A rather attractive blonde, probably in her early twenties, was looking pointedly over at Marcus Ballantyne now as the rest of the group prepared to leave. Joy vaguely recognised her as an actress who had briefly appeared in a long-running soap, although the woman’s name escaped her. Not that it was important what her name was; she was obviously expecting Marcus Ballantyne to rejoin them.
He studied Joy for several more long, lingering seconds before turning uninterestedly towards the other table, his mouth twisting with irritation as he saw the young blonde looking so longingly towards him. ‘Excuse me for a few minutes.’ He stood up in one fluid movement. ‘But I’ll be back,’ he added, looking down at Joy again before turning to walk purposefully across the room to his friends.
Joy wasted no time, once he had gone, in turning accusingly to Danny. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she demanded indignantly. ‘I had never even met you before this evening!’ And she never intended spending another evening in his company either. The things she did for Casey! The trouble was, her cousin would think the whole thing was hilarious. Ha ha!
Danny looked uncomfortable now, completely unlike the egotistical idiot he had been all evening. ‘I’m really sorry about that, Joy,’ he said sheepishly. ‘I just…Well, I didn’t want Marcus to know… Well…’
It was all suddenly clear to Joy: Danny didn’t want the other man to know dinner with him had been first prize in a Valentine competition! It would be funny in any other circumstances, and if she hadn’t just spent such an awful evening in his company. As it was—
‘Please, Joy.’ Danny put his hand cajolingly over hers. ‘Not Marcus, of all people!’
She could understand why he didn’t want the older man to know he had been a prize in a competition, and was sure Marcus Ballantyne would never have put himself in such a position. Obviously it had fed Danny’s ego, but it wasn’t something he wanted a man like Marcus Ballantyne to know about!
‘I’ll tell you what,’ Danny continued encouragingly. ‘I’ll take you out to dinner tomorrow evening too if you’ll just—’
‘No! Er—no,’ she refused, less desperately than her initial outburst. “That really won’t be necessary, Danny.’ The mere thought of it was enough to send her into a panic. Another evening spent in this man’s company? Never! Besides, if the truth were known, she didn’t particularly want Marcus Ballantyne to think that she had entered a competition, obviously aimed at lovesick, impressionable women, to win an evening out with Danny Eames. ‘I understand completely, Danny,’ she soothed. ‘And your secret is safe with me.’ And her own!
‘Thanks, Joy,’ he said with obvious gratitude. ‘I owe you one.’
‘What secret?’ drawled the familiar voice of Marcus Ballantyne as he resumed his seat next to Joy, looking at the two of them curiously with that compelling blue gaze.
Joy couldn’t help her glance in the direction of his group of laughing friends as they prepared to leave, the pretty blonde in particular, who was still looking longingly in Marcus Ballantyne’s direction as one of the other men in the group encouraged her to leave.
When Joy turned back, it was to find Marcus Ballantyne watching her with dark brows raised in questioning amusement. She could feel the heat in her cheeks at his mockery of her interest in his group of friends, expecially the young actress. Damn him!
‘I hope we haven’t dragged you away from your friends,’ Joy told him stiltedly.
‘Not in the least,’ he dismissed easily, very relaxed in his chair, completely in command of the situation. ‘I’m not interrupting anything, am I?’ Again he looked at the two of them questioningly.
‘Of course not,’ Danny answered him a little too enthusiastically, obviously quite pleased that the other man had chosen to join them, but at the same time a little wary of his reasons for wanting to do so. ‘I told you, Joy and I are just friends.’
And that ‘friend’ knew, even if Danny didn’t, exactly why Marcus Ballantyne had decided to join the two of them. Ridiculous, she thought, not for the first time this evening. A man like Marcus Ballantyne, who could have his pick of beautiful women, couldn’t possibly be seriously interested in her. Well, of course, he wasn’t seriously interested. It was the fact that he found her attractive at all that was so unnerving. And he so obviously did. He certainly wasn’t remaining with them because he enjoyed Danny’s company; the slight contempt he had for the younger man was more than apparent to Joy.
‘Why don’t the two of you join our party?’ Marcus Ballantyne invited smoothly. ‘They’re going on somewhere to dance,’ he encouraged huskily.
Danny looked at her. ‘Joy?’
She knew what Casey would say. Have fun. Enjoy yourself. Flirt a little.
But that would be so completely out of charcter. Until six months ago she had been in a steady relationship for almost four years with Gerald, a man in his late forties who took life very seriously, his career in particular. And their parting had not been an amicable one.
Even more reason to relax and enjoy herself now, Casey would have told her. Had told her before she came away. ‘Forget your life back here for a week, Joy,’ he had instructed firmly. ‘Be someone else for a while, do things you wouldn’t normally do. That shouldn’t be too difficult,’ he had added disgustedly, because she never did anything except go to work, go home to spend the evening reading, and then get up the next morning and go to work again. She hadn’t even taken a day off in the last six months. She had worked six days a week, concentrating on her household chores on Sundays.
Casey had made her life sound so boring, soso flat and mundane. And when she had sat and thought about it she had realised that it was, that she was a twenty-seven-year-old woman who was allowing life just to pass her by, who was becoming staid and old-maidish. That was the reason she had finally allowed herself to be pressured into coming away for this week…
But surely this was going to the other extreme, going off to God knew where for the rest of the evening, with a group of actors and actresses who had nothing in common with her normal everyday life? Absolutely nothing in common with that boring, flat, mundane life…
‘Yes, I would like that.’ She felt a surge of exhilaration, and her cheeks flushed as she voiced her impulsive decision out loud. ‘I would like that very much,’ she repeated firmly, that exhilaration turning to a feeling of fluttering excitement in the pit of her stomach as she saw the look of satisfaction on Marcus Ballantyne’s face at her agreement to his suggestion that they go dancing.
‘YOUR friend seems happy enough,’ Marcus drawled beside her.
Joy glanced over uninterestedly to where Danny was now dancing enthusiastically with the pouting blonde.
She still wasn’t quite sure what she was doing here herself, in a nightclub she had only ever read about in the newspapers before this evening, but Marcus Ballantyne was right: Danny was certainly enjoying himself with the young actress.
They had all piled into taxis when they had left the restaurant earlier, and somehow Joy had found herself squashed between the door of the taxi and Marcus Ballantyne. And he hadn’t
