All That Glitters (10 page)

‘As far as I’m concerned, it’s amazing,’ she said, as she sipped her champagne. The combination of alcohol and the studio lights had made her feel a little light-headed, but Ella was determined that it wasn’t going to affect her performance. ‘Danny’s the perfect husband, and we just fit so well together. When we met I didn’t realise he was a footballer, and I’d have married him regardless of his career. He could be a mechanic for all I care.’

Okay, so strictly that wasn’t quite true; she probably wouldn’t have married Danny if this wonderful lifestyle hadn’t come with it, but nobody needed to know that. Theirs was a perfect partnership – it just so happened it was a good business relationship, too. Danny got a wife and could play it straight, and Ella got the fabulous happy ever after.

‘A mechanic?’ Johnny raised his eyebrows slightly, and Ella felt a tiny twinge of something in her stomach.

‘Yes, a mechanic,’ she repeated with a smile. ‘I’m rubbish with cars.’

The tennis player laughed, and Mali stretched her body against the back of her chair. She was wearing a simple silk Chloe maxi-dress, but the thin fabric strained against her nipples, and suddenly all eyes were on her.

‘Of course, being married to a talented footballer
does
have its advantages,’ Ella continued, wanting to pull Johnny’s eyes away from Mali’s gorgeous body. ‘I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t. For example, I’ve got a great gig at
Cerise
magazine, and I’m sure that my surname helped with that. And I get to meet interesting people, and of course, appear on programmes like this.’

‘So you got a job on a magazine because of your husband?’ the author said. His face was a picture of distaste.

‘No, not exactly. It certainly helped, but I wouldn’t have been hired if I couldn’t do the job. I’m a stylist and model, which is quite different from having one of those bimbo columns about shopping.’

‘So you’re not even a writer on this magazine?’ Clement sneered. He didn’t look convinced by Ella at all, and there was tension in the studio. Johnny just sat back and watched Ella carefully.

‘Well, I write a little bit, but no, I put together high-fashion outfits based on themes. And then I model them.’

Mali and Clinton stared at her blankly, and the author rolled his eyes.

‘Let me guess: you choose subject matters such as “what can I wear to get my boyfriend to propose to me?” and then you come up with a provocative outfit for girls to wear,’ Clement knocked back his glass of champagne and challenged her with a glare.

‘It’s a bit like that, yes, but hopefully more intelligent,’ Ella replied smoothly. ‘My latest outfits are about dressing so a woman feels pretty, but not as though she’s been sexually objectified by a man.’

‘Says the footballer’s wife in a designer dress that shows off her tits,’ Clement muttered, and Johnny looked at his guests nervously. This was television dynamite, and Ella wondered if he was going to ask the director to stop filming for a second. She didn’t want him to. She knew how to stand up for herself.

‘Yes, says the footballer’s wife,’ Ella said calmly. ‘But you shouldn’t let the fact I’m married to a sportsman influence your opinion of me. You wouldn’t do the same to Clinton’s wife, would you?’ she said, gesturing to the tennis player, who seemed to want to duck out of the crossfire. The author looked like he was about to say something, but Ella wasn’t about to give him the chance.

‘Now, I’m not going to talk any more about my article or my work, because I don’t think you’ll give me a chance. You’ve stereotyped me and written me off without getting to know me, and I don’t see why I should bother to change your mind. You think I’m a dumb clothes horse who only thinks about make-up and dresses, and if that makes you feel more secure about yourself, so be it.’

There was silence around the table for a moment, and Ella wondered if she’d gone too far. Every so often she got a bit too defensive about being married to a footballer, and probably said things she shouldn’t have. She’d lost it once with Stacey before she’d married Danny, and if she’d done it this time – on a show with eight million viewers! – Aaron would not be impressed.

Johnny coughed quietly, and then smiled. His first evening TV show was going to be compulsory viewing. ‘If thinking about dresses all the time makes you a clothes horse, well, I must be one too . . . Because I’ve been thinking about your dress all evening, Ella. It’s been driving me wild.’

Ella grinned at him. The tension had broken, and Johnny Cooper had flirted with her again. She may not have wanted him to do it, and may have hated how sleazy he seemed when he stripped her naked with his eyes, but God, it felt good when he did.

