Xander murmured slowly as he gave Darius a speculative glance. ‘Anyway, the woman has it in for you, Miranda.’ He eyed her shrewdly.
A shrewdness that alerted Andy to the fact that, despite what the media might report to the contrary, Xander Sterne was every bit as hard-edged and astute as his twin brother. He just chose to hide it better than the more arrogantly forthright Darius.
She gave a shrug. ‘Tia and I once worked together.’
Xander huffed. ‘Not harmoniously, I’m guessing.’
Andy gave a small smile. ‘It was a long time ago.’
He shrugged. ‘That doesn’t seem to have tempered her dislike any.’
Andy was more than a little curious to know exactly what Tia had said about her to Xander Sterne to have alerted him to that fact. But it was a curiosity she had no intention of satisfying when Darius was listening to the conversation so intently. He had already shown he was more than a little curious about her past relationship with Tia.
‘It was just a little healthy rivalry, that’s all.’
‘It didn’t seem all that healthy to me,’ Xander warned as he looked across at his brother. ‘I should keep an eye out for knives in Miranda’s back, if I were you, Darius. The woman tries to hide it, but she’s obviously got a problem with Miranda.’
‘I already gathered that after we spoke to her earlier,’ Darius drawled. ‘And the only thing that is going to be anywhere near Miranda’s back in the near future, or her front either, for that matter, is me!’ he added with a challenging glance at Andy.
‘Darius.’ Andy gasped, even as her face blushed a fiery red. ‘That was totally uncalled for,’ she added with an uncomfortable glance at the now grinning Xander.
‘But true,’ Darius replied with infuriating confidence.
‘Have you two known each other long?’ Xander relaxed back in his chair as he watched them with amusement.
‘Too long!’
‘A few days.’
Andy and Darius both spoke at the same time, Andy irritably, Darius with as much amusement as his brother.
‘It might seem longer, Miranda, but it really is only a few days,’ Darius added dryly.
‘Well, you know the answer to that: don’t ask me out again!’ she countered tartly, causing Xander to chuckle appreciatively.
‘Oh, I wasn’t complaining, Miranda.’ Darius sat forward to place his hand over one of hers, his fingers curling tightly about hers as he felt her attempt to pull away. ‘Quite the opposite, in fact,’ he added huskily, his gaze holding hers captive as his hand continued to hold onto her slender fingers.
‘I’m starting to feel like a definite third wheel here,’ Xander murmured speculatively.
Darius shot his brother a narrow-eyed glance. ‘Then I suggest you go and find your own woman and stop trying to flirt with mine.’
He ignored Miranda’s outraged gasp this time as he glanced across Xander’s shoulder.
‘What the hell...?’ He gave an impatient shake of his head. ‘What is this? A family convention? Mother is on her way over here too now,’ he huffed.
‘Definitely my cue to leave.’ Xander stood up abruptly.
‘I’m guessing your charm didn’t work there earlier, either?’ Darius drawled.
‘Not enough for me to be willing to stay around and listen to more scolding about my tardiness.’ Xander grimaced. ‘It was really good to meet you, Miranda,’ he added warmly.
‘You too,’ she barely had time to murmur, before Xander had turned and disappeared onto the crowded dance floor.
Darius released Miranda’s hand, standing up politely as his mother reached their table. ‘What a shame—you just missed Xander,’ he said.
His mother frowned. ‘It wasn’t Xander I wanted to talk to.’
‘No? Well, unfortunately Miranda and I were just leaving.’
Andy shot him a sharp glance. Deservedly so, when just minutes ago Darius had insisted they weren’t leaving until she had danced with him again. Obviously the arrival of his mother had succeeded in changing his plans where Andy’s refusal hadn’t.
‘I really must apologise for not recognising you earlier, Miss Jacobs.’ Catherine Latimer turned to her, her tone warmly charming. ‘I knew you looked familiar, but Charles was the one who realised who you are, and I simply had to come and tell you how much I enjoyed watching you dance in Giselle four...or was it five years ago?’
Darius saw all the colour leech from Miranda’s cheeks before she answered his mother woodenly. ‘It was four and a half years ago.’
‘Of course it was.’ His mother beamed. ‘Such a wonderful talent. So much promise. Such a tragedy about your accident—’
‘Mother—’
‘But you are obviously fully recovered from that now.’ Catherine beamed, completely undaunted by Darius’s attempt to silence her. ‘I’m organising a charity gala performance for next month, and I appreciate that it’s short notice, but I was wondering if you would be willing to give a ten-minute performance? Possibly something from Swan Lake?’
‘Mother!’
‘Darius, do stop interrupting when I’m talking to Ms Jacobs.’
His mother shot him an irritated glance before turning back to smile at Miranda. ‘I can’t tell you what a thrill it would be for everyone if you would agree to perform.’
‘That is quite enough, Mother!’ Darius thundered as Miranda seemed to go even paler, her eyes huge green wells of despair against that pallor. ‘More than enough,’ he added grimly. ‘Miranda will not be dancing at one of your charity galas, next month or at any other time.’
He pulled Miranda effortlessly to her feet to stand beside him, his arm moving about her waist and securing her at his side as she seemed to sway slightly.
‘You’re being very high-handed, Darius.’ Catherine frowned her disapproval. ‘I’m sure that Ms Jacobs is more than capable of answering for herself.’
Not at the moment she wasn’t. In fact, Darius felt sure that if he didn’t get Miranda out of here in the next few minutes she was going to do one of two things. One, be extremely rude to his mother, which Darius had no doubt she would later regret. Or two, she might just faint, which she would also later regret. The last thing Miranda would want was to draw attention to herself. To perhaps be recognised by more people than his mother and stepfather and Tia Bellamy.
Miranda definitely would not want to cause a scene in front of Tia Bellamy.
His mouth tightened. ‘As I said, Miranda and I were just leaving, Mother.’
‘But...’
Darius’s
