“You intensify them, don’t you?”
“Perhaps I even create some of them. We demand contrast.”
“Mmm.” Roberts, his head nodding loosely, studied him. “You have something in your eyes, Martin,” he said. “If you were a woman I would forget my business, my complacency. I would want to run away with you—if you were a woman.”
Martin hesitated a moment before answering.
“If I were a woman—you would not be interested,” he said at last.
Roberts’ face grew white under the rouge.
“You are candid. But my temperament should not disturb our friendship.”
Martin leaned over, closing his hand about the adviser’s wrist and holding it tightly.
“What do you mean by ‘temperament’?” he asked.