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.
