Encore! (Tudor Saga Book 1) (23 page)

Daniel whispered in my ear that he was going to end this once and for all. He was ready to leave. "Gentlemen, I need to say something right now before we go any further. I am very interested in working with your firm; however, I will not work with this woman."

One or two of the clothing line suits spoke up in an attempt to smooth things over. They realized they were on the verge of losing their money making “new face of the line”, if they did not make adjustments.

"Daniel, please, stop being so over dramatic," Chelsea spoke out of nowhere. "That's one of your problems, you know."

Daniel stood, helping me up as he did. He was done. "Gentlemen, I've said my piece. Thank you for a lovely dinner. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a concert to prepare for.” He turned to Neil. “Unless I hear otherwise, I'll see you at our scheduled meeting."

Neil was already on his feet and following us out of the room. Chelsea was not defeated, but thankfully we were out of close range of her barbs. As we waited outside the restaurant for the limo, I kissed Danny on the cheek. "You did good, babe. I'm proud of you."

He pulled me closer. "Thank you. I'm proud of you, as well, sweet. You showed great restraint. What did I ever see in that woman?"

"Sex," I replied smugly.

"It wasn't even that good, either. It was all about her and making sure…"

I interrupted drawing the invisible line of what I would tolerate. "Enough, Daniel! I don't want to ever hear of your sexual escapades with other women, understood?"

"Of course, sweet. I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"No, you shouldn't have; now let's drop it…at least until I figure out something snarky to say about her."

I heard him laugh and tried desperately not to look at him. I would be toast if I did. The man did that to me, melted my heart and everything else within me.

The remaining time in Southern California, Chelsea notwithstanding, was the usual blur. The meeting with the clothier was without Chelsea. The concert, as always, went exactly as planned. Life was perfect and ran like a well-oiled machine, just another of the many things I loved about Danny.

Chapter Seventeen

Seattle, the final stop on this leg of Danny's tour—a relative term as his tours seemed to go pretty much an entire year, every year. Whether in Europe or the U.S., wherever he performed, it was all part of a year-long tour. Seattle had been rearranged in order to not only make up the cancelled date, but to allow us some down time with, and without, my family, before heading back to New York.

There was such a demand for Daniel that he graciously consented to doing a second performance the night after his sold out concert. This, on top of a private benefit concert sponsored and given by a local software mogul and his wife, along with my brother, Damien, for a local children's hospital. Damien had approached Daniel some time earlier about the possibility of his performing for the event. It was a charity near to Damien’s heart. Daniel agreed to waive his fee and donate all ticket sales to the cause. I suppose one could say it was Daniel's way of becoming involved in my crazy family.

In fact, Damien offered his condo as a place for us to stay rather than a hotel. He insisted, telling us it gave him a good excuse to stay on his new sailboat and test her out. Everyone agreed the change would allow Daniel more privacy, especially since this was the last stop on the tour and we'd be staying on a few days afterward.

We arrived late morning at Damien's place. In an effort to fool the media, my brother had left the keys to one of his vehicles with Daniel's people. When the tour bus pulled up at the hotel Daniel's band was staying at, we discreetly walked through the lobby, ducked into an elevator and went down into the parking garage. We met up with Neil, who had overseen the entire covert operation. He handed me the keys and we were off, our luggage to be delivered to us later.

"This is quite a place," Daniel remarked as we stepped into the living room. There was a wall of windows that gave a spectacular view of Puget Sound. "The view alone is priceless."

"Yes, it is," I replied, walking over to a baby grand I had been drawn to. On top was a huge basket of locally grown fruits and a package of smoked salmon, along with a card from Damien.

"Look what Damien left us. He left a note, too, saying the kitchen is stocked, so we won't have to go out. He's always been the thoughtful one." I looked over in Daniel's direction and found him staring at me.

"I like Damien and look forward to getting to know him better." He began walking over toward me. "It wasn't necessary for him to give up his home for us, but this is so much nicer than another hotel room."

