Chapter Six

TRUEto his word, McAlpine was back at the homestead by 10: 30 a. m. He strode along the portico feeling like a man with a renewed zest for life, entering the house in time to see the strange yet intensely familiar Ms Olivia Balfour tweaking an extravagant arrangement of flowers that wouldn’t have been out of place in the lobby of the Bangkok Oriental. True to her patrician style, she had commandeered the magnificent Chinese fish bowl that stood on its rosewood stand and filled it with every flower under the sun. He recognised masses of Oriental lilies, orchids of many varieties—flights ofphalaenopsis like quivering butterflies, sprays of purpledendrobiums —Queensland’s state flower, roses, grasses, ferns, branches, lotus pods, you name it. No one had ever used the very valuable eighteenth-century fish bowl before for flower arrangements. Not even his mother. He had to say the effect was little short of sumptuous which wouldn’t have been a difficult task for a Balfour of Balfour Manor.

“How much did that little lot set me back? ” He had to fight off the strong compulsion to catch her up and kiss her. Why not, considering their mind-blowing physical reaction to each other at Lubra Lakes. What had prompted him to kiss her? He had known perfectly well he was playing with fire and it didn’t exactly tally with his claim he was off women. Still he had steamed ahead. Even more of a folly was that she had never been out of his mind for the past few days. In fact, Ms Olivia Balfour had turned his ordered world upside down. It stunned him.

And yet! He had never felt so alive.

Olivia, for her part, turned her head slowly, pretending calm, when she ached with excitement. Even the sound of his voice caused her heart to go into overdrive and every cell in her body to vibrate. “I hoped you’d like it, ” she said coolly, falling back on her long training. “Would you like to give the dining room and the reception rooms the once-over? My father always does. ”

“By all means! ” he answered crisply as he joined her. Why the hell didn’t he entwine her in his arms? She had to be nervous because she began to check her immaculate hairdo. “Let’s emulate Oscar. He recognised your value way back as a chatelaine. I’m sure he never meant to, but he treated you more like a wife than a daughter. Look after the children, run the manor and the various houses around the world, organise all the dinner parties, open the garden parties and the fetes, look after the charities, action groups, whatever! ”

He had the shocking ability to hit on raw truths. Hadn’t the very same thing crossed her mind more than once, before being swiftly banished as disloyalty?

“All my life I’ve worked to be the person my father wanted me to be, ” she confessed. “He always spoke of a father’s unconditional love but we all knew certain conditions went along with that love. ”

He smiled wryly. “So now you’re coming around to thinking you’ve spent your life stifling the person you really are? ”

“But that’s what you want me to think, isn’t it? ”

“Don’t let’s waste time, Olivia. I do. ”

“Well, at Balfour Manor, chatelaine is a very prestigious position. ”

“There are better ways to go, ” he pointed out sardonically.

“Did your business affairs go well? ” She broke the lengthening silence. Why did he make her feel so foolish?

“They did, Ms Balfour. Thank you for asking. ”

He gave her that mocking smile. Such an illumination of his handsome features that could sometimes look stern. She sucked in her breath, fluttery feelings in her chest and stomach. All the time he’d been away she had caught herself up, fantasising about having sex with this man. No one could have been more surprised than herself. She’d had the odd daydream in the past. Nothing like what was happening to her now.

Pitiful, Olivia. A huge mistake.

It wasn’t smart to ignore the voice in one’s head. Generally speaking it only gave good advice. The big trouble was, herbody spoke a different language. McAlpine would be an adventurous, blindingly passionate lover. Very erotic. Her scant handful of lovers had never ventured past the time-honoured—maybe outdated? —missionary position. Every instinct screamed that McAlpine would run the gamut of positions that were mutually, ravishingly arousing.

She had to shake herself out of yet another reverie.

“All most ethical, ” he was saying with satisfaction. “I’m stretching my horizons, Olivia. I want you to do that too. Get into new things. As far as business goes, even in the huge global downturn, there are strategies to keep afloat. ”

“Well, my father seems to think you’re someone extraordinary, ” she said, allowing the note of hauteur to creep back into her voice again. The last thing she could afford was to have him know he was occupying just about all her thoughts. It wouldn’t win her any points with his ex-wife and his daughter either to appear smitten.

