damn you. In spite of everything Roland did for you, you've shamed him the same way your father did. You've followed in Gordon's footsteps. You've been seduced by a cheap tramp, and now we're all going to pay the price.”

11

    S ERENITY SURVEYED HER FEATURES IN THE STEAM -clouded mirror as she twisted her hair up into a knot on top of her head. She didn't look any different, she thought, astonished and amused. She anchored the curling mass of her hair with a large clip. Several tendrils escaped, but she paid no attention. She leaned over the sink and took a closer look at herself.
    Nothing. Nada. Zip. Same old Serenity.
    But she knew that she was not the same old Serenity. A glorious satisfaction bubbled up inside her. She had not been wrong about Caleb, after all. No man could have made love the way Caleb had made love last night unless he cared