The Redemption of Darius Sterne

by Carole Mortimer

  No, the reason for the return of her tension now could only be attributed to one thing: the orchestra was tuning up ready to start playing so that the dancing part of the evening could begin. Dancing that Andy had no intention of being a part of.

  She straightened in her seat. ‘I think I’d like to leave now. I’m feeling rather tired, and no doubt, despite what you said earlier, you would like the opportunity to go and talk to your brother?’

  Darius wasn’t fooled for a moment by Miranda’s excuse of tiredness, knew only too well that her intention was to avoid the possibility of his asking her to dance. Not only in public, this time, but in front of one of her ex-associates.

  Miranda might have refused to satisfy his curiosity in that regard earlier, but Darius knew there was something else between Miranda and Tia Bellamy. And, before too much time had passed, he intended to discover exactly what that was.

  His mouth firmed. ‘Xander isn’t in the mood to talk right now. And we aren’t leaving until after I’ve danced with you again.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Yes.’

  Her face paled at his insistence. ‘You can’t make me dance with you, Darius.’

  He arched one dark eyebrow. ‘No?’

  She glared. ‘No!’

  ‘Your always questionable charm doesn’t appear to be working right now, Darius,’ Xander taunted as he came to stand beside the table where the two of them sat quietly arguing. ‘Let’s see if I have any more luck.’

  He turned to look down at Miranda with warm and teasing brown eyes, his bad mood of earlier seeming to have dissipated.

  ‘Would you do me the honour of dancing the first dance with me, Miranda?’ he invited huskily as the orchestra began to play and the elegantly dressed couples immediately began to take to the dance floor.

  A part of Andy so wanted to say yes to Xander’s invitation, if only as a way of putting Darius and his damned arrogance firmly in their place.

  But common sense warned her against doing that. For two reasons.

  Firstly, she really didn’t want to dance, with either of the Sterne brothers.

  Secondly, the challenging glitter in Darius’s eyes told her that she would undoubtedly pay a price if she were to accept and dance with Xander after having refused him.

  A price, after her responses to Darius earlier, Andy was afraid she might be only too willing to pay, and damn the consequences!

  She smiled up at Xander politely. ‘I would rather not, but thank you for asking.’

  ‘So much for your own charm being more effective than mine!’ Darius eyed his brother mockingly.

  ‘Hey, it was worth a try.’ Xander seemed unconcerned as he pulled out the empty chair on Andy’s other side before sitting down. ‘I have no idea who that woman was sitting next to me at dinner, and it took me a few minutes to realise she was actually talking about you, Miranda, because she kept referring to you as Andy.’

  ‘Only your brother insists on calling me by my full name,’ Andy explained wryly.

  ‘Interesting,’ 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 fro
m 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 glare finally seemed to have penetrated his mother’s dogged determination as she fell suddenly silent. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow, Mother,’ he promised tightly, not waiting for her to answer this time as he guided Miranda effortlessly through and away from the crowded and noisy ballroom.

  Aware as he did so of the shocked expression on her deathly white face and the trembling of her slender body beside his own.

  As aware as Darius was that he was the one who had insisted—blackmailed her—into stepping into this vipers’ den this evening.

  CHAPTER SIX

  DARIUS COLLECTED MIRANDA’S wrap from the cloakroom and got the two of them out of the hotel in the minimum of time and with the minimum of effort, making sure the still silent Miranda was comfortably seated in the passenger seat of his car the moment it was brought round to the front entrance of the hotel, before quietly thanking the valet and climbing in behind the wheel of the vehicle and pulling away.

  The two of them drove along the busy London streets in silence for some minutes, Miranda obviously still slightly shell-shocked from the conversation with his mother. Darius brooded over the fact that he was responsible for having placed Miranda in that vulnerable position in the first place. Not once but twice.

  First with Tia Bellamy.

  And then again with his mother.

  What the hell had his mother been thinking of, just coming over to Miranda in that way and bluntly asking her to perform for her?

  No, damn it, his mother wasn’t to blame for any of what had happened tonight; he was. Miranda hadn’t wanted to go to the charity dinner with him in the first place; Darius had blackmailed her into attending. And his mother’s conversation hadn’t been the start of the disintegration of the evening, either—that encounter with Tia Bellamy had.

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  Andy was so lost in thought that for a moment she wasn’t even aware that Darius had spoken. Her eyes widened in surprise when his words finally registered. Was the arrogant Darius Sterne actually apologising to her? And if so, exactly what was he apologising for?

  Although she couldn’t deny, one way or another, the evening had been something of a disaster.

  Attending the charity dinner at all had been an ordeal forced upon her by Darius himself.

  Being introduced to Darius’s parents had been nerve-racking.

  Meeting Tia Bellamy again had been even worse.

  The time alone with Darius in that conference room still made Andy blush just to think of it.

