Page 45 of Fool's Desire

"I have heard so many wonderful things about you. And how delightful it is to have such a beautiful woman in the business. So much more lovely to look at than this ugly lot." He waved around the group and they all gave the required sycophantic chuckles that might have had Desi rolling her eyes, except that he grasped her shoulders and kissed both her cheeks, then tucked her hand in the crook of his arm, patting her hand in an oddly fatherly gesture.

Desi was dumbfounded. His effusiveness took her back somewhat. She had almost expected this meeting to be rather strained, since this man had tried to headhunt her several times and she had always turned down his increasingly generous offers, without reservation.

"I had no idea you were so familiar with my boys!" he exclaimed, raising an eyebrow.

Trust him to want an answer to that one! Desi grimaced internally before smoothing out her features. "I was at University with Joel and Jake for a couple of years before I transferred," she replied lightly.

"Really?" He frowned, looking genuinely annoyed. "I can't believe neither of them ever mentioned it!" The remark was directed to her but very clearly aimed at Joel and Jake.

"I went by a different name back then," she replied honestly. "Neither of them realised it was me until…" Desi trailed off, not wanting to draw attention to the circumstances of their reunion and get into what would undoubtedly be an unsavoury exchange about the takeover. This was neither the time or the place.

"But you knew the boys well?" he prodded, looking from one to the other like he was trying to decide on something, before settling on Jake. "You seem quite close." That idea clearly seemed to satisfy something in him.

Desi was done with running, so she answered him truthfully. "Joel and I dated for a little while."

Joseph's speculative gaze left his nephew and his head swivelled towards his son in surprise. "You did?"

Desi wasn't sure if he was asking confirmation from herself or Joel, but it was Joel who answered him. "We did." He looked remote and offered nothing else to his father, so Joseph turned his attention back to her.

"For how long?" he enquired, and she couldn't help wondering what the whole inquisition was about.

Desi took a breath, glancing over at Joel, whose expression gave nothing away. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't really want to disclose the length of their relationship, knowing that it would prove that theirs hadn't just been some passing fling, but something infinitely more serious.

It was Jake who saved her from answering. "About eighteen months," he told his uncle, though his eyes were on Joel.

Joseph's shrewd gaze sharpened and narrowed on his son. "Is that so?" he pondered, his stare never leaving Joel. "The only chick I remember there being any talk of you dating was the ditzy blonde bimbo that Eric told me all about."

Joel, Jake and Connor were all suddenly quiet, and the rest of the group picked up on the sudden tension and also hushed.

Joseph raised his eyebrows belligerently, mistakenly thinking that they had taken offence at his description of some unimportant, faceless woman, and Desi was momentarily speechless.

"What?" he asked, raising his palms and shrugging unrepentantly. "We all know what these damn gold-digging tramps are like!" he defended irritably. "You had a damn lucky escape from that one, quite frankly. In more ways than one!"

Jake gasped and instinctively pulled her out of Joseph's grasp, while Joel scrunched up his face and even Connor shook his head.

Desi stiffened at the familiar insults, but she wouldn't ever let them daunt her again. She straightened her spine and lifted her chin, rounding on the elder Blackwood and pinning him with a cold stare.

"And that would have been me," she said succinctly, pursing her lips and not looking away.

His eyes widened and his colour rose as the implications dawned on him, and when he finally looked away from her towards Joel, Desi twirled away, grabbing Jake's arm. "Let's dance." It wasn't a request.

"I'm sorry," Jake sighed as soon as they got onto the dance floor. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

"Don't be," Desi told him, already shrugging the incident off. "Actually, it feels kinda good to confront the past and not let it overwhelm me." She smiled, determined to regain her earlier enthusiasm.

Two dances later, Desi was getting back into the swing of it. Joseph's remarks were forgotten, although it hadn't escaped Desi's notice that Joel and his father had been huddled together in a heated looking discussion, and it occurred to her that Joseph had probably put two and two together and ultimately realised that she was the girl Joel and Eric had fought over. If he had honestly harboured the idea that Joel had almost thrown his entire education and career away over some money grabbing trollop, then she hoped this new insight would go some way to soften Joseph's perception of that situation. Even if it was behind them and long past. And she was glad to set him straight. Lord, how she detested being cast in the same category as some of Eric Oliver's fawning, deceitful women. She didn't like to think badly of her own gender, but even she had to draw the line somewhere.

Feeling the heat of the of the tightly packed bodies and the stuffiness of the ballroom, Desi excused herself to go in search of the rest room.

After freshening up, she decided to find another drink. She was making her way back across the room in search of Jake when someone grabbed her arm. "Desirae?" a familiar voice asked. Desi scrunched up her nose before plastering on a neutral expression and turning around. She had half expected that she might run into James here, but she hadn't thought he would have the nerve to approach her.

"James," she acknowledged politely, refusing to add any false platitudes and wondering what direction this exchange might take.

"Well, aren't you looking amazing?" He eyed her up and down appreciatively and managed to make her feel like a piece of meat. "You're here on your own, I suppose."

Desi wondered why she had never noticed just how condescending James was before this moment, but before she could open her mouth and put him right, he ploughed on.

"You know, I understand that things didn't end too well the last time we saw each other…"

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