Prima Donna (35 page)

Velasquez smiled at Tanner’s vehemence and sat back in the chair. ‘Ah, but brilliance and beauty make bad behaviour permissible, do they not? And when the two are combined?’ He
threw his hands up in the air delightedly. ‘I imagine she’s a
devil
woman.’ He leant right in, slapping Tanner’s leg. ‘But worth it, no? Hey?’ he
laughed. ‘These women, they’re the ones we need to keep us on our toes. They make our lives exciting.’

Tanner put down the file and gave a short, polite laugh, his mind wandering back to Veronica. His version of ‘life’ with a woman like Pia Soto would involve prison warders and iron
bars. They’d kill each other within a week.

‘Where are the horses stabled at the moment?’ Tanner asked, bringing the conversation back round to business.

‘My estate in Bahia.’

Tanner looked up. ‘In Brazil? Still?’ The grass season was just about to kick off.

Velasquez watched him. ‘I know we are late. We need to get things moving, no? I’ve been travelling a lot recently and I haven’t been able to spend the time I would have liked
on the polo.’ He sighed. ‘If you want the truth, it is my son, Paolo, who has been pushing for me to bring the team over to Europe. He is bored now with the American circuit. He wants
us to be global players. So what can I do? If that’s what he wants . . .’

Tanner nodded. ‘With the greatest respect, you’re too late for this year,’ Tanner said with his best poker face. He didn’t let on this was precisely the scenario
he’d been praying for: a lazy patron, a spoilt son and a ready-to-ship team.

‘There’s time enough,’ Velasquez said smoothly. ‘I have a plane that’s specially outfitted for horse transportation. The arrangements can be organized very quickly,
I assure you.’

‘It’s more the acclimatization that I’m thinking of,’ Tanner countered.

‘They’ll be fine, Tanner. I took them to St Tropez to play on the beach last summer and they loved it. My horses are every bit as well travelled as me.’

‘I can well believe it,’ Tanner smiled.

‘So maybe, then, this is not a matter of timing, but of money, hey?’

Tanner let a beat pass. ‘It’s more than that, I’m afraid. I’ve been talking informally with someone in Dubai for the past year. I can’t make any decisions
today.’

‘Of course you can – if I say I’ll pay double.’

‘Double?’ Tanner tried to keep his voice flat.

Velasquez nodded, a smile on his lips. ‘Shall I say it?’

A moment passed, then Tanner grinned and shrugged. ‘Well, I guess it
is
a very nice word.’

‘Double,’ Velasquez laughed, leaning forward and offering his hand.

Tanner looked at it for a moment – the key to his freedom – then grasped it and shook it vigorously. For the first time since his father died he would be able to live life on his own
terms again. Finally, he was his own man.

Pia was just putting the finishing touches to her make-up when there was a knock at the door. Will stepped into the room, smiling. ‘He’s here,’ he said.

‘I’m ready.’ Pia pouted at her reflection one last time and fluffed her hair, then stood up. She was wearing a black silk sleeveless jumpsuit that plunged at the front and
hugged her butt. Her legs looked endless, her torso impossibly lean and strong.

Will whistled. ‘How the hell do you manage to make trousers look that sexy?’ he said admiringly, pulling a long narrow black box out of his dinner jacket.

Pia shrugged nonchalantly. She’d never lost
that
power, even during the darkest days after the accident.

‘Before we go . . .’ he said, walking up to her and opening the box. Inside, an emerald lariat winked back at her. Pia looked up at him, surprised.

‘You didn’t need to do that,’ she said, making no move to pick it up.

‘How could I not? They match your eyes,’ he said, winding it round her neck and letting the loose ends dangle between her breasts.

They both admired her reflection for a moment. ‘You like?’ she smiled, looking at him in the mirror.

‘You have no idea,’ he replied confidently – intimately – letting his hand skim down her spine. She slid away. The ten-week chastity zone had passed and her plaster was
off, but although he hadn’t made a move on her yet, Pia knew that he was building up to it – cocky winks, familiar touches, a general assumption that she was his. She figured he was
probably waiting till after the gala, when he would expect sex as the finale to his grandiose, ebullient investment in her.

They went down the stairs together to greet their house guest. Harry Hunter was standing by the fireplace in the drawing room, drinking a brandy. Pia beamed at the sight of him in the flesh.
Pictures never truly captured how impossibly good-looking he was – six foot three, with broad shoulders, long legs, laughing eyes and ruby lips. And, in his dinner suit, he cut an especially
devastating figure.

