Master of Fortune (10 page)

And then what would she say? How would she casually bring up the fact that she couldn’t have kids? That her one disastrous affair with Daniel had taken a bigger toll on her than she’d admitted?

“Astrid?”

“In here,” she said from the kitchen. “I know you take your coffee black, but how do you like your eggs?”

Henry stood in the doorway freshly showered and dressed. Was she really going to fix him breakfast? She felt that she had to because otherwise she just seemed like a big coward for running away from him.

“I like them fried. But you don’t have to fix me breakfast.”

“Um…are you sure?”

“Yes,” he said. “I’ll take that coffee, though.”

She poured him a cup of coffee. She couldn’t sit across the table from him right now. There was too much on her mind. “I need to shower.”

“Go ahead,” he said. “Do you mind if I stay? I’ll take you to breakfast when’re done.”

She nodded and left the room as quickly as possible. Standing in her own bathroom, she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

The problem with having a secret like hers was there was no outward sign that anything was wrong with her. Any man who saw her would assume she was a normal female with all the required working parts.

She shook her head. She didn’t need to worry about that. Henry wasn’t a family man—God, that was a lie. He might not have a wife and child of his own, but he was deeply committed to his mother and stepfather and half brothers.

She showered and quickly got dressed, thinking the sooner they got out of her flat the better.

“Do you mind working today?” Henry asked, as they left the building.

“Not at all.” That would be a lifesaver, she thought. Hopefully it would bring an end to her thoughts and let her get back to normal footing with him.

“Great. Steph is in the studio and I think she needs some direction.”

“I’d love to hear her tracks. I’m sure they are really good.”

“She gets nervous in the studio. She likes having an audience and without one she kind of shuts down.”

Henry drove them to the studios that Steph was using in East London. When they got there, everyone was bustling around, and Henry moved off to talk to Steph.

Astrid stood to the side, feeling as though she didn’t fit in. She had worked in the music industry for years but she’d never sat in on a session with an artist. Daniel had said she’d just be in the way and now she realized she was. There wasn’t anything for her to do but sit in the corner and sip her coffee.

Henry was in his element, though, and she saw now that he had a gift when it came to saying the right things. Before long Steph was singing, and the sounds were better than her live shows.

She wondered if Henry just intuitively knew what to say to all women. Were the things he’d said last night just lines? Had she fallen for a man who was willing to say whatever he had to to get results?

Fallen? Was she starting to care about Henry? She knew the answer was yes. She realized now that had happened the minute he’d kissed her at her flat the first night he’d taken her home.

The recording studio wasn’t too crowded—the only people there were Steph’s manager and her mother, who Astrid took a few minutes to chat with. In the control booth were Conan McNeil and Tomas Jimenez, the producer and the sound mixer for this project.

Tomas had been going through a rough patch lately, with his wife leaving him for another man. Unfortunately Tomas hadn’t been leaving his problems at the door and Astrid heard the sound of raised voices and saw that Conan was arguing with Tomas.

Henry stepped over to get in the mix and Astrid followed, wanting to make sure things didn’t get out of hand.

“If you are too drunk to operate a mixing board then you need to go home,” she heard Henry say from across the room.

Astrid walked over to him. He was definitely mad and not afraid to show his temper. “Tomas needs a cab.”

“I will call one for him,” Astrid said.

Tomas glared at Henry. “You can’t make me go home.”

“You’re right, I can’t. But I
can
make sure you don’t work until you clean up your act. Astrid, escort him out to the lobby.”

She nodded and took Tomas by the arm, but he jerked away from her. His arms were swinging as he turned to confront Henry, and he hit her in the chest. The blow was solid and knocked her back against the wall where she hit her head.

“Ouch!”

Henry advanced on Tomas, his anger evident on his face.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit her,” Tomas said, backing away.

“Out!” Henry pointed to the door and Tomas left without another word.

“Are you okay?” Henry asked, coming to her side.

“Fine. My head is a little sore, but I’m fine.”

Henry hugged her close for a second but stepped away as soon as the door to the sound booth opened again and Duncan, one of Henry’s producers, walked in.

As he went to talk to the man, she wondered if Henry was hiding his relationship with her. She hoped not. She’d been Daniel’s secret lover and that had ended horribly. She didn’t want to make the same mistakes with Henry.

She shook her head. “Stop being funny. I’m not famous and you are my favorite corner store.”