“Can’t leave you alone for long, can I? ” His gleaming eyes were brim full of mockery.

“I beg your pardon? ”

“Simple, Olivia. You’re back to the divine aloofness. And you do it superbly. So tell me, what are you wearing this evening? Your best black? ”

Best black! If there was one thing she hated it was a man who could read her mind. Suddenly her best black lost its appeal. “Perhaps I’ll surprise you, ” she said tartly.

“That’s great! I so look forward to seeing different aspects of your personality emerge. ”

“I have you under observation as well. ” She turned away to adjust a dried lily pod that looked perfectly fine the way it was. “What right do you have to be so patronising about my wardrobe? ”

“Not patronising, Olivia. I want to help you. I thought we’d agreed you would look upon me as your mentor. ”

“I don’t know that I agreed to that! ”

“Oh, you agreed all right, ” he said very drily. “So don’t let me down. ”

“Perish the thought! Shall we continue on our rounds? ” she asked briskly.

He gave her a droll look. “By all means, Matron. ” He gestured with his hand for her to lead on.

She called on her old claim to fame. Coolness under pressure. Blonde head held high she began to stalk away from him. “Thank God I’m only here for a few months. ”

“Just bear in mind others have had an epiphany in less time, ” he called, admiring the swish of hips and long slender legs. Ms Olivia Balfour would be a match for any man.

McAlpine’s guests, obviously not short of a shilling, began arriving by light aircraft not all that long later. Neil and Celine Jameson, a pleasant young couple; Peter and Barbara Corbett, who greeted her in a warm friendly manner; Brendan Fraser, McAlpine’s close friend, with a knockout young redhead many years his junior, Chloe, on his arm. Olivia recalled Kath’s description of him as the “perennial bachelor. ” She also recalled he was the one who had called the ex-Mrs McAlpine a she-devil. What a ghastly description! Did Marigole really deserve it? She had the weekend to find out.

Brendan was tall, rugged, with a zesty way about him that made people laugh and relax. Olivia didn’t overlook the high intelligence and the piercing shrewdness in the humorous dark eyes. She didn’t have the slightest doubt Brendan had started summing her up from the moment they had been introduced. Obviously he was very protective of his lifelong pal. Not that McAlpine needed any protection. But men stuck together. That was the way of it.

The last to arrive, predictably, as Kath had warned her in advance, were Marigole, her daughter, Georgina, and Marigole’s new man in her life, Lucas Harcourt.

Everyone and everything had fallen so neatly into place, small wonder Olivia thought something just had to go wrong. It wasn’t such a great surprise, then, when it did.

Marigole McAlpine was just about as unfriendly as one woman could get with another. After a tip-to-toe rake of Olivia’s elegant figure, she assumed the expression of a woman intent on a cold war. No question, the ex-Mrs McAlpine still had an extremely proprietary attitude towards the man she had divorced.

Oh, right! Sheisa she-devil.

“How do you do, Ms Balfour. ” Marigole, who appeared to have a great sense of fashion, fixed Olivia with an icy stare. Not all that easy with enormous dark eyes. They dominated a milky white face of small perfect features that somehow added up to hard. She might have suspected Olivia guilty of sleeping with her betrothed instead of her ex-husband.

And you’re not sleeping with him.

More’s the pity.

“Clint said nothing about your being here. ” A rebuke was implicit in her tone.

“Didn’t know I had to. ” McAlpine entered the conversation, one arm wrapped around his daughter’s shoulder. He was hugging her close and she was looking up at him adoringly. Olivia had an instant picture of herself with her father at Georgina’s age. The expression was pretty much the same. “Olivia is the daughter of one of my most valued business partners, ” McAlpine was saying.

“NotOscar Balfour? ” Lucas Harcourt’s thick eyebrows shot up and the bonhomie he radiated escalated an extra notch. An urbane man in his early fifties, slightly rotund, he had a lined, clever face and a full head of silver-grey hair he was lucky to hold on to considering the paucity of other physical assets.

“My father. ” Olivia smiled. Lucas, although he had given her a close but discreet inspection, was very much the gentleman, with a good firm handshake—just the right measure of formality—she liked. She didn’t mind Lucas at all. Marigole at close quarters was the sort of woman she normally avoided like the plague. Yet such women men seemed to find irresistible. She had seen it time and again. Loved him. Hated her. It did happen.

