by Janet Dailey
'I have a good mind to see to it that Danielle never sees you again,' Marshall threatened.
'And how would you go about doing that?'
'Simply remind her of the fact that she's breaking her promise to her father.' Dani's heart dipped to her shoes at the unmistakable triumph in Marshall's voice and her own slight bending of the promise she had made her father.
'How could seeing me break a promise she made to Lew to become a lady?' There was open skepticism in Barrett's tone.
With squared shoulders and a proud tilt to her head, Dani stepped into the living room. 'I can answer that question, Barrett,' she said, avoiding the piercingly thoughtful green gaze that swung on her. 'If you two will come into the kitchen, the coffee is ready.'
There was a smugly mocking gleam in Marshall's dark eyes as he took the chair directly opposite Barrett, leaving Dani no choice except to take the chair that placed her in between. Cradling her hands around the cup, she stared into the brown-black liquid.
'I promised my father,' she began slowly, 'that I would break my association with the track and that I would never have anything to do with horses or racing.'
'I don't believe your father would disapprove of you seeing me.' The quiet conviction in Barrett's voice was oddly reassuring.
'Oh, really?' Marshall jeered, 'Is that why you've deputized yourself as the official big brother to Danielle?'
Dani looked up in time to catch the look Barrett flashed across the table and shuddered at the thought if that quelling look was ever turned on her.
'I don't intend to let you have a free hand with her, Thompsen.'
'Are you worried that I'll ask her to "be nice" to someone?' the darker man returned sarcastically.
Barrett leaned back in his chair, subtly relaxing and seemingly taking command as he regarded Marshall through lazy, haft-closed eyes. 'To be truthful, I almost believed that you'd asked Dani to "be nice" to me until she failed to mention that I was here one night when you called.'
A flush crept into Dani's cheeks when Marshall darted an angry glance at her. 'This whole conversation is pointless,' she insisted defensively.
'Hardly pointless,' Marshall scoffed. His darkly handsome face was now indelibly stamped, with blatant sarcasm. 'Any minute now Barrett is going to relate to you a sordid tale about an innocent little girl named Melissa and how I nearly succeeded in leading her astray.'
'Melissa?' she echoed, glancing hesitatingly from one man to the other.
'The daughter of a friend of mine,' Barrett explained.
'Well? Go on,' Dani insisted as Barrett made a show of drinking his coffee as though the explanation he made was sufficient.
But Marshall wasn't going to leave it at that. 'A few years ago, little Melissa won a local beauty contest. She was engaged to be married at the time, but the bright lights and glitter suddenly beckoned her. She came to me and persuaded me to help her become a model. Of course, the version she gave her family and fiancé was that I'd approached her with promises of a great: future. She was about your age and the apple of her father's eye. Anything his little girl wanted, she got, so naturally he gave his consent. The fiancé was a few years older and he wanted to give his love a chance to have fun before she settled down to married life. He consented, too.'
Out of the corner of her eye, Dani glanced at Barrett, calmly listening to a tale with an indifference that bordered on boredom. Yet she didn't think it would take too much intelligence to realize that Barrett had been the fiancé of this Melissa. The discovery brought a coldness to her chest that she didn't understand.
'The girl was beautiful,' Marshall went on. 'Unfortunately she had no desire to work. All she wanted was the prestige and excitement of being a model without the work you know it entails, Danielle. She wanted instant success, push a button and be on the cover of Vogue. But Melissa did enjoy the parties and the men that would crowd around her. Somewhere along the line, she took on a lover.' A derisive glance was tossed at Barrett. 'Or more than one. I have no idea whether she did it to further her career the easy way or if it was just for kicks. Either way, her fiancé found, out. And precious little Melissa told him that I had asked her to "be nice" to the man. Therefore I became the villain.'
Dani's eyes were clouded with tears for the anguish Barrett must have gone through. Now she understood the animosity that existed between the two men and Marshall's cryptic statement that he wanted to show 'certain people' that things were not always what they seemed.