There was a knock on the dressing room door, and Ella turned, pulling on a grey Donna Karan waterfall cardigan over her tight black tee. She’d taken off her dress, her shoes, and the heavy television make-up, and she felt happy and relaxed.

‘I just wanted to say thanks for coming on the show,’ Johnny remarked, and Ella smiled at him. He was a complete flirt, and she thought he was hot, but there was no danger there. Johnny flirted with everyone, and it was probably why he was so successful.

‘Thanks for inviting me, I had a great time.’

‘Even though Clement was a complete asshole to you?’

Ella laughed. ‘Especially because Clement was a complete asshole. I got to stand up for myself on television, and hopefully prove to people that I’m more than Danny’s piece of arm-candy.’

Johnny walked behind Ella and helped her with her cardigan, which had been falling off her shoulder.

‘You’re nobody’s arm-candy,’ he said softly, and as he touched Ella’s back with his hands, she felt that twinge in her stomach again. This time she knew it would be harder to ignore. But she
had
to. She couldn’t risk what she had with Danny for this.

She stepped away from Johnny and smiled as brightly as she could.

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘It means a lot to know you think that too.’

There was an awkward pause between them, and for a moment they just stared at each other. Johnny’s gaze trailed over Ella’s face and body and then, before she could stop him, he was kissing her. His soft lips brushed against hers, his hands trailed down the sides of her body and gently touched her breasts, and suddenly, she was pulled against him, and they were kissing furiously. Endlessly.

‘I can’t do this,’ Ella gasped, as she forced herself away from Johnny. ‘I’m married. I can’t do this.’

Johnny simply shrugged. ‘You don’t love him,’ he said, almost casually. ‘I know you don’t love him, because you don’t look at him like you look at me.’

Ella let out a little laugh of frustration. This was ridiculous. This was only the second time she’d met Johnny Cooper, and he thought he knew her? Thought that she didn’t love Danny?

‘And how do you think I look at you?’ she asked. Her voice shocked her – it was higher than normal, and she sounded stressed.

‘You look at me with a mixture of contempt and passion. Like you hate me, that you can’t stand to be near me . . . but at the same time you can’t bear to be without me.’

Johnny sounded so matter-of-fact, so blasé about it, that Ella felt a chill run through her body. Did he make a habit of this? Did he regularly go around seducing married women?

‘That’s not true at all,’ Ella said finally, her voice trembling slightly. She knew she was lying, but she was determined not to give in to this man. She’d known from the moment she’d first seen him that he was trouble, and she was right.

Johnny smiled. ‘Just you wait and see, princess,’ he said knowingly. ‘But if you don’t fantasise about me when you’re in bed with your husband, I’ll definitely be surprised.’

Ella’s mouth dropped open. This man was so smug and infuriating.

‘If I’m thinking about you in bed, it will be with my husband, and we’ll be laughing about you coming onto me and getting it so wrong,’ she said finally.

Johnny raised his eyebrow again. He looked good when he did that, and he knew it.

‘I’ll see you soon,’ he said, as he stood in the doorway to the dressing room. ‘But next time, it won’t be on a set in a studio. You’ll be in my house, and in my bed. Just you wait and see.’

Chapter Seven

‘Aaron rang while you were sleeping,’ Danny said conversationally as he walked into Ella’s bedroom carrying a delicate silver tray. It was the second morning in a row that Ella hadn’t wanted to get up, so it was also the second morning in a row that Danny had brought her breakfast in bed. She gazed at the tray listlessly. There were all her favourites – pain au chocolat, strawberries, freshly squeezed orange juice, and hazelnut-flavoured coffee. But she didn’t want it. She didn’t want any of it.

Ella forced herself to sit up against her eiderdown pillows. When she’d first seen her bedroom, she’d been seduced by how beautiful it was. A huge bed was swathed in gorgeously soft Egyptian cotton sheets, the walls were the palest pink, and creamy silk curtains fluttered against the windows. An antique French dressing table and mirror sat on one side of the room, and on the other was a beautifully carved Moroccan screen. When she’d seen some in Thailand she’d desperately wanted to ship one home, but her backpacking budget meant she couldn’t afford it. Months later, Danny had remembered how much she’d loved them, and had bought her a screen more stunning than any she’d ever seen. Every time she looked at it she was reminded that her husband treated her like a princess.

