Dirty Aristocrat

‘Time will tell,’ he said mysteriously.

‘Anyway, thank you for coming to my rescue just now.’

At that moment the woman he had come with slinked over and touched his arm. He stiffened, all expression leaching away from his eyes. Slowly, he moved his eyes away from me and looked

down at her.

‘Have you met Tawny?’ he asked.

She raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow at the mention of my name and deliberately allowed her eyes to fill with condescending amusement. ‘Ah, your stepmother? No, I haven’t.’

Ivan seemed to wince when she referred to me as his stepmother. ‘Tawny, meet Chloe Somerset. Chloe, Tawny.’

‘How do you do?’ she said in an offhand way.

‘Good. Thank you for coming,’ I said in an equally careless voice.

‘I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,’ she said throatily and turned towards Ivan, her expression becoming playful. ‘Darling, we need to be getting back. I have an early start

tomorrow.’

Ivan frowned. ‘I can’t leave just yet. Why don’t you let Paul drive you back?’

Chloe pouted at him. ‘How long will you be? You know how … restless I get when I’m in your bed.’

His voice was hard and impatient. ‘Then perhaps you should go back to yours?’

I cut in. ‘Look, you can go. I’m going upstairs soon, anyway. James will see the party out.’

‘We need to talk,’ he said sharply.

I nodded. ‘Yes, I know.’

‘I’m busy all day tomorrow. Are you free for dinner?’

Chloe took a quick intake of breath.

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘Good. I’ll pick you up at eight then.’

‘It might be better if we just have dinner here,’ I said quickly. I could not imagine anything more awkward than going out to dinner with him. Here at least I would be on my own turf.

‘See you at eight,’ he said and, turning away from me, left the wake. It gave a small jolt of secret pleasure to see Chloe run to keep up with his striding figure.

CHAPTER 8

Tawny Maxwell

I was in the Yellow Room having a dry Martini when James announced Ivan’s arrival.

My stomach contracted at the sight of him. He was like a force of nature. Even the air in the room changed. His hands hung languidly at his sides, but his entire body emitted the kind of

tension of a prowling animal. From where I was I could make out the contours of his muscles under his shirt. Butterflies started fluttering in my belly. Suddenly the night ahead

stretched as an uncomfortable, tense affair.

‘Hello, Ivan,’ I said nonchalantly from my seat. I had decided that I would be sophisticated and cool.

‘Hello, Tawny.’

‘Can I get you a drink?’ I asked civilly.

He turned towards James. ‘I’ll join Mrs. Maxwell in whatever she’s having.’

‘Very good, Sir,’ James said, and with a polite bow backed out of the room.

Ivan strolled towards the sofa next to mine, sat down, spread himself with his knees far apart, and fixed his silvery gaze on me.

I took a sip of my drink. ‘Good day at the office?’ I asked.

His eyebrows arched in surprise. He seemed to hesitate. ‘I didn’t go in today.’

I suddenly thought of Chloe. About how ‘restless’ she had been last night. ‘Ah, the pleasures of being one’s own boss,’ I said. It had been my intention to sound light and sophisticated,

but it sounded like sarcasm.

The silence stretched and I glanced at my hands. I could feel his gaze on me and, as much as I did not want to admit it, I was starting to get really nervous. I felt as if he was

studying me, looking right into me. Interminable seconds passed. Finally, I looked up, my eyes defiant.

‘What did you do today?’ he asked.

I didn’t miss the commanding tone in his voice. This was a man used to giving an order and having it obeyed. I looked into my drink. ‘I’m afraid I didn’t do much today,’ I murmured.

In fact, I had spent my morning in Robert’s room. It had brought me to tears because I walked in there expecting it to look like it always did and I found that the housekeeper had

ordered the servants to strip the bed and remove the mattress. It had been taken away to be aired, but seeing the bed in that way shocked me and made his death real in a way that seeing

him still and wasted inside the coffin had not.

I looked up and found him gazing at me expressionlessly. ‘You must get so bored here.’

I met his look levelly. ‘No.’

He seemed genuinely surprised and I felt a thrill of joy that I had caught him off guard. ‘So you will carry on living here?’

‘For the foreseeable future.’

He frowned. ‘You don’t plan on moving to London?’

‘No.’

‘Why not? You are a very rich woman now and London is very exciting when you are rich, beautiful and young.’

I felt myself blush. He thought I was beautiful. ‘I will go to London when necessary, but I won’t be moving there.’