Or not at all!
CHAPTER TWO
‘WELL, well, well, if it isn’t Madison McGuire; I wondered if I would recognise you with your clothes on!’
Madison had tensed at the first sound of Gideon Byrne’s infuriating voice, but at his last remark she spun round indignantly. What did he think he was doing?
She had been relieved earlier when she’d entered the sitting-room for a pre-dinner drink to discover that Gideon Byrne wasn’t there, breathing easier when she realised she wouldn’t be having another verbal fencing match with him all evening.
She’d even relaxed enough to indulge in a mild flirtation with Drew Armitage, a man she knew slightly from working on the film in Scotland some months before. Drew was boyishly handsome, and she’d easily been able to see his admiration for her, dressed in the figure-hugging flame-coloured dress, her hair newly washed, cascading in loose golden curls down her back, her subtle make-up highlighting the deep green of her eyes.
A quick glance at Drew now, after Gideon’s deliberately provocative remark, and she knew he was adding two and two together and coming up with five!
‘Gideon!’ she greeted smoothly, moving to kiss him warmly on the cheek. ‘You dress up real nice yourself,’ she told him in a husky Southern drawl.
He did dress up nice, she inwardly acknowledged, the black dinner suit and snowy white shirt tailored to his muscular frame, his handsome face appearing as if etched from stone, although there was a mocking glint in the dark grey of his eyes as he returned her gaze. He was enjoying himself, Madison realised…
‘Do you know Drew?’ She turned pointedly to the other man. ‘Drew, this is—’
‘Gideon Byrne,’ the younger man finished, a slightly awed expression on his face as he shook hands with him. ‘I enjoyed Shifting Time very much.’ He referred to Gideon’s Oscar-winning film.
‘Thanks,’ Gideon said smoothly. ‘I thought you were rather good in Hidden Highland.’
Drew looked suitably pleased by the praise; it was Madison who looked at Gideon through narrowed lids. Hidden Highland was her only film credit to date, her entire part comprising all of two lines, both of them mundane. But Gideon had seen the film. Had he noticed her in it too…?
Gideon returned her gaze with raised brows. ‘Something wrong, Madison?’ he prompted mockingly.
Even if he had recognised her in the film, Madison realised he wasn’t about to comment on her performance! Not that there had been much to comment on. He might even have gone out to the bathroom during the three-minute section of the film that she had appeared in!
‘Not in the least, Gideon,’ she returned lightly. ‘Don’t let us keep you, if you would like to go and help yourself to a drink,’ she added dismissively.
Gideon’s mouth twisted ruefully as he held back a smile, obviously easily able to see her words for what they were—and to be amused by them!
‘I was just about to go and get myself a refill,’ Drew put in quickly. ‘Could I get something for you while I’m there?’ He looked enquiringly at the older man.
‘An orange juice would be fine, thanks,’ Gideon accepted, his gaze still fixed on Madison.
And it was a very unnerving gaze, Madison decided. It had been bad enough down at the pool earlier, but now she felt as if the damned man was dissecting everything about her. There was certainly none of the admiration of her appearance in his dark grey gaze that she’d seen in Drew’s!
‘Madison?’ Drew prompted softly.
‘I’m fine, thanks.’ She indicated her glass, still half full with white wine.
‘You shouldn’t drink too much of that stuff, you know,’ Gideon bit out tersely once the other man had left to get the drinks.
‘I shouldn’t?’ Madison eyed him warily—the trouble with this man, she decided, was you never quite knew what he was going to say next!
He shook his head. ‘How old are you?’
Like that! What on earth did her age have to do with anything?
‘Twenty-two,’ she answered cautiously.
‘Hmm.’ Gideon pulled a face. ‘Well, the alcohol obviously hasn’t started having an effect on you yet. At least, outwardly—you only look about eighteen! But inwardly it may be a different matter.’
Madison frowned up at him. Somewhere in all of that she felt he had given her a compliment—it was just so ambiguous it didn’t feel like one! ‘You don’t drink, Gideon?’ She had noticed his request for only orange juice.
