Fire in the Blood

'She explained—Larry told her not to disturb us. It's not surprising if she was in a quandary.'

The telephone on the desk began to ring. Sean looked at it, but didn't pick it up. Instead he said to her, 'This won't take long, darling, then we'll go out for lunch.'

She nodded and sat down. Sean picked up the phone.

'Good morning to you, Sal, how are you?' He sounded energetic, very positive. 'Yes, I'm fine. How did your wife enjoy the opera last night? Oh? Well, Wagner can be very noisy if you have a headache. Jet-lag too? Yes, it is never wise to drink too much wine on a long flight. It always makes jet-lag worse. Personally, I try not to drink anything but water or fruit juice on a long flight. Tell your wife to go for a walk around the shops, eat a light lunch and then go to bed for the afternoon. That may help.' He paused, listened, laughing. 'Yes, with or without company.' Another pause, then his face lit up and he smiled broadly. 'I am very happy to hear that. Yes, I do agree. I think we will make good partners, Sal.'

Nadine stiffened. Partners? What did that mean? Was this the man who wanted to get control of Sean's company? Was he offering different terms after all?

Sean said calmly, 'I'll get my people on to drawing up the agreement immediately. Well, if you prefer a joint discussion before the agreement is drawn up... yes, certainly, we can accommodate you there. Yes, I'll be here. I'm not in my office at the moment, so I can't give you an answer on that, but I don't think I have an engagement tomorrow night. May I ring you back?'

He laughed and Nadine picked up a different note in his voice; a hint of relief, of satisfaction, even of triumph.

'Good. I'm very pleased about this, Sal. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow afternoon and later today I'll be in touch with a definite answer about dinner tomorrow. Oh, by the way, will your wife be there? I'd like to bring my wife if I may.' He listened, then said, 'Thank you, I'll tell her. And I'll get back to you soon.'

He put the phone down and did a sort of triumphal leap, punching the air as he did so.

'It worked! It worked!'

'What was all that about?' Nadine asked, watching him with a little smile. He looked like a little boy who had won a sports trophy.

He came over to her and kissed her, giving her a fierce hug. 'Our money problems are over. You remember I told you I'd had an offer for the company? Well, while I was on the island I talked to an old friend in the film business who is something of a fixer, and he casually talked to Enrico Salvatore—the TV producer, you must have heard of him, he's backed some of the biggest, glossiest productions to come out of New York in the last five years. When Sal heard I was thinking of selling out, but wasn't too happy with the terms of the deal, and wanted a partnership rather than an outright buy-out, he asked how I'd feel about a partnership with him—which was precisely what I did want, of course. He's in London at the moment, so he rang me yesterday and we talked, kicked the idea around, then got down to discussing terms, and then Sal said he had to consult his board, and would get back to me. Just now he told me the partnership had been approved, and as soon as I sign the agreement the money will be forthcoming. So our troubles are over.'

'And you won't need my money,' Nadine said wryly.

He stroked her chestnut hair with a tender hand. 'If you want to invest it in our company we'll be very happy to have it, on the same conditions.'

She looked at him in bewilderment. 'The same as Enrico Salvatore?'

'No, the same as they were before Sal rang,' he said with a mocking little smile. 'I'll take your money only if you come with it, and if you would rather keep the money invested in something less risky that's fine by me, so long as I still get you.'

She wryly shook her head. 'You made that money in the first place. I'd always have been happy to hang on to my shares; it was you who insisted on buying me out of the company.'

'Well, after the divorce I thought you were going to marry Colbert, and I didn't want him within a mile of my company. What I would have liked to do was kill the pair of you, but as I couldn't do that I settled for a stupid dramatic gesture, and insisted that you sell me back those shares. I told myself I didn't want anything more to do with you, I wanted you out of my life but the truth was I was hurting too much to know what I was doing.'

She gave him a sideways look, her lip caught between her teeth in an uncertain gesture. 'Sean...'

'Yes, darling?' he said, winnowing her chestnut hair with his long brown fingers.

'Before we make any decisions we ought to talk...'

'You aren't going to dictate terms to me, like Enrico Salvatore, are you?' he asked, his mouth twisting.

'I said we should talk! I don't want to dictate to you, any more than I want you to dictate to me! I think that was one thing that was wrong with our marriage—you still had some old-fashioned idea about being boss, and laying down the law in your own home and so on. I hate to tell you this, Sean, but Queen Victoria is dead, and we live in very different times. If our marriage is going to work it has to be on a strictly fifty-fifty basis. We discuss everything. We try to come to a mutually acceptable compromise.'

He nodded gravely. 'OK. Well, when we draw up our agenda

for discussions, I'd like the first item to be a baby, Nadine. I know you are about to start off on an exciting new career, but I'm listening to the tick of time, and I want children, our children, yours and mine. From the minute my mother left me and my father, I never really had a family. Our lives fell apart after that, and I always promised myself that one day I'd belong to a family again, marry, have children. I was too busy to think of settling down for years, then I met you and we got married, but you wouldn't have a baby so I still haven't got my family!'

She looked at him with direct, darkened eyes. 'Is the baby a condition, Sean? If I won't have one yet, does that mean we don't get together again?'

He turned pale, his mouth tight, his gaze sombre. After a pause he sighed and shook his head. 'No, of course not. I want you, Nadine. Not your money. Not a baby. Just you. If you really don't want to have children I suppose I can learn to live with that, however hard it may be for me.' His mouth twisted. 'Maybe we should buy a dog? Would that give the house a family feel to it?'

She smiled tremulously. 'I love dogs. A cat would be just as nice; maybe both of them?' She put her arms around him and laid her head on his chest, listening to the beat of his heart under her ear. Sean held her, a hand on her hair, the other clenching on her waist possessively. 'But I do want babies,' she said. 'I always did mean to have them, sooner or later, it was just that I had other priorities at first, and I still do. But things will change now. I won't model any more, I'll concentrate on this chat show—so far I only have a contract for six shows, and if they don't pick my contract up again I'll be out of a job!'

'They'll pick it up,' Sean said drily. 'Greg tells me he's ready to bet on it that you'll be a success.'

'Did he?' Her eyes glowed. 'That's wonderful. I only hope he's right. But even if they do want another series of shows, there will be long gaps between each series. In the future I'll have far more free time. Give me a year, Sean, just one more year to see if I succeed in TV, then we'll try for a baby.'