Bound By Contract

No, she didn’t think it would be; he came over as a hard, unyielding man, one who rarely smiled. And she very much doubted she would get to know him ‘a little longer’ their paths would never cross again after this weekend.

‘Besides,’ he added derisively, ‘according to you, you didn’t need saving!’

No, she hadn’t, but it had still been kind of him to jump into the pool fully clothed, no matter what he might say to the contrary. ‘If there’s any permanent damage to your clothes, please do let me know,’ she told him evenly. ‘I’ll be happy to replace them.’ She wasn’t quite sure how a silk shirt would stand up to the chemicals in the pool water!

‘Oh, don’t worry, you’ll hear from me if that’s the case,’ he rasped. ‘Tell me, is that the natural colour of your hair?’

‘What…?’ Madison was stunned by the abrupt change of subject—and the fact that the question didn’t just border on being rude; it was rude!

At the moment, her hair was the colour of dark honey, but once she had washed and dried it it would be the colour of ripe corn, long and straight almost down to her waist. And, yes, it was her natural colour. As was the green of her eyes. And the light golden tan of her skin. In fact, all of her was real!

‘You never can tell nowadays,’ Gideon Byrne added insultingly, making no apology for the very personal remark.

‘It’s natural,’ she answered him hardly, a perplexed frown marring her brow.

If she hadn’t known better, she would have said this man disliked her. But surely that couldn’t be so—the man didn’t even know her. Probably he was just annoyed with her because of his unnecessarily wet clothing?

He nodded abruptly. ‘I thought so.’

And…? But maybe there wasn’t an ‘and’ with this man. He might be one of the top film directors in the world, with an Oscar at home to prove it, but he was also one of the coldest, rudest men Madison had ever met…

And, thinking of cold, she was starting to shiver now, and was badly in need of that hot shower she’d promised herself a few minutes ago. ‘If you don’t mind, I think I would like to go upstairs and take a shower before dinner,’ she told him pleasantly.

He met her gaze challengingly. ‘And if I do mind?’ he drawled.

Madison didn’t so much as blink at his rudeness this time. ‘Then I’m still going upstairs to take a shower,’ she said bluntly. Maybe that was the only way to be with this man; politeness certainly didn’t seem to work!

To her surprise, he smiled. And it transformed his face from austere coldness to friendly warmth. Well…almost, she decided. Friendly was perhaps going too far! But he did look more approachable, Madison tried to convince herself. Not that she intended ‘approaching’ him; she was quite happy to just part on that one smile, sure that it was more than a lot of people got out of him.

‘Maybe you and I are going to get on after all, Madison McGuire,’ he murmured enigmatically.

She wasn’t sure she would go quite that far on the basis of one smile! Besides, there must be mere hours left of his visit—hardly long enough for them to need to ‘get on’…

‘If you say so,’ she acknowledged noncommittally. ‘Nice to have met you, Mr Byrne,’ she added politely before turning to leave.

‘Liar!’ came his softly taunting reply from behind her.

Madison paused, turning slowly back to face him. ‘I’m not in the habit of lying, Mr Byrne—’

‘I thought I told you to call me Gideon,’ he rasped harshly.

She frowned. ‘Perhaps you did—Mr Byrne,’ she felt stung into replying; really, the man was nothing but an arrogant bully! ‘But—’

‘We haven’t been formally introduced?’ he cut in derisively. ‘I think it’s a little late in our acquaintance for that; after all, I did attempt to save your life a short time ago!’

‘Attempt’ just about described it! If he hadn’t startled her in the way he had, she wouldn’t have fallen into the water in the first place!

‘I was about to say—but I really couldn’t be so familiar with a film director of your calibre,’ she finished forcefully. ‘But on second thoughts…! I’m not in the habit of lying— Gideon, and it hasn’t been nice meeting you at all!’ She turned on her heel and walked away, going up the stairs that led back to the main part of the house.

And, as she did so, she could swear she heard the sound of Gideon Byrne chuckling down in the pool-room.

Ridiculous. That man didn’t even know how to chuckle!

What a monumental pain in the—! She had never met anyone like him. Cold. Rude. Arrogant. If that was what being awarded an Oscar did for you, she hoped she never got one!

Not that she was ever likely to, she groaned inwardly, if she went around upsetting directors of Gideon Byrne’s calibre.

