The Art of Love
Evelyn Trimborn
ISBN: 1-58345-001-7
Struggling Dublin artist Shannon Butler gives a hugely successful show. Enter Marius Winters, hell-bent on revenge. He accuses her of robbing him of his share of the family estate. Each must come to terms with their past and tumultuous feelings for each other if they are ever to have a chance of happiness.
Chapter One
As Shannon bowed gracefully out of yet another highbrow artistic conversation, her eyes focused on the crisp white shirt front which had suddenly materialised in front of her, blocking her way.
"An amazing show, by a truly talented artist," the man drawled.
Shannon was compelled to look up quickly at the sound of that all too familiar voice, shock and anger registering in her sapphire eyes as she hissed, "Marius! Are you here to mock and insult me?"
Though her insides shivered with fear and loathing, she managed a defiant toss of her rich burgundy hair, and attempted to push past the unwanted intruder who towered over her.
"On the contrary, my dear, I’ve come to see how you’ve blossomed," he smiled suggestively, taking in her slender yet womanly figure encased in a tight purple velvet dress.
"Well, now that you’ve seen me, Marius, you can get out! I have guests to attend to, and you and I have nothing to say to each other."
She tried to skirt past him, but Marius grabbed her wrist firmly, and leaned so close that Shannon’s nostrils were filled with the heady masculine scent of him. His handsome face came alarmingly close to her own.
Shannon took in his sultry emerald green eyes, fringed with thick black lashes, which glowed in the perfect setting of his finely boned face. Marius’ nose was somewhat too delicate for a man, but aristocratic, and his lips were lush and firm. She noted the deeply tanned skin, which looked oddly unhealthy. His raven black hair curled lushly down to his shoulders, a bit too long for conventional men, but perfectly suited to his devil-may-care image.
As Marius’ eyes bored into hers, Shannon looked down, but her new view of her much older adopted brother only added to her confusion, as she admired his long muscular legs encased in his expensively tailored custom made trousers which fitted him like a second skin.
"We have lots to say to each other, but not here. I’ll wait until everyone has left, and then we can be alone."
He released her with a penetrating glance which told her he would brook no refusal, and Shannon headed for the small kitchenette at the back of the gallery in a desperate attempt to get a few minutes alone. She needed to collect her riotous thoughts before facing him again.
After four years, and all the suffering she and her father had been through, why had Marius suddenly turned up? She felt a terrible fear, for she knew him well enough to know that he never did anything without a selfish reason. This was no friendly visit, for indeed they had never been friends.
Marius was the adopted son of her father, a boy whom he had loved beyond measure. She had been born to her parents, Emily and Jerome Butler, long after they had ever given up hope of having a child of their own. Her parents had been overjoyed at the prospect of her arrival, but their happiness had been cut short when Emily died of complications after the birth, leaving Jerome on his own with two children.
Shannon and her father had grown close over the years, but Marius had always proven a handful for a single father, and so he had sent Marius off to the best boarding schools he could afford. As Shannon had grown up, on the few occasions Marius ever had returned home for the holidays, he treated her like some unmentionable disease. As he matured into his teens and twenties, Marius and their father had argued more and more over money and career prospects, and the future of the family antiques business.
Moreover, Marius also seemed to resent her father for trying to make the peace between them, and after one particularly nasty argument her erstwhile brother had legally changed his name to Winters, her mother Emily’s name before she had married Jerome.
Shannon remembered with anger how in all those years Marius had never once acknowledged that he owed her loyalty as his sister. Furthermore, he had never missed an opportunity to demean and degrade her, and resented every opportunity she had ever had. When she had managed to win a scholarship to the Slade, he’d accused her of squandering the family wealth, even though she supported herself all the way through art school. If she ever happened to mention the name of a fellow student, Marius had always accused her of every sort of immoral conduct that art schools were reputed to be famous for.
The last time she had ever seen Marius, he had unforgivably called her a whore and slapped her. She shuddered as the terrible memories came flooding back.
It had all started as a prank by the boys at the Slade who had fancied her. One lad, Edward Gibson, was an extremely wealthy but totally feckless student who had propositioned her, and in fact had even tried to force himself upon her. She had complained bitterly of his attack to the school authorities, but they had not leapt to her defence because those sort of cases were so difficult to prove.
Edward’s revenge had been to paint her face onto a nude that he had been working on, which he then put on display at the summer exhibition in front of all her friends and family. He told everyone that not only had she posed for it, but that they had been lovers.
Her father and Marius had seen it, and all hell had broken loose. Her father had defended her, and believed her story about Edward. But Marius had refused to give her the benfit of the doubt. He had insulted her, slapped her, and then tried to persuade her father that she was completely to blame. After many unpleasant words between them, Marius had packed his bags and left, and that was the last time they had either seen or heard from him.
