Diamonds Are For Lovers: Satin & a Scandalous Affair

It wasn’t a question, or a demand. And—God help her—her heart leapt in her chest with welcome. She’d intended to take a cab to the Blackstone mansion in Vaucluse and surprise her mother. But Dani would take what she could get from Quinn.

Time with him was short and she knew there’d be less of her when their fling ended. The fight had torn them apart physically, and because it was unexpected, the end was hard to accept. Now she had the opportunity to say goodbye properly, make it special. Dani was going to make the most of the day or days she had left with him, and damn the consequences.

They spent the rest of the flight looking at each other. Not kissing now but touching, sweet touches to their hands, cheeks, throat, hair. His eyes burned for her, and that and his touch kept her at a simmer for the remainder of the flight to Sydney, the seemingly endless taxi ride to his building and equally interminable elevator ride to his penthouse apartment.

Giddy with desire, they barely made it inside before he was ripping her clothes off, pushing her up against the wall opposite a massive picture window that showcased beautiful Darling Harbour, Sky Tower, the harbour bridge and the opera house. He took her there and Dani welcomed him into her body and came again and again as the lights of the city swirled behind her eyes like a kaleidoscope on drugs.

Eight

Dani survived the fierce hug and pulled back to survey her mother. “You look … different. Did you get highlights?”

Her mother patted her hair self-consciously while Marcie, the Blackstone housekeeper, bustled around the table.

Sonya Hammond usually wore her brown hair in a neat bun, but today she’d allowed several long spiralling tendrils to escape, giving her a completely different look. Was it her makeup or the unusually colourful teal blouse she’d teamed with smart-looking slacks? Her mother was the epitome of conservative elegance, but today, Dani thought she looked younger somehow, mature-chic. “Have you had a facial or something?”

Sonya ignored her question and instead tsked at Dani’s earrings. “Must your earrings always arrive before you do?”

“I thought these were quite demure.” She touched one gold bar with a plaque of smoky quartz on the end. Since she had reinvented herself up in Port Douglas, some of her more bohemian creations stunned her mother, though Sonya was too nice and too fond of Dani’s strong sense of individualism to criticise without humour.

“Sit. How is it you’re here when we’re seeing you in a few days?”

“I told you I was doing a little job for Quinn Everard.” Dani leaned forward and sniffed appreciatively at the urn in the middle of the table. “Mmm. Pumpkin soup.”

“Yes, I couldn’t believe the cheek of the man, after all he’s put you through.”

The whole family had witnessed the deterioration of Dani’s professional reputation at Quinn’s hands. Dani tried to ignore the little pang of hurt at her mother’s words. “Anyway, he has a funeral to attend today so I came down with him. I need some shoes for the wedding.”

“What colour is the dress?” Sonya asked quickly. “No, don’t tell me, I’ll try to keep an open mind.”

Marcie appeared with a soup bowl and a platter of warm Turkish bread and set them down. Her mother looked pointedly at the urn. “Eat up, I have an appointment. Ryan’s picking me up any minute.”

Dani ladled some soup into her bowl. “I thought you’d want to supervise,” she said dryly, “but we can do dinner later and maybe I’ll treat you to the movies or something.”

Sonya looked uncomfortable. “I can’t, dear. I have an engagement. The theatre, actually.”

“Oh?” That was unusual. Sonya hardly ever went out in the evenings. She swallowed her soup, watching her mother. New clothes, new hairdo, appointments and engagements … “Who with?”

“Garth, actually.”

“How is old Garth?” Dani was relieved. Garth Buick was the Blackstone company secretary and had been ever since Dani could remember. He was probably Howard’s closest friend, a nice man, she recalled. A widower for a few years.

“He’s not old,” her mother said with an edge to her voice. “He’s very young and fit.”

Dani’s spoon stopped halfway to her mouth and the two women locked gazes for a long moment.

Sonya reddened and looked away first. “Close your mouth, Danielle. It’s just friendship. He’s been teaching me to sail.”

“Right,” Dani said weakly. “That’s great, really.”

And it was, she told herself as she slathered butter onto the warm flatbread. Her mother had given her life over to raising her daughter and Howard’s kids and then running his household and being his hostess. Whatever Dani’s father had done to her, she’d completely withdrawn from relationships outside of the family.

Either that or she’d been walloped with a massive dose of unrequited love. Dani wondered what it would be like to love someone so completely that you never wanted to risk it again.

Was Quinn still in love with his wife? It must be six or seven years since Laura died. Did he still miss her, measure every other woman he met against her? Was Dani about to discover what her mother had all those years ago, that you couldn’t compete with a dead woman?

Sonya’s smile was resigned. “I can just see your mind ticking over, my girl. Poor old Mum, the dried-up old prune, wasting away for the love of Howard.”

Dani shook her head admiringly. How did the woman do it?

“But no,” her mother continued. “He was so devastated when Ursula died. I knew then that he would never risk giving his heart completely again. And I didn’t intend to be one in a long line of his discarded women.”

Clever woman, because that was exactly the way things had turned out. Howard was notorious for his womanising and had never committed to any of them.

Her mother sighed. “I may as well get it over with. My appointment this afternoon is with a real estate agent. I’m looking at a house over in Double Bay.”

“But …” Dani was stunned. Her mother leave Miramare? “You have a permanent right to reside in this house.” Howard’s will stated that.

They both cast their eyes around the room and out to the vista beyond. The first-floor suite Dani had grown up in was much more informal than the rest of the house but still boasted spectacular views of Sydney Harbour and the Pacific Ocean. Sonya combined a love of antiques with a warm, comfortable style of her own. Miramare was a show home, she liked to say, but her suite of rooms was just a home.

Dani could not imagine her mother anywhere else.

“I rattle around here by myself now,” Sonya said broodingly. “And what if James Blackstone comes forward? Howard was convinced he was alive or he wouldn’t have left the mansion to him in the will.”

“This is your home. You are legally entitled. James, if he exists, will just have to accept that.” She pushed her plate away, suddenly not hungry. “Besides, what about Marcie?”

“There will always be a place for Marcie. She knows that.”

“You’ve talked about it?” Dani frowned, a little indignant that her mother hadn’t shared this with her first.

“I’m just looking, dear,” her mother said airily. “When Garth suggested this place was up for sale, I decided to have a peek, that’s all.”

“Garth suggested … Wait a minute, doesn’t Garth live in Double Bay?” Dani didn’t know whether to be affronted or delighted, but in the end, delight won out. She couldn’t help grinning as her mother fidgeted. It was about time Sonya thought of herself after a lifetime of looking after everyone else.

Sonya cleared her throat. “I’m not moving in with Garth, okay? I’m just looking at a smaller house that happens to be a few blocks from his.”

Marcie passed by the table. “I’ve made up your bed, lovey.”

“Oh, I’m not staying.”

It was her turn to fidget as two sets of eyes swivelled toward her. “I’m twenty-seven, for crying out loud!”

Marcie scuttled out, grinning.

“Is he as nice-looking as his photo?” Sonya asked.

Dani shrugged. They’d be here all day if she was to outline the myriad ways Quinn Everard appealed to her.

“Do you like him, Danielle?” her mother insisted.