'I should get back to the party,' I said shakily to no one and, without looking directly at either man, I walked past both. When I was outside the room I leaned against the wall and heard Ivan say in a hard voice, 'As a matter of fact I do mind.'
'Oh, don't be greedy, brother. I'm perfectly willing to share. You can have your turn next.'
'You're drunk.' Ivan's voice was hard and cold.
'And you're a hypocrite. Don't tell me you're not lusting after her because I've seen the way you watch her.'
'Go home, Dorian.' Ivan's voice sounded exasperated.
'Always the spoilsport,' Dorian said with a laugh.
CHAPTER 7
Tawny Maxwell
God! How I wished I had slapped him hard enough to make his arrogant, drunken head reel. It was a tangled web I was caught in, but I remembered my grandma's words, In life you have to walk like you're on a runway.
Dorian's ugly words were still ringing in my ears, but with my head held high, I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other and started walking back towards the sound of laughter and music. Oh, Robert. Why on earth did you think I could do this?
I ordered a glass of brandy from a waiter and drank it really quickly. The fiery liquid spread a warm glow into my numb limbs. I felt myself relaxing. I had not eaten anything for hours and the alcohol was making me feel almost floaty. The tension seeped away. I looked around at the room full of strangers. Soon this would be over. All these people would be gone and I would be alone. I could make my plans then.
At the other end of the room I saw that Ivan had returned to the gathering. He was coming towards me when the woman he had come with waylaid him. Thank god. A waiter approached me with a tray of food and I picked something up and popped it into my mouth. It tasted of nothing. A thin, long-faced woman in a dark gray suit came up to me. Her lips were thin and painted blood-red and her eyes were watery and pale. I had no idea who she was. I smiled.
'I'm so sorry for your loss, my dear,' she said without introducing herself.
'Thank you,' I said, feeling buzzed and hoping it didn't show.
'He was such a good man.'
'Such a good man?' I echoed.
To my horror a mad giggle escaped my lips. I covered my mouth. The woman's eyes grew huge with speculation. There was no way to explain that if she thought that he was such a good man she couldn't possibly have known him. He was a ruthless man. He told me so himself. A man has to decide whether he wants good friends or he wants to be rich. He cannot have both. I chose to be rich.
'Can I have a word?' a steely voice on my right asked.
I turned gratefully towards Ivan. His eyes were no longer molten silver but ice cold.
'Of course,' I said coolly.
The nameless woman excused herself and left.
'Don't make my job more difficult than it needs to be,' he grated.
Anger flashed through me. Fuck him. How dare he judge me? Still, I did not let him see my irritation. I twirled the stem of the crystal flute between my fingers and looked up at him with cold disdain. 'Do you really think I would encourage my stepson to assault me at my dead husband's wake?'
Something shifted in his eyes. He ran his hand through his hair. 'God,' he said. For a moment he looked as if he felt that by taking me on he had bitten off more than he could chew.
'Why did you have the reading of the will in that way? You must have known Rosalind would react badly. Did it please you to see her attack me?'
His jaw tightened. 'Don't be stupid. I needed to see all their reactions.'
'And now that you know, what help is it to you?'
'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.'
'Do you go up to London often?'
'Well, I haven't used the London flat in nearly six months. I didn't like leaving Robert here on his own so I used to make sure that I finished whatever business I had and returned in time for dinner.'
James came in with a tray. Ivan thanked him and took his drink.
He raised it slightly. 'To you,' he said softly.
I looked at him warily.
'Well, what will you do now that Robert's gone?'
'I'll do what he wanted me to do.'
He stared at me with blankly. 'What was that?'
'For the last three years Robert bought islands with the intention of turning them into turtle sanctuaries.'
Ivan looked at me from narrowed, openly skeptical eyes. 'Robert was setting up turtle sanctuaries?'
I nodded. 'You seem very surprised.'
'I am,' he admitted. He leaned forward and the light from the candles seemed to flicker and shimmer in his extraordinary eyes. His eyes became alive and … hauntingly beautiful. I blinked at the amazing transformation. With the shadows thrown under his cheeks he was … suddenly … wickedly hot! So hot that a strange urge from somewhere unknown dared me to reach forward and lick those curving, sensuous lips. I stared at him, my mind burning with the thought. He leaned back abruptly. 'What?' he asked looking at me suspiciously.