Master of Fortune by Katherine Garbera Page B

to normal footing with him.
    “Great. Steph is in the studio and I think she needs some direction.”
    “I’d love to hear her tracks. I’m sure they are really good.”
    “She gets nervous in the studio. She likes having an audience and without one she kind of shuts down.”
    Henry drove them to the studios that Steph was using in East London. When they got there, everyone was bustling around, and Henry moved off to talk to Steph.
    Astrid stood to the side, feeling as though she didn’t fit in. She had worked in the music industry for years but she’d never sat in on a session with an artist. Daniel had said she’d just be in the way and now she realized she was. There wasn’t anything for her to do but sit in the corner and sip her coffee.
    Henry was in his element, though, and she saw now that he had a gift when it came to saying the right things. Before long Steph was singing, and the sounds were better than her live shows.
    She wondered if Henry just intuitively knew what to say to all women. Were the things he’d said last night just lines? Had she fallen for a man who was willing to say whatever he had to to get results?
    Fallen? Was she starting to care about Henry? She knew the answer was yes. She realized now that had happened the minute he’d kissed her at her flat the first night he’d taken her home.
    The recording studio wasn’t too crowded—the only people there were Steph’s manager and her mother, who Astrid took a few minutes to chat with. In the control booth were Conan McNeil and Tomas Jimenez, the producer and the sound mixer for this project.
    Tomas had been going through a rough patch lately, with his wife leaving him for another man. Unfortunately Tomas hadn’t been leaving his problems at the door and Astrid heard the sound of raised voices and saw that Conan was arguing with Tomas.
    Henry stepped over to get in the mix and Astrid followed, wanting to make sure things didn’t get out of hand.
    “If you are too drunk to operate a mixing board then you need to go home,” she heard Henry say from across the room.
    Astrid walked over to him. He was definitely mad and not afraid to show his temper. “Tomas needs a cab.”
    “I will call one for him,” Astrid said.
    Tomas glared at Henry. “You can’t make me go home.”
    “You’re right, I can’t. But I can make sure you don’t work until you clean up your act. Astrid, escort him out to the lobby.”
    She nodded and took Tomas by the arm, but he jerked away from her. His arms were swinging as he turned to confront Henry, and he hit her in the chest. The blow was solid and knocked her back against the wall where she hit her head.
    “Ouch!”
    Henry advanced on Tomas, his anger evident on his face.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit her,” Tomas said, backing away.
    “Out!” Henry pointed to the door and Tomas left without another word.
    “Are you okay?” Henry asked, coming to her side.
    “Fine. My head is a little sore, but I’m fine.”
    Henry hugged her close for a second but stepped away as soon as the door to the sound booth opened again and Duncan, one of Henry’s producers, walked in.
    As he went to talk to the man, she wondered if Henry was hiding his relationship with her. She hoped not. She’d been Daniel’s secret lover and that had ended horribly. She didn’t want to make the same mistakes with Henry.



Eight
    A strid stopped in the corner shop on her way to work for some headache tablets. All the late nights she’d been keeping with Henry were causing her to lose sleep. She smiled at Ahmed as she entered. He’d been running this shop since she moved here, and he always greeted her warmly.
    “You are getting famous,” Ahmed said. “Will you still shop here for much longer?”
    She shook her head. “Stop being funny. I’m not famous and you are my favorite corner store.”
    She picked up a bottle of water, and as she went to the front to get her headache tablets, she saw on the cover of Hello!