Oh, hell!

Best just to forget she had ever met him. With any luck, he would have left before dinner…

Gideon’s humour faded as soon as he heard the loud thud of the door closing behind her.

She had pluck; he would give her that. She was also incredibly beautiful, in exactly the way he had noticed on the screen last night as he’d sat watching the Tony Lawrence film.

He had immense respect for the other director, and as he hadn’t had the chance to see his new film yet he’d enjoyed watching it from a technical angle, anyway. But when the serving girl had walked across the screen it was as if he had been given an electric shock…!

He’d been looking for just such a girl for the last six months, seen dozens of would-be-hopefuls, but none of them were exactly what he wanted. When Madison McGuire had walked across the screen last night he’d known he had at last seen his Rosemary.

She was everything he wanted Rosemary to be: the delicately beautiful face of an angel, the deep green of her eyes as she looked briefly at the camera a bonus he hadn’t been expecting, her neck long and creamy, looking too fragile to support the weight of that long, corn-coloured hair, her body boyishly slender, her legs, he had discovered only minutes ago, long and coltish.

Yes, she was everything he was looking for, and as he’d avidly studied the credits, looking for her name, he had read ‘Madison McGuire’ next to ‘serving girl’.

Madison McGuire! The very girl Edgar had been trying minutes ago to persuade him to stay on and meet. And as he’d glanced sideways at Edgar he’d seen that smile of satisfaction on the older man’s face. Damn him!

Part of Gideon had wanted to say to hell with Edgar and this Madison, and just leave as he’d planned. But the other part of him, the purely professional part, had known he would be a fool if he left without even seeing her. Although it had gone against the grain to tell Edgar he had decided to stay on another day after all. Especially as Edgar had taken his decision so calmly, only the twinkling blue of his eyes giving away the fact that he was well aware of exactly what—and who!—had changed Gideon’s mind!

Well, now he had seen Madison.

And she was everything, if not more than he had been looking for in the lead for his next film. The American accent had come as a bit of a surprise; Edgar had forgotten to mention that little fact when he’d spoken of her, and in her part in last night’s film she had merely murmured ‘Thank you, sir’—which had given him no idea where she came from. But she had proved minutes ago that she was perfectly capable of adopting an English accent if she needed to—if only to mock him with!

Yes, he had seen Madison McGuire. Now all he had to do was offer her the part of Rosemary. It was whether or not she would accept that he wasn’t altogether sure of. She would be a fool if she didn’t; the film would be the making of her career. It all depended on just how much she’d decided it hadn’t been nice meeting him!

‘Been for a swim, Gideon?’

Edgar! Just his luck to walk straight into his host in the hallway, Gideon decided as he slowly turned.

Or was it luck? Edgar looked confidently amused—as if he was well aware under what circumstances Gideon had been for a ‘swim’. Perhaps his ‘goddaughter’ had run to Uncle Edgar with the tale of the terrible Gideon Byrne?

Or maybe not. Madison, for all she looked so fragile, had been perfectly capable of fighting her own battles a few minutes ago—at least, verbally!

‘I met Madison down at the pool,’ he told the other man dryly.

‘Yes?’ Edgar returned confidently.

It was that confidence that rankled so much with Gideon. It bordered on smug—and it made Gideon want to wipe the smile right off Edgar’s face!

He shrugged. ‘I didn’t have a costume, but that didn’t seem to bother Madison too much,’ he told the other man challengingly.

Edgar’s humour faded, his eyes taking on that steely quality that would be a warning to lesser men than Gideon. ‘I sincerely hope you’re joking, Gideon,’ he bit out tersely. ‘Madison is here for a little TLC, not to deal with idiots who choose to go skinny-dipping in my pool!’

Gideon could tell that Edgar was more than a little annoyed; he would never have called him an idiot otherwise. But it was his reference to Madison needing TLC that intrigued him. Madison had looked no more than twenty or so, hardly old enough to be recovering from a broken marriage or something like that. Which begged the question, what could be the reason she needed TLC? But it wasn’t a question he intended asking Edgar—he wouldn’t give the other man the satisfaction!

He shrugged, smiling grimly. ‘I told you, Madison didn’t seem to mind. Now, if you’ll excuse me,’ he added as Edgar seemed intent on pursuing the subject, ‘I think I’ll follow her example and take a shower before dinner.’

