Refracted Crystal: Diamonds and Desire (2 page)

“Yes,” she replied, lowering the glass. “I am lucky, very lucky, I guess.”

“Yes, you bloody well are!” Anne’s eyes shone with pride as she clasped hold of Kris’s free arm. “Wait, what’s this?”

She plucked the card from Kris’s fingers. “Melinda Bartok. You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

“What!” Andrew looked more animated than he had thus far, and scrambled for Anne’s hand, taking the card in turn from her and staring at it before laughing incredulously. “It is!”

“Melinda Bartok.” Anne shook her head and returned her stare to Kris who felt uncomfortable for a moment, recognising that there was genuine envy in her friend’s eyes. “You bloody bitch!” Anne said, then punched her on the arm, not as gently as Kris would have liked.

“Ow!” Kris cried out in mock pain, and the three of them laughed as a cluster of patrons looked across at them. Anne shrugged and then leaned across to kiss Kris on the cheek.

“It took you a long time,” she said, her voice mixed with happiness and pathos, “but you bloody deserve it.”

“I didn’t even know who she was,” Kris began to explain, but then hesitated. She had been out of the art world for too long and in recent months she had spent much of her time in her apartment in Lisbon, painting and working furiously, ignorant of what was happening in London. When Daniel had insisted that she show her work, she had gratefully left all details to him and his team of willing assistants. Despite—or even because of this—any reserve with regard to Melinda whoever-she-was Bartok could come across as arrogance.

“Well, let me tell you,” said Andrew conspiratorially, leaning in towards her, “if Melinda picks you up, you never have to worry about another thing. Ever.”

Anne slapped him jokingly. “You think this girl’s got to worry about anything? She’s bloody practically married to a millionaire. Or is it a billionaire? I forget.”

Kris’s neck twitched a little at this, slightly embarrassed: she recalled countless conversations with Anne when the two of them had been students, promises to fight the power and never sell out. “Just a millionaire,” she mumbled.

Fortunately, however, Anne was in full flow, the free wine and not enough food having made her lightheaded. She giggled and squeezed Kris’s arm. “Several times over, I’m sure. You lucky bitch. I’m not jealous. Not jealous at all. So, when
are
you getting married?”

Kris blushed: there was something she wanted to tell her friends, but not yet, not here. Fortunately, Anne’s attention had already wandered across the room and so she did not notice Kris’s discomfort.

“Is that him?” she asked, and as she spoke one of her eyebrows rose up. “He’s bloody gorgeous. I can see why you’ve been hiding him from me for so long.”

“Hands off,” Kris growled, glad of the opportunity to hide her embarrassment in faux anger. “He’s mine.”

“Yeah,” Andrew interjected. “Anyway, you’ve got me.”

“Of course,” Anne said to him, turning and lifting herself up by the lapels of his jacket to kiss his cheek. “Why would I want a handsome multi-millionaire with a cock like a horse when I’ve got you?”

Andrew frowned at this. “Cock like a
what
?”

“Hadn’t you heard?” Anne said, winking at Kris and sniggering filthily. “Our Kris is a real dirty bitch. You could barely walk the first time I saw you after you got back from Scotland. Do you remember?”

Kris’s mouth fell open in amazement and she slapped Anne’s chest, laughing. Anne grabbed hold of her hand and, her voice full of sudden, nervous warmth, said: “Can we meet him?”

Her hand still clasped in Anne’s, Kris led her across the room, Andrew tagging along behind them. As they came closer, Daniel felt her presence only a few feet away and he turned his head, smiling at her gently. His arm moved unconsciously, and she slipped her small frame beneath it so that her face was nestled against his shoulder, standing on tiptoes for a second to kiss him fully on the lips. Now that would give that flirtatious bitch on the other side of him something to think about.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Wonderful,” she replied quietly. Then, more loudly: “There’s someone I want you to meet. Daniel, this is Anne, my oldest friend who has cursed me roundly for not introducing you sooner, and another old mate of mine, Andrew.”