"It is. I'll have to call him this afternoon and thank him. Perhaps we can find some time to have him over, like for brunch? Before you become too involved in your day?"

"That would be fine, sweet. We'll go over the schedule in a while. In the mean time, how about we look around and get acquainted with our new digs."

He took me by the hand and together we went through the apartment room by room. It was huge, but I remembered Damien saying his daughters either still lived with him or were in and out. This wasn't how I envisioned my oldest brother living, a high rise condo in the middle of a city.

We ended up in the kitchen where Daniel began looking through the refrigerator. It was crammed full of anything you could possibly think of.

"I take it you're getting hungry?" I asked, grinning at him as he shut the door.

"Yes, just a little; but let's wait until Neil has delivered our luggage. Then we won't have to worry about being interrupted."

"Or I could fix a tray and we could invite Neil to join us and the two of you can go over the itinerary."

He grinned, walking next to me. I caught a waft of that subtle cologne that intoxicated me. "That's good, too. A chance for Neil to relax a bit while we work would be nice." He leaned into me and kissed me first on the cheek and then on the mouth. "Perhaps we can find some time for ourselves after he leaves." That look on his face said it all.

"I would like that, even if it's only for an hour."

The sound of a buzzer ruined whatever intimate moment we were sharing. I grinned, knowing we were about to be invaded, our privacy gone, until late tonight. Walking over to the intercom I gave the security desk the green light to admit Neil. A few moments later, Daniel was opening the door to him and our things. I stayed out of the way until our luggage had been moved to the bedroom. Then I joined the two as they were talking in the living room.

"I see Damien's directions were good. You had no trouble finding us?"

"Yes, they were perfect. Quite a place your brother has here, and quite nice of him to let you have it while in town."

"It gave Damien a perfect excuse to spend some time on his new sailboat. From what I understand, this used to be Amadeus and Zara's home. I don't know the details but they swapped places with Damien. I guess this is easier for him to manage."

Neil looked around, then at Daniel. "The view is spectacular, I will say. I suppose we should go over things, at least what's going on tonight."

"While you two are doing that, can I interest you in staying for lunch Neil? Damien left all sorts of stuff. I thought I'd make a plate for us."

"Thank you, Mary, yes I would love to have lunch."

The grin on Daniel's face as he stood behind Neil said it all. I had done good.

"Okay, Daniel, I suppose you could set up over on the dining room table if you want. I'll go get food while you two talk business." I turned and proceeded back to the kitchen, leaving the two men to talk. I knew there was a lot to go over. This was the final stop and lots had happened. Daniel agreed to do advertisements for both an American clothing designer and a European based jeweler. He was in demand and time was going to have to be set aside exclusively for these new endeavors.

Though the tour might be over for a month before the next leg, but it didn't mean Daniel would have a lot of free time. We'd be going to New York to sign papers on our new home. I also found an interior designer, at Daniel's insistence, to assist me with purchasing whatever was needed to furnish the condo. That excited me. I had never done this before and from our emails and conversations, I felt she knew exactly the look I was after. I was doing this on my own. Daniel didn't have the time for it, plus he wanted me to put my mark on our new home.

After New York, it would be back to London for meetings, then on to Europe for the next leg of his tour. Having looked at the timeframe proposed, I hoped the two of us would have close to a week for just us.

Picking up the tray, I made my way over to the table where the two men were deep in conversation. I placed it at the far end and began to arrange things for them to pick what they wanted.

"That looks delicious, Mary. Thank you," Neil said, marveling at the vast array of food.

Daniel slipped his arm around my waist and kissed me on the cheek. "Yes, thank you, sweet. Fix yourself a plate and join us. I want you involved with what is going on here, since this is where you grew up."

"I'll sit in, but I'm not sure how much help I can be. It has been ten years."

"You'll do fine, sweet, you'll see."

