Читать книгу Bound By Contract - Кэрол Мортимер, Carole Mortimer - Страница 9

MADISON’S eyelids felt as if they were glued together, and even when she opened them the bright daylight seemed to hurt.

She lay on the bed looking at the window, totally disorientated, the curtains undrawn. Then she remembered—she was at Uncle Edgar’s country home. And she must have been so tired last night she had forgotten to pull the curtains before falling asleep. As she looked slowly around the room, and finally down at herself, she realised she was still wearing the red dress from last night too.

She must have been very tired not to have even—

Gideon Byrne!

The name exploded inside her head like a bomb, making her wince with the impact, as did the memory of this man. He had annoyed and taunted her last night to the point where she’d ended up turning her back on him as she ate. The last thing she remembered was feeling so tired, she felt as if she was going to fall asleep on her chair—

No—that wasn’t the last thing she remembered!

Gideon Byrne had helped her to her feet, his arm about her waist as he helped her from the dining-room. And—and—he had thought she was drunk!

Madison sat up abruptly as she remembered that accusation. She had drunk two or three glasses of wine, she accepted that, but—

She turned sharply as a brisk knock on the door preceded her uncle Edgar’s entrance into the bedroom, a tray in his hand, smiling at her as he placed the latter down on the bed beside her. Madison looked down blankly at the toast and orange juice. Breakfast! Uncle Edgar had brought her breakfast—when she felt as if consuming either the toast or juice would choke her.

‘It’s only a light snack because lunch is in two hours,’ he explained lightly as he sat on the end of her bed. ‘Did you sleep well?’

How should she know? She didn’t even remember falling asleep, let alone know if it had been restful! ‘I think so,’ she answered softly, eyeing him guardedly. Uncle Edgar didn’t look annoyed or anything like that; in fact, he looked rather pleased with himself, so she couldn’t have thoroughly disgraced herself last night. ‘What time is it?’ She took a sip of the orange juice, its sharpness not choking her as she had suspected but helping to wake her up.

Although if waking up meant she had to fence words with Gideon Byrne again she thought she would prefer to go back to sleep!

‘It’s eleven o’clock,’ Uncle Edgar answered her ruefully. ‘And don’t look so worried, Madison; he’s gone!’ He chuckled as if at a great joke as her eyes widened guiltily, absently picking up a piece of the toast and biting into it hungrily.

She swallowed hard. ‘I—’

‘Don’t try telling me you don’t know who I’m talking about.’ He shook his head in teasing reproval. ‘Gideon left here at eight o’clock this morning. But he left this for you.’ He held out an envelope.

Madison looked at it as the victim must look at the snake—just before the latter struck! What could Gideon Byrne possibly be writing to her about?

‘It’s his card.’ Uncle Edgar continued to munch on his toast, putting the envelope down on the bed as Madison made no effort to take it from him. ‘He wants you to ring him.’

She gasped. ‘He wants me to—! I have no intention of calling him.’ She gave a determined shake of her head.

If she never saw Gideon Byrne again it would be too soon. He might be a brilliant film director, but as a human being he was certainly wanting. And as a man—! As a man he exuded a lethal sensuality that was totally dispelled the moment he opened his cynical mouth! More than that, he made her feel uncomfortable. And she’d never thought of herself lacking in confidence until she’d encountered that man!

Edgar slowly put down his toast, his eyes narrowed now, his mouth unsmiling. ‘Don’t be an idiot, Madison,’ he grated. ‘Of course you’re going to call him.’

She sighed, shaking her head. ‘I dislike the man intensely,’ she said with feeling.

‘No one’s asking you to sleep with him—’

‘I should damn well hope not!’ Madison protested, her green eyes wide with indignation.

‘There’s a saying about protesting too much—but I won’t bore you with it at the moment,’ Edgar added quickly as angry colour darkened her cheeks. ‘If it makes you feel any better, Gideon assures me he isn’t into the casting couch routine himself,’ he added dismissively. ‘So— What is it now?’ He frowned as Madison muttered something.

‘I was just wondering when the two of you had this insightful conversation,’ she said incredulously, putting the tray down on the side table before getting up off the bed, glaring down disgustedly at her godfather.

‘After dinner a couple of days ago, actually,’ Edgar dismissed. ‘Now, look, Madison, don’t start being bull-headed with me about this. Gideon wants you to go in for a screen-test—’

‘Did you find that out from the card in the envelope too?’ she cut in accusingly. She didn’t care what Gideon wanted; she wasn’t here to be at his beck and call.

‘Not exactly,’ Edgar drawled.

‘Something else the two of you discussed at this insightful conversation after dinner?’ She was becoming so angry she was shaking with it.

