Mistress: At What Price? Read Free Page B

He hadn’t counted on the heat that rushed into his palm at that first electrifying contact. Beneath his palm the sensuous fabric of her designer dress shifted against her flesh, making him wonder how she would feel without the silk.
    Just smooth, sleek skin.
    She flinched as if burned. So she felt it, too, he mused as he steered her towards their hosts. Interesting. Had she and her French lover called it quits? She’dreturned alone, and there’d been a definite chill in her reply when Paris had been mentioned.
    The paparazzi, eager for their quota of celebrity guest snaps, were milling about the property’s open gates. A security guard waved Dane through. Bulbs flashed and a blur of faces bumped up against the window.
    â€˜You’d be accustomed to this?’ he asked, steering his way through the photographers. ‘I should have asked if you were okay with it.’
    â€˜Yes and yes. But in this case they’re not aimed at me.’
    â€˜That ain’t necessarily so. You’re somewhat of a celebrity yourself these days.’
    â€˜Not so much here. And it’s not as if I’m your date or anything.’
    He glanced her way before spinning the car onto the country road, leaving the press behind in a spray of dust. ‘They don’t know that.’
    She didn’t reply. In fact she looked serenely ahead, watching the moon-drenched paddocks and stands of gum trees flash by. Every so often a light glinted from a farmhouse behind the regular curtains of foliage.
    She wasn’t as calm as she let on, he noted. The grip on her bag was white-knuckled, and her thumbs massaged the strap in tiny jerky movements against her thighs.
    Thighs that looked smooth and silky and…very naked.
    Eyes on the road. Only on the road. Sweat broke out on his brow. He switched the air-conditioning to full blast. ‘Too cold?’ he asked a moment later, more to fill the silence than anything else. Silence that seemed to throb with the sound of the bass from the stereo speakers.
    â€˜No…no, it’s…cool.’
    She changed position, and he didn’t have to look to know she’d stretched those long naked legs out in frontof her. Within the Porsche’s confines her roses-and-sin perfume wound around his senses like a long-forgotten dream. He thanked whatever lucky star was out tonight that it was only a short drive over the next ridge of hills.
    Through childhood she’d always been his best mate, generous and loyal and stubborn. By seventeen she’d turned into a confident, ambitious young woman who wanted to take on the world. And leave him behind.
    He shook off the edgy thought and glanced her way again. At twenty-seven… Well, right now she was all about lusciousness and impact. But how well did he know this grown-up version? ‘You were saying you’re not modelling now?’ he prompted into the silence.
    She hesitated. ‘No. My business partner and I parted ways.’
    â€˜Luc?’ She’d carefully avoided mentioning the fact that he’d also been her lover. ‘Phoebe told me all about him.’ Slight emphasis on ‘all’.
    â€˜Yes. Luc. I don’t want to talk about it. Him. ’ She waved a disconcerted hand. ‘Any of it.’
    â€˜I’m sorry,’ he said, and hoped he sounded sincere. And why wouldn’t he be? He’d only ever wanted the best for Mariel.
    â€˜How’s your father?’ She spoke suddenly, as if she’d plucked something—anything—out of the ether to switch topics.
    â€˜He was okay when I spoke to him a couple of months ago.’ And that was all Dane needed to know, all Mariel needed to know, and all he wanted to say about his old man.
    â€˜And your mother?’
    â€˜Still living in Queensland, last I heard.’ With her man of the moment.
    â€˜So…by that I take it you don’t live at home now?’
    Home. Dane scowled at the white line