‘No,’ he returned harshly. ‘It impedes rather than heightens the senses, has a disastrous effect on the skin and body organs, is—’
‘I get the gist, Gideon,’ she cut in laughingly; this was a house party, for goodness’ sake, not an AA meeting! ‘As it happens, I only drink wine, and then only on occasions like this.’ She looked around them pointedly at the groups of other chattering guests.
He shrugged, no answering humour in his own stern expression. ‘That’s the way most people start. You—’
‘Here we are.’ Drew arrived back with the drinks, handing the older man the requested orange juice. ‘I hope you’ll both excuse me.’ He smiled apologetically. ‘Edgar just wants to have a quick word with me.’
‘Really?’ Gideon returned mockingly.
‘Hmm.’ Drew nodded. ‘Nice to meet you, Gideon. I’ll catch up with you later, Madison.’ He squeezed her arm lightly in parting.
She watched as Drew hurried over to where her uncle Edgar stood waiting for him near the window, Edgar giving an acknowledging inclination of his head in Madison and Gideon’s direction before turning away to talk to Drew.
‘I wonder what Edgar is finding to talk to him about?’ Gideon mused dryly at her side. ‘Whatever it is, I’m damned sure it wasn’t important enough that Edgar had to talk to him right this moment! Except as a means of leaving the two of us alone together,’ he added scathingly.
Madison turned slowly to look at him, frowning. ‘What do you mean?’
He made it sound as if her godfather was match-making, and, as Edgar was fully aware of the raw state of her emotions, she couldn’t see that being the case at all. In fact, when she’d seen Uncle Edgar earlier, and told him about the disaster down in the pool-room, he’d looked more than a little irritated. Until she made him see the funny side of it.
Although she still didn’t find it that funny herself…
Gideon looked at her with mocking eyes. ‘I told you earlier that Edgar is a manipulator,’ he said enigmatically.
He might be, but he wasn’t a sadist—and matching her with a cynic like Gideon Byrne would definitely put him in that category!
She shrugged. ‘And, as I explained then, I just don’t see him like that.’ She looked around, wondering if there was anyone else she could go off and talk to. Anyone, as long as she didn’t have to stand here talking to this man any longer!
But there was no one else that she knew in the room—several faces she recognised, of course, but not through personal knowledge, only from films or television. Edgar certainly knew some famous people; in fact, she was a little out of place in such distinguished company. Including the man at her side!
‘I wouldn’t bother, if I were you,’ Gideon drawled as he watched her quick survey of the room. ‘Edgar would veer anyone off who looked like interrupting us!’
She turned back to him, a frown once again marring her creamy brow. In fact, she had frowned so much since meeting this man earlier today, she was surprised he hadn’t told her she shouldn’t do that, either!
‘Any why would he do that?’ she prompted lightly.
Gideon shrugged. ‘Because he wants to give me the time to offer you a screen-test with a view to a part in my next film. And for you to have the time to accept the offer!’
Madison stared at him. She seemed to do that a lot around this man too! But then he said some of the most outrageous—and unbelievable things. A screen-test! This man wanted to give her a screen-test? With a view to being in his next film—
No, that wasn’t what he h
ad said… What he had actually said was her uncle Edgar wanted him to do that, which wasn’t the same thing at all!
She gave a rueful smile. ‘You’ll have to forgive Uncle Edgar.’ She grimaced. ‘He’s just a very doting godfather, who means well, but doesn’t see that—’
‘He’s a very powerful doting godfather,’ Gideon put in harshly.
And it was obvious this man resented whatever power Edgar might have tried to exert over him on Madison’s behalf. Which she couldn’t exactly blame him for. Gideon Byrne was a powerful man in his own right, and her godfather, if he had tried to force Madison into this man’s notice, should have thought of that.
If he had. She wasn’t absolutely sure that Gideon hadn’t just misunderstood Edgar.
‘I see it’s time for us to go in to dinner,’ Gideon drawled as the other guests began to stroll towards the dining-room.
