Bride for Hire. Jessica Hart

that she didn’t like the idea of Seth coolly discussing her with Astra. Have to put up with her, indeed! No wonder Astra was pleased if he had talked about her like that! Even a superwoman might have a few qualms at the idea of her man pretending to be in love with another girl, but it must have been pretty obvious that Daisy could not even be considered a rival.

      Her lobster salad with asparagus was delicious but it might as well have been ashes in Daisy’s mouth until she pulled herself together. She didn’t care what Seth and Astra thought about her. She only wanted to find Tom, and it would be a lot easier if she remembered more often that she was simply here as part of the job.

      She glanced across at Seth, who was quite unbothered by her sulky silence. It was easier to look at him when his eyes were on his plate and, as if for the first time, she noted the lines starring the corners of his eyes and the dark hair which was already beginning to show a few strands of grey at the temples. Her gaze was just following the flat, angular planes of his cheeks and the arrogant line of his nose down to his mouth when he looked up unexpectedly and caught her watching him. Daisy’s heart gave an odd little somersault as she met that steely, skewering gaze, bumping back into place so abruptly that it left her slightly breathless.

      ‘I...I suppose I should know something about you,’ she stammered, not quite sure why she felt the need to explain herself. ‘A real girlfriend would know more about you than the fact that you’re American and stinking rich.’

      ‘What more do you need to know?’ asked Seth sardonically.

      ‘Well...about your family?’ Daisy suggested. ‘Where you live, what you do...that kind of thing.’

      ‘I never talk about my family,’ he said flatly. ‘No one will expect you to know anything about them.’

      Daisy was longing to ask whether Astra knew, but there was a grim finality in Seth’s tone that warned her to steer well clear of the subject. ‘What about where you live, then?’ she asked instead. ‘Or is that a state secret too?’

      ‘I’ve got several places,’ he said indifferently. ‘Manhattan, Malibu, Cape Cod, a skiing lodge in Utah...and Cutlass Cay in the Caribbean.’

      ‘But which one’s home?’

      She could have sworn that Seth had never even considered the question before. He looked momentarily taken aback, then shrugged. ‘Wherever I am, I guess.’

      ‘How sad,’ she said without thinking, and Seth’s brows rose arrogantly.

      ‘Most people wouldn’t describe having four luxurious houses to choose from as being a particularly sad situation,’ he said stiffly, looking down his nose.

      Daisy thought of the unpretentious house in Battersea where she had grown up. Its wallpaper was faded now, its rooms a little shabby and a little cluttered, but it was warm and comfortable and familiar. ‘I just think it’s sad not to have a place to call home,’ she said, her dark blue eyes serious. ‘Somewhere you know you belong—with people you love and who love you.’

      ‘I don’t believe in love.’ said Seth with something of a sneer, and Daisy looked at him curiously.

      ‘If you think that why are you getting married?’

      He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he frowned down into his glass, swirling the wine around as he thought. ‘Astra and I will make a good team,’ he said at last. ‘She’s a beautiful woman with a first-class business brain; we’ll be partners as much as anything else. And we understand each other. Astra isn’t sentimental; any more than I am. Neither of us can afford to be.’

      ‘It’s an odd thing not to be able to afford when you can afford absolutely everything else,’ said Daisy. Seth glanced at her sharply, but she didn’t notice. She was crumbling her roll absently with her knife and wondering how someone whose kiss was so warm could be content with such a joyless life. There was something chilling about his rejection of family, and even marriage with Astra seemed to be approached from a businesslike point of view. Daisy had always scoffed at people who claimed that they wouldn’t like to be rich, but she was beginning to change her mind.

      ‘What about you?’ Seth interrupted her thoughts abruptly. His voice was harsh, almost as if the question were forced out of him.

      Daisy looked up from her roll, surprised. ‘Me?’

      ‘I might need to show some awareness of your life before I met you,’ he said, but it sounded oddly like an excuse.

      ‘But no one’s going to be interested in me!’ she protested. She couldn’t imagine anyone even noticing her next to Seth.

      ‘You never know,’ he said slowly. ‘If you were dressed properly you could be quite taking.’

      The possibility of being ‘quite taking’ didn’t compare well with being described as beautiful with a first-class business brain, Daisy reflected, piqued. ‘I’d have thought that, as far as most people were concerned, the only interesting thing about me is that I’m going to be with you,’ she said rather grumpily.

      ‘Perhaps,’ Seth agreed, ‘but it’s always best to be prepared. So, go on. Tell me about yourself.’

      ‘Well...’ Daisy hesitated, knowing that her life would seem irredeemably dull to Seth but determined not to make any apologies for it. She wasn’t the one who looked bleak whenever families were mentioned, after all. ‘My father died when I was small, but my mother married again a few years ago and my stepfather’s wonderful.’ Her voice wobbled a bit when she thought about Jim, who had been so kind to her and brought her mother so much happiness. She had to find Tom for him. ‘We’re a very close family,’ she went on more steadily, ‘but I can’t exactly say that my life has been packed with excitement.’

      ‘Is that why you became an actress?’

      ‘What?’ Daisy’s eyes slid away as she remembered. ‘Oh...yes,’ she said hurriedly. ‘Yes, I think I hoped I’d find...oh, I don’t know...something different. I love my home and my family but sometimes it’s all a bit too safe.’ She stopped, aware that she was giving too much away. It was true, though. She loved creating beautiful displays of flowers but there were times when she longed to escape from the humdrum problems of the shop in Battersea. That was why she had broken with Robert, who was so meticulous and kind but who couldn’t understand that she wanted more out of life before she settled down to marriage. Then Jim had fallen ill, and she hadn’t thought about excitement for a while.

      And now here she was, having dinner with one of the most eligible men in the world who was going to take her off to his own Caribbean island.

      Seth had been watching her face. ‘So now you’re just waiting for a starring role?’

      Daisy thought of beautiful, businesslike Astra who was the star of this particular play. She was only the understudy.

      ‘Sort of,’ she said with an unconsciously wistful sigh, and there was a tiny moment of silence as they looked at each other.

      ‘Daisy,’ Seth began suddenly, but he never finished what he was about to say. A couple had crossed the room towards them, and the man was clapping Seth on the shoulder.

      ‘Seth Carrington! What are you doing here?’

      Hardly knowing whether to be relieved or peculiarly disappointed at the interruption, Daisy looked up as well and her eyes widened as she recognised James Gifford-Gould. With his vast inherited fortune and playboy lifestyle, James was so rarely out of the gossip columns that he was almost familiar. A languid blonde with a cat-like smile hung on his arm and offered her cheek for Seth to kiss as he got to his feet and returned their greetings.

      ‘This is Daisy,’ he said, and coolly introduced James and the blonde whose name was Eva.

      ‘Hello,’ said Daisy, hoping that she sounded equally composed.

      Eva barely nodded. Her eyes had already flickered over Daisy and rested for one disintegrating moment on her dress before quite obviously dismissing