He did not move his arm from around her shoulders, but he inevitably shifted his attention from the other man he had been talking to. He was probably a little younger than Daniel, though his soft features made it hard to ascertain his age clearly, and his eyes were hidden behind glasses that reflected the lights.

“I’ve heard so much about you,” Daniel said, extending his hand to Anne and then to Andrew in turn.

“W-we’ve heard a lot about you as well,” Anne replied, clearly flustered and also a little overawed by his presence. For a second, just a second, Kris saw her friend’s eyes flicker downwards to Daniel’s crotch. Dirty bloody bitch, thought Kris, and almost burst out laughing. Catching her eyes, Anne blushed furiously while Andrew, utterly unaware of what was going on, stared in confusion at his girlfriend.

Realising that they were an increasing irrelevance, the other couple moved away, the woman flashing a frankly envious stare at Kris as she went. Kris in turn smiled sweetly at her, watching the woman’s hips sway as she moved across the room before turning her attention back to her lover and friends.

Returning her attention to Daniel, she caught his reply: “You must join us for dinner one evening.”

“We’d love to,” Anne gushed.

“Hell, yeah!” Andrew joined in enthusiastically.

“Though it won’t be for a while,” Kris told them a little sadly. “We’re off to New York tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Anne’s voice was suddenly very small, and she struggled to keep her envy hidden from her face. “Well, another time.”

“Of course, you could join us in San Francisco,” Daniel said, his interjection suddenly causing a sensation of electricity to shoot down Kris’s spine.

Anne and Andrew both looked dumbfounded, and Kris had to dip her head to hide her smile at their beautifully adorable expressions.

“Yes,” Daniel continued, utterly oblivious. Then he paused, and looked down at Kris as he slowly began to realise. “You haven’t told them, have you?”

Kris shook her head, still not looking up but unable to suppress a giggle.

“Told us what?” Anne’s voice contained a hint of frustration, and she reached out to pinch Kris’s bare arm somewhat cruelly. “What else are you hiding?”

Kris, however, was unable to reply for a moment, instead lifting her hand to her mouth, her eyes glowing with joy as she laughed. And so it was Daniel who answered her question.

“That’s where we’re to be married, in two weeks.”

“Oh my god!” Anne exclaimed at last, pushing her boyfriend aside and grabbing hold of Kris’s, oblivious to all the strangers in the room. A range of expressions crossed her face like clouds flitting over a summer sky, and Kris’s heart opened when she saw that among the amazement, love and happiness there was not a single darkening of jealousy. “Oh my god!” she squealed, pulling Kris towards her and squeezing her in tightening arms. She began to shower her friend with kisses, and Kris was unable to stop herself laughing.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me that, you bitch!” Anne almost shrieked excitedly, then looked up in embarrassment at Daniel. He, however, was smiling at them, shaking his head slightly.

“I can’t believe it either,” he said, quietly. One eyebrow was raised humorously as he looked at his wife to be. “Am I that much of an embarrassment?”

“Of course not!” Kris began to speak, to offer an explanation, but she fumbled for words. “I didn’t... I mean, I know how you... that is, you want your privacy.”

She glanced sheepishly up at Daniel. For a few seconds, his own eyes became distant and the scars on his face moved as he worked his jaw thoughtfully, his head nodding up and down just a fraction. Then in an instant he had returned to the room and his gaze filled with warmth as he looked down at her.

“Well,” he remarked coolly, “I certainly wouldn’t want to invite everyone here, but your friends are more than welcome. It’s in two weeks—don’t worry. I’ll get my office to arrange everything. We should have witnesses, after all...” His voice trailed off in mock amusement.

“B-but,” Anne was stammering, still clinging onto Kris’s hand which she now pressed into her chest. “You’ll want family there.”

“What family?” Kris said a little sadly.

“We couldn’t intrude on yours, Mister Stone,” Anne said, looking up at Daniel, a flicker of fear on her face as though she was scared this offer was some cruel illusion, about to be snatched away from her.