Shannon remembered the painful incident as the turning point in her life, for from then on she had had to take sole responsibility for everything to do with her father and the business. She had become tough over the past four years. So why should she let Marius upset her now, when she should be enjoying her triumph? The obvious reminder of the last show they had attended together was probably one of the reasons why he had turned up in the first place. But Shannon was damned if she was going to be intimidated by him again.
Shannon had a cup of coffee, and emerged from the kitchenette several minutes later feeling fit for anything, including a confrontation with Marius. She could see him out of the corner of her eye talking to a willowy honey-blonde who looked vaguely familiar. Shannon sought to avoid his piercing green eyes, but there was no masking the suspicion, not to say overt hostility which crackled within them, especially when her boyfriend Tim came up and kissed her warmly.
Shannon tried to avoid his avid embrace as he enthused, "Wonderful, darling, I am really impressed. Everyone worth having is here."
Shannon noticed that he had not once looked at the paintings. He absentmindedly pecked her on the cheek as his eyes lit up, and he made a beeline for the woman standing with Marius. Shannon inwardly cringed. Tim was the worst social climber she had ever met, and she hoped he wouldn't cling like a leech to Marius once he found out who he was.
But no, she observed, he was actually cornering the blonde, and soon the dark looming presence came so close she felt as though she would suffocate.
"Your lover seems to be quite taken with my wife," Marius sneered, putting an insulting emphasis on the word ‘lover.’
Once again, Shannon was forced to look up at the face which loomed menacingly over her tiny frame.
"Wife? Marius, I didn’t know you were married. Congratulations." Shannon tried to smile, wondering why the information threw her so off balance.
"You must have been living in a cave not to have seen all the publicity," he muttered, looking grim and forbidding.
Shannon could sense his anger, but refused to let that remark go unchallenged. "Well, you certainly must have been living in a cave not to have got your messages either before or after Father died!" she spat. "He died thinking you didn't care, and the solicitors and I had to wait months, until it wasn’t possible to wait any longer, for you to come help sort out the mess."
Shannon tried to move away from him, painfully aware of the tears which threatened to spill, and the fact that all eyes in the gallery seemed to be focused upon their little scene. But Marius grabbed her by her shoulders and forced her to remain standing in front of him. His eyes searched hers, his grip tightening savagely.
"What do you mean? I never heard a word from anyone. You’re lying!"
"Marius, please, people are watching. Let me go. We’ll talk after," Shannon insisted.
At last she could breathe again as he released her. She felt physically drained, but she was not going to let him accuse her of all sorts of devious practices without a fight.
"Stay right there," Shannon commanded, smiling sweetly for her audience, who turned back to look at her paintings and sip their cocktails.
Shannon went upstairs to the gallery office, and got out her scrapbook of clippings. She had advertised almost daily for knowledge of Marius’ whereabouts while her father had been ill, and in nearly every newspaper in the world once he was dead and the estate had been in desperate shape. She had kept every clipping, more as a reminder to herself that he couldn’t care less about her and her father, than legal proof that they had tried to consult him about his share of the family business. It would certainly wipe the suspicious look off of Marius’s face once he saw the irrefutable proof that they had tried to find him in spite of his callous attitude towards his family.
When Shannon returned downstairs, she saw Marius talking to his wife, who was attempting to coil herself around him in a pleading way. But Marius merely pulled her arms away, and shoved her over towards the buffet table, piled high with snacks and savouries, as he walked towards Shannon standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Here, Marius. I know you’ve never believed a word I’ve said on any subject, so read it all for yourself."
She handed him the book, and then went to mingle with her guests and make a few more sales. Her commission book soon became full, and many sold stickers went up, while cheques were written.
The whirl of business sent Marius completely out of her mind, so it was only several hours later, when nearly everyone had left and she went to put her takings in the safe that she came upon Marius sitting at her desk upstairs.
"I thought you’d left!" Shannon blurted out. "What are you doing in here?"
She immediately regretted sounding so hostile and suspicious, but she had got a terrible shock. Marius had been sitting in the dark, and for a moment she had almost thought it was her father sitting there. Shannon could see Marius shrink down into the chair even further than he was already slumped and his left hand covered his eyes as though he had a painful migraine.
"I’m sorry, Shannon, to be such a nuisance, but I needed to be alone, and I needed to talk to you. The kitchen was full of people, so I came up here. I wasn’t snooping, if that’s what you think," he added, taking his hand away from his eyes to look at her sharply.
She flushed and shook her head slightly. "I could hardly accuse you of that, since you were sitting here in the dark with your eyes closed."
The emerald eyes look at her steadily for a moment before he placed his hand back over them.
Shannon decided not to push him, so she busied herself, putting the papers away in her filing cabinet and safe, and tidying the top of her desk. Then she went around behind the desk, and tentatively placed a hand on Marius’ shoulder.
"Marius, are you ill or something? Would you like two aspirin, or some food?"
"At the risk of sounding cliché, my dear," Marius said in a low voice, as he moved his hand up from his lap to hold hers as it rested on his shoulder, "There is no cure for this, I’m afraid."
