grimaced at him. ‘Nothing.’ Craig made a fearsome face and growled in his throat.
Shannon couldn’t help laughing, a small, smothered sound. He mouthed ‘Go on!’ at her.
‘Um,’ she said into the phone, ‘I wondered if I could ask you something.’
‘Ask me what?’
When she didn’t immediately answer, her mind scrabbling for sensible words while instinct told her to hang up, Devin said impatiently, ‘I’m on my way to the airport. If this is important—’
‘No,’ she said hastily. ‘I mean, it’s very important to me, but if it’s a bad time…’ Blurting out the request wouldn’t do. He’d simply say no and that would be that. If she could only make him listen to her proposal there might be a slim chance of persuading him.
As she hesitated he said harshly, ‘I have better things to do than join in your games, Shannon.’
‘It isn’t a game!’ Did he think this was fun for her? ‘Maybe we could talk sometime?’ she suggested hurriedly. ‘After you get back from wherever you’re going?’
The line was silent again for a few seconds before he said, ‘Your timing was never all that good. I’ll be back tomorrow.’ He paused again. ‘We could have dinner if you like.’
‘Oh, I…th-thank you.’
Craig hissed, ‘What’s he saying?’
She covered the mouthpiece. ‘He’s inviting me to have dinner with him.’ Removing her hand, she tried to ignore Craig’s frantically nodding head.
Devin sounded markedly cool, but he was saying, ‘I’ll get my secretary to book us a table and I’ll pick you up around seven-thirty.’ He paused a moment, then rattled off her address as if he knew it by heart, ‘Is that right?’
‘Yes,’ she said, mechanically.
‘Now excuse me, or I’ll miss my flight.’
Shannon put the phone down in a daze. ‘I’m seeing him tomorrow night,’ she said.
‘Great!’ Craig grabbed her and planted a light kiss on her lips.
‘He’ll probably laugh in my face, and I don’t know why I let you talk me into this.’
‘Because of my fatal charm!’ He grinned at her. ‘Come on, hon. You never know, he might just say yes after all. And at least you’ll get a decent meal out of it.’
She got rid of Craig as soon as she could, then returned to the phone and began calling up contacts.
There were indeed rumours that another production team was sniffing about what she’d come to consider her story. By the time she prepared to meet Devin she was nervous and increasingly determined to give this idea, mad though it might be, her best shot.
After discarding three possible outfits she settled on faux silk pearl-grey pants and a black satin top with a short beaded jacket over it. Releasing her thick brown hair from its practical tied-back style, she brushed it to a sheen and let it wave about her shoulders.
When the doorbell rang she opened the door to Devin, a black satin bag clutched in her hand.
‘We have plenty of time,’ he told her. ‘Are you going to invite me in?’
Shannon stepped back reluctantly and he joined her in the narrow hallway, looking down at her for a second. His eyes took in the discreet make-up on her eyes and lips, and slipped over the rest of her. ‘Very nice,’ he said.
‘Thank you.’ She gestured at the darkened doorway behind him, and switched on the light.
He stopped in the centre of the Belgian rug, looking round with critical eyes.
Shannon had set the overstuffed pumpkin-coloured sofa against a cream wall that held a collection of funky little mirrors she’d picked up in second-hand shops and hung in a random pattern, each reflecting a tiny piece of the room. One deep armchair was covered in ruby-red fabric, the other in dark forest green. Scatter cushions on the chairs echoed the colours of the patterned rug and gave a touch of luxury.
Devin strolled to a set of shelves and picked up a Venetian glass rooster with an extravagant plumed tail of gold, green and blue tail feathers, and an erect red comb that matched the ruby chair. His hands followed the fluid contours of the glass. ‘You still have it.’
He had given it to her on their honeymoon, when she’d taken a fancy to it in an art shop. ‘I still like it,’ she said. ‘And it goes with the room.’
She recalled picking it up on some confused impulse and putting it with some clothes and books when she’d packed up her things, severed her relationship with Devin. Pulling it out later when she’d furnished her new home she’d wanted to weep, and debated hiding it away. But in some obscure way it had been a comfort during a bleak, lonely time, a tenuous link with a happier past.
Replacing the rooster, Devin turned and surveyed the small room again. His gaze lingered on a large abstract painting, inspecting the vibrant primary colours splashed on the canvas in bold strokes. He moved closer to read the artist’s name. ‘Expensive, isn’t he?’ he queried. ‘Though I could never see quite why.’
‘He gave me a special price.’ She had met the painter at a party in his studio that a friend took her along to, and had bought the painting on sight. She wasn’t surprised that Devin didn’t appreciate her taste. ‘Do you want a drink?’
‘No, thanks. I’ll have some wine at dinner.’
‘Well then…shall we go?’ He made her nervous, prowling around her home.
She switched off the living room light and he opened the front door for her. ‘Shall I turn off this light?’ he asked, his hand on the hall switch as she passed him in the doorway.
‘No.’ Descending the steps she said, ‘I leave it on when I’m out so I don’t come home to a darkened place.’
‘You live alone?’ He went ahead of her on the path and opened the door of his car, maroon and low-slung but roomy.
‘Yes,’ she said, sliding into the passenger seat.
Devin closed the door and came round to the other side. His sleeve brushed against her arm as he fastened his safety belt, and she felt a disconcerting frisson of awareness before he inserted the key in the ignition and the engine purred into life. ‘So who was with you yesterday morning?’ he asked as the car picked up speed.
‘You…knew there was someone?’
‘It was rather obvious.’ His voice was bleak and desert-dry.
She slanted a look at him, but the dim light fleetingly thrown by a street lamp didn’t help to define his expression, which was seldom simple to assess anyway. ‘It was Craig. Craig Sloane.’
For a few moments he drove in silence. Then, in a curiously detached tone, he said, ‘So you’re sleeping with your handsome leading man.’
‘I’m