She picked up a bottle of water, and as she went to the front to get her headache tablets, she saw on the cover of
Hello!
magazine a photo of her and Henry. She blanched at the image of the two of them on their first night working together when he had leaned in to kiss her.

“I…I’ll take a copy of this.”

She paid for her water and the magazine and walked out of the shop quickly. As she got on the above-ground commuter train, she felt that people were staring at her. She hated this. This feeling of being in the tabloids again. She’d been in them before—just a brief mention of the faceless girl—the latest tart to grace the bed of Mo Rollins’s number-one producer. At least with the situation with Daniel and the Mo Rollins Group, her photo hadn’t been in the papers.

She opened the magazine and saw that the photo was captioned simply: Latest bird to land in hot, hot, hot Devonshire bastard’s love nest.

Ugh! That was horrible and made her sound like…like some sort of short-term affair for Henry. Which she might be. She had her secrets and presumable he had his.

But they’d also spent lots of time together, and she was coming to know him, the man behind the celebrity. He’s had dinner with her at Bethann and Percy’s house, and she’d met his half brothers twice when they’d come to the office to celebrate the milestones that Henry was making with Everest record Group.

Steph’s first single release from their label was climbing the charts. She was in demand on all the talk shows in the U.K. and throughout Europe, and her performance on Graham Norton had caught the eye of an American concert promoter who wanted her to do a small tour of House of Blues venues in the States.

Henry had included her in everything with Steph, which made her feel part of the team. Things were going well professionally for both of them. But now, looking at this…

Her cell rang and she glanced down to see who was calling—Bethann.

“Hello, Bethann,” she said as she answered the phone.

“Astrid, have you seen
Hello!
?”

“Just this morning. I don’t—”

“Don’t what? Know how to explain that you are his love bird? Do you want me to sue them?”

“No, Bethann. Thank you for the thought but I think it might be better for me to simply go with the flow here.”

“Mum is not going to be happy.”

Astrid doubted her mum would care either way. She suspected it was more her own friends that he sister cared about. “Bethann, am I embarrassing you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m worried about you. How could you think otherwise?”

“Because the photo isn’t that bad. And being with Henry means having pictures of myself in the mags sometimes.” As she tried to reassure her sister, she realized what she was saying was true. If she was going to have a relationship with Henry, then this was going to be part of it.

That also meant she needed to be ready to tell Henry everything, and once she did that…well, then he’d have to decide if he still wanted to be with her. Because she knew that if she didn’t tell him, the media would eventually ferret out the truth.

“I’ve got to go, Bethann. We can talk later.”

“Okay.” Her sister sounded reluctant, but she gave in to the conversation’s end. “Be careful. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Astrid hung up the phone and just sat there waiting for her stop. She didn’t know what she was going to say to Henry about all of this.

Her headache was back with a vengeance and she’d forgotten the tablets at the store. She shook her head. It was going to be one of those Mondays.

“Devonshire,” Henry said by way of greeting.

“It’s Edmond. Do you have time to meet with me this morning?”

“I’m not sure. Why don’t you give my assistant a call and she can set something up?”

“I’d like to speak to you away from the office. It’s about the morality clause that Malcolm has established.”

Henry wasn’t too concerned about that. He hadn’t done anything morally wrong and he knew it. “If you insist. There is a coffee shop here at my gym. I can meet you there in twenty minutes.”

“I will see you then.”

Henry showered and changed and then called his office.

“Everest Record Group, Henry Devonshire’s office.”

Just hearing Astrid’s voice made him smile. He knew there was still so much of her that was clouded in mystery, but he was slowly getting to know her.

“It’s Henry. I’m running late at the gym this morning. Is there anything pressing?”

“Well I spoke to Geoff. He and Steven want to meet here today for the weekly update meeting. I’ve pulled the financials and we are way ahead of last year’s numbers. So that’s good news for you.”

“Yes, it is. I might beat them.” Henry said.

“I’m sure you will.”

“We will. And when we do, everyone on the team will be responsible for our success. Anything else?”

She paused and he heard the rustling of papers. “Well…there is a photo of you and me in
Hello!
.”

“What are we doing?”

“Kissing. That night you dropped me off at home. The first day I worked for you.”

“What can I say, I’m cheeky.” He couldn’t tell if she was upset by it or not. Was this what Edmond wanted to talk to him about? “Should I apologize?”

“No. Don’t be silly. Paparazzi are a part of your life.”

