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‘Don’t worry, Miss Smith,’ he drawled at her suddenly wary look. ‘I’m not staying. I only came to discuss a few details with you that we overlooked the other day.’
She could imagine what ‘details’ they were, although with Audra McDonald listening to their every word she could hardly refuse to let him in. Much as she would like to! Mocking grey eyes seemed to know exactly how she felt, her voice waspish as she invited the couple inside.
‘If you would just like to go somewhere and change, Audra,’ Nick suggested smoothly. ‘I just want to talk to Miss Smith for a few minutes.’
‘I can change once you’ve gone,’ she actress dismissed.
‘It would save time if you do it now,’ he arched dark brows in challenge.
With a dark flash of resentment she turned to Danielle with furious eyes. ‘Do you have somewhere I might change?’
She frowned at the request. ‘What you’re wearing is perfectly suitable—–’
‘I have to be wearing a gown from the play,’ the other woman snapped her impatience.
‘Oh.’ She hadn’t realised that. ‘Well, there’s my studio. Or my bedroom,’ she added with a certain amount of reluctance.
Audra chose the bedroom, as Danielle had known she would, leaving her alone in there while she came back to face Nick Andracas.
‘You wanted to talk to me?’ she looked up at him with cool enquiry as he seemed in no hurry to speak, merely staring at her with open interest.
His mouth twisted, his hands thrust into the pockets of his black fitted trousers, his shirt the same steel grey as his eyes. ‘I’ve been trying to talk to you all week, you know that.’
‘I thought this conversation was going to be business, Mr Andracas,’ she turned away.
‘It is,’ he bit out. ‘Vaughn tells me you’ve remained adamant about your fee?’
She stiffened. ‘That’s right.’
He eyed her curiously. ‘I’ve never known anyone turn down money before.’
‘Really?’ she bit out between taut lips, knowing her own behaviour in the past had added to his disillusionment.
‘Really,’ he nodded.
‘Then this must be a pleasant change for you, mustn’t it,’ her voice was brittle.
‘It might be if I understood the reason for it.’
Her eyes darkened to the colour of emeralds. ‘I know my worth, Mr Andracas, and I won’t take a penny more than that.’
‘Not even if it’s offered to you?’ he seemed puzzled by her vehemence.
‘No,’ she snapped. ‘Money isn’t everything, Mr Andracas, I’m surprised you haven’t learnt that yet.’
‘Yet?’ his eyes narrowed with suspicion.
She shrugged, realising her slip in her anger. ‘You’ve been wealthy all your life, it doesn’t seem to have brought you much happiness,’ she dismissed.
‘How do you know that?’ he rasped.
‘I read the newspapers, Mr Andracas,’ she told him coolly. ‘You’re often mentioned.’
‘And what have you learnt about me from them?’ he queried softly, too softly.
‘That you’ve had one broken marriage and don’t seem to ever want to contemplate another one.’
‘You consider marriage the only happiness in life?’ he arched dark brows. ‘In that case, why haven’t you married?’ he said with barely concealed sarcasm, evidence of how her remarks had caught him on the raw, the subject of his previous marriage obviously not something he liked to talk about.
She turned away. ‘The man I loved didn’t ask me,’ she replied woodenly.
‘Your dining companion of the other evening?’ he rasped.
‘No,’ she bit out, the evening spent with her parents at their home as pleasant as usual.
‘Then I have a ghost from your past to contend with as well as your present lover,’ he realised dryly.
‘No ghost, Mr Andracas,’ she assured him waspishly. ‘I got over the stupidity of that love a long time ago, a very long time ago,’ she repeated forcefully. ‘And there’s no lover now either, only friends.’
He frowned darkly. ‘Then why do you persistently refuse my invitations?’
‘You already have one mistress, Mr Andracas,’ she reminded with contempt. ‘Can’t you be satisfied with her? She certainly seems satisfied with you,’ she mocked.
His hands clenched at his sides. ‘I want you, damn it,’ he rasped fiercely.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Are you?’ he swung her round as she would have turned away from him, his gaze raking mercilessly over her emotionless face. ‘I don’t think you’re sorry at all.’
‘Probably not,’ she shrugged.
His face twisted with fury, giving him an almost satanic look. ‘What do you want from me?’
She met his gaze coldly. ‘I’m not for sale, if that’s what you mean.’
‘Everyone has their price!’
‘Do you?’
He looked taken aback for a moment, then he dropped her arm to turn away. ‘No,’ he answered abruptly. ‘But women are different,’ he added insultingly.
‘Are they?’ she still remained calm, although inside she was burning with indignation. ‘Then I would say you’ve been associating with the wrong type of woman—or the right sort, depending which way you look at it.’
‘I could ruin you and your career with a few choice words in the right direction!’
Danielle shrugged, immune to any threats he might make. ‘What you’re talking about is blackmail, Mr Andracas,’ she pointed out softly. ‘And that isn’t a price. You were talking about greed just now, not survival.’
‘Are you always this damned logical?’ he rasped impatiently.
‘I’m just myself, Mr Andracas. And thankfully women now have a choice in this world, we don’t have to be treated like possessions or second-class citizens any more.’
‘In other words, you’re an independent lady and intend to stay that way,’ he drawled.
‘As I said,’ she gave a cool inclination of her head. ‘I’m just me.’
He sighed his chagrin. ‘And what am I supposed to do about the fact that I desire you?’
‘Take a cold shower?’ she taunted.
‘Why you little—–’
‘Please,’ she mocked with confidence, knowing he was more amused than angry. ‘Let’s not resort to insults.’
‘Let’s not talk at all,’ he rasped, coming threateningly towards her.