“You won’t intrude at all,” Daniel remarked a little coolly. Only Kris was aware of the slight tic in his cheek as he spoke.

“Of course we won’t!” Andrew was openly enthusiastic. “We’d love to, wouldn’t we?”

“But, such short notice...” Anne glared for a moment at Kris. How could you do this to me? she seemed to ask with her eyes.

“What the hell does that matter?” Andrew interjected. “We’ll find a way.
I
wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“Then it’s settled,” Daniel said, but as he spoke Kris felt a shift in his attitude. Aware that something had altered, almost imperceptibly, she was about to speak as he lifted his arm from her shoulders but he interrupted her first.

“I’m sorry,” he told them, impeccably polite but yet the tone of his voice clearly different from the warmth that had filled it when he spoke to them before. “I just have to attend to something first. Kris will let you know the details.”

Without warning he was moving away from them, a dark suited, impressive figure placing large hands on the shoulders of other guests, moving them gently but implacably to one side so that he could walk through the crowd.

Frowning slightly and ignoring for a moment the excited babble of her friend, Kris followed him with her eyes, wondering what had caught his attention.

Then she saw what it was. Silver grey hair, neatly groomed, and a body to match that was sleek and tall, though not as imposing as Daniel. Blocking out the other sounds in the room, Kris could almost hear a familiar voice laughing and talking among the other guests.

It appeared that her perfect evening had one dark cloud, after all, in the shape of an unexpected visitor: Felix Coltraine.

Anne and Andrew were buzzing with excitement as Kris watched Daniel cross the room. The sudden appearance of Felix filled her with a sense of foreboding.

As CEO of Stone Enterprises, the company that Daniel had set up, Felix obviously had considerable power within the organisation of which her husband-to-be was the Chair, but Kris couldn’t help shake the feeling that this opulent, gregarious man, so unlike Daniel in so many ways, had a hold over the founder of Stone Enterprises that she couldn’t explain. Daniel had told her how he’d turned to Felix after the death of his wife—his
first
wife, she reminded herself—for a secure and stable pair of hands to run the company after he had gone into a self-destructive dive. Yet there was something else going on, something just beyond the reach of her conscious mind which her intuition told her was incredibly important.

Not that the CEO liked her. He had made that abundantly clear a number of times. She still suspected his hand in the attempt to drive Maria Gosselin between her and Daniel, and when they had last met in Portugal Felix had been openly contemptuous of her. Although she had avoided him as much as possible since then, she knew that his dealings with Daniel were also becoming increasingly difficult—and that Daniel no longer had enough of the trust of his shareholders to be able to do anything about it. For all that he was one of those masters of the universe that were the darlings of financiers and entrepreneurs, Daniel Stone was increasingly less certain of his ability to hold his throne.

So what was Felix doing here?

“I still can’t believe you didn’t tell us.”

“What?” Kris was suddenly snapped out of her reverie and dragged her attention away from the two men talking in the corner of the gallery and back to Anne, who was staring slightly peevishly at her.

“That you weren’t going to tell us.”

“I was. Honestly. Give me a break, Anne. I’ve hardly been in London for the past few months—I was too busy preparing for this.” Kris gestured around her to the paintings on the wall.

Anne softened slightly. “Well, I suppose so.”

“Pretty cool that Daniel was so willing to invite us along, eh?” Andrew’s eyes were bright, Kris suspected, at the prospect of a free holiday in San Francisco.

Anne looked at him, exasperated. “Yes,” she said at last. “It is I suppose.” She returned her gaze back to Kris and shook her head, her eyes still expressing some annoyance. “You should have told me,” she said quietly.

At this, Kris blushed and dipped her head slightly. “Yes, yes, I should have. But I wasn’t sure that Daniel wanted anyone to know.” In fact, she had
felt
pretty sure of it. He had always been so private, so reserved with others. And here he was suddenly blurting out the most important event of her life to strangers he barely knew...