"Are you ill? I’d noticed your colour looked a bit odd before," Shannon commented in a worried voice. She could not believe that this was the same man who had threatened her only a short time before.
Marius took his hand away from his eyes, and smiled briefly. "No, not really, it was just a silly expression. If you don't mind, I'd like to sit here quietly for a few moments alone."
Shannon tried to stand up from the desk and move way, but Marius held her firmly by the hand and knee.
"No, I’m not rejecting your company. I just can't face anyone downstairs at the moment."
Shannon nodded, and squeezed his shoulder. "Well, there’s no one left, really, apart from my friend Rosie, who is helping me clean up, and her boyfriend Glenn, who drove us here from Rosie’s flat. I’m afraid your wife left ages ago, no doubt trying to escape from Tim."
Marius pulled away from her and stood up. Shannon thought he might be jealous of Tim’s attentions to his wife, so she sought to explain his rude behaviour.
"Is your wife famous or something? I mean, I think I recognise her, and Tim is very much into famous people."
Marius eyed her grimly for several seconds before replying.
"Yes, I suppose he must be." He squared his shoulders and headed for the door.
"Right then if you are sure the coast is clear, I’ll come down and help you tidy away." He pulled open the door and marched resolutely down the stairs, where he introduced himself to Rosie and Glenn, and began to stack plates and glasses onto trays.
Shannon observed his easy, graceful movements, and suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to paint him. She blinked in astonishment at this new interest in his masculine beauty, and she blushed furiously when his eyes met hers as he looked at her across the room with a wry smile.
"You’d better come show me what to do with all this stuff," Marius said.
Shannon scurried the rest of the way down the staircase and into the kitchen.
Rosie looked searchingly at Shannon. "I think it as a great success, and I can’t remember a bigger turnout. It’s really great that your brother was able to make it this time," she added, trying to include Marius in the conversation.
"Yes, it was super. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world," Marius said, smiling down at Shannon, though his eyes looked serious as he handed her another clean plate.
He chatted in a friendly fashion with Glenn about his own work, and told them of his recent trip to the Amazon. Shannon suddenly longed to travel, to have the freedom to experience all he had seen and done. He had gone around the world dozens of time, while she had remained in Ireland struggling to make ends meet, and coping with a nearly ruined business and a dying father. She felt a stab of resentment at his irresponsibility, which though it had always been apparent to everyone who knew him, had never stopped her father from loving him best. Marius had some nerve boasting of all his exciting experiences while she herself had been suffering through nearly four years of hell.
But Shannon tried to put aside her anger for a moment, because she knew she wasn’t up to another row with him. At any rate, she was rapidly coming to the conclusion that she hardly knew Marius at all even after so many years. The man washing the dishes in her kitchen hardly resembled the man she had seen four years ago, who had mocked and insulted her, and made his loathing for her all too plain.
Shannon also realised he too was upset about something, perhaps the scrapbook she had given him, and it was apparent to her that he was taking great pains to disguise his upset in front of her friends. She had never imagined him to be vulnerable, or thoughtful and considerate, yet now he was showing her all these emotions. Why was he here? And why was she so frightened?
Shannon had the feeling she would soon find out.
The Art of Love by Evelyn Trimborn Domhan Books ISBN: 1-58345-001-7
164 pp paperback 5 x 8" Romance, Ireland
A review of The Art of Love by Carolyn Stone, author of In from the Cold, also available at Domhan Books.
"This novel has everything you could want from a contemporary romance: a lovely heroine we can identify with; a sexy hero who exudes testosterone from every pore, but can be a "new man" when he lets himself go; and an almost insurmountable obstacle to their happiness. There is also mystery and intrigue, and some gorgeous descriptive prose. I was moved to tears by the couple’s plight, and exultant at the end. Fast-paced, suspenseful, I was hooked from the moment the incredible Marius Winters walked into Shannon’s gallery raising hell. Enjoy!"
From Amazon: Five star reviews:
A reader from Dublin, Ireland , November 12, 1998
It sizzles! Nothing like forbidden love and high tension to make a book move! A real ripper from start to finish! What a hunky man! And a cracking good heroine too! More like this one, please!
A reader from Manchester, England , November 10, 1998
A great read, sexy!!
Sizzling from start to finish. I really enjoyed every word of it, and couldn't wait to find out what happened next. Great characters-can't wait to see more from this author.The editor, S McNally, Domhan Books, November 10, 1998
A great new talent in the world of contemporary romance
The trouble with genre romances is that they can be very predictable. The formula might sell, but do we really all want to read the same books? Or be censored? Confess! How many of you out there have submitted manuscripts to certain romance lines which shall remain nameless, only to be told that you have broken some of their official or unofficial taboos?But brilliant romance writing speaks for itself and as an editor I was not about to stifle this hot new talent's creativity. Look no further for real heroes and heroines, suspense and the thrilll of falling in love, even in the face of the most overwhelming obstacles.
The Art of Love-buy the paperback! 5 x 8 $10
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