The Redemption of Darius Sterne (10 page)

‘Xander?' Darius was inwardly reeling even as he looked at his brother searchingly; none of them ever talked publicly—or privately either, come to that—of the brute of a man who had fathered the two of them and died when they were both thirteen. That Xander was doing so now, and in front of someone he had only just been introduced to, told Darius that something was very,
very
wrong with his brother.

Darius had been a little preoccupied, thinking of Miranda this past week, but he could see now that he should have been paying more attention to his twin. Xander had been playing hard the last few months, and he looked slightly pale tonight beneath the tan he had acquired in the Bahamas last month, and there was a reckless glitter in the dark depths of his eyes. Enough for Darius to be very concerned.

He gave a pained frown. ‘Did you bring someone with you tonight, Xander?'

‘I'm stag,' his brother dismissed as he glanced about them impatiently. ‘Which means I'm stuck with whatever woman Mother has decided it would be appropriate for me to sit beside at dinner!' His restlessness was barely contained.

‘Maybe we could shift the seating around?'

‘Don't bother on my account,' Xander bit out dismissively. ‘I don't intend staying long, anyway. I'll look forward to seeing you again before I leave, though, Miranda,' he told her huskily, giving Darius one last rueful glance before striding off in the direction of the ballroom. And their mother.

Andy felt decidedly uncomfortable, once she and Darius were left alone together in the hallway, knowing by Darius's frown that he was disturbed by his brother's taciturn—and uncharacteristic?—behaviour.

From what Andy had read Xander was the relaxed, laid-back Sterne twin. The charmer. The playboy.

This evening Xander was anything but relaxed, the tension rolling off him in waves as he spoke of his mother's happy second marriage after her years of being married to their father.

Andy knew, from reading about Darius and Xander on the Internet, that Lomax Sterne had been the youngest son of a wealthy family, and that he had married Catherine Foster thirty-four years ago; their twin sons were born the following year. His death had been announced just thirteen years later, at the age of forty-two, after a fall down the stairs of the family's London home.

There had been no mention anywhere of any dissension in the marriage.

It was obvious to Andy, from the frown still creasing Darius's brow, that he was more than a little worried about his twin. ‘Look, something has obviously upset your brother, and I really don't mind if you need to go and talk to him. I can easily get a taxi home.'

‘No,' Darius bit out grimly as he straightened to look down at her through narrowed lids.

The truth was that Andy would have welcomed the excuse to leave; Darius's concern for Xander apart, she had no idea how she was expected to spend the rest of the evening with Darius after the intimacies they had just shared. After she had allowed herself to be seduced by Darius's kisses, and the pleasurable caress of his mouth and hands on her bared breasts.

‘Ready?' Darius asked as he held out his arm for her to take.

The answer to that was a definite no!

Andy had a feeling she would never be ready for a man like Darius.

He really was just too much. Of everything. And Andy was far too inexperienced to even begin to know how to deal with a man like him.

So much so that all she wanted to do was make her excuses and flee into the night, back to the safety of her apartment and dance studio.

Instead she drew in a deep breath before answering him. ‘If you're sure?'

Darius nodded tersely. ‘I'm very sure.'

Andy kept her lashes lowered as she placed her hand in the crook of Darius's arm and allowed him to accompany her back into the ballroom.

All the time she was aware of the way the silky material of her gown moved caressingly across her sensitised nipples, a stark reminder that Darius had suckled and stroked them so pleasurably just minutes ago.

* * *

‘That wasn't so bad, was it?' Darius turned in his seat to look at Miranda once the tables, arranged about the dance floor for dinner, had been cleared at the end of the meal in readiness for the dancing to come later.

Most of the other guests had now left their tables in order to go and freshen up, or circulate and talk to other guests, while the orchestra prepared for the next part of the evening.

‘The food was very good,' Miranda answered him stiltedly.

‘The food but not the company, hmm?' He gave a grimace. ‘Once again my ego is shot down in flames!'

Andy felt the warmth of colour in her cheeks. ‘I didn't mean to imply...'

‘Of course you did.' Darius chuckled. ‘Admit it, Miranda, you
enjoy
shooting me down in flames.'

She did, yes. But only in an effort to hide the desire she knew she felt for him. Although after her undeniable response to Darius earlier, that was probably a complete waste of her time.

She still felt utterly mortified every time she so much as thought of those earlier intimacies. It had been absolute agony to sit beside him during dinner and pretend that she was relaxed, and everything was okay between the two of them; her senses were now so heightened towards Darius that she was totally aware of his every move.

For his part, Darius had seemed completely unaffected, by her or his earlier concern for his brother. He'd been totally at his ease as he'd introduced her to the other guests seated at their table, all of whom he appeared to know. He had also made a point of including her in the conversation, and he had been nothing but polite and attentive to her needs during the meal.

No, obviously Andy was the only one who was still totally unnerved by earlier.

As she had been unsettled, after glancing about the room earlier, to see that Xander had been seated next to Tia, of all people. As evidence, no doubt, that Catherine Latimer knew Tia was one of the country's prima ballerinas, even if one of her sons, at least, didn't.

The look of triumph Tia had shot in Andy's direction didn't bode well either. Not that there was anything Andy could do about that.

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 from 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
?'