Edgar’s eyes were narrowed to steely slits. ‘I thought you were leaving before dinner?’

Last night he had decided he would take a look at this Madison McGuire and then leave, and he had told Edgar the latter, at least. But now that he had seen Madison there was no way he was leaving here until he had spoken to her, and looked at her, some more. There was a hell of a lot of work to do, and he didn’t have too much time left in which to do it. In fact, now that he had seen Madison, there was no time to lose.

He shrugged again. ‘I changed my mind. See you later, Edgar,’ he told the other man firmly before walking away.

Edgar had brought Madison to his attention, and that was the end of the other man’s involvement in the situation as far as Gideon was concerned. He didn’t give a damn what she was to the other man; if she was going to work for Gideon, she was going to do it on his terms.

Or not at all!

CHAPTER TWO

‘WELL, well, well, if it isn’t Madison McGuire; I wondered if I would recognise you with your clothes on!’

Madison had tensed at the first sound of Gideon Byrne’s infuriating voice, but at his last remark she spun round indignantly. What did he think he was doing?

She had been relieved earlier when she’d entered the sitting-room for a pre-dinner drink to discover that Gideon Byrne wasn’t there, breathing easier when she realised she wouldn’t be having another verbal fencing match with him all evening.

She’d even relaxed enough to indulge in a mild flirtation with Drew Armitage, a man she knew slightly from working on the film in Scotland some months before. Drew was boyishly handsome, and she’d easily been able to see his admiration for her, dressed in the figure-hugging flame-coloured dress, her hair newly washed, cascading in loose golden curls down her back, her subtle make-up highlighting the deep green of her eyes.

A quick glance at Drew now, after Gideon’s deliberately provocative remark, and she knew he was adding two and two together and coming up with five!

‘Gideon!’ she greeted smoothly, moving to kiss him warmly on the cheek. ‘You dress up real nice yourself,’ she told him in a husky Southern drawl.

He did dress up nice, she inwardly acknowledged, the black dinner suit and snowy white shirt tailored to his muscular frame, his handsome face appearing as if etched from stone, although there was a mocking glint in the dark grey of his eyes as he returned her gaze. He was enjoying himself, Madison realised…

‘Do you know Drew?’ She turned pointedly to the other man. ‘Drew, this is—’

‘Gideon Byrne,’ the younger man finished, a slightly awed expression on his face as he shook hands with him. ‘I enjoyed Shifting Time very much.’ He referred to Gideon’s Oscar-winning film.

‘Thanks,’ Gideon said smoothly. ‘I thought you were rather good in Hidden Highland.’

Drew looked suitably pleased by the praise; it was Madison who looked at Gideon through narrowed lids. Hidden Highland was her only film credit to date, her entire part comprising all of two lines, both of them mundane. But Gideon had seen the film. Had he noticed her in it too…?

Gideon returned her gaze with raised brows. ‘Something wrong, Madison?’ he prompted mockingly.

Even if he had recognised her in the film, Madison realised he wasn’t about to comment on her performance! Not that there had been much to comment on. He might even have gone out to the bathroom during the three-minute section of the film that she had appeared in!

‘Not in the least, Gideon,’ she returned lightly. ‘Don’t let us keep you, if you would like to go and help yourself to a drink,’ she added dismissively.

Gideon’s mouth twisted ruefully as he held back a smile, obviously easily able to see her words for what they were—and to be amused by them!

‘I was just about to go and get myself a refill,’ Drew put in quickly. ‘Could I get something for you while I’m there?’ He looked enquiringly at the older man.

‘An orange juice would be fine, thanks,’ Gideon accepted, his gaze still fixed on Madison.

And it was a very unnerving gaze, Madison decided. It had been bad enough down at the pool earlier, but now she felt as if the damned man was dissecting everything about her. There was certainly none of the admiration of her appearance in his dark grey gaze that she’d seen in Drew’s!

‘Madison?’ Drew prompted softly.

‘I’m fine, thanks.’ She indicated her glass, still half full with white wine.

‘You shouldn’t drink too much of that stuff, you know,’ Gideon bit out tersely once the other man had left to get the drinks.

‘I shouldn’t?’ Madison eyed him warily—the trouble with this man, she decided, was you never quite knew what he was going to say next!

He shook his head. ‘How old are you?’

