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She avoided his gaze. ‘There’s nothing to tell.’
‘You come from London.’
‘So do you,’ she guessed in return. ‘So what are you doing here?’
‘It’s off-season—–’
‘And the rates are lower,’ she finished derisively.
‘There is that,’ he grinned. ‘Although I was going to say there were fewer people.’
‘Of course you were,’ she mocked.
‘Don’t you get tired carrying that around with you?’ He looked at her consideringly.
This time she was ready for him. ‘The scowl or the chip on my shoulder?’ she asked with sarcasm.
He began to smile, then he chuckled, and finally he laughed. ‘I like a woman with a quick mind.’
‘Only a quick mind?’ she heard herself asking, putting the glass of brandy down with a shaking hand as she realised the brandy on an empty stomach was starting to make her head swim. She hadn’t wanted her food earlier, and the glow spreading through her body reminded her of that fact. ‘I think perhaps I should go—–’
He stayed her with his hand on her arm. ‘Don’t,’ he said huskily. ‘Stay,’ he encouraged softly. ‘Tell me your name.’
Why shouldn’t she stay and talk to him? Brian certainly wouldn’t be pining away for her. Brian. She had tried not to think of him today, and she felt sure this handsome man with the devil in his eyes could help her to continue not to think of him.
She picked up her glass and drank some more of the brandy, feeling her recklessness grow with each mouthful. ‘My name is Kate,’ she told him throatily.
‘Just Kate?’ He raised dark brows.
‘Just Kate,’ she nodded, deciding there was no reason for him to know anything else about her.
He smiled. ‘Then I’m just Jared.’
‘That suits me. Would you like another drink?’ she offered after swallowing down the last of her brandy.
‘An independent woman, hmm?’
‘Very much so,’ she agreed tautly.
He sat back in a relaxed pose. ‘Then I’d love another drink.’
Kate never knew afterwards how much she had had to drink during the evening, or quite what they talked about, but suddenly it was after eleven and Jared was suggesting walking her back to her room. Only he didn’t want to leave her at the door, and it had nothing to do with the brandy that she invited him in.
The double bed that dominated the room added intimacy to the moment, and Jared seemed to become aware of it at the same time she did, their gazes locking and holding, the move into each other’s arms made simultaneously, their lips meeting in a quest for mutual need, for forgetfulness on Kate’s part.
She had known the moment he identified himself on the beach that the evening was going to end this way, knowing a need to feel wanted, to feel a woman, to know that it had nothing to do with her own attraction that had so suddenly changed Brian towards her.
What she hadn’t been prepared for had been her reaction to a man she only knew as Jared! Brian was the man she loved, but even he had only made her feel contented in her response to him, her real pleasure being in knowing she had pleased him. This man wasn’t prepared to settle for contentment, his lips and hands ravaging her body in a fiery quest, taking her higher than she had ever wanted to go before.
Jared didn’t rush a thing; each inch of her body was given his own brand of lovemaking, encouraging Kate to know each tautly muscled line of his body in return, their bodies finally melting together in such accord that she gasped at the pleasure of it, measuring the movements of her body to the smooth thrusts of Jared’s, clutching on to the dampness of his shoulders as she arched into him in gasping ecstasy.
Jared had been insatiable that night, and for two more days and another night too, and while in his arms Kate hadn’t been able to think of anything but him. She had let him take control of her life for the time she was with him, hadn’t wanted to think of the reason she had come to the hotel in the first place, or of the lonely weeks ahead of her when she returned to London. She hadn’t wanted to think of Brian either, or of the way he had hurt her. And she hadn’t; she had given herself completely to Jared for the time they were together.
But the time for her to leave had arrived all too quickly, and with it the fact that she was Katharine Collier, the twenty-four-year-old owner of an up-and-coming advertising agency, and certainly beyond a clandestine affair with a man who didn’t look as if he had ever worn a dinner suit in his life.
They had talked little during their time together, preferring to communicate with their bodies, and when Jared had asked to see her once he had returned to London she hadn’t known what to say. Jared had proved himself to be an intelligent man, with a lively sense of humour, and a sensitivity that often made her cry out for mercy—a mercy she neither desired or was ever granted. But he was far removed from her life in London, and the thought of seeing him again there wasn’t something she wanted.
That last day together they had lunched together in the dining-room, the staff politely ignoring the fact that they hadn’t been seen for two days and serving them quietly and efficiently. But Jared’s desire to see her when they returned to London made her wish that the meal was over and she were driving back to London.
‘I’ll be very busy for the next few weeks,’ she said awkwardly. ‘This holiday was unexpected, and I won’t have time for socialising when I get back.’
‘Who said anything about socialising?’ He gave her a wicked grin, the eyes that could caress at a glance glowing with humour as he held her hand across the table. ‘I like having you all to myself.’
She pulled her hand out from under his. ‘I won’t have time for that either,’ she made her tone casual. ‘I’m a working girl, remember?’