Madison was still so inwardly disturbed by what Gideon had said about her godfather that she offered no protest when he took a firm hold of her arm and took her into the dining-room with him.
‘You see?’ Gideon murmured derisively when it turned out that Madison was seated between himself and Drew at the long oak table.
She was starting to! But Edgar, when she looked down the long table to where he sat at its head, appeared to be so engrossed in what the lady to his right was saying to him that he didn’t seem aware of Madison’s compelling gaze levelled at him.
‘So when can you come in for a screen-test?’
She turned to give Gideon a startled look—a look he returned with cold, unblinking grey eyes. ‘You can’t be serious!’ she finally managed to gasp.
‘I’m never anything else where my work is concerned,’ he informed her grimly. ‘I saw you in Hidden Highland,’ he admitted dryly. ‘You have a certain—look that I find…interesting,’ he continued guardedly. ‘I’ll be able to tell you more once I’ve had you read for me, but…’ He shrugged. ‘Let’s just wait and see, shall we?’
Wait and see!
Wait and see what? This man might be one of the hottest film directors in Hollywood at the moment—the public waiting with bated breath to see what his next film was going to be—but in the few hours Madison had known him she had also discovered that he was rude and arrogant, cynical to the point of being unbearable. Even if he should—by some miracle!—offer her a part in his film, how on earth would she ever be able to work with such a man?
Don’t envisage situations that don’t yet exist, she told herself firmly. And which may never exist, she added ruefully. She didn’t believe Gideon liked her any more than she liked him.
‘Eat your dinner,’ he instructed abruptly; most of the other guests were already halfway through their starter of smoked salmon mousse.
She felt a resentful flush in her cheeks. ‘I’m twenty-two, Gideon,’ she snapped, ‘not two!’
‘Please eat your dinner?’ He arched mocking brows.
It was certainly an improvement, but from him it still sounded like an order!
But Madison wasn’t in the mood for any more conversation with him! ‘Better,’ she nodded, picking up her knife and fork and beginning to eat.
To her surprise she heard the chuckle she’d thought she’d heard earlier down in the pool-room, and so she looked up at Gideon with quizzical green eyes.
He looked younger when he laughed, less strained, even the grey of his eyes taking on a luminous quality. He also, in this more relaxed state, reminded her of someone—she just couldn’t quite place who…
‘What is it?’ He sobered as she looked thoughtful.
She shook her head. ‘Nothing.’ It would come to her, but in the meantime she didn’t intend discussing it with Gideon. ‘You should smile more often, though; it makes you look half human!’ She regretted her bluntness as soon as the words left her mouth; it was just that this man irritated her so much, all her own social niceties seemed to desert her in favour of his own rudeness whenever she was around him.
Her mother would have been horrified if she could hear her. She’d always impressed upon her that good manners cost nothing, but that they invariably made a good impression. The trouble with that theory around Gideon Byrne was that he didn’t seem to have a good impression of anyone, least of all her!
‘Only half human, hmm?’ He quirked mocking brows. ‘What do you think the other half of me is?’
He wouldn’t like it if she told him! ‘Eat your dinner, Gideon.’ She briskly repeated his own order.
He shook his head. ‘You remind me of a teacher I had at school. The Dragon, we used to call her!’
Much more of this and she would tell him what she mentally called him—and it was nowhere near as polite as The Dragon!
‘Did you go to school in England, Gideon?’ She lightly changed the subject, putting her knife and fork neatly on the plate as she gave up all hope of eating the smoked salmon. Her appetite hadn’t been that great once she realised Gideon was still here, anyway, but now that she was actually seated next to him…!
A shutter seemed to come down over his eyes, giving them that steely quality once again, while his mouth became a thin, straight line, his body no longer relaxed, but strained with tension.
She’d only asked if he’d gone to school in England, for goodness’ sake; she had thought that would be a safe subject for them to talk about. Obviously she’d thought wrong!
‘Why do you ask?’ he rasped suspiciously.