‘Harry,’ she squealed, running over to him delicately. ‘You’re here! Did you find us okay?’

Harry shrugged as he raked his eyes over her. ‘The big H in the lawn was a good clue. How are you, more to the point?’ He squeezed her bottom as she reached up to kiss him on the
lips. ‘It doesn’t feel like you’ve lost any of your form.’

Pia giggled and slapped him lightly on the arm. ‘It is good to see you again,’ she said. ‘I’m so touched you came all the way out here just to see me perform.’

Harry winked at her. ‘Well, you know me, darling. I always did enjoy watching you perform.’

Will’s jaw clenched at the flirtatious banter between the two former lovers. It was one thing having Harry on the guest list for the gala – the publicity he generated was phenomenal
– but it was another matter entirely having him as a house guest, sleeping in the room next to his old fame. Especially when she was still sleeping alone.

‘She’s the best damned performer I’ve ever met,’ Will said, butting in on the joke and ignoring Pia’s narrowed eyes. If anyone was going to feel that three was a
crowd, it wasn’t going to be him. ‘But come on, we’d better shift,’ he said, deadpan. ‘Traffic will be shocking.’

The party was already in full swing by the time they walked through Tanner’s front door, four minutes later. The gravel was practically bouncing off the quarter-mile
drive, and vintage Astons and MGFs were parked, askew, on the grass.

Several couples outside were already in the late stages of heavy petting, half-hidden in the thick ivy that covered the entire front of the house like a beard, and there were stacks of empty
magnums on the front steps, as though left out for the milkman.

‘It’s yet to find its mojo, then,’ Harry quipped, as a collective shriek came from the female guests catching sight of him standing in the doorway. His signature tumble of
golden curls shimmered decadently under the lights and he held himself with all the swagger of someone used to commanding the room. Will watched Pia sidle up to Harry possessively, linking her arm
casually through his and warning off the other women.

He looked away, his face grim. In spite of everything he’d done for her these past three months, Pia had never shown anything more than gratitude in return (and often barely even that).
All the heat from their interplay in New York and St Moritz seemed to have melted with the snow, and since coming to England after the accident she’d toyed with him as idly as a sleepy cat
with a mouse.

But now she was wide awake, and Harry was clearly the one in her sights. Will felt his ego bristle. He wasn’t used to being the runner-up – he
wasn’t
the runner-up,
dammit. They were both alpha males, both top of the tree, with more women falling at their feet than most men would be able to count.

But it wasn’t just Pia vying for his attention. Will scanned the room.
All
the women were eyeing up Harry and he knew it came down to one thing: Harry was a celebrity, famous for
being famous, and photographed everywhere he went. That was currency in itself these days. He shook his head at their collective stupidity. If those women only knew how his bank account stacked up
against Harry’s they wouldn’t give the pretty boy a second look.

He inflated his chest and nodded to himself. He may not have fame on his side, but he was the top dog here. He had nothing to fear from Harry Hunter, even if Pia was pressing her curves against
him. Harry seemed oblivious and it simply proved, loud and clear, that she was back to her old tricks again. She was playing games, trying to inflame his jealousy, just as she had done in
Switzerland before their prelude to seduction had been so rudely interrupted.

A small smile twitched across his lips. It all boded well for the plans he had set up for tomorrow night. The timing couldn’t have been better.

He went to get himself a drink to celebrate and found Lulie standing by the stairs.

‘Hello, Lulie, you’re looking radiant tonight,’ he smiled, leaning in to kiss her.

‘Thanks,’ she preened. She knew she made a ravishing bride. Her buttermilk hair was wound up with pale pink roses, and she was wearing a dove-grey tulle ball skirt with an ivory silk
shirt that was barely buttoned up. The trace of her nipples was clear through the flimsy material.

‘Where are Tanner and Violet?’ Will asked, looking round. ‘I must thank them – even if Tanner will probably deck me for daring to set foot in his house.’ He gave a
small grimace of fear.

‘Violet’s in the drawing room,’ Lulie giggled. ‘But I don’t know where Tanner is. He went into London earlier today. In fact, I’m not even sure he’s
back yet.’

‘London? Really?’ Will repeated, joking forgotten. His interest was piqued. ‘What for?’