‘And I’m sure you’re excellent at it, darling.’ He had taken to using the endearment during their time together, and he did it so naturally, casually, that Kate couldn’t possibly object. ‘But I won’t be in London for several months yet myself; I have work of my own to do first.’
Her eyes widened. ‘You do?’
‘Yes,’ he laughed at her surprised expression. ‘I don’t spend all my time making love to beautiful ladies. I have to earn a living too.’
‘How?’ She was interested in spite of herself.
‘By my wits, mainly.’
His answer didn’t surprise her. Jared had spent the last two days with her without thought or excuse to anyone, and when they had bothered to dress it had been informally, always denims and a casual shirt for Jared, not even a trace of the formal about the man who had been her lover for the last two days. He was a drifter, a man who admitted to living on his wits; he didn’t fit in with her London lifestyle at all.
‘What do you intend doing that will keep you away from London?’ She pretended interest in a way of life that was totally alien to her.
He shrugged. ‘I’ll be in North America for the next few months. I have—Why don’t you come with me?’ he suggested with sudden excitement. ‘Why didn’t I think of it before? We don’t have to part now, we could—Yes?’ he looked up as a waiter appeared quietly beside their table.
‘For you, Mr Rourke.’ The man held out a tray with a message lying on its surface. He stood silently beside them waiting for a reply as Jared read the message.
Jared scanned the words with impatience. ‘Damn,’ he muttered before turning to face Kate. ‘I have to go and make a call—do you mind?’
‘Not at all,’ she smiled, very conscious of the still-hovering waiter.
‘We’ll talk about North America when I get back.’ He stood up to place a light kiss on her lips. ‘I don’t intend letting you escape me, Katharine Mary Collins.’
She had smiled tautly until he was out of the room, then she had sprung into action, hurriedly leaving the dining-room to pay her bill and collect her luggage, leaving the hotel before Jared realised she had gone, little dreaming that he would trace Kate Collins back to Kate Collier, never dreaming that he would want to.
What she had done, spending two days with a complete stranger, was out of character for her, an impetuous need for emotional reassurance after Brian had let her down so callously, but she doubted it was out of character for Jared. There was an experience about him that couldn’t be denied, a knowledge of women that had been infinitely satisfying but which spoke of relationships with many different women. At the thirty-four she knew him to be that wasn’t surprising, but she had known only one man before him, the man who had been the reason for her need to get away from London and all the well-meaning friends who would pity her to her face and laugh at her behind her back. What Brian had done, using her until someone more useful came along, was one of the oldest tricks in the book; and she had been so much in love she hadn’t even realised what he was doing.
But Jared Rourke wasn’t really her type, he had just been available when she needed him, and she didn’t want to see him again. Once he was ‘living on his wits’ in North America he would realise she wasn’t his type either.
She had really thought Jared would realise that, that she would never see him again. She certainly hadn’t expected him to turn up at her flat, and not tonight of all nights. He had almost ruined everything. He still could; she doubted she had seen the last of Jared Rourke—even if he had gone to see Gill!
She couldn’t believe he actually had the audacity to go through with that—could she? She could believe anything of him! She could even believe he would persuade Gill into believing she knew him …!
‘Darling?’
She turned to find Richard frowning at her. They had stopped at the restaurant and the doorman was waiting for them to get out of the car. ‘Sorry,’ Kate forced a bright smile, dragging herself back to the present, to the man at her side, the man she had decided to marry. ‘I’m hungry, aren’t you?’ she prompted lightly, stepping out of the car.
She swept into the restaurant at Richard’s side, aware that they attracted considerable attention as they moved through the room to their table. Richard was a well-known personality in the City. And she knew that some of the attention was directed at her, that her elegant beauty attracted admiration. It wasn’t ego that told her this, it was Richard himself. He had a reputation for escorting only beautiful women, and they had been seeing each other for almost two months now.
‘Champagne,’ he ordered imperiously of the wine waiter as he came to take their order, selecting a good year automatically, his knowledge of wines being as polished as the rest of him. ‘To us,’ he toasted her with warm brown eyes once their champagne had been poured. ‘You realise you’ve made me the happiest man in London?’
‘Only in London?’ she taunted huskily.
‘In the whole world,’ he laughed softly, reaching into the pocket of his black dinner jacket to pull out a small black velvet ring-box. ‘Can I place this ring on your finger, darling?’ He opened the box to reveal a huge diamond set on a platinum band.
For only a brief moment Kate hesitated, then she held out her hand, putting both Brian and Jared out of her mind as Richard placed the ring on the third finger of her left hand.
CHAPTER TWO
RICHARD JAMES had become a customer of her agency six months ago, and had begun to pursue her immediately, the advertising they were doing for his numerous high-class clothing stores for women giving him a good excuse for seeing Kate often.
But six months ago Brian Linton had been very much a part of her life, and her rebuffs to Richard, although polite, had been exactly that.