It sounded to her as if Uncle Edgar and Gideon Byrne had discussed a hell of a lot more than Gideon’s method of casting his films, and on top of his remarks last night about how powerful her uncle Edgar was she didn’t particularly like the sound of that. In fact, she would be more than a little unhappy if it should turn out her godfather had been instrumental in Gideon Byrne’s offering her this screen-test…!

‘Don’t be difficult over this, Madison—’

‘I’m never difficult, Uncle Edgar,’ she cut in forcefully. ‘But I’m not stupid, either,’ she added heatedly. ‘If you have somehow used your influence to get Gideon Byrne to offer me a screen-test—’

‘You’ve met the man, Madison,’ Edgar interrupted derisively. ‘Did he strike you as someone who could be influenced?’

No, he hadn’t… In fact, he’d said almost as much to her last night. But she still didn’t believe Edgar was completely innocent in all of this; he looked far too self-satisfied for that to be the case.

‘It will probably be a waste of time, anyway,’ she told him crossly. ‘Prestigious as being in a Gideon Byrne movie would be, another one-or two-line part isn’t exactly going to make me a star—’ She broke off, a perplexed frown on her face as something Gideon had said last night came rushing back to her.

‘When I introduce you to the world as the star of my next film…’

She didn’t remember anything after that, so presumably that was when she had fallen asleep. Did that mean Gideon had carried her up to bed? Was that why she was still wearing the red dress from last night?

She gave a groan, closing her eyes.

But she was sure he had said star!

‘Open the envelope, Madison,’ Edgar instructed impatiently. ‘Don’t keep us both in suspense.’

Her hands shook with apprehension rather than suspense as she finally ripped open the envelope. Uncle Edgar was right; there was a business card inside, a card that simply had Gideon Byrne’s name printed on it in gold lettering, with a telephone number underneath. Even on the business card the man’s intense privacy came over quite plainly, having no address, no other adornment but that name and number.

She grimaced. ‘It doesn’t say anything here about calling him—’

‘Look on the back, Madison,’ Edgar rasped. ‘There’s something written there.’

The writing was large, in black ink, and read simply, ‘Don’t be a fool, Madison; call the number!’ There was no signature, but there didn’t need to be one; those eight words epitomised Gideon Byrne; he’d managed to insult her once again while at the same time issuing an order he expected to be carried out!

‘Don’t be a fool!’ he’d written; he’d known last night that she disliked him enough to stubbornly ignore his offer of a screen-test…

But was she also stubborn enough to ignore even the remotest chance to star in a Gideon Byrne movie…?

Was she?

Madison McGuire was a fool, Gideon decided angrily as he lay in his bed staring up at the ceiling, his arms folded on the pillow behind his head. Twenty-four hours since he had left Edgar’s home, and he still hadn’t heard from Madison.

He had known she was stubborn, accepted that she had a temper too, remembering how those green eyes flashed on occasion. But despite what he’d put on the back of his card he hadn’t really thought she was a fool…

So what did he do now?

He had been quite elated at the prospect of having found his Rosemary, had even told his assistant, Claire, all about Madison McGuire. And now, nothing. And it wasn’t in his nature to go chasing after any woman, even on a professional level. So much for Edgar’s machinations on Madison’s behalf; maybe the older man should have spoken to Madison before setting things in motion!

But he wanted Madison to play Rosemary, damn it! And the only way he was going to achieve that, it seemed, was by seeking Madison out. Something he baulked at doing. It put him at a disadvantage from the beginning, and he wasn’t in the least comfortable with that.

Damn the woman!

The telephone began to ring at his bedside. The clock read eight-thirty. Who the hell—?

But he knew. Suddenly he knew.

‘Good morning,’ he drawled into the receiver, his anxiety of a few minutes ago slowly receding; he didn’t believe he was going to have to seek Madison out, after all…

‘Mr Byrne,’ Madison replied curtly. ‘I realise it’s early, but—I’m calling in reply to your message concerning a screen-test,’ she added stiltedly.

And hating every minute of it, he realised with a half-smile. No doubt the earliness of the call was due to the fact that Madison had decided to just get the evil deed over and done with. But at least she wasn’t the fool he had started to think she might be…

‘Twelve o’clock today suit you?’ he returned as abruptly.

There was complete silence on the other end of the telephone line, as if Madison, despite being the one to make the call, had been caught off guard.

Then she drew in a deep breath. ‘That’s fine,’ she returned evenly. ‘Edgar is driving back into the city today, so I can come in with him.’

Gideon’s hand tightened about the receiver. Edgar! The man was starting to become his nemesis. ‘That will be nice for you both,’ he rasped. ‘I’ll see you at twelve o’clock—’

‘You haven’t told me where to go,’ she put in quickly.

Because his thoughts had been on where he would like to tell Edgar to go! ‘Edgar knows the way,’ he bit out curtly. ‘Don’t be late,’ he instructed before ringing off.

God damn it, he was no happier now that Madison had rung than he had been before when he had thought she was a little fool for not contacting him!