man, let alone one as dangerous as she considered Darius to be.
And considering her lack of experience in regard to men, she should probably have just dipped her toes gently in the water first, rather than jumping straight into the shark tank.
Especially when Darius was looking so tall, dark, and elegantly intimidating this evening, in his perfectly tailored black dinner jacket.
So much so that he had taken Andy’s breath away when she’d opened the door of her apartment to him earlier.
Once again she had forgotten, or tried to forget in the last couple of days, just how immediate he was; so tall that he towered over her, his shoulders so broad they almost filled the doorway, his hair shorter than when she had last seen him, but still as tousled, as if he had been running his hands through it earlier.
Perhaps an indication that he was as nervous about seeing her again this evening as she was about seeing him?
Although Andy somehow doubted that!
Darius was always supremely confident, of himself, and other people’s reaction to him.
Andy had hoped she hadn’t given any indication of her nervousness earlier at her apartment as she’d calmly collected her jacket and clutch bag before following him outside, her fingers shaking slightly as she locked the door behind her.
The luxury car parked outside was a bit of a shock, but Andy felt she had behaved with poise when Darius had opened the door for her to get in before closing the door and moving round the car to sit behind the wheel.
She had also been quite proud of the fact that she had managed to keep up a light, impersonal conversation on the drive to the hotel. Despite the fact that she was so totally aware of the man seated beside her; of the lean strength of Darius’s body, and the heady smell of healthy male and a lemon-based cologne.
But now that she was actually at the hotel where the charity dinner was being held, surrounded by the laughing and chattering rich and the famous, Andy knew she should have given more thought to how she was going to feel when she got here, rather than just focusing on seeing and being with Darius again,
Once upon a time she had occasionally stepped onto the edge of this glamorous world, when she had attended several of the after-gala performances of the ballet company. But she’d had a role on those occasions. A purpose. She had been an ambassador for the ballet company, rather than herself.
Here and now, Andy was merely an adjunct of Darius Sterne, and as such she was very aware of the curious glances that had come their way since they first entered the hotel together.
As aware as she was of the hand that Darius had placed possessively against her spine as they’d entered the hotel.
She was so aware that she was now able to feel the warmth of Darius’s splayed fingers through the thin material of her black gown.
Andy had debated long and hard about what to wear this evening, and had gone through the contents of her wardrobe several times. She’d finally decided on a simple long black Grecian-style gown she had owned before the accident, but it was so classical in style it was dateless.
The gown left her arms and one of her shoulders bare, falling smoothly all the way to her ankles, the slit on the right side only going as far as her knee, and ensuring that the scars on her thigh wouldn’t be visible even when she sat down. A requirement of all the clothes Andy had worn since the accident.
In keeping with the style of the gown, she had secured her hair loosely on her crown, leaving soft curls to cascade down onto her nape. Her make-up was light, just some dark shadow and mascara, and a deep peach lip gloss.
Andy had felt pleased with her appearance when she’d studied her reflection in the mirror before Darius arrived at her apartment. Here, amongst all these glamorous and beautiful women—several of whom were eyeing Darius as if they would like to devour him rather than the forthcoming dinner!—she felt less confident.
‘I wouldn’t have needed to be nervous at all if you hadn’t used emotional blackmail to force me into coming here with you.’ Andy made her point cuttingly.
Darius gave a humourless smile. ‘Are you going to keep throwing that in my face all evening?’
‘You can depend on it!’ Her eyes flashed.
He gave an unconcerned shrug. ‘I use whatever means I deem necessary at the time.’
‘In order to get your own way.’
‘Yes,’ he confirmed unapologetically.
‘Will your brother be here too this evening?’ Andy decided to change the subject before the two of them ended up having a heated argument in front of all the other guests! Well, it would be heated on her part. Darius gave the impression that not too much penetrated that cool shield he kept about his emotions.
A façade that was instantly shattered as Darius looked down at her between narrowed lids. ‘Why?’
‘No particular reason.’ She frowned at his sudden aggression. ‘I was just changing the conversation to something less controversial.’
And Darius was just behaving like a jealous fool, he realised belatedly. Miranda had asked a perfectly polite question about his brother, and he had reacted like a Neanderthal.
Maybe it was the fact that she looked so stunningly beautiful tonight. Her figure-hugging gown was simply cut in comparison with the evening gowns worn by the other women present this evening, and styled in such a way that Darius could see she wasn’t wearing a bra. She wore no jewellery at all, and very little make-up. The whole effect gave her the elegance of a swan in a roomful of peacocks.
Several male heads had turned Miranda’s way when they’d entered the hotel together. Several of those men had continued to watch her covetously, until Darius had given each and every one of them a challenging glare.
To Miranda’s credit she seemed totally unaware of that male interest.
As she seemed totally unaware of her own beauty.
Which was a novelty in itself.
Darius had never yet met a beautiful woman who wasn’t totally aware of her own attractiveness, and what it could get her.
‘I’m sure Xander will already be in the room somewhere,’ he confirmed abruptly. ‘Unlike me, he tries to cater to my mother’s dislike of tardiness.’
Miranda gazed up at him curiously. ‘One day you really will have to tell me what the problem is between you and your mother—’ She stopped abruptly, a blush colouring her cheeks, because she had realised as soon as she said it that her mention of ‘one day’ implied she thought the two of them would be meeting again after this evening.
Darius smiled humourlessly. ‘Oh, I really won’t, angel,’ he drawled dismissively.
‘No. Well. Perhaps not,’ Andy accepted awkwardly, the warmth having deepened in her cheeks at Darius’s endearment. Unless he called all of his women angel? It would certainly save him any embarrassment if he forgot which woman he was spending the evening or night with.
Darius eyed her curiously. ‘Did you tell your sister and brother-in-law that you were coming out with me this evening? Obviously not,’ he drawled dryly as a guilty blush deepened the colour in Andy’s cheeks.
‘I couldn’t think of an acceptable way to explain why the two of us had even met again, let alone that we were going out together,’ she answered impatiently.
If she had even told Kim that Darius had visited her at her dance studio on Thursday, then heZr sister would have launched into yet another major big-sister lecture.
If Kim knew Darius had actually blackmailed Andy into going out with him this evening, and used Colin’s continued employment for Midas Enterprises as leverage, then Andy had absolutely no doubts her sister wouldn’t have hesitated in stating that Darius could do whatever the hell he pleased in that regard,