Danielle remembered him as having more control than this, had never dreamt that her taunts would lead to this, shrinking away from him as he took her into his arms.
‘Nick darling, I—–’ Audra McDonald came to an astounded halt in the doorway, her gaze moving over them both with glittering accusation.
Danielle released herself with a relief the other woman couldn’t realise, although by the angry narrowing of Nick’s eyes he knew exactly how she felt—and he didn’t like it. She didn’t give a damn what he liked, and she never would!
‘What a beautiful gown,’ she admired the red dress the other woman wore, the colour of a shade that enhanced rather than clashed with her flaming red hair. It would make a very dramatic effect on canvas.
The other woman ignored the compliment, her gaze fixed on her lover. ‘I can’t quite reach the top hook, Nick,’ she told him curtly. ‘Could you do it for me?’
He moved across the room with forceful strides, dealing with the hook in a matter of seconds. ‘I’ll be back to pick you up in an hour’s time,’ he told the actress, looking over at Danielle, the mask of control firmly back in place. ‘Will that be convenient for you, Miss Smith?’
‘An hour will be fine,’ she nodded, as coolly indifferent now as he was.
‘See you later, darling,’ Audra put her arms about his neck to kiss him lingeringly on the lips.
He made no effort to end the kiss, his arms about the actress’s waist, the kiss long and leisurely. Danielle ignored the triumphant challenge in his eyes as he at last broke the embrace, looking at him coldly, although the kiss seemed to have placated Audra McDonald, lazy satisfaction in her smile now.
Not that the emotion seemed to last once they were alone in the studio, the brown eyes flashing with dislike as Danielle posed the other woman in the chair.
‘It won’t work, Miss Smith,’ Audra finally snapped.
She had been expecting the attack ever since Nick Andracas left, concentrating on the sketch she was doing, not at all disturbed by the other woman’s anger. ‘What won’t?’ she asked uninterestedly.
‘Nick and I have been together a long time,’ Audra more or less purred. ‘I know how to keep him satisfied.’
‘Good.’
‘He has his little flirtations from time to time, of course,’ the other woman laughed them off as of no importance. ‘But he always comes back to me.’
‘That must make you very happy,’ Danielle answered in a preoccupied voice.
‘It does,’ Audra snapped defensively.
She shrugged. ‘Then that’s all right, isn’t it?’
‘Don’t look so smug, Miss Smith,’ Audra rasped. ‘He may find you attractive now, but it won’t last.’
‘I hope not,’ she said quietly, the sketch not going quite as well as she wanted it to. ‘Could you please sit perfectly still while I do this?’ The other woman was moving about in her agitation. ‘It’s difficult for me to sketch you if you don’t.’
‘That can wait for a few minutes,’ Audra dismissed impatiently. ‘Are you trying to tell me you don’t find Nick attractive?’ she sounded sceptical.
Danielle sighed, nodding. ‘That’s exactly what I’m telling you, Miss McDonald.’
‘I don’t believe you!’
‘Oh I should,’ she mocked. ‘Because it’s the truth. Not every woman finds him as attractive as you do,’ she added dryly.
‘I’ve never met one yet who didn’t!’
‘You just did,’ Danielle snapped.
‘And that little scene I witnessed between you a few minutes ago?’ Audra reminded waspishly.
‘I agree with you that it was a scene,’ she sighed. ‘But it wasn’t between us, as you suggest it was, it was all Mr Andracas’ idea.’
Audra frowned. ‘You really don’t like him?’ she made it sound as if that were impossible.
‘Not in the least,’ she replied flatly.
‘Don’t you realise the challenge of that will only make him more interested than ever?’
‘What are you suggesting I do?’ she mocked. ‘Pretend an interest in him I don’t feel just to get him to leave me alone?’
The other woman flushed. ‘Of course not,’ she bit out. ‘That would be stupid.’
‘Yes, it would.’ And it was something she could never do.
The brown eyes narrowed. ‘I’m very much afraid that I don’t like you, Miss Smith,’ Audra said slowly.
Danielle was very much afraid she didn’t like the other woman either. Audra seemed to be an intelligent woman, seemed to regard Nick Andracas as an asset in her life rather than the man she was actually in love with. Maybe the two of them deserved each other!
‘Do you have to?’ she raised mocking brows at the other woman. ‘I mean, is it necessary?’
‘No, thank God,’ Audra’s mouth twisted disgustedly. ‘Let’s get on with this damned portrait.’
This ‘damned portrait’ was probably going to be the hardest piece of work Danielle had ever done. It was not just the hardness of the other woman’s features that was making it difficult, it was also the actress’s attitude. Audra was not at all enthusiastic about being painted in the first place, was very restless in the chair, and Nick Andracas had further complicated matters by making the other woman resent her before they had even begun.
It was a difficult hour, and Danielle felt drained at the end of it, her main feeling one of relief when the doorbell rang shortly after three. Although she wasn’t looking forward to seeing Nick again, hadn’t realised he would continue to be quite so involved, knowing that he didn’t need to be after that initial meeting, that he had chosen to do so.
She went to answer the door while Audra used her bedroom once again to get changed. That was something else she didn’t like about this commission. With the studio being in her home she naturally had a certain amount of invasion of her privacy, but her bedroom had always remained apart from that before, none of her other clients needing to change before she painted them. Although she could understand the other woman’s reluctance to arrive in the gown; it was for evening wear, not for driving about London on a sunny Saturday afternoon. But even so, Danielle couldn’t say she exactly liked the other woman using what was, after all, her own personal room.
Nick looked much the same as he had an hour ago when she opened the door to him, tall and arrogant, striding confidently into her home. ‘You look tired,’ he turned to say bluntly.