'The engagement was broken, needless to say, because Melissa didn't want to give up her new life. Daddy sent her off to New York where he bought her parts in some Broadway shows and a few television commercials. I understand she's doing quite well, but then she was always a pretty good actress.'
'You neglected to mention the way you successfully turned the scandal to your advantage,' Barrett commented with marked disinterest. 'But you always were adept at using people and situations, as you've used Dani.'
'The law of survival, my boy,' Marshall chuckled smugly. 'Not everyone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth.'
'It's unfortunate that not everyone is born with compassion in their hearts for a fellow human being,' was Barrett's dry reply.
'Noblesse oblige, huh?' But Dani could see Marshall was faltering a little despite his continuing sarcasm under the pinning gaze of the man opposite him,
'Look, Thompsen, I may have misjudged you regarding Melissa, but I haven't made any mistake about you as a man. You're too filled with your own sense of power to spare a thought about anyone else except how they can help you.' There was something very threatening in the softly spoken words. 'Now, if you've finished your coffee, I suggest that you leave.'
Hesitation was in the flickering gleam of Marshall's dark eyes as he debated within himself whether to dispute Barrett's fight to order him to leave, but Dani had no doubt that Barrett would carry through the order.
'I'll see you to the door, Marshall,' she said, pushing her chair back to rise and forcing him to accompany her.
She could feel the rage still seething in him as Marshall walked rapidly to the door, his back rigid with anger and his face black with malice. His mouth curved into a sneer as he turned to bid her goodnight.
'So you've decided to go over to King's side, have you?'
'I'm not on anyone's side,' Dani said firmly. 'I didn't want the two of you arguing any more, and this seemed the best way to stop it.'
'Don't get any ideas that his attentions towards you mean anything special. His concern comes from a stupid sense of responsibility, nothing more.' His voice and his expression were telling her she would be a fool to read more into Barrett's attentions than that. 'Let him worry about your moral character and I'll see to it that you become a success.'
'Goodnight, Marshall.'
There was a bad taste in Dani's mouth as she closed the door on the stiffly retreating figure and retraced her steps to the kitchen and Barrett.
He was no longer at the table, but leaning against the counter, a fresh cup of coffee in his hands. He didn't look up when Dani walked in.
'Barrett?' At his name, she was swept by a coolly aloof gaze. 'I'm sorry.'
'About what?' he countered as she took hesitant steps nearer.
'Melissa,' she answered without raising her eyes to meet his. 'You were engaged to her, weren't you?'
'Yes.' His voice was completely devoid of any emotion, which only made Dani realize how very deeply he had been hurt.
'You mustn't blame Marshall too much for what happened. I mean, she must have needed the adulation of more than one person before she met him,' she ended lamely.
'You're still leaping to his defense, aren't you?' His scathing bitterness reached out to slash at her.
'I wasn't really defending him,' Dani asserted, her chin raising defensively as she met the coolness of his level gaze. 'I've always known he was only helping me because he was going to get something out of it. I've never had any illusions about that. But he wasn't
to blame for what happened between you and Melissa. It would have happened anyway.'
'And?' Barrett prompted with maddening cynicism. 'Your eyes tell me there's another point you want to make.'
Dani breathed in deeply to check her temper. She knew she was receiving the backlash of his anger that he had been controlling all the time Marshall was there.
'You once told me that you preferred the old Dani to the new me. But I'm basically the same person. I am what I am and the way I am, and nice clothes don't make me any different.'
This time she didn't lower her gaze under his intimidating glare. For some reason that she couldn't explain, she wanted Barrett to understand that she wasn't like Melissa. It was important to her.