Now though, in her gloom, her bedroom felt a little like an impersonal hotel room. She suddenly longed for her old bedroom, the one she’d had before she’d broken up with Fin and gone travelling. She wished she hadn’t binned all her stuff before she went travelling – her Indian wall hangings, and her beat-up furniture from flea markets. It may have been cheap and cheerful, but it had been
hers
.

‘Aaron’s always phoning, and it feels like you’re always announcing it like he’s the bloody Messiah or something,’ Ella said dully, as she rubbed sleep from her eyes. She knew she was being rude, but she just felt so down. She had done ever since she’d kissed Johnny Cooper. She’d managed to contain it, to keep it to herself, but when
Cooper’s Kingdom
had aired that Friday she’d sunk even lower. Just seeing Johnny on screen, with her, was a reminder of how much she was attracted to him, and how alive she became in his presence. They sizzled. She could no longer lie to herself and pretend that she didn’t want him. Because of course she did. She had done the moment she’d met him at the Putto launch.

Danny raised an eyebrow at his sullen wife, but he chose to ignore her tone. ‘The ratings for
Cooper’s Kingdom
are in, and the programme’s a hit. It got twelve million viewers, and apparently that just doesn’t happen any more, not even for
EastEnders
. Anyway, the producers phoned Aaron as soon as they found out and, well . . . we’ve got some amazing news for you. If this doesn’t cheer you up nothing will.’

Ella wanted to wince at Danny’s excited tone, but she caught herself just in time. Even though he was secretly with Yves, and they didn’t have any sort of sexual or romantic relationship, she didn’t really feel that she could tell Danny about her feelings for Johnny. She supposed that admitting that she wanted to be with another man would feel like a betrayal, and that if he knew about it, Danny would worry that their marriage was threatened – and that was the last thing she wanted.

Yet she wanted Johnny.

She wanted that passion.

Ella’s whole body ached for Johnny, and during the long nights she curled up in lust, desperate for his touch, his kisses, his cock. But during the day she hated him. She wished she’d never met him and wished her body wasn’t reacting so strongly to him, and ruining what was meant to be her happy ever after with Danny.

She had to stop thinking about him, and fast.

‘So what’s this amazing news?’ Ella asked.

Danny sat on the edge of the bed and put the tray down as he struggled to contain his excitement. ‘Well,’ he began, ‘like I said, the producers of the programme phoned Aaron to tell him about the ratings, but they also wanted to see if you’d be interested in presenting a new TV show for them!’

Ella sat up straight as adrenaline started pumping through her body. ‘What?’ she gasped. ‘What did you say?’

Danny laughed. ‘The producers of the show loved you so much that they want to make you a TV presenter, babe! How awesome is that?’

‘Oh my God, oh my God!’ Ella yelled, and she jumped out of bed and began pacing the room. Her bare feet brushed lightly against the sheepskin rugs dotted around the stripped hardwood floor, and suddenly she was in luxury again, not hell. Johnny Cooper and his kiss had been banished from her mind.

‘You’re kidding, aren’t you? Wow . . . that’s amazing.’

‘The producers said, and I quote, that you are “a natural on screen”, and that you “sparkle with a combination of your dynamite looks, conversational ability and gutsy opinions”.’ Danny looked at his wife with a satisfied smile. ‘They want you, babe. It was like your appearance on
Cooper’s Kingdom
was a screen test, and you won the audition!’

Ella sat back down on the bed and took a sip of orange juice to try and steady her nerves. Wow.

‘I know you said that amazing things would happen to me once we got married, but I can’t believe this is happening,’ Ella whispered, and she flung her arms around her husband. ‘This is so brilliant. What else did Aaron say?’

‘Well, he said he had to run it past you to confirm, but that you’d adore the opportunity to present on TV . . . and that you’d love to work with those producers again. He also said to give his congratulations to you, and that he knew that appearing on that show was the right thing for your career . . . Oh, and that he’s found someone named Nash Barnwell who he wants to manage you.’

Ella sighed in pleasure. She had the perfect husband, the perfect home, and now her career was going into orbit – and Aaron had hired a manager who was going to look after her! Exclusively!

‘I should phone him to say thank you and set up a meeting with this Nash guy,’ Ella murmured. ‘Oh, and find out more about the show, too! Do you know what it’s about?’