'You've had my answer. I meant it.' She had to take a deep breath before she could answer him, she was so angry.
His mouth twisted crookedly. 'It's a woman's privilege to change her mind.'
'Not this woman. My mind's made up, it has been for two years, as far as you're concerned. I don't want to know about you.'
There was a hint of cruelty about his tight smile, a brooding anger in the grey eyes. Daniel had not liked that. 'We'll see,' was all he said, though, and he walked past her without looking at her again.
She stood there, frozen on the spot, and heard him open the front door and close it with a controlled quietness which was even more menacing than that look he had just given her. Daniel Randall was a man who enjoyed getting his own way, he was ruthless and determined, and when Lindsay walked out on their marriage she had offended him bitterly. He might still find her very attractive, but she couldn't avoid suspecting that revenge was an even more powerful motive for the proposition he had just offered her. He knew it would humiliate her to accept his terms, it had humiliated her merely to have them suggested to her, and Daniel wanted to make her pay for the humiliation she had once inflicted on him.
She had often wondered if it hadn't been his ego which had pushed him into asking her to marry him in the first place. A man with Daniel's fierce desire for success would find it hard to take rejection in any shape or form, but particularly where a woman was concerned. The more she got to know him, the more she had realised how that drive to succeed dominated him. Opposition always flicked his ego raw. He was too clever to show it on the surface, he had learnt how to use his charm to get what he wanted, but during their marriage Lindsay had spent a lot of time watching him and she recognised the flicker of anger, the glimmer of hard impatience in his eyes, and she had soon noticed that he would go to any lengths to achieve his ends, use any means; force, charm, money, and especially his own sex appeal. Daniel knew he was attractive to women, damn him, she thought, running an angry hand through her hair.
But if he thought for a minute that he could browbeat her by using her brother's situation to blackmail her, he was going to find out how wrong he was!
I must talk to Stephen, she thought, going to the phone, then stopped, her hand on the receiver. Not yet, Stephen was in no state for that sort of conversation today. She would have to leave a frank discussion until he was more himself.
She forced herself, instead, to do housework and shopping. It helped to turn her mind to more mundane things, the boredom of cleaning the flat and galloping around the supermarket with her trolley was an antidote to the hectic emotional impact of her clash with Daniel. She refused to think about him, she stared at baked beans and washing powder instead with a pretence of interest. The rain had stopped, the sky was a clear, washed blue from which the clouds slowly drifted during the late afternoon. By the time Aston rang her doorbell that evening, the weather was back to high summer.
He looked at her cool, summery dress with a smile. 'You look delicious, what colour do you call that? Asparagus?'
'Lime green, thank you,' Lindsay told him, but laughed. 'Will I need a jacket? What's it like out in the streets?'
'Warm—you're fine as you are,' he assured her. 'I've booked a table at that brasserie where all the film stars go when they're in London, I thought you might enjoy spotting celebrities.'
'How extravagant of you.' Lindsay said, closing the front door. 'It sounds marvellous, thank you.' They walked down, talking about the change in the weather.
His hand touched her bare arm lightly. 'Did you have to use Judo on Daniel Randall, or did he go quietly?'
'Don't let's talk about him.' Lindsay was trying to forget Daniel existed, she did not want to give Aston a blow-by-blow account of what Daniel had said to her.
'That's fine by me,' said Aston with a wry glance. He was wearing a tailored linen suit, cream and very elegant, under which she saw a, dark brown shirt. He looked pretty good himself. 'Don't we make a handsome pair?' Lindsay asked, her green eyes teasing, and he grinned at her. Aston had a strong sense of humour.
As they drove to the restaurant, she asked him: 'What exactly did Stephen tell you on the phone? How serious is his financial problem?'
Aston sobered, staring at the road, his brows meeting. The gold-brown hair gleamed in the last rays of the sun, she saw the tips of his eyelashes glowing gilt too, as he lowered his eyes. His face was not striking, it had too much rugged strength for that, but it pleased her to look at him, his personality came though every time he smiled.
'Bad, I'm afraid,' he said tersely.
'Daniel said something about Stephen being bankrupt. Is it that bad?' Lindsay was nervous as she asked that, she hoped Aston would deny it, but he sighed and shot her a quick look.
'You'll have to ask Stephen that yourself.'
'Does that mean he is, but you'd rather not admit it?'
'It means that Step
hen spoke to me in confidence and I can't repeat the details of what he told me.' Aston spoke gently but in a firm tone. 'I know you're very concerned, but the firm is Stephen's business, you really must talk to him, Lindsay.'
She was quiet for a moment, then she said uncertainly, 'Did he ask you for help, Aston?' She saw his frown and added hurriedly: 'Please don't think I'm pressuring you—I have a reason for asking, believe me.' If Stephen had been desperate enough to ask Aston for help, Daniel might be telling the truth.
Aston sighed. 'Purely as a hypothetical case, Lindsay, even if Stephen had asked me for help I wouldn't be in any position to give him the sort of help he would need if he was in danger of going bankrupt.' He spoke very slowly and carefully, choosing his words. 'My capital is all tied up in my shops, I don't have any spare money floating around.'
'I understand,' Lindsay said flatly.
'Randall would be a much better prospect,' said Aston, pulling up near the Mayfair brasserie at which they had booked a table. He turned to look at her, an arm draped over the wheel. 'He has the money, but Stephen would have to watch out for the strings attached to it.' 'Yes,' Lindsay agreed with bitterness.
Aston stared at her.. 'And so would you, Lindsay. He struck me as a very possessive guy, he didn't like me at all, did he? For an ex-husband he shows far too much interest in you.' . He had said something like that to her already, she could see' her protests hadn't convinced him that she was indifferent to Daniel. Pushing a curling lock of her vivid hair from her flushed face, she said defiantly: 'Daniel Randall sees women as objects, and if they've belonged to him, they're his property even if he rarely sees them. His vanity wouldn't let him see them any other way. If he came on like a possessive husband in front of you, that was to make sure you know I'd been his…'
'And still were?' Aston murmured, watching her.