“But they aren’t a part of yours,” he said.

“No. But it’s not so bad that I want to run away…yet.”

“Yet? I’ll have to make sure you don’t change your mind.”

“Am I that important to you?” she asked.

His phone beeped, indicating an incoming call, and he hesitated for a second. He couldn’t tell Astrid that he was falling for her. That when he was with her he found a measure of peace that he hadn’t experienced since he’d first stood on a rugby pitch and realized he was good at something on his own.

“I think you know the answer to that,” he said, which he knew was no answer at all. “I have to go now. I’ve got another call.”

“All right. Goodbye then.”

He hung up, feeling like a jerk, but there was no stopping that. Astrid was complicating his life in numerous ways, and each day they spent together he wanted to extend into another one. But that was dangerous because he’d made a promise to himself to never depend on anyone. To be a part of the team but to keep himself safely insulated from actually getting too close.

Distracted, he clicked over to the other call without looking at the ID.

“Devonshire.”

“Henry, it’s mum. Why haven’t you brought this girl you are seeing to meet us?”

Henry didn’t normally bring women to meet his Mum and said as much to her.

“Well, she looks different that your normal type of woman, and I thought maybe she actually was different. Is she?”

“I don’t know,” he said, being honest with his mum and himself. “She’s my assistant.”

“Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”

“No. Her job isn’t threatened at all.”

“Henry Devonshire, it’s different for a man. Malcolm never said he’d stop producing my records when we broke things off—it was me. I couldn’t stand to see him once we were no longer together.”

“Mum, this is different.”

“I’m sure you are telling yourself that. If you care at all for this girl then decide if she’s different enough that you want her to meet your family. If she isn’t, end it now so she can get on with her life.”

His mum hung up and Henry stared at the phone. He hadn’t thought of their affair in terms of how it would affect Astrid and her career. And from the beginning she’d said her career was important to her.

He left the locker room and went to the coffee shop to meet Edmond. When they’d spoken on the phone, Edmond had mentioned that fact that he would rather discuss this in person than on the phone in the office where they might be interrupted.

Henry had assumed that meant the other man didn’t want Astrid walking in on them as assistants sometimes could. They’d agreed on this coffee shop because it was in the building where Edmond had his office. The older man was already there and stood up to shake his hand.

“How’s Malcolm doing?”

“Some days are better than others, Henry,” Edmond said. “I’d be happy to check and see if he’d welcome a visit from you.”

Henry shook his head. “I can’t right now. I’m busy with making Everest Records the top performer at the Everest Group.”

“You certainly are. Malcolm and I are impressed with the progress you’ve made. That is why I am here this morning. I would hate to see you lose the competition because of some woman.”

Henry didn’t like hearing Astrid referred to as
some woman
. “Astrid isn’t just some girl I’m shagging.”

“I’m glad to hear that, as I’m sure that Malcolm will be, too. Just be careful that nothing more risqué than this kiss ends up in the papers.”

“Is Malcolm recovering?” Henry asked.

“He had his good days and his bad days,” Edmond said. “I can’t say more than that.”

Henry nodded and checked his watch. “I have to go.” They stood and the two men walked toward the door. “Does Malcolm ever regret not marrying?”

“I don’t know, sir. I’ve never broached the subject with him.”

Henry turned to go, but Edmond stopped him with a hand on his arm. “I think he regrets that you and your brothers are strangers. That you don’t know him or each other very well.”

Henry nodded and walked away. He tried not to let any of that matter, but deep inside he was glad to hear that Malcolm had regrets. It made him seem more human.

When he entered his office, he saw that Astrid was on the phone. She looked up at him and smiled and he knew then that he had to choose just as his mum had said. Was he going to try for more permanency with her or should he let her go?

He’d invite her to a rugby match with his stepfather’s team. Get the entire family—even those half brothers of his—involved and see how the day went.

There were a swarm of paps outside of Madejski Stadium as Henry and Astrid arrived. He parked his Aston Martin DB-5 and walked with a genial smile toward the stadium. He kept a hold on her hand and lead her through the crowd.

“Henry, who’s your girl?”

“What are the details of Malcolm Devonshire’s will?”

“Do you have any details on Lynn Grandings’s health?”

“When will the other Devonshire heirs arrive?”

Henry waved and moved past the photographers and reporters who called questions to them. Astrid didn’t really like the glare of the spotlight that followed Henry around.