“Good Lord, ” said Lucas, his lined, scored face lighting up. “Now there’s a man I’d like to meet. ”

“I’m sure when you’re in London it can be arranged. ” Olivia gave Georgina, who had said nothing beyond a muttered “hello, ” an inclusive smile. She was a beautiful child. The image of her mother. Huge dark eyes, straight dark hair tumbling like a satin bolt down her back. One could only hope she hadn’t inherited her mother’s less than sweet nature. Considering her wealthy background Georgina looked painfully awkward, a mixture of shyness, insecurity and possibly a lot of seething inner rebellion.

“Kath has lunch scheduled for one-thirty, ” Olivia told them, not overly bothered by Marigole McAlpine. She had met a lot worse. The Honorable Alice Beaufort for starters, and her marginally less offensive sister, Camilla. “So if you’d like me to show you to your rooms? ” Olivia threw out a graceful hand.

“Don’t bother, ” Marigole retorted rudely. She turned to her ex-husband, waving one arm about as though she was fighting to find just the right words. “You didn’t say Ms Balfour is here as your assistant. ”

“Lots of things I haven’t mentioned, Marigole. ” McAlpine’s answer was sardonic. “Do lighten up. Olivia is here on a study tour. She very kindly offered to act as hostess for the weekend and the various functions I have coming up. Buffy is out of action, I’m sorry to say. ”

Marigole’s glossy bob swung back to Olivia, with a look that clearly said, And I hope you screw up big time!

“Extraordinary man, your father, ” Lucas was remarking, rubbing his chin thoughtfully and returning to his theme. “Balfour! Now that’s a name synonymous with style and glamour. ” He gave Olivia’s tall elegant figure a look of positive admiration.

“I’m assuming we’re in the same suite, Clint? ” Marigole cut in, her expression reflecting a bottomless well of black thoughts.

“But of course! ” McAlpine exclaimed, giving his daughter another hug. “You didn’t think I was going to move you into a hotel? ”

Georgina was betrayed into a fit of giggles, quickly smothered as her mother turned a wrathful eye on her. Indeed she all but cowered against her father. Olivia felt an instinctive flare of protectiveness. So Georgina wasn’t the apple of her mother’s eye, then! How very sad! Thinking that, she held out a hand to the child, much as she had done all her life with her younger sisters. “So, Georgina! ”

It was done so naturally, McAlpine thought with a rush of gratitude. Indeed beautifully. She hadn’t a thought in her head that her gesture would be refused.

“It’s down to you and me, ” she was saying, smiling down at his daughter. “I thought you might like the Persian room? At least, I’m calling it the Persian room. ”

“You mean the one with the dome and the doors? ” Georgina looked mightily surprised.

“The very one, ” Olivia confirmed. Surely Georgina hadn’t been expecting to be relegated to the old nursery. Always supposing there was one.

“Oh, goody! ” Georgina surprised everyone, including herself, by holding tight to Olivia’s hand “You know what it means. ” She fastened her eyes on Olivia’s serenely beautiful face. “It means I’m really grown up. ”

“Of course you are. ” Olivia gave the small hand in hers a reassuring squeeze.

Bessie came to her door with a beautiful, brilliantly coloured parrot sitting happily on her shoulder.

“Oh, there you are! Come in. ” Olivia was setting out a choice of evening dresses on the bed.

“Don’t worry. He ain’t stayin’. ” Bessie went to the open doors that led onto the garden, sending her feathered friend on his way. Bessie had no task for the evening. As a tribal princess she wasn’t expected to wait at table. Bessie’s job was to offer guidance in any number of capacities.

“So take a look, ” Olivia invited, more at home in Bessie’s company with every passing day.

“Let’s see now! ” Bessie carefully examined all three dresses, staying quiet as she did it. Olivia had chosen her “best black” despite McAlpine’s scoffing, a pair of silk-satin evening trousers—trousers suited her—in a deep amethyst that had a matching bloused top and, lastly, a sapphire-blue two-piece outfit that she thought was maybe a little overkill for tonight. After all, she was a girl who had spent her life trying to deflect attention from herself.