After letting the two of them fix their lunch, I grabbed a plate and selected what I wanted before joining them at the far end of the table. I listened as Neil went over the next three days. Pretty normal stuff other than the fact there was more than one performance. I added comments when asked. I knew Daniel wanted me more involved, but I preferred to take a more discreet part in the planning. The last thing I wanted was for people to accuse me of being the clingy girlfriend who thinks she knows best for Daniel’s career.

Finally, we all sat back and chatted about the tour ending and all its successes. We agreed that Daniel's comeback after his injury had been nothing short of remarkable. On the other hand, knowing Daniel as I did, he wouldn't have gone on tour if he wasn't one hundred percent confident.

"Neil, are you going to stay on and enjoy a couple of days here or are you headed back to London once Daniel has wrapped things up?"

"Unfortunately, I will be leaving the evening after the last show; but I thought I might get some sightseeing in this afternoon and on that last day."

"You really should. There are some remarkable things to see here—the Space Needle and the Chihuly Museum and Gardens."

A sudden knock on the door startled all three of us. I jumped up, knowing immediately who it was. "That's gotta be Damien. He's the only one they wouldn't announce first, and don't even think of leaving yet, Neil. I'm sure Damien's just checking to make sure we're settling in."

I opened the door and there stood my eldest brother, clad in blue jeans, Dockers and a t-shirt. He had cut his hair since the last time I'd seen him. I opened my arms and hugged him.

"Come in! I can't thank you enough for letting us take over your home like this."

"Think nothing of it. I figured it would be better than some hotel. I know they must be getting old by now."

We walked into the living room and met up with Daniel and Neil. The three men shook hands and sat down.

"There's lunch here if you're hungry, Damien. Oh, and would you mind telling Daniel and Neil about the venue for the private concert?"

"I'm fine, sis, on the food; and I can enlighten them to whatever they need to know about that event. Are you accompanying Daniel, Mary?"

I nodded my head. "Yes, of course I am. Why?"

"I hope you have a gown or something fancy, because some of the city's snobbiest and elitists will be in attendance." He laughed, making a face of what he thought of it all.

"Thanks for the warning. I'll figure something out."

Finally, everyone was gone and it was just Daniel and me. The remainder of the day and the night were ours. With the weather nice, I decided to see if Danny was up to perhaps going out for a while. I knew if I didn't suggest something, he would find work related things to occupy his time. Instead, he surprised me.

Snaking his arms around my waist, he pulled me close. I curled my arms around his neck as we stood and looked at each other. "There is something else I would like to do right now, angel-mine. I've been quite neglectful of you and your needs, and I'd like to begin making up for lost time."

"That would be nice," I replied kissing him softly on the lips. "I really do understand though-you need every bit of strength you can muster to perform and our, um, activities can be quite taxing. Am I close?"

"Yes you are correct. And I am so grateful you understand. Not many women would."

"But I'm not every woman, Danny."

"That, you're not. You're my angel and always will be." His lips met mine and we stood there in the living room of Damien's condo, sharing a most intimate moment. He was gentle but forceful enough for me to know what he intended. Finally breaking free, he kissed me on the forehead, took me by the hand and led me to the bedroom.

Facing each other at the foot of the bed, we both began to hurriedly undress. Standing in nothing but my bra and panties, I stepped closer to Daniel, who was naked and obviously ready. Undoing the front clasp of my bra, I rubbed my breasts against his chest, teasing him. He took both his hands under my butt cheeks and pressed me against his erection, grinding himself against my panties. By the time we broke free from our kiss, we were both breathless with need.

Without a word, Daniel walked over to the bed and began to pull the covers back. I let my bra fall off my shoulders and quickly stepped out of my panties. Daniel was in the midst of removing his rings as I eased in beside him gently rubbing his lower back as I waited for him.

We were both anxious and Daniel quickly showed me just how much by touching every crevice of my body. By the time his fingers began exploring the folds of my womanhood I was hanging on the edge. Daniel seemed to know that and deliberately took his time as his sensual fingers gently touched everywhere except the spot I wanted him. I squirmed as he inserted two fingers into me, sliding them as far as they would go. I wriggled under his touch, moaning.