The One And Only. Carole Mortimer
of Marcus Ballantyne. But the challenge of her gaze obviously conveyed the message it was meant to, and Danny began to shift uncomfortably at the thought of opposing the older man. Danny owed her one, and they both knew it. ‘My mother always told me it’s bad manners to leave at the end of the evening with anyone other than the person you arrived with.’ She had no idea whether or not her mother had ever made such a statement, but it was reasonable that she might have done.
‘We arrived here as a group,’ Marcus drawled mockingly, his lazily relaxed stance belied by the hard glitter in dark blue eyes; he wasn’t happy at the thought of being thwarted in this way.
Well, Joy wasn’t happy either at the thought of his taking her back to her hotel; she seemed to have absolutely no will-power when it came to resisting this man. And a brief fling with an actor, even one as attractive as Marcus Ballantyne, was not on the agenda for this week. And she had a feeling that if he came back to her hotel with her, after the intensity of the kisses they had already shared, taking her to bed was exactly what he would expect.
She could already hear Casey’s incredulity at her not allowing that to happen, Lisa’s disbelief in Joy’s reluctance to become involved, however fleetingly, with a man like Marcus Ballantyne. Well, she wasn’t even going to tell them about it!
‘Danny and I still have a lot of gossip to catch up on.’ Joy put her arm pointedly in the crook of Danny’s. ‘Don’t we, Danny?’ She looked up to give him a glowing smile, a warning light in her eyes as she did so.
‘Oh, we do,’ he readily agreed, nodding his head with enthusiasm, obviously warned. ‘Sorry, Marcus.’ He gave the other man a slightly apprehensive look, obviously fearing retribution. Joy was in no doubt that Marcus could be cutting if he chose to be.
‘I have a feeling Dee won’t be too happy if you disappear with Joy.’ Marcus looked pointedly at the young blonde actress, who was no longer just poutingly upset at the thought of losing the second man of the evening to Joy, but obviously blazingly angry.
If Dee was lucky she would have Marcus back in her company but, whatever happened, Joy was leaving with Danny and not Marcus. ‘It was nice to meet you.’ Joy put her hand out to Marcus in a formal parting. ‘But Danny and I really do have to go now.’
‘Well, if you and Danny have to go now, I suppose you have to go,’ he accepted in a hard voice, totally ignoring her outstretched hand to bend his head and lightly brush his lips against hers. ‘I’ll be in touch,’ he told her, so softly that only Joy could hear him.
As only she had been meant to hear him! What did he mean, he would be in touch? In what way would he be in touch? He couldn’t—
‘Let’s go,’ Danny told her firmly, giving Dee a regretful smile before guiding Joy out of the nightclub.
Joy didn’t even start to breathe again until they were outside, and then she drew in a ragged, muchneeded gasp of air to her starved lungs. God, what a disaster, what an absolute, absolute disaster! She wished she had never come away for this week, wished she had stayed in the safety of her own little world. It was a sure fact that she didn’t belong in this one!
‘You haven’t heard the last of him, you know.’ Danny spoke softly as they travelled by taxi to her hotel.
She hadn’t wanted him to put into words what she thought she already knew. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she snapped defensively, not even attempting to pretend she didn’t know who he was talking about—that would have been absurd.
‘I know him of old, Joy.’ Danny shook his head in the half-light of the taxi. ‘The only reason he wasn’t more insistent just now was so that there wasn’t a scene. But, above everything else, Marcus can be determined when he wants something.’
Had he been determined when he had kissed her in the middle of that crowded nightclub? Joy didn’t know whether it was determination or arrogance, but she did know that Gerald would never have behaved in such an exhibitionist way. Gerald…She hated to think what he would make of all the events of this evening and, more precisely, her own part in them!
Not that it was any of Gerald’s business what she did any more. It had stopped being so six months ago, when he had chosen to break off their relationship and announce that he was going out with a woman of his own age. Joy had been stunned by his decision; after almost four years together she had believed Gerald would ask her to marry him in the near future.
But instead Gerald had begun to date a widow of forty-five, a woman with grown-up children, leaving Joy to wonder why things had gone wrong between them. But that hadn’t been the worst part. Gerald was actually in charge of the library where she worked, and so Joy was also left with the humiliation of going in to work every day with the people who had known of their past relationship, and the reason it had ended so abruptly.
And Joy hadn’t thought about that for weeks. Well—days. Yes, it had been days, she realised with some surprise, the preparations for this week away having taken over her life for some time before she actually came to London. So why was she thinking about that past disappointment now? She knew it had to be because of the sharp contrast between Gerald and Marcus Ballantyne; two men more unalike she had yet to meet…
‘Marcus can be a very determined man, Joy,’ Danny repeated, at her continued lack of reply to his statement.
She thought she already knew that, knew that Marcus had meant it when he said he would be in touch. But he had to find her first. And there was only one way he could do that…‘I want you to promise me you won’t tell him which hotel I’m staying at, Danny.’ She looked at him determinedly, the light of battle in sparkling green eyes.
All Danny’s bravado had left him since the advent of Marcus Ballantyne into their evening, and he had the look of a hunted man on his face now. He drew in a ragged breath. ‘If he asks me—’
‘You aren’t going to tell him,’ Joy cut in firmly. ‘Look, Danny, he’s only playing games, and I’m not into game-playing,’ she added almost angrily. She wasn’t about to provide a fleeting amusement for anyone, not after what she had already been through with one man in her life.
Danny gave her a speculatively sideways glance. ‘You looked as if you were enjoying yourself a few minutes ago.’
When Marcus had been kissing her. There was no denying she had been completely under his spell then, hadn’t cared herself where they were or who could see them. Which was another reason she didn’t want to see him again; she had to return to her normal life when this week was over, and she didn’t want that to be any more difficult than it already promised to be.
‘So did you,’ she snapped back, relieved to see they were back at her hotel. ‘Don’t bother to come in, Danny; you may as well let the taxi take you on to wherever you want to go.’ Probably back to the nightclub, to the beautiful Dee. Where, hopefully, Marcus wouldn’t still be and see the other man’s return. On second thoughts, bearing in mind her warning to Danny, which she knew he had perfectly understood, maybe Danny wouldn’t go back to the nightclub…
As she expected, Danny made no move to get out of the taxi to open the door for her, a disgruntled look on his face. ‘I’ll see you at four o’clock tomorrow afternoon for the photographs,’ he muttered sulkily.
Joy came to an abrupt halt in climbing out of the taxi. ‘What photographs?’ She looked at him sharply.
He shrugged, still glowering. ‘It’s part of the competition prize, Joy,’ he explained badtemperedly, obviously wishing he had stayed well away from the whole venture. ‘Publicity for the magazine. Photographs of me with the competition winner,’ he continued as she still looked at him blankly.
Casey had forgotten to mention any photographs! Well, over her dead body was she posing for photographs with this man so that all the magazine readers could drool over them curiously; every one of those women was welcome to Danny Eames as far as she was concerned.
‘See you, Danny,’ she told him non-committally, having no intention of being anywhere near the hotel tomorrow