The third outfit consisted of a long skirt, and a camisole top that hung from shoestring straps. There was a wide sash to match. It looked very nice on her but the cami was a bit on the bare side. She really should have had the straps shortened so the vee didn’t dip into her cleavage. Not that there was that much of it. But enough. How many times had Bella told her she was jeopardising all her chances? What, by giving peeks of her breasts to potential admirers? Bella was the Lorelei. Not a role that suited Olivia.

“Why don’t we have a little fun? ” Bessie suggested. She began to sing something that sounded like an advertising jingle and, in fact, was. “This goes with this and that goes with this…” As she sang, she began switching the two-piece outfits around on the bed. “You wanna look your best? ” She shot a questioning glance at Olivia.

“I don’t want to put Mrs McAlpine’s pretty nose out of joint, ” Olivia said wryly. “I’m the hired help. ”

“What did yah think of her? ” Bessie snorted like a brumby.

“Yes, well…”

“She don’t bring the best outta people, ” Bessie said sagely. “Now, Livvy, there are two ways to go. My way. And your way. I can’t ever get to wear things like this in me whole life, but Iknow. I know colour. I say the amethyst evenin’ pants paired with the Ulysses-butterfly-blue top. Show off yah beautiful eyes. Yah got such a narrow waist…make a big bow with the sash. ”

Olivia stood quietly considering. “Right-o, Bessie, ” she said finally, tapping Bessie lightly on the shoulder. “I’m happy to go your way. I trust you. ”

“Trust very important in life, ” said Bessie. “By the way, got something for yah. ” She dipped a hand into the voluminous pocket of her hand-painted skirt. “To you it’s a charm. To me it’s magic handed down from the Ancients. It’ll protect yah, my lovely Pommy friend. ”

“From what, Bessie? ” Olivia felt a tiny shiver of alarm. “Do you think I need protecting? ”

“Jus’ to be on the safe side, ” Bessie answered mildly, handing Olivia a highly polished oval stone, some two inches in length and almost as wide. It was flashing exquisite iridescent colours that included blue, blue-green, violet-blue and amethyst. Someone had set the piece in a silver bezel with a silver chain fixed to the back, so it could be worn as a necklace.

“But, Bessie, this is beautiful! ” Olivia began to examine the crystal in detail. Obviously it had a spiritual quality for Bessie. She thought she felt some of it herself as she stroked the crystal with her forefinger.

“Come on. Show me. Put it on. ” Bessie combined gentleness with what Olivia now recognised as inherent authority.

“Heavens, Bessie, you sound really worried. ”

“Don’t want no one messing yah up, ” said Bessie, standing back to scrutinise the effect. “That’s exactly right. Knew it would. Help yah go towards the light. Think of it as a spiritual guide. Touch it often. ”

“But surely you want it back, Bessie. ” Olivia was near moved to tears by Bessie’s caring and concern. “It must mean a lot to you. ”

“I give it to you. Our paths cross for a reason, Livvy. Never doubt it. ”

Olivia was beginning to think Bessie was right. She felt a mad urge to ask Bessie to arrange a magic spell so McAlpine would fall in love with her. She didn’t have the slightest doubt Bessie could.

Bessie wasn’t her only visitor. Georgina came to her room just as Olivia was planning on checking on the child to see if she was happy and had everything she needed. It had been a considerable coup choosing the Persian room, something she would have adored herself at Georgina’s age, for Georgina had shown great excitement at being allowed to occupy the room she saw “fit for an Arabian princess. ” It had a remarkable domed ceiling, a mosaic of brilliant colours, wooden shutter doors carved with the Islamic-star grid, a very beautiful antique Persian rug, a huge four-poster bed and soft furnishings in a kaleidoscope of colours.

Of course, Olivia had checked with McAlpine when he was working in his study, which would have found favour with his father. It was so much the gentleman’s club in style and furnishings, it really demanded a dress code. He had lifted his dark auburn head as she entered, albeit with that big-cat gleam in his eyes. She’d had another daydream about him lately…pouncing…licking her all over…

“Now this is a pleasant surprise! ” He closed a thick file and set it aside. “What can I do for you, Olivia? Race it by me. Not a lot of time. ” He beckoned her to lose herself in one of the man-size leather armchairs.