  The conversation with Xander before dinner had also been a little strange, revealing a more brooding and complex man than any of the press had ever reported seeing.

  Catherine Latimer coming over to them just now, and asking Andy if she would consider dancing at the gala concert she was organising for next month, had been a total shock.

  But it had been intriguing too, if Andy was being completely honest.

  There was no way she would be able to dance professionally ever again; her hip and thigh, although strong enough for everyday activity and a minimum of dancing at her studio, just weren’t capable of taking the rigorous physical demands of a full-time career in ballet. But that didn’t mean Andy couldn’t still dance, it just meant the amount of time she could perform, at any one time, was limited. A five-or ten-minute performance, on behalf of charity, was not only possible but also tempting. Very tempting.

  Hence Andy’s distraction now.

  Was she seriously considering Catherine Latimer’s invitation?

  And she still had no idea precisely what Darius was now apologising for when so much of the evening had been fraught with tension.

  To such a degree that Andy now felt hysterical laughter welling up from deep within her. Really, could the evening have been any more of a disaster?

  Maybe if Kim had been there too, glowering her disapproval of Darius Sterne on top of everything else that had gone wrong with the evening.

  It had been one trauma after another from start to finish. Andy certainly doubted that roller coaster of emotion was what Darius usually expected when he deigned to take a woman out for the evening. It was—

  Well, it was hilarious—that was what it was, Andy acknowledged, and she gave an inelegant snort as she tried to resist the laughter that threatened to burst free. And failed.

  ‘Miranda?’ Darius shot Miranda an anxious glance as he heard her draw in a deep breath and then give a choked sob. ‘Oh, hell, Miranda, please don’t cry!’ he groaned, frantically looking for a side road he could turn the car into so that he could park up and take Miranda into his arms.

  Miranda’s only answer was to bury her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she obviously began to cry in earnest.

  ‘Hell!’ Darius muttered again darkly, no longer waiting for the right opportunity to get out of the traffic but just flicking on the indicator to signal he was turning the car off the main road.

  He lifted his hand in apology to a couple of other drivers as they tooted their protest as he eased the Bentley in front of their vehicles and down into a narrow side road; consideration for other drivers wasn’t high on his list of priorities at the moment—Miranda was.

  He pulled the car in next to the pavement and parked before switching off the engine and turning to reach across the leather divide to take Miranda into his arms. ‘I really am sorry I put you through any of this evening, Miranda,’ he murmured into the perfumed silkiness of her hair as she now shook in his arms.

  Her only answer was to draw in another sharp breath followed by another sob, as she continued to keep her face buried in her hands and her shoulders shook even harder.

  Darius wasn’t sure how to deal with a woman’s tears. Well, he wasn’t sure how to deal with Miranda’s tears.

  He was more used to the beautiful women he dated using pouting and wheedling in order to get their own way. And he had certainly grown immune, over the years, to his mother’s brand of emotional manipulation.

  But Miranda wasn’t like any of those women. She was to
o forthright to use wheedling, and she definitely wasn’t the type of woman to emotionally manipulate a man.

  If she had been Darius might not have felt quite so impotent right now.

  ‘Miranda...’

  He paused, Miranda having finally lowered her hands from her face before lifting her head to look up at him, and frowned his confusion as he saw that Miranda wasn’t crying but laughing. Well...her cheeks were certainly wet with tears, but they appeared to be tears of laughter rather than distress.

  ‘Miranda?’ Darius eyed her uncertainly.

  She gave a shake of her head. ‘Wasn’t that just the most awful night of your life?’ She chuckled, green eyes gleaming with that same humour. ‘All it needed to make it horrendously perfect was the disapproving presence of my older sister.’

  Darius released her to slowly lean back in his own seat, his expression perplexed as he studied her through narrowed lids across the dimmed interior of the car.

  In his experience, most women would have taken full advantage right now of the fact that he was responsible for blackmailing her into the midst of that sequence of awkward situations, and they would have made sure he paid a price for it too, either in the form of an expensive gift, or some other form of manipulation. Not Miranda. Miranda was laughing.

  It was the first time Darius had seen her laugh without restraint. The green of her eyes gleamed with amusement; it brought a flush to her cheeks; her lips curved into the fullness of a relaxed smile. She looked younger and more carefree than he had ever seen her. And incredibly beautiful.

  Although Darius wasn’t a hundred per cent sure it was altogether flattering, hearing her class the time the two of them had spent together in the conference room as part of the most awful night of her life.

  ‘Oh, come on, Darius,’ Andy encouraged as she saw the frown between his eyes. ‘Admit it, it was so awful there’s nothing else to do but laugh.’ She took a tissue from her clutch bag and mopped the dampness from her cheeks.

  ‘It had its moments of humour,’ he allowed grudgingly.

  Andy grinned across at him. ‘It had all of the hallmarks of a disaster movie.’