Their working relationship continued to be strong the last three weeks and their nights…well, she blushed just thinking about them. With Henry she’d finally realized her sexual potential, she thought. He made love to her all the time and she’d come to find that she needed his touch as much as he needed hers.

“That wasn’t too bad,” Henry said. “I suppose they couldn’t resist a chance to get a photo of Geoff, Steven and me all together.”

“It would probably be worth a fortune if I sold it to
Hello!
. I brought my camera to try to get in on the action,” she said.

“I bet,” he said. “Would you do it? Sell a picture for the money?”

“No, I was teasing. I did bring my camera, though.”

“Why?”

They had entered the stadium. “I thought my dad would snap a few photos. You said we’d get to meet the coach.”

“And you will. Want to meet the team?”

“Of course. I’ve already met my favorite player,” she said, leaning up to kiss him.

Henry wrapped an arm around her waist, deepening the kiss.

“Very nice,” a droll female voice said.

Henry lifted his head and they turned to see a tall brunette. Whose full, pouty lips would put Angelina Jolie’s to shame. Astrid had no idea who the woman was, but Henry obviously knew her. There was a tension between the two of them that even she could sense.

“Kaye,” Henry said.

“Got a minute?”

“No, actually I don’t. I’m hosting a group upstairs.”

Astrid was a bit relieved that Henry didn’t give in to her request. But a part of her hated the feeling of jealousy that rose in her. Henry and she didn’t have that kind of relationship. Daniel had seen other women while he’d dated her. She’s thought Henry was different.

“Kaye, this is Astrid Taylor, Astrid, this is Kaye Allen.”

Kaye Allen was one of those supermodels Henry had dated. One of the women he’d told her she was sexier than. But standing next to Kaye, Astrid felt wanting.

“I’ll head up and take care of the details,” Astrid said.

“I’ll come with you. Good day, Kaye.”

Kaye nodded at them and Henry led the way farther into the stadium and up to the Royal Suite, which they had booked for today’s match. Her parents wouldn’t be the only guests, Henry’s half brothers by Malcolm Devonshire would also be there, as well as XSU, who were providing an opening show before the match. It was their first professional gig.

Next week they’d be performing at the Everest Mega Store in London at a big event.

For the moment they were alone in the spacious suite with just one member of the catering staff. One long table had been set and several rounds of eight were spaced out.

“Sorry about that,” Henry said.

“No problem. So that’s Kaye Allen. She’s very pretty.”

“Yes she is. She’s also very clingy.”

Astrid wanted to ask more questions, but she’d been described the same way by Daniel at one time and she sensed the baggage hidden in that phrase. “Want to talk about it?”

“No, Astrid. I have no wish to discuss my ex-lover with you,” Henry said.

She drew back at his sharp tone. “I was being nice. I don’t want to talk about her, either.”

It wasn’t the first time she’d seen his temper. But it was the first time she’d seen it directed at her. He couldn’t talk to her like that.

She walked to the window and stared down at the rugby pitch. The stadium started to fill with fans. Henry came up behind her and offered her a glass of champagne. He put his arm around her shoulder as she accepted the glass.

“I’m sorry. Kaye is…she’s never accepted that things are over. And I never should have let my reaction to her upset you.”

She turned to look at him. “It’s okay.”

“Cheers.”

She clinked her glass against his.

She wanted to ask more questions, but knew better than to do that. Henry was careful to keep his secrets hidden, and Kaye seemed to be one of his. If she told him everything about Daniel, she’d have the right to ask him deeper questions. He kept his arm around her and chatted lightly about each player as they came on the field. Kaye’s presence had changed the mood between them. Astrid knew he was trying to get them back to the mood they’d been in before running into that woman downstairs, but it was hard for her. For the first time she’d realized that Henry wasn’t Mr. Congeniality, as he always appeared to be.

She wondered what else lurked beneath the surface he presented, realizing that no matter how well she thought she’d gotten to know him, he still had secrets that he hadn’t shared with her.

“What are you thinking?” Henry asked.

She took a sip of her champagne. She needed to be on her A-game today and not mired in doubt about herself and her position with Henry. Even if she couldn’t be the woman who’d keep him happy for the rest of his life. Because someday Henry would want a family and kids of his own, and that was one thing she couldn’t give him. But today she needed to be that girl.

She smiled, but it felt forced even to her. “Just excited about the upcoming match.”