“I propose putting Georgina into a different room, ” she told him as though not expecting to encounter opposition. Neatly she crossed her slender legs at the ankle.

“Her usual bedroom not good enough? ”

“It’s very nice, ” she conceded graciously. “But at twelve years of age she would have outgrown it. ”

He sat back, locking his two hands behind his head. “Marigole herself did the designing. ”

“I guessed that. Your ex-wife is a woman of considerable style. Bu she would have designed it with her little girl in mind. Time passes. Georgina is now a young lady. ”

“So what exactly have you got in mind? ”

“I thought the Persian room. At least, that’s what I call it. ”

Amusement bracketed his mouth. “That was my mother’s plan. ”

“Really? ” Her face turned incandescent. “I’d so like to meet your mother. ”

“And it may well come to that, Ms Balfour. The Persian room, you say! ” He took a moment considering. “Who am I to go against you? The room is strewn with valuable antiques. I’m sure you noticed, just as I’m sure you were used to a whole lot grander as a child. ”

“You’re concerned your daughter might damage them? ” She lifted delicately arched brows several shades darker than her hair.

“Well, she has been tossing a few things around of late, but everything can be replaced. My daughter can’t. As long as she’s happy there, that’s all that matters. I would have thought, myself, it was a bit overwhelming for a youngster. ”

“Trust me. As you say, I’ve slept amid grandeur. ” Olivia spoke entirely without pretension. That was the way her life was. “I’m sure your daughter is a highly intelligent, thinking child. If for some reason she doesn’t want to be there, I can make alternative arrangements. Her usual room needs to be done over from scratch. Georgina is ready to move on. ”

McAlpine threw up his hands in feigned dismay. “If only you hadn’t mentioned moving on, Ms Balfour, ” he cried. “I must tell you, I dread to lose you. ”

If only that were true!

“Everything OK, Georgy? ” Georgina, far from being difficult as Olivia had feared, was acting like a well-brought-up young girl, requesting Olivia call her by her nickname. “I was just coming along to see if you were happy. ”

“Oh, I am! I love the room you’ve given me. I love what you’ve done with the flowers. ” Georgina was dressed in a pretty white nightgown with a matching robe, her long hair brushed to a high sheen. “You’re really nice, aren’t you? ”

“Absolutely! ” Olivia smiled at her. “I have seven sisters, you know. All younger than me. That means I got the role of big sister. ”

“I bet you’re a lovely sister. Very kind. ”

“I try to be, Georgy. Do please sit down. What do you think of my outfit? ” The child had begun studying Olivia like a dresser trained to give a very difficult mistress just the comment required. “Bessie helped me with it. ”

“Bessie? ” Georgy’s silky eyebrows shot up. “Was she here? ”

“About an hour ago. I have great faith in Bessie’s sense of colour. ”

“You’re honoured, ” Georgy said sincerely. “Did Bessie give you that sparkling necklace? It’s some sort of crystal, isn’t it? It’s sending out coloured rays. Most probably, it’s magic. It looksamazing! Better than diamonds. Anyone can have diamonds. Bessie is a princess in her own tribe. Her real name is Eerina. ”

“But that’s lovely. ” Olivia looked up. “It suits her much better than Bessie. ”

“I know. One of the elders in her family was a kurdaitcha man. Do you know what that means? ”

“Sorcerer? ” Olivia took an educated guess.

Georgy nodded, impressed. “They’re invisible to their enemies. They wear special slippers made out of emu feathers. The kurdaitcha man is very powerful. He’s like James Bond. He’s licensed to kill. ”

“Good grief! ” Olivia mimed a freak-out.

“A sorcerer can sing a man to death, ” Georgy continued, thrilled with her captive audience. “He can send his spirit form anywhere in a whirlwind. They know all about magic. So does Bessie, but she won’t let on. ”

“Good thing we’re her friends, ” Olivia commented, enjoying the sound of Georgy’s silvery peal of laughter. “So what’s your verdict on my outfit? It was Bessie’s idea to mix and match. ”

The brightness drained out of Georgy’s face. “Mummy is going to be very jealous, ” she warned. “Are you Daddy’s girlfriend? ”

She should be so lucky! “Lord, no! It’s just as your father said. I’m here on a study tour. ”

“But everything about you says you’re rich! ”

“Myfather is rich, Georgy. ” Olivia didn’t mention her healthy trust fund. “I haven’t had a real job up to date. Listen, can you keep a secret? ” Suddenly she wanted to be truthful with the child.

