certainly wouldn’t have come out of that explanation in a very good light,’ Andy assured Darius.
He raised dark brows. ‘And do you somehow have the mistaken idea that would actually have bothered me?’
‘Obviously not,’ she snapped her impatience. Honestly, what was wrong with this man? She had done as he’d asked, and come out to this dinner with him, so why was he now being so aggressive? ‘Do you usually bring a date to one of these dinners?’ She decided to attack rather than keep being put on the defensive. As she so often was where Darius was concerned.
But also because she knew, in her heart of hearts, that Kim would have been right to warn her off the man.
Being here with Darius was dangerous. He was dangerous to the ordered life Andy had painstakingly Zcarved out for herself these past four years.
Darius grimaced at her question. ‘Never.’
Her eyes widened. ‘Seriously?’
He gave a half-smile. ‘Seriously.’
Oh, wonderful! Not only was she here with the most impressively handsome man in the room, and about to be introduced to his parents, but now she learnt that Darius usually attended these functions alone.
No wonder so many of the other guests, most especially the women, had stared at the two of them when they arrived. And were still staring at them.
Andy eyed him impatiently. ‘Why now?’
‘Wrong question, Miranda,’ Darius bent to murmur huskily against her ear as they approached the front of the line. ‘The question should have been, Why you? Not, “Why now?”’ he supplied huskily as Andy gave him a questioning glance.
Indeed, why her? Andy wondered dazedly—a question she was prevented from asking out loud as they finally stepped forward to be greeted by his parents.
‘Miranda, Catherine and Charles Latimer,’ Darius introduced with terse economy. ‘Mother, Charles, this is Miranda Jacobs.’ The last was accompanied by a challenging look at the older couple.
Catherine seemed momentarily disconcerted as her frowning gaze moved quickly to Miranda and then back at Darius. ‘I wasn’t aware you had purchased a second ticket for this evening.’
He raised dark, challenging brows. ‘And I wasn’t aware I needed your permission to do so.’
‘Lovely to meet you, my dear.’ Charles Latimer stepped into the awkward breach between mother and son, as if it was a habit of long standing. He was a white-haired and still handsome man. ‘And so good of you to come along and support such a worthwhile charity.’
‘Oh. Yes. Very kind of you.’ Catherine belatedly remembered her manners, her smile tense as she offered her hand.
It was impossible for Andy not to be aware of the tension between mother and son. A tension that now seemed to include her.
‘Mrs Latimer,’ she returned lightly as the two women briefly shook hands. ‘I hope it’s a successful evening for you.’
‘I hope so too.’ Up close, it was impossible to miss the fine lines beside Catherine Latimer’s eyes and mouth, as indication of her age, but she was nevertheless still a very beautiful woman, very slender and chic in her black designer-label evening gown; she certainly didn’t look old enough to be the mother of thirty-something twins.
‘Is Xander here?’ Darius enquired abruptly.
‘Not yet.’ Catherine Latimer frowned. ‘It’s most unlike him to be late, I do hope nothing has happened to him,’ she added with concern.
Darius’s mouth twisted derisively. ‘He’s a big boy now, Mother. I’m sure he’ll find his way here eventually.’ He didn’t wait for a response from either of the older couple, his expression grim as he placed a hand beneath Andy’s elbow before turning her and walking away and into the crowd.
‘That was incredibly rude of you,’ Andy muttered once they were out of earshot of the older couple.
Darius gave another unconcerned shrug. ‘I thought you would have realised by now; I’m an incredibly rude man.’
No, actually, he wasn’t.
Arrogant? Yes. Overbearing? Certainly. Blunt? Disconcertingly so. Ruthless, even—Darius’s threats regarding Colin’s job in order to force Andy into coming here with him this evening certainly came under the latter category! But Andy had never thought of Darius as being particularly rude.
Until he spoke of or to his mother.
There was definitely a story there. One which Darius had made it clear he had no intention of confiding in Andy. Because he wasn’t a man who confided in anyone except perhaps his twin brother? Andy recalled that the brothers had arrived at the restaurant together last week, and they had been in business together for twelve years, so it was probably safe to assume they at least liked each other and got along.
‘Is there some reason why your mother should be worried about Xander’s lateness?’ she prompted slowly.
Darius looked down at her coolly. ‘None at all—apart from the fact that she’s overprotective of him to the point of obsession.’
An image of Darius’s twin instantly came to mind: the golden-haired god with laughter in his dark eyes. ‘Does she have reason to believe he’s in need of protection?’
Darius breathed his impatience. ‘You seem overly concerned with the non-appearance of my brother.’
Andy frowned at the accusation. ‘Not in the least.’
‘No?’
‘No!’
Andy decided, with Darius looking so grimly unappreciative of this subject, that it might be best to talk of something less controversial.
‘What I am curious to know is just how much the tickets cost for this dinner.’
There must be at least five hundred people in this crowded ballroom, all of them dressed in glamorous evening wear; the men all looked very distinguished in their black dinner suits, and the array of ladies’ ballgowns was exquisite. Andy was in danger of being blinded by the amount of jewellery glittering beneath the crystal chandeliers.
Darius took two glasses of champagne from one of the circulating waiters before handing one to Andy. ‘Does it matter?’
‘Only if it would be a complete waste of my time offering to pay for my own ticket!’
‘It would,’ Darius confirmed dryly.
‘Oh.’ She grimaced before taking a sip of her champagne; she knew that the tickets for some of these charity events cost in the thousands of pounds rather than the hundreds. And this evening looked to be one of the former.
‘Not only would it be a waste of your time from a financial angle,’ Darius continued dismissively, ‘but also totally unacceptable. I was the one who invited you this evening; I doubt you would have come here of your own volition!’
Andy gave him a pointed glance. ‘We both know that I didn’t.’
He sighed heavily. ‘You really meant it when you said you aren’t going to let that go, didn’t you?’
‘I really did,’ she confirmed dryly. ‘Do you think—?’
‘Andy, is that you? My goodness, it is you!’
Andy had been so sure that she wouldn’t know anyone else here this evening, and she now turned to look blankly at the woman who had just greeted her so enthusiastically. She looked at a tall and willowy brunette, dressed in a red sequinned dress that finished at least six inches above her shapely knees.
She was exactly the type of woman, tall and brunette, Andy had seen Darius photographed with so much in the past.
The woman had