Like that! What on earth did her age have to do with anything?

‘Twenty-two,’ she answered cautiously.

‘Hmm.’ Gideon pulled a face. ‘Well, the alcohol obviously hasn’t started having an effect on you yet. At least, outwardly—you only look about eighteen! But inwardly it may be a different matter.’

Madison frowned up at him. Somewhere in all of that she felt he had given her a compliment—it was just so ambiguous it didn’t feel like one! ‘You don’t drink, Gideon?’ She had noticed his request for only orange juice.

‘No,’ he returned harshly. ‘It impedes rather than heightens the senses, has a disastrous effect on the skin and body organs, is—’

‘I get the gist, Gideon,’ she cut in laughingly; this was a house party, for goodness’ sake, not an AA meeting! ‘As it happens, I only drink wine, and then only on occasions like this.’ She looked around them pointedly at the groups of other chattering guests.

He shrugged, no answering humour in his own stern expression. ‘That’s the way most people start. You—’

‘Here we are.’ Drew arrived back with the drinks, handing the older man the requested orange juice. ‘I hope you’ll both excuse me.’ He smiled apologetically. ‘Edgar just wants to have a quick word with me.’

‘Really?’ Gideon returned mockingly.

‘Hmm.’ Drew nodded. ‘Nice to meet you, Gideon. I’ll catch up with you later, Madison.’ He squeezed her arm lightly in parting.

She watched as Drew hurried over to where her uncle Edgar stood waiting for him near the window, Edgar giving an acknowledging inclination of his head in Madison and Gideon’s direction before turning away to talk to Drew.

‘I wonder what Edgar is finding to talk to him about?’ Gideon mused dryly at her side. ‘Whatever it is, I’m damned sure it wasn’t important enough that Edgar had to talk to him right this moment! Except as a means of leaving the two of us alone together,’ he added scathingly.

Madison turned slowly to look at him, frowning. ‘What do you mean?’

He made it sound as if her godfather was matchmaking, and, as Edgar was fully aware of the raw state of her emotions, she couldn’t see that being the case at all. In fact, when she’d seen Uncle Edgar earlier, and told him about the disaster down in the pool-room, he’d looked more than a little irritated. Until she made him see the funny side of it.

Although she still didn’t find it that funny herself…

Gideon looked at her with mocking eyes. ‘I told you earlier that Edgar is a manipulator,’ he said enigmatically.

He might be, but he wasn’t a sadist—and matching her with a cynic like Gideon Byrne would definitely put him in that category!

She shrugged. ‘And, as I explained then, I just don’t see him like that.’ She looked around, wondering if there was anyone else she could go off and talk to. Anyone, as long as she didn’t have to stand here talking to this man any longer!

But there was no one else that she knew in the room—several faces she recognised, of course, but not through personal knowledge, only from films or television. Edgar certainly knew some famous people; in fact, she was a little out of place in such distinguished company. Including the man at her side!

‘I wouldn’t bother, if I were you,’ Gideon drawled as he watched her quick survey of the room. ‘Edgar would veer anyone off who looked like interrupting us!’

She turned back to him, a frown once again marring her creamy brow. In fact, she had frowned so much since meeting this man earlier today, she was surprised he hadn’t told her she shouldn’t do that, either!

‘Any why would he do that?’ she prompted lightly.

Gideon shrugged. ‘Because he wants to give me the time to offer you a screen-test with a view to a part in my next film. And for you to have the time to accept the offer!’

Madison stared at him. She seemed to do that a lot around this man too! But then he said some of the most outrageous—and unbelievable things. A screen-test! This man wanted to give her a screen-test? With a view to being in his next film—

No, that wasn’t what he had said… What he had actually said was her uncle Edgar wanted him to do that, which wasn’t the same thing at all!

She gave a rueful smile. ‘You’ll have to forgive Uncle Edgar.’ She grimaced. ‘He’s just a very doting godfather, who means well, but doesn’t see that—’

‘He’s a very powerful doting godfather,’ Gideon put in harshly.

And it was obvious this man resented whatever power Edgar might have tried to exert over him on Madison’s behalf. Which she couldn’t exactly blame him for. Gideon Byrne was a powerful man in his own right, and her godfather, if he had tried to force Madison into this man’s notice, should have thought of that.

If he had. She wasn’t absolutely sure that Gideon hadn’t just misunderstood Edgar.