“A secret? ” Georgy’s huge eyes turned to saucers.

“Trust is important. I trustyou, Georgy. ” Trust made vulnerable people feel stronger she had found.

Georgy looked greatly heartened. “Are yougoing to be Daddy’s girlfriend? ” She sounded as if she didn’t mind.

She hoped Georgy wouldn’t notice her flush. “No, nothing like that. I did something that greatly upset my father. So I’m rather on the outer. My father wanted me out of the country for a while. Lying low, I suppose you’d call it. ”

“I can’t believeyou would make such a mistake. You look like you’ve never made a mistake in your whole life. ”

“That’s only at first glance. I’m not nearly as sure of myself as I might appear. I’m two people really. ”

“Oh, yes, Iknow! ” Georgy began to rock herself back and forth. “So am I. There’s the person you want to be and the person you’re supposed to be. ”

“Exactly. I knew you’d understand perfectly. So now you know my secret. I’m here to pull up my socks and do better. That was the challenge my father handed down. ”

“He doesn’t sound like a pleasant man, your father? ” Georgy advanced an opinion.

“He’s a very important man. A man of consequence. The head of a dynasty. It makes for being prideful, controlling. Much is expected of him. He expects much of us. Me, in particular, because I’m the eldest. ”

“So what did youdo? ” Georgy cast around in her mind for a social disaster. “Did you fall down drunk at a nightclub? ”

“Never got round tothat one, Georgy. I’m a staid person, really. But I have a twin, Bella. We love each other dearly. We rarely have words. But one night at a big gala ball we got into a fight. Wrong time, wrong place. Sadly we were overheard by a journalist who managed to get it on to the front page of his newspaper. My father is a proud man from an old illustrious family. He doesn’t take kindly to being publicly humiliated. ”

“But that doesn’t make sense! ” Georgy was clearly on Olivia’s side. “You and Bella had a fight. Was it a catfight? Can’t imagine it with you. Were you pulling each other’s hair out, swearing, saying four-letter words? ”

“Dear heaven, no! ” Olivia shuddered. “But it was a family matter that should never have seen the light of day. ”

“Rather like Daddy and Mummy’s divorce, ” Georgy said sadly. “There was a lot about it in the newspapers. I hated it. All the kids knew. Mummy actually told a newsreader she was going to take Daddy for all he was worth. Isn’t that disgusting? One kid said he had too much anyway. Mummy said things about him I knew weren’t true. I love Daddy best in the whole world. My mother doesn’t need me or want me. She doesn’t like the way I’m twelve, nearly thirteen, and she’s thirty-eight. Shehates getting older. I must remind her of what she used to look like. You’d think Mummy’s sort of woman would want a daughter. The girly-girly thing. But she doesn’t want me. She said if she had given Daddy a son the marriage would never have broken up. ”

Dear heaven, fancy laying that on a child! Olivia was appalled. “Do you believe that, Georgy? ” She gave thanks her father had never bemoaned the fact he didn’t have a son. Being her father he might yet get around to fathering one. Her father wasn’t cured of beautiful women by a long shot.

Georgy turned sad eyes on Olivia. “I don’t know what to believe. Why should she say such a thing? ”

One possible answer was she was terribly callous. “But you asked your father? ”

“Daddy always says the same thing. Headores me. He wouldn’t change me for anyone else in the world. ”

Good for him!

“Well, then! ” Olivia spoke bracingly. “You must believe exactly that. ”

“But I still know I’m part of the problem, ” Georgy mourned. “I’ve always loved Daddy best ever since I can remember. I don’t think my mothercares, Olivia. ” She looked earnestly into Olivia’s concerned face. “She doesn’t. Daddy can have full custody. That’s why I’m here. She likes to pretend she’s not abandoning me, but she is. She knows Daddy will always love and care for me. That lets her off the hook. A lot of kids at school live with divorce. Usually it’s the dad that takes off with someone. That happened to two of my friends. I know my dad would never abandon me. But he’s an important man like your father. He doesn’t have a lot oftime. ”

But he is making time for his daughter.

