Andy carefully placed her teacup down on the coffee table before standing up, her legs trembling as she did so. Seeing Darius again so unexpectedly had thrown her completely.
She was relieved she had at least worn a formal pale green blouse, tucked into tailored black trousers, for this arranged meeting today with Catherine Latimer. Her hair was also newly washed and styled, so she could at least meet Darius on an equal footing in regard to her appearance.
She turned to smile reassuringly at the older woman. ‘I think we’ve said all we need to say for today, Catherine, so I’ll leave you alone to talk with your son now.’
Pleasure shone in the older woman’s eyes. ‘I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you’ve changed your mind.’
Darius might now regret their intimacies of the previous weekend, but that didn’t mean that Andy hadn’t listened to him at the hospital when he had suggested she should dance at the gala his mother was organising. Especially when he had been so confident that she could.
Determined not to dwell on thoughts of Darius, of what he meant to her, Andy had instead agonised about whether or not she could dance again in public. Was she was emotionally strong enough to do so, as well as physically?
Darius’s confidence in her had been the deciding factor in all that agonising. He believed in her. Believed she could do it.
Her visit to Catherine Latimer today, to accept her invitation to dance at the gala, was the result of all that agonising.
Although she didn’t think now was the time for her to talk about that decision with Darius.
Andy glanced across at the glowering Darius. ‘I really do have to go now. No, please don’t bother to call the butler,’ she added hastily as Catherine would have summoned the middle-aged retainer who had shown her into the drawing room earlier. ‘It’s a nice day, so I didn’t bring a coat, and I can find my own way out.’
Darius was still so stunned at finding Miranda here that he was only half listening to the conversation between his mother and his—wait, what exactly was Miranda to him? His lover? Because there was no doubt in his mind, despite the fact that he deliberately hadn’t seen or spoken to her since last Sunday, that that was exactly what she was.
And she had been positively the last person he had been expecting to see when he’d called to see his mother this morning!
So much so that he couldn’t even think of the words to now stop Miranda from leaving as she moved quietly past him before exiting the drawing room and stepping out into the hallway.
Andy gratefully breathed the fresh spring air into her lungs once she stood on the top step outside the house, leaning back gratefully on the front door of the Latimers’ London home, her knees feeling suddenly weak.
Despite her hopes that Darius and his mother had healed the long-held rift between them, Darius had still been the last person Andy had expected to see today.
It was a shock that had so obviously been mutual. Darius had looked as stunned to see her as she was to—
Andy almost fell backwards into the house as the front door was wrenched open behind her, and she fought to retain her balance even as she turned to face Darius.
She instantly raised her chin defensively. ‘I know how strange this must look to you, but I assure you my visit to your mother this morning has absolutely nothing to do with you.’
Darius smiled as a five-day-long heaviness seemed to lift from his chest. ‘I never for a moment assumed that it did.’
‘No?’ There was still that challenging spark in her eyes.
Darius tilted his head. ‘Are you angry with me?’
Andy opened her mouth, and then closed it again, as she realised she was angry. And hurt.
This man had made love to her last Sunday, and apart from a brief—very brief—telephone call late on Sunday evening Andy hadn’t heard another word from him since. About anything.
The newspapers had been full of the story of Xander Sterne’s car accident this past week, describing his injuries as extensive. Obviously the press were prone to exaggeration, but when Andy had enquired after Xander this morning Catherine Latimer had assured her that Xander would only be in the private clinic for a few more days.
But Andy knew it wasn’t Darius’s silence regarding his brother that hurt her.
She had known after their lovemaking on Sunday that she would never mean anything more to Darius than those brief moments of pleasure. And his silence these past five days had only confirmed that. It hurt so much.
Oh, she hadn’t fooled herself for a minute into believing that their lovemaking meant any more to him than had the legion of other women he had taken to bed over the past fifteen years. But she hadn’t realised just how much it would hurt not to receive so much as even a courtesy phone call from him this past week. His complete silence had just been insulting.
She drew in a deep breath. ‘I have to go. I have a class in a little under an hour.’
Darius frowned. Okay, so his emotions had been so—so confused these past five days that he had made a conscious decision not to call Miranda again until he knew what was going on in his head, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t thought about her constantly since Sunday. That he hadn’t relived and enjoyed, over and over again, the memories of the two of them making love together. Or that he hadn’t puzzled over exactly why that was. And what it meant...
Because he had done all of those things.
And he had also known when he’d got out of bed this morning, after another restless night’s sleep thinking about her, that this couldn’t go on any longer, that he needed to see her again, to kiss her, to make love to her. He had fully intended to see Miranda later today.
Walking into his mother’s home and finding Miranda calmly drinking tea from one of his mother’s twee china cups had been the last thing he had expected!
He gazed down at her hungrily now through narrowed lids and he knew exactly why he had so badly needed to see and be with her again.
‘I would love to stand here and talk to you all morning,’ she now told Darius with ill-concealed insincerity as she gave an impatient glance down at her wristwatch, ‘but I really do have a class in just under an hour. And you’re obviously here to visit your mother,’ she reminded him.
‘You and I need to talk.’
‘Some other time,’ she dismissed distractedly, her smile bright and meaningless as she turned to go down the rest of the steps and along the path towards the metal gate leading out onto the street.
Darius watched in frustration the gentle sway of Miranda’s hips as she let herself out of the gate before turning and walking the short distance to where her car was parked further down the street. She unlocked the door and got in behind the wheel before turning on the engine and driving away.
All without so much as giving him even the briefest backward glance, and the contained expression on Miranda’s face as she drove away told him that she had already dismissed him.
His
