of the irises as his smile became fixed rather than humorous.
‘Let’s hope it never comes to that,’ Xander muttered as he avoided meeting his brother’s gaze by turning his attention back to Andy, his expression instantly becoming flirtatious. ‘An introduction would be nice, Darius?’ he encouraged warmly.
‘Miranda Jacobs, my brother Xander,’ Darius bit out economically.
‘Your twin brother,’ Andy acknowledged lightly, deliberately stepping away from Darius’s encircling arm about her waist as she shook hands with Xander.
Xander shot Darius an amused glance as he continued to hold her hand in his. ‘Obviously I’m the handsome twin.’
‘Oh, obviously!’ She chuckled ruefully, finding Xander’s flirtation and lazy charm much easier to deal with than the intensity of his brother’s more mercurial moods.
Just as talking to Xander was also a welcome distraction from dwelling too much on thoughts of the heat of passion that had flared up so fiercely between herself and Darius just a short time ago.
‘You can let go of her hand now, Xander.’ Darius’s voice was dark with his displeasure.
Because of his brother’s flirtatious comment and the hold Xander had kept on Andy’s hand?
She simply didn’t know Darius well enough to be able to answer that question.
‘Possessive, much?’ His brother obviously felt no such uncertainty.
‘Not in the least,’ Darius dismissed harshly; he had never felt possessive over a woman in his life, least of all when it came to his own brother.
But then what explanation was there for his earlier sharpness towards Miranda, when he had thought she was far too interested in when or if Xander was going to be here too this evening?
As he was also far from pleased at watching Xander flirt with Miranda now?
Or the fact that he now wanted to slap Xander’s hand away as it continued to hold Miranda’s?
Whatever those feelings were, Darius wasn’t comfortable with them. He didn’t do possessive, any more than he did relationships.
He desired Miranda, wanted to make love to her, even more so after their lovemaking just now, but that was all this was. He had no doubts that once he’d had her in his bed his interest would wane, as it had with every other woman he had known.
‘You really should go and make your apologies to Mother now,’ Darius told his brother abruptly.
‘Thank heavens for Charles, hmm?’ Xander grimaced. ‘I do believe he could calm Mother down no matter what.’
‘He loves her.’ Darius nodded.
Xander’s eyes glittered darkly. ‘She deserves nothing less after being married to our bastard of a father for fourteen years.’
‘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