'I'm doing all this because it's what Lew wanted. It's his admiration and respect that I want. No one else's!' she added when the heavy silence threatened to stretch indefinitely. 'I want him to be happy, and if wearing expensive clothes, going to fine parties, and mixing with the right people will do it, no matter how much I'd rather be with him, I'll do it.' When Barrett still failed to comment, Dani's foot stamped the floor in frustration and inverted anger. 'And I won't have you arguing any more with Marshall and wrecking my chances to be what my father wants! Do you hear?'
Her eyes were burning with acid tears and she didn't see the corners of his mouth twitch in a revealing smile.
'Yes, I guess you're still the same cheeky little brat that you were before,' Barrett admitted, a devilish twinkle replacing the coldness in his eyes.
'Of course I am!' Dani snapped, still too angry to realize that Barrett was agreeing with her.
'I'm glad you admitted that,' he mocked.
'Admitted what?' she frowned as she studied the arrogant tilt of his head. The mist of tears clouding her eyes began to diminish.
'That you're a cheeky brat,' he answered with a complacent grin.
'I did not say that!'
'No, I said it, and you agreed with me.'
Confusion reigned as Dani tried to make the lightning adjustment from anger into teasing that Barrett had made. That intimate gleam in his eyes wasn't helping her to think straight either. She heard his soft laughter and felt his arm wind around her waist and draw her beneath his arm.
'You aren't angry with me any more?' There was uncertainty in the look she gave him, her head tilting over his upper arm so she could see his sternly handsome face.
'I never was angry with you,' he said, drawing her around in front of him so that he could better see her face as he locked his hands behind Dani to keep her there.
'I thought you were,' she said, addressing the open collar of his shirt and the dark auburn hairs that curled on his tanned chest. 'Because of the things I said about Melissa. I probably didn't have any right to say them.'
'When has that ever stopped you from speaking your mind?' he mocked. His head was lowered close to her downcast face.
Without volition her hands were resting on his shirt front, her fingers playing with the opening while she fought off the peculiar catch in her breathing at the sight of his mouth so close to her own.
'I'm sorry,' she repeated. 'I know you must have been very hurt when you found out about Melissa.'
'That's all over now,' Barrett said quietly, and something in his voice convinced her that it was so. And Dani felt exceedingly glad about it. 'At the time I did blame Marshall because I didn't want to admit that Melissa was not what I thought she was. I realized a long time ago that what you said about her earlier was true.'
'Just as you've come to discover that I'm the same cheeky brat,' Dani finished with a mock sigh to conceal her joy.
'There's something else we have to talk about. Dani,' he went on.
'What's that?'
'The promise you made your father.'
The edges of her mouth drooped. 'I've bent it a little, but I haven't ever talked to you about your horses or what's happening at the track,' she said defensively.
'Why didn't you tell me about it in the beginning?'
'I didn't think you would come to see me very much. When you did, well—' Her shoulders moved in an expressive shrug, not wanting to put into words the way she had looked forward to his visits.
'You broke your word to Lew because of me?'
'Yes.' Dani buried her chin in her chest. 'Somehow seeing you helped. It suddenly wasn't so lonely.'
'Lonely? With all those parties Marshall takes you to?' His question prodded her gently,
'They're all strangers to me, the people at the parties. I've learned all the right things to talk about, but—I know I shouldn't have broken my word.'
'I don't think Lew meant you to take it literally.'
'Oh, yes he did,' Dani nodded.
Barrett took away one of the hands at her back and reached into a pocket. 'Read this,' he said, and handed her a letter.
The scrawling handwriting was unmistakably her father's. 'How did you get this?' she breathed.
'It's a letter your father wrote me,' Barrett answered, but Dani was already busy reading it.
The letter was short, but her father had never been one for writing. The first part thanked Barrett for coming to see him and for letting him know how she, Dani, was doing. Her eyes glittered with tears as she read the last line above her father's nearly indecipherable signature. It said: 'I'm grateful that Dani is seeing you. I don't like to think of her completely alone without anyone she knows.'