‘No reason,’ she shrugged, wondering what she could have said wrong this time; talking to this man was like walking across a minefield! ‘I was educated in the States, obviously, but, being an actor, your father probably worked mainly in America, so I just wondered—’
‘My parents separated when I was seven,’ Gideon put in harshly. ‘And I lived in England with my mother from that age, so yes, I was educated in England!’
His parents’ separation had been that particular minefield! Well, how was she supposed to know that? Gideon would already have been sixteen by the time she was born, and his father had been long dead before she’d become aware of his films.
John Byrne had been of the Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman era, but he had died young, in his thirties, having only made a dozen or so films before his death. Yet his brilliance on screen had been undoubted, his charisma electric.
But perhaps his parents’ separation, and the subsequent death of his father, explained why Gideon was so remote himself? It was a sad fact of life that if you didn’t love anyone, then you couldn’t be hurt by their loss.
Maybe if Madison had appreciated that earlier she wouldn’t have been so hurt by Gerry’s defection!
Although she could never see herself being as emotionally removed as Gideon Byrne.
‘What about your own family, Madison?’ Gideon cut in on her thoughts. ‘I’m interested in why it is you have an English godparent,’ he added dryly as she looked at him questioningly.
He might be ‘interested’, but that was a curiosity Madison didn’t intend satisfying. ‘An English godparent who spends a lot of his time in the States,’ she dismissed lightly. ‘And yes, I have family: my mother and father, and an older brother. They all live in Nevada.’
‘But not you,’ Gideon said thoughtfully.
‘Some of the time I do,’ she corrected him; she spent quite a lot of time at home ‘resting’! ‘But an invitation from Edgar is hard to refuse!’
‘So I’ve found,’ he acknowledged grimly.
On further acquaintance with this man she didn’t believe he could ever be forced into doing something he didn’t want to do; Edgar might have issued the invitation, but Gideon was here because he chose to be.
‘Mm, this looks delicious!’ She thankfully turned her attention to the main course that had now been placed in front of her. ‘I just love English roast beef with all the trimmings!’
‘Makes a change from burgers, hmm?’ Gideon taunted.
She hadn’t even tasted a burger until she was in her teens and out wit
h her friends one evening. Her mother had always insisted on a healthy diet for her two children, with plenty of vegetables, chicken and fish, and after trying that one burger Madison had had to agree with her!
‘A struggling actress has to eat what she can afford,’ she returned noncommittally.
Gideon shrugged. ‘Then it’s just as well you stopped struggling.’
‘I—’ She abruptly stopped speaking as she realised exactly what he was implying. ‘We’re both guests in Edgar’s home, Gideon,’ she bit out angrily. ‘I suggest we both try and act that way!’
How dared he even think—! Who did he think—? He was the most impossible, insulting man Madison had ever met!
And she for one wasn’t going to waste any more of her time on him. She turned to her left to talk to Drew when she wasn’t concentrating on her food, totally ignoring Gideon now—a fact he didn’t seem particularly bothered by, chatting easily with the woman sitting on his right.
There had been no mistaking his implication concerning her relationship with Edgar; this man didn’t believe for one minute that she was actually the other man’s god-daughter!
Well, he was mistaken, because that was exactly what she was—all she was to Edgar. Oh, she knew about Edgar’s reputation with women; her mother had been teasing him for years about the fact that it was time he settled down with just one woman. Edgar’s usual reply to that was the only woman he would possibly be interested in marrying was already married to someone else. He meant her mother, of course…
But Edgar’s reputation as a ladies’ man did not give Gideon Byrne the right to jump to conclusions concerning Madison’s relationship with him, and she deeply resented his implication that she was using Edgar to further her career. As far as she was concerned, Gideon could stick his screen-test—
‘I think you’ve had enough, don’t you?’
She turned sharply at the sound of Gideon’s mocking voice, looking down at the wine glass in her hand. She had allowed her glass to be filled a couple of times during the meal, if only in an effort to show Gideon Byrne—who she was sure knew exactly how much wine she had drunk!—that she would do exactly what she wanted to do, and his opinion counted for nothing.
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