The Darkness Within Him: The Untwisted series Read Free Page A

just had a call requiring her attention, I’m afraid we are going to have to leave.’
    Already? I felt a sharp tug of disappointment in my stomach; I’d only just arrived! That must have been what the deep discussion was about. I also happened to know that Isla and Anthony were dating, so I assumed whatever required her probably needed him too.
    ‘Oh, no problem, I hope it’s nothing too serious,’ I mumbled limply. Well, at least I had got to watch the performance free of charge, I supposed. Although I’d stuffed a wad of cash into the charity bucket at the end, probably more than the ticket was worth. But you can’t attend a concert with all proceeds to charity and not donate, can you?
    Isla and Anthony were already headed for the door. ‘Nicholas, we have to leave,’ Isla called into the seemingly empty dressing room. ‘Well done tonight. Miss Langley is out here to meet you,’ she finished, before turning to me. ‘Sorry again for rushing off, but we’ll leave you in the capable hands of Nicholas.’ Her smile was almost apologetic. She dashed out with Anthony, leaving me feeling distinctly uncomfortable in the large, unfamiliar space.
    Her talk of capable hands had me thinking back to Nicholas Jackson’s performance on the grand piano tonight and my breath hitched a little. Wow, it had been just stunning. I hadn’t been close enough to see properly, but his hands had seemed to flow over the keyboard so knowingly, as if it were just an extension of his body. He had been truly magnificent to watch and listen to.
    ‘Hello?’ I called nervously, and then, after several moments of complete silence, I edged forward and peered around the corner into a small, lit area adorned with make-up mirrors. And Nicholas Jackson.
    He faced away from me, bent over the counter doing something with a small red tub. Obviously, he wasn’t rushing to return my greeting, which he surely must have heard. He was just ignoring it. Ignoring me. How charming.
    In truth, Nicholas was the one I had been most nervous about meeting. I knew that Isla and Anthony had reputations for being warm and sociable and I’d been counting on them to keep the conversation going, because by all accounts, even at the relatively young age of 29, Nicholas Jackson was brusque, intimidating, and not particularly sociable at the best of times.
    Taking the opportunity to glance over at him while he was otherwise engaged, I saw he was tall. Taller than I had expected, actually, with surprisingly broad shoulders. Then, catching a glimpse of his glorious reflection in the mirror, I briefly stopped breathing. I mean the air literally caught in my lungs. From just this brief flash of his profile, I saw it was clear that his publicity shots hadn’t done him justice either. Nowhere near.
    He was still wearing his smart black trousers, white shirt, and waistcoat, but I noticed his tailcoat and bow tie were laid over the back of the chair next to him. Hmm , the figure I could see under the shirt was actually rather nice, better than I’d expected from a sedentary piano player. He appeared lithe and athletic looking, but as I allowed my eyes to trace back up his body I caught sight of his reflection in the mirror again and saw that he was looking at me.
    Oh God, he was watching me as I watched him. How embarrassing. I felt myself blush immediately at being caught in my assessment of him and hoped my blatant appreciation of his body hadn’t been visible in my expression. Which of course it probably had been. Great.
    ‘Hi,’ I squeaked, forcing a limp smile onto my burning face and nervously stroking my hair.
    ‘Miss Langley, we meet at last,’ he observed dryly with a tweak of an eyebrow. ‘Just give me a second to finish off here.’ Glancing at his hands, I saw he was actually applying hand cream to his long fingers and it briefly distracted me from my nerves.
    ‘You use hand cream?’ I blurted without thinking, surprised that a man as apparently tough as