‘He was meeting with a potential client, I think,’ Lulie replied absently. The ruction between Will and Tanner had never really been explained to her – Jonty knew precious
little himself anyway.

A shadow fell across them.

‘I’m Harry,’ said a cut-glass voice. ‘And I just came over to kiss you.’

Lulie’s eyes widened – delighted.

Will’s narrowed – not.

This house wasn’t big enough for the two of them.

‘It’s tradition, after all,’ Harry continued, leaning down and kissing not her cheek, but just below her ear. Lulie shivered and he caught her eye as he pulled away.
‘Congratulations.’

Pia was pouting next to him and looking as put out as Will.

Jonty sidled up, and placed a proprietorial arm around Lulie’s waist. ‘Hello, chaps,’ he said, kissing Pia and offering Will a hearty handshake. He looked at Harry. He
didn’t need an introduction to know who he was. No one did. It was no coincidence that he’d crossed the room in four seconds flat when he saw Harry’s eyes radar-locked upon his
bride.

‘I’m Jonty, officially the luckiest man here,’ he grinned. ‘And you must be Harry, the second luckiest, if what I’m always reading about you is true.’

‘I guess I must be,’ Harry drawled, just as a streaker shot past, shouting his name. He drained his glass, nonplussed. ‘’S okay. That happens a lot,’ he said drily,
watching the woman’s bottom disappear round the corner.

Jonty laughed. He looked at Pia, who was looking luscious but miserable, and very tiny in her flat shoes. ‘Pia,’ he said, ‘let me get you something better to drink than that.
You can’t drink water at a wedding reception! My reputation will be in tatters if it ever gets out.’

Pia shrugged. ‘No choice, I’m afraid. I’ve got to stay fresh for tomorrow.’

‘Oh I don’t believe you’re ever anything other than perky, Pia,’ Harry grinned.

‘Ha ha,’ she quipped, sulkily.

Will’s eyes flashed again.

‘Are you nervous about tomorrow?’ Jonty asked.

Pia looked quickly at Will. ‘Well, of course it’s . . . it’s the biggest night of my career.’ She laughed tightly. ‘And, if it doesn’t go well, it could be
the last night of my career.’

‘Rubbish. She’s just being modest,’ Will interjected, hooking his muscular arm around her and drawing her in possessively. ‘I’ve seen her in rehearsal this week and
she’s back to her best. None of the other dancers can believe her recovery.’

‘And it’s all thanks to you, isn’t it?’ Harry quipped devilishly, watching their body language. He knew Pia well enough to know that her flirtation with him was a cover
to hide misgivings in her relationship with Will. She’d barely acknowledged Will’s presence since Harry’d arrived. ‘From what I understand from my dear friends in the press,
you masterminded her surgery and recovery, and now her triumphant return to the international stage. You’re quite the hero.’

‘Well, I . . . I . . .’ Pia stammered, horrified that her encumbrance to Will was being laid out so explicitly.

‘What a thing that must be, Will – having Pia Soto in your debt?’ Harry winked conspiratorially. ‘I do hope you’re making her pay.’

Will laughed, suddenly glad of Harry’s company, after all, and feeling no compunction to admit that he had yet to cash in his chips on that score.

The streaker shot past again and this time Harry got a good full-frontal look. She was a pretty girl. He raised his eyebrows to the group, speculatively, and gave a heavy sigh.

‘Oh what the hell!’ he said, tossing his glass into a fern before chasing after her.

Will roared with laughter at his new conspirator’s antics, now that Pia was forgotten. Harry’s unilateral reign over the opposite sex was quite a sight to behold when you
weren’t in direct competition.

A small silence fell upon the group as Harry’s wattage lit up the other side of the room, leaving them all in subdued darkness.

Lulie smiled stiffly and extricated herself from Jonty’s iron grip. His jealousy annoyed her. ‘I’m just going to check how they’re getting on in the kitchen,’ she
said. ‘I think we could do with some more food out here.’

Tanner stood on the steps by the front door and looked down into the hall. He felt his excitement grow. He’d signed on the dotted line with Velasquez and he was walking
back into his own home a free man. He owed no one anything any more. He had extricated the business from Silk’s poisonous stranglehold and returned it to profitability, restoring a posthumous
pride to his father and raising two fingers to Violet in the process. Damn right, he was up for a party.