escape.”
She rolled her eyes and the smile she had forced disappeared. “I just got tired of it. I’m either the illegitimate love child, the scheming gold digger or the poor stupid fool whose fiancé got caught with his pants down. Just one more brush to tar me with.”
She fell silent and continued to rub vigorously at some imaginary mark.
“Why here?”
She raised her shoulders. “I love the beach and the climate. It’s far enough from Sydney that most people don’t even know I’m related to the Blackstones.” She glanced at him briefly and grinned. “And I’ll admit to a bit of poetic license. The population is pretty transient here. I can be whoever and whatever I want.”
Images of a wan face, tamed hair and indeterminate clothing flitted through his mind. He’d seen her featured several times in newspaper spreads or television reports. But he’d never noticed her beauty, her animated smile and sparkle, until he’d met her up here. Now he found himself consciously holding his breath when he heard her come downstairs in the mornings, wondering what jaw-dropping mishmash of colours and textures she would amaze him with today.
Quinn put his hand out. “Come here.”
He led her outside and then turned her and gestured to the faded lettering above the door. “What does that say?”
“Dani Hammond. Fine Jeweller of Port Douglas.”
“Fine Jeweller,” he repeated. “We both know how much study and work experience it takes to be able to put those two words after your name.”
He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Is this what you envisaged while you were putting in the work?”
Her head dropped a little. “Not really.”
“What did you see?”
“What does anyone see just starting out? I wanted to be the best.”
“Didn’t you want important people to come to you, celebrities and royalty and private collectors?” he asked.
She pursed her lips. “I suppose …”
“Would Howard Blackstone have put his money up if he thought this was as far as you’d go?”
“Ouch!” Her eyes flashed and Quinn wondered if there might be a little residual anger from this morning.
“This,” he said as he turned his palm up to indicate the shop front, “isn’t good enough. Not the shop or the location.”
He showed her back inside. “You have the connections, Dani. If the Blackstones won’t help, invest in a marketing company. Maybe my people can point you in the right direction.”
Dani frowned, not convinced. “Listen, I have so many orders from the February launch, I can barely keep up.”
But Quinn was pacing again. “You need to move. Sydney …” He caught the negative set of her mouth. “Melbourne, then. Hell, why limit yourself? You’re good, Dani, great, even. Why not New York or Europe?”
She put up a hand. “I was thinking of a couple of doors down, actually.”
Quinn stopped and looked at her, put off his stride.
“The vacant shop two doors down,” she repeated patiently. “It’s nearly on the corner of the mall, so there’s lots of foot traffic. It’s twice the size and very modern.”
His head went back and he stared down his nose at her. Why wasn’t she getting this? “You want to be the best? The best in Port Douglas?”
“Yes, I do remember the one-horse-town comment,” she said testily, her cheeks firing up.
“Hey, it’s your career. But no one will ever know you if you don’t give your profile a kick up the backside.”
She stepped up to him, head thrown back, fingers curled into her palms, those golden eyes positively steaming. And Quinn realised, too late, that yes, she really was still sore about this morning.
“I can’t be too bad,” she said hotly, “since you practically begged me to design the necklace for you.”
“Hey, it wasn’t my idea,” he retaliated. “In fact, I argued against you being allowed within ten feet of that diamond.”
It was like a blow to her gut.
This morning he’d inflicted a neat cut, chosen his words carefully to put her in her place. She wasn’t to question him, wasn’t to expect anything from him.
This was punchier, without preamble or foresight. She realised from the stunned look on his face that he hadn’t intended to tell her.
A deathly hush descended. So Quinn Everard wasn’t here on the pretext that she was the best designer around. Crushed, she felt the blood drain from her face.
What did she expect? He had only just finished belabouring the point. The best—hah! Who was she kidding? He’d been right, again and again. This wasn’t what she’d imagined for herself. Her shop was pathetic, and Howard had given her the loan but never stopped harping on her about moving back to Sydney and getting serious about her career.
Quinn inhaled and opened his mouth to speak, but she had to get in first, before she crumpled. “Who is your client?” she asked quickly.
“Dani, for what it’s worth, I now have complete confidence in you.”
Fine jeweller, indeed. Somehow she managed to keep her chin steady. “Am I not to know who hired me?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
She should have learned by now never to get ideas above her station. She was second best. Always had been. The stigma of illegitimacy. Nick. Hell, even Quinn Everard with his designer awards and chain-store quips.
She now felt justified to ask about the woman she was supposedly making the necklace for, a subject she had conveniently put to one side once he started blowing her mind in bed. “The diamond isn’t for your girlfriend?”
Quinn looked away. “That was your assumption, one I chose not to correct.”
She’d been feeling guilty for an imaginary girlfriend—not that the thought of wrecking someone’s life had stopped her, or him. She was just some floozy to while away the hours with up here in the middle of nowhere. He was bored, he was hot. She was available.
Her mother always told her it was okay to make a mistake as long as you learned from it. Obviously Nick’s betrayal was no deterrent for making huge lapses of judgement where men were concerned. She had known Quinn a bit over a week, a record time for her to sleep with someone. And that would reflect badly on her, she suspected.
But was she strong enough to keep away from his bed?
The next few days dragged by. The necklace progressed well, even without Quinn’s encouraging presence. It was as if all her frustrations poured out into the design. Without consulting him, she