‘I see it’s time for us to go in to dinner,’ Gideon drawled as the other guests began to stroll towards the dining-room.

Madison was still so inwardly disturbed by what Gideon had said about her godfather that she offered no protest when he took a firm hold of her arm and took her into the dining-room with him.

‘You see?’ Gideon murmured derisively when it turned out that Madison was seated between himself and Drew at the long oak table.

She was starting to! But Edgar, when she looked down the long table to where he sat at its head, appeared to be so engrossed in what the lady to his right was saying to him that he didn’t seem aware of Madison’s compelling gaze levelled at him.

‘So when can you come in for a screen-test?’

She turned to give Gideon a startled look—a look he returned with cold, unblinking grey eyes. ‘You can’t be serious!’ she finally managed to gasp.

‘I’m never anything else where my work is concerned,’ he informed her grimly. ‘I saw you in Hidden Highland,’ he admitted dryly. ‘You have a certain—look that I find…interesting,’ he continued guardedly. ‘I’ll be able to tell you more once I’ve had you read for me, but…’ He shrugged. ‘Let’s just wait and see, shall we?’

Wait and see!

Wait and see what? This man might be one of the hottest film directors in Hollywood at the moment—the public waiting with bated breath to see what his next film was going to be—but in the few hours Madison had known him she had also discovered that he was rude and arrogant, cynical to the point of being unbearable. Even if he should—by some miracle!—offer her a part in his film, how on earth would she ever be able to work with such a man?

Don’t envisage situations that don’t yet exist, she told herself firmly. And which may never exist, she added ruefully. She didn’t believe Gideon liked her any more than she liked him.

‘Eat your dinner,’ he instructed abruptly; most of the other guests were already halfway through their starter of smoked salmon mousse.

She felt a resentful flush in her cheeks. ‘I’m twenty-two, Gideon,’ she snapped, ‘not two!’

‘Please eat your dinner?’ He arched mocking brows.

It was certainly an improvement, but from him it still sounded like an order!

But Madison wasn’t in the mood for any more conversation with him! ‘Better,’ she nodded, picking up her knife and fork and beginning to eat.

To her surprise she heard the chuckle she’d thought she’d heard earlier down in the pool-room, and so she looked up at Gideon with quizzical green eyes.

He looked younger when he laughed, less strained, even the grey of his eyes taking on a luminous quality. He also, in this more relaxed state, reminded her of someone—she just couldn’t quite place who…

‘What is it?’ He sobered as she looked thoughtful.

She shook her head. ‘Nothing.’ It would come to her, but in the meantime she didn’t intend discussing it with Gideon. ‘You should smile more often, though; it makes you look half human!’ She regretted her bluntness as soon as the words left her mouth; it was just that this man irritated her so much, all her own social niceties seemed to desert her in favour of his own rudeness whenever she was around him.

Her mother would have been horrified if she could hear her. She’d always impressed upon her that good manners cost nothing, but that they invariably made a good impression. The trouble with that theory around Gideon Byrne was that he didn’t seem to have a good impression of anyone, least of all her!

‘Only half human, hmm?’ He quirked mocking brows. ‘What do you think the other half of me is?’

He wouldn’t like it if she told him! ‘Eat your dinner, Gideon.’ She briskly repeated his own order.

He shook his head. ‘You remind me of a teacher I had at school. The Dragon, we used to call her!’

Much more of this and she would tell him what she mentally called him—and it was nowhere near as polite as The Dragon!

‘Did you go to school in England, Gideon?’ She lightly changed the subject, putting her knife and fork neatly on the plate as she gave up all hope of eating the smoked salmon. Her appetite hadn’t been that great once she realised Gideon was still here, anyway, but now that she was actually seated next to him…!

A shutter seemed to come down over his eyes, giving them that steely quality once again, while his mouth became a thin, straight line, his body no longer relaxed, but strained with tension.

She’d only asked if he’d gone to school in England, for goodness’ sake; she had thought that would be a safe subject for them to talk about. Obviously she’d thought wrong!

‘Why do you ask?’ he rasped suspiciously.

‘No reason,’ she shrugged, wondering what she could have said wrong this time; talking to this man was like walking across a minefield! ‘I was educated in the States, obviously, but, being an actor, your father probably worked mainly in America, so I just wondered—’