Free A Past Revenge by Carole Mortimer Page B

into the house to check on when the lunch would be ready. 'That's strange,' Danielle gave him a teasing smile. 'Mummy said the same thing about you when we went shopping yesterday.'
    He pulled a face. 'I forget how astute you are. All right,' he nodded. 'We're both concerned about you. Your mother tells me you've become involved with Nick Andracas.'
    Danielle relaxed back in the garden chair, at ease now that she was with her family. 'I'm sure Mummy didn't tell you any such thing,' she sipped her sherry. 'I've already explained to her that he's just a client of mine.'
    'Hm, well I don't think it's a good idea for you to have met him at all.'
    'Why?'
    'I know the sort of man he is,' her father looked grim. 'He always wants what he can't have, and that includes women as well as business.'
    Danielle frowned at this correct description of Nick. 'I didn't realise you knew him?'
    'I don't, at least, not personally. He tried to take over my company a couple of years ago, and he didn't mind what he paid to get it.'
    'I didn't realise that,' she said dazedly.
    'No, well I don't like to bother you and your mother with business. But I haven't been unaware of the relatively solitary existence you've lived in recent years,' he told her softly. 'And to a man like Andracas you would be a tremendous challenge.'
    'I'm not interested,' she dismissed.
    'I wasn't interested in selling either,' he said ruefully. 'But he damn nearly got me. I don't want to interfere in your life, Ellie, I just don't want you hurt again.'
    'I know that,' she touched his arm gratefully. 'And I can assure you, I won't be.'
    Which was easy to say, but she still remembered the awareness she had felt very briefly this morning. It had been a definite sexual awareness, one she had thought never to feel again, one she didn't want to feel again. Her father was right, Nick was a very dangerous man.
    He was also waiting for her when she got back to her apartment later that afternoon! And from the look of him he had been waiting some time.
    'I know, I know,' he held up his hands defensively as he climbed out of the car and came towards her. 'You don't want to see me here again. But I thought I should let you know that I tracked down the reporter that was here this morning. I've been waiting over an hour,' he cajoled.
    Her eyes widened that he had taken the trouble to look for the other man after telling her it wasn't worth it. 'You had better come upstairs.'
    'Don't worry,' Nick taunted at her lack of enthusiasm for the idea. 'He isn't here now, lurking behind a car or something.'
    She gave him a scathing glance. 'You had better come up anyway.'
    He was still wearing the same clothes he had had on that morning, the shirt now a little damp against his back in the heat of the day. Danielle felt the frisson of awareness down her spine once again.
    She faced him across the room once they had entered her apartment. 'What did the reporter say?'
    Nick had sprawled himself in one of her armchairs, looking relaxed and at home. 'He works freelance, and had already sold the story and photograph by the time I found him,' he grimaced.
    Danielle paled a little. 'Do you have any idea what the article will say?'
    He shrugged. 'The usual trash, I would imagine.'
    She gave a deep sigh. 'Thank you for taking the time to let me know,' she said dully.
    'Hey, look, I really am sorry,' he sat forward in the chair. 'I offered to buy the story off him myself, but I was just too late. And the newspaper, as you can imagine, just didn't want to know.'
    'Which one is it?'
    He named one of the more gossipy daily newspapers. 'They'll be printing it tomorrow,' he revealed reluctantly as he saw how upset she was.
    She nodded. 'Thank you for trying, anyway.'
    He shrugged. 'Don't thank me. I couldn't do a thing, except probably make things worse, as I warned you it would. I don't suppose you feel like making me a sandwich, do you?' he looked at her encouragingly. 'I didn't have time for lunch running around