That scored him a lot of points.

She met up with McAlpine as she was making her way along the vaulted corridor. It was hung with an astounding collection of paintings of the Red Centre. Once she would have thought the colours glorified, but now she knew better. She had actually seen these dry pottery colours—the pinks, the yellows, the rust red of the earth, the grape blue and the amethyst of the distant escarpments, the cobalt blue of the sky.

“Well, well! ” He came to a dead stop as he accepted an undeniable truth. He wanted this woman. Yet he continued to play the suave bantering game. “May I say how absolutely stunning you look, Ms Balfour. Not that I didn’t know you could dazzle. The outfit is a master stroke. ” His golden eyes assessed her from head to toe.

Much as a great couturier would inspect his favourite muse, Olivia thought. At least hereally liked what he saw. She registered that from the flash in his eyes. It gave her enormous confidence. She wasn’t in any way nervous of this evening or his guests. Apart from the sometime she-devil, Marigole, who mightn’t be able to resist getting in a dig or two.

“And the goddess hair! ” He headed towards her. “I believe there are dangers inherent in falling in love with a goddess. ”

“Mockery, McAlpine? ” She turned assessing blue eyes on him. He was wearing evening dress. He looked magnificent. Black tailored trousers, black collarless shirt, a midnight-blue tailored jacket over the top. It was a very sophisticated look and quite a change from black tie.

“Indeed, no. How modest you are. You have marvellous hair. ”

“And it’s all mine. ” She couldn’t help laughing. “No need of extensions, though you probably don’t know much about that. ” Her voice was surprisingly steady when she felt sexual excitement working its way down from her throat through her centre to her legs. Bella had described him as “one sexy devil! ” Bella was never wrong.

“I’m not that far behind the times, ” he said, thrilling her by taking her arm as if they were paired for the night. “For a while I puzzled over how a lady friend of mine grew an impressive mane overnight. ”

“So you’re telling me you have lady friends? ”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Olivia. ” He glanced down at her, inhaling her subtle exquisite perfume. “You make it sound like a crime. I could have a whole harem if I wanted it. ”

“No doubt! ” She broke off, aware her heart was banging away like a set of drums. His golden eyes were fixed on her cleavage which didn’t seem terribly like him. There was nothing vaguely lecherous about McAlpine for all his sexual magnetism. “What are you looking at? ” she asked unsteadily.

“The necklace, ” he told her with the tiniest frown. “Bessie gave it to you? ”

She clutched the glittering, glowing stone. “Bessie, yes. That’s a relief. I thought you were staring at my cleavage. ”

“That too, ” he purred, narrowing his golden eyes.

Heat enveloped her. “Bessie actually chose what I’ve got on, the top of one outfit and the evening trousers of another. ”

“And she got it exactly right. Bessie has a great eye for colour. ”

“Georgy insisted I leave my hair loose. I’ve been outnumbered on that score since I arrived. I’m honoured Bessie gave me this necklace. She said it’s a talisman. ”

“To protect you from all harm. ” He was well aware of the significance of the iridescent stone. “I’m glad you feel honoured, Olivia, Youare. Bessie, Princess Eerina, outranks you. ”

She surprised him by showing him a lovely, spontaneous smile. Her blue eyes danced. Her beautiful mouth curved. He was aware of the barriers she had built up through the years and fought hard to keep in place. Time they fell. Entirely.

“I had that feeling about Bessie from the moment I met her. It’s beautiful, the stone, isn’t it? So unusual. ”

It looked magical, sitting perfectly between her creamy breasts, inviting a man’s worshipping hands. His, if he was going to admit to it. She was showing more of those high creamy breasts than usual. Not a lot. Just enough. Nevertheless his mouth went dry. Her appearance was wreaking havoc with his senses. He, McAlpine, who could have any number of willing women, had to get a grip. “It throws out a different light with your every movement. ” He gave a nod of approval when he wanted desperately to be alone with her and hang all his guests. He couldn’t even prevent a sigh. “I suppose we shouldn’t linger. Our guests will be waiting. ”

“Yourguests, ” she pointed out, trying to control a flush.

“Youare the hostess. ”

“Well, I hope I make you proud, ” she murmured huskily, aware beneath the smooth layers of banter he was finding her as desirable as she found him.

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