'He doesn't mind,' she whispered. 'Lew isn't upset because I've been seeing you.'
'No, he isn't,' Barrett replied solemnly.
'When did you see him?' Dani blinked back the happy tears to gaze earnestly into his face. 'Was he all right? Where is he?'
'Slow down! I can only answer one question at a time.' The smile negated the effects of his stern words. 'I saw him in New York. He's at Belmont right now and he's fine.'
'When were you there?'
'Last week. He's picked up a good-looking four-year-old gelding and the mare he kept was placed in both races that he entered her in. I think he's begun to renew his faith in himself.'
'Why didn't you tell me?' Dani murmured. 'That you'd seen him?'
'He indicated that he didn't want you to know where he was, although he never told me in so many words that I couldn't,' Barrett replied with a twinkle.
'I'm so happy!' she cried, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. 'I've been so worried about Lew, not knowing where he was or how he was. It was awful.'
'I know, kitten'
Her face was buried in his neck. At the caressing sound of his voice, Dani lifted it slightly, glancing at the sensuous line of his mouth now crooked in a smile. As she moved closer to it, Barrett met her half-way.
Chapter Eight
SOMETHING happened in that kiss. The wild melody of joy in Dani's heart turned into a symphony, a rising crescendo that pounded in her ears until she couldn't even hear the beat of her own heart. The touch of Barrett's mouth, at first probingly soft as always, became masterfully demanding, expertly forcing her instincts to make a response.
Her breathing was a shallow, unresisting series of sighs when the exquisitely hard pressure of his mouth left hers to explore the pulsating cord in her neck. No one had ever aroused such elemental feelings in her before.
'I believe you're beginning to like me,' Barrett murmured next to her ear.
'Onl…only beginning,' her shaky voice decried as if she needed to deny what was happening to her.
Her hands slithered from his neck to push weakly against his chest. An instant later Dani was sorry he had so obligingly let her go. She hadn't remembered feeling so weak at the knees since she had been thrown from a horse a few years ago. Her legs had trembled so badly when she had tried to get back in the saddle that her father had to help her mount.
The long length of his body was leaning against the counter again, his dark auburn head was thrown arrogantly back while the viridescent glow in his eyes played over her face with infuriating thor
oughness. Dani knew her face was much too expressive and was revealing the clamouring emotions she couldn't control.
Hoping to divert his attention, she said, 'The next time you see my father, will you give him my love?'
'Of course,' agreed Barrett smoothly. 'Oh—before I forget,' he straightened from the counter, 'I won't be seeing you this weekend. It's my parents' anniversary this Sunday. I probably won't be back in town until the end of next week.'
'Oh,' in a very small voice as her heart took a nose-dive. Dani turned away trying to assume an air of indifference. 'I hope you have a very nice time.'
'I'm sure I will,' he said with an amused lilt in his voice. 'Will you walk me to the door?'
It was her turn to murmur, 'Of course,' while she kept a safe distance between them.
With the knowledge there would be no unexpected visit from Barrett, the following days and nights seemed unbearably monotonous. Dani kept telling herself that she only missed his easy friendship. The rather tumultuous after-effects of his kiss had merely been a reaction to the news of her father. She refused to consider that she might be physically attracted to Barrett. His fierce good looks didn't affect her at all, she kept saying, and she was immune to the devastating smile.
The feeling of monotony she was experiencing was simply because she would rather be outdoors in the sunlight instead of under the bright lights of the camera, or in the fresh evening air instead of some smoky party room where there was incessant din of noisy voices. The explanation faltered when she tried to apply it to the lonely evenings that she was free and still remained cooped up in her apartment.
Marshall never mentioned that scene at her apartment. That had surprised Dani since she had expected him to grill her about her relationship with Barrett. The only subtle change she had noticed in him was that he seemed more attentive than he had been before and more confident. Her somewhat listless agreement to any suggestion he made only brought a shrewdly satisfied gleam to his dark eyes.