I can’t possibly afford that!’ cried Beth. ‘All I have in the world is two hundred dollars in a bank account in Sydney and the clothes I stand up in. And even those belong to you.’
‘Don’t worry. I’ll foot the bill,’ Daniel assured her.
‘But why should you put money into solving my problems?’
‘I’m an entrepreneur,’ he replied with a shrug. ‘I often put up capital for deserving business ventures. And what could be more deserving than a bride in distress? Anyway, you can pay me back once you’re rich and famous.’
Beth felt an uncomfortable sensation in her stomach, as if she had just plunged three floors in a lift.
‘What if I never am rich and famous?’ she demanded.
Daniel’s white teeth flashed in a taunting smile.
‘Then I guess I’ll just have to sue you for my bathrobe,’ he replied.
Beth twisted her fingers together nervously.
‘Look, this may be a big joke to you,’ she said. ‘But it’s really important to me. I appreciate your offer, but what you’re trying to do is impossible. Besides, I just can’t afford to get into that kind of debt.’
Or get involved with a man who attracts me so much, she added silently. Daniel stirred his coffee and raised one eyebrow.
‘Funny,’ he remarked. ‘You don’t look like the kind to just give up and die. I thought you had guts.’
Beth’s blue eyes blazed. She knew her faults as well as anyone, but she never gave up on anything that mattered. Even her mother said she was stubborn.
‘I’m not just giving up and dying!’ she cried defiantly. ‘And I do have guts. But what you’re trying to do is ridiculous!’
‘Is it?’ asked Daniel softly. His dark eyes scanned her face, issuing a challenge which she could not ignore. ‘Or is it just that you don’t have the courage to go for broke? Come on, Beth, couldn’t those twenty-four women reproduce the collection in three days under your guidance? It’s twice as many as you said you’d need. Couldn’t they, if you really put your heart and soul into it and refused to be defeated?’
Beth hesitated, feeling her cheeks stain with colour. An unwilling surge of mingled terror and exultation flooded through her.
‘I—I suppose so,’ she stammered. ‘In theory. But it’s not really practical. I’d need all kinds of equipment, sewing machines, scissors, everything...’
‘That’s easy,’ said Daniel, reaching for the phone again. ‘I’ll just call up and order what you need.’
Impulsively Beth reached out and gripped his powerful brown hand.
‘Please don’t,’ she begged. ‘You’re just getting me in deeper and deeper and I know I’ll never be able to repay you. This is all moving much too fast for me.’
Daniel shook off her hand.
‘Look, honey,’ he growled. ‘I was a movie producer and director in Hollywood for ten years and in that business there’s only the quick and the dead. Trust me. I know what I’m doing. Now, what do you need?’
Sinking back into her chair, Beth stared at him with a defeated expression. Arguing with Daniel Pryor was obviously like trying to swim the wrong way up Niagara Falls or scratch your way through solid rock with your bare fingernails. You could do nothing but lose. With a strong feeling of unreality and the first fluttering pangs of excitement she picked up his Biro and notepad and began to make a list.
‘A dozen sewing machines,’ she said. ‘Dressmakers’ dummies, cutting boards, scissors, pins, lots of coloured threads, chalk...’
Daniel’s eyes narrowed in amusement.
‘There,’ he said. ‘It’s not so painful, is it? And you won’t even need to do any of the sewing yourself. These women have all worked as wardrobe mistresses in Hollywood. They’re the best there is. All you’ll have to do is tell them what you want.’
A fresh wave of panic washed over Beth.
‘But I don’t know how to tell anyone what to do,’ she protested. ‘I’ve never done this kind of thing before. I’ve always had to do all the work myself except for a little bit of help from Warren. I wouldn’t know where to begin with bossing people around.’
‘Then you’d better learn fast,’ ordered Daniel crisply. ‘I’d say your career is on the verge of taking off like a rocket. So I suggest you just hang on and enjoy the ride.’
Twenty minutes later Daniel’s valet, Benson, arrived back from the city with half a dozen carrier bags full of clothes, far more that Beth would ever have thought necessary for a three-day period. Daniel picked up the bags and led her through to the guest wing where he showed her into a vast bedroom decorated in Spanish style. Dropping the bags unceremoniously on the bed, he looked at his watch.
‘Be as quick as you can,’ he warned. ‘Wendy and the girls will be here soon.’
When the door had closed behind him, Beth emptied the bags out on to the bed. Her eyes opened wide in amazement. Benson had bought enough clothes for a three-month holiday rather than a three-day working stint. There was hand-embroidered French underwear, three cotton nightdresses, a bikini, shorts, T-shirts, half a dozen pairs of shoes ranging from blue trainers to black evening shoes, a tracksuit, a dressing-gown, three day-dresses and a smart business suit in pale blue linen. In addition a waterproof bag held a selection of toiletries and make-up. Shaking her head in disbelief, Beth chose a pair of blue and yellow checkered shorts with a matching pale blue top and leather sandals.
When she was dressed, she took the expensive hairbrush from the toiletries bag and brushed her blonde curls into some kind of order. Then, staring at herself thoughtfully in the huge mirror above the dressing-table, she applied some make-up. A light beige foundation, a hint of blusher on her cheeks, a coral-pink lipstick and a touch of blue eyeshadow to bring out the colour of her eyes. ‘I’ll bet this is the weirdest “wedding-day” anyone ever had,’ she muttered to herself.
Just at that moment there was a knock at the door and she hurried to answer it. It was Daniel.
‘Are you ready, Beth?’ he asked. ‘Wendy and the girls are here.’
She followed him along the hallway, her sandals scuffing lightly on the brown terracotta tiles. Turning a corner, he flung open a door and revealed a spacious ballroom more than forty feet long. Beth’s mouth fell open at the scene of frantic activity that faced her. On the opposite side of the room the French doors were open and two workmen in blue overalls were staggering in, carrying a heavy sewing cabinet. Eight or nine other sewing cabinets were already set up along the room and some of them already had sewing machines in place. At the far end of the room a woman with ginger hair was pushing a couple of full-sized mirrors on castors into place. Next to them was a noticeboard covered in black hessian. The hum of conversation was reverberating around the room, but Daniel raised his voice above the uproar and addressed the woman with the ginger hair.
‘Wendy, could you come here, please? I want you to meet Beth.’
The woman turned round and her homely