But she had made a decision three months ago, and she had stuck to it. Brian had found himself a rich woman to marry, so she would marry well too. When she got back to London three months ago Richard had been in Europe on a promotional tour, but as soon as he returned last month she had shown him, without being too obvious, that she was no longer averse to his attentions. With a sophistication she had soon learnt was second nature to him he had begun a slow wooing, starting with flowers and small gifts, working up to the suggestion of a casual evening together to discuss his advertising. The subject of advertising hadn’t been mentioned once during the whole evening, and when he asked to see her again she had willingly agreed. The wooing no longer went slowly after that. Yesterday he had asked her to marry him, and once again Kate hadn’t hesitated.
She hadn’t allowed for the fact that Jared might demand readmission to her life. Richard was well aware of the fact that she and Brian had been intimate—at twenty-four he didn’t demand virginity from her!—but she doubted he would understand her affair with Jared. Was Jared the type to kiss and tell? She didn’t think so, although if he made any more unexpected appearances at her flat like tonight Richard might become suspicious of the fact that Jared was looking for Gill at all. If he came back—and Kate felt sure he would—she would just have to make sure he understood that their time together meant nothing to her, that she didn’t want to see him again. Richard was the man in her life now, and he would remain the only man.
‘Do you realise how happy you’ve made me?’ He held the hand that bore his ring, taking it to his lips to kiss her palm. ‘When can we be married?’
She blotted everything out of her mind but Richard and their wedding plans. ‘When would you like to be married?’
‘Tonight.’ His dark gaze held hers.
She laughed softly. ‘That’s a little too soon for me. Would next month do?’
‘If it has to,’ he grimaced. He was not the most patient of men when it came to getting something he wanted.
‘I think so, Richard.’ She was suddenly serious. ‘I told you about this new account I’m trying to acquire—I’d like to settle that before we’re married.’
‘Isn’t Melfords a little high for you to aim, darling?’ He quirked dark brows. ‘After all, it’s a multi-million-pound perfume industry.’
‘And I’m just a small not-very-well-known agency.’ She spoke the words he hadn’t. If there was one thing about Richard that annoyed her—and it was the only thing!—it was the way he liked to underestimate her work, treating her career almost like a hobby she would soon tire of. He was of the old school, a wife was to adorn his house and table, to warm his bed and body, not to go out to work or have a career of her own. But the agency was hers, she had worked it up from nothing into a successful business, and she had no intention of giving it up, not now or when they were married. ‘There was a rumour that Melfords were no longer satisfied with the work Hazeldene was doing for them. I made enquiries, and they didn’t deny the rumour. At the moment they haven’t said yes to the new ideas I sent them, but neither have they said no. The head of their advertising department told me that they’re considering them.’
‘Considering them, darling,’ Richard drawled. ‘You really mustn’t get your hopes up too high.’
Kate had told herself the same thing, but the fact that her ideas were even being considered had given her hope. If she did get the contract—and she was well aware it was only an if—then the fee she would receive for her work would make her a very rich woman in her own right. It would be the final irony if Brian had left her for nothing, if she had as much money as the rich widow he had made his wife.
‘I stand as much of a chance as anyone else,’ she told Richard confidently. ‘I have a good reputation, and some well-known and satisfied customers.’
‘But none as big as Melfords,’ he reasoned.
‘Perhaps not,’ she conceded, knowing that Richard’s own company was the largest on her books, a fact he was probably aware of too. ‘But maybe that’s why I stand a chance. All the big agencies tend to have similar ideas; I pride myself on my originality. You’re satisfied with your advertising, aren’t you, darling?’ she asked lightly.
‘Of course,’ he flushed. ‘Although I have to admit I would have given you the contract even if I weren’t; I was determined to have you from the first, Kate.’
‘Thank you,’ she smiled, although his words didn’t please her. She knew he meant to flatter, and yet in doing so he took away from her achievement as a businesswoman. ‘And now you have me, are you going to feed me?’ she mocked him.
‘Of course.’ He straightened. ‘We must celebrate our engagement properly, mustn’t we?’
And celebrate they did, going on to a club after their meal, dancing until the early hours of the morning when Kate told Richard she really would have to get home. Tomorrow was a working day for her, and although she was the boss she wasn’t just a figurehead, but took an interest in all of her clients, her personal service being part of the rapidly growing success of the agency. Clients didn’t like to feel that anyone was inaccessible to them, she had learnt over the years.
It was after two when they arrived at her flat, and Richard declined coming in for coffee, arranging to see her the following day. His decision not to come in pleased Kate; until that moment she had been unsure of what he would expect of her now that she wore his ring. From their first date she had made it clear that she had no intention of going to bed with him, and although he had respected that up to now she hadn’t been sure if it would still apply. He had clearly shown her that it did.
Her kiss goodnight was all the more passionate in her gratitude; she had decided, after the way Brian had taken advantage of her, and her impetuous time with Jared, that any other man that desired her now was going to have to marry her first. Richard was proving that he intended doing just that.
‘We’ll discuss the honeymoon tomorrow,’ he told her throatily. ‘How does a month in my bedroom sound?’
‘Only a month?’ she teased, her mouth bare of lip-gloss now, although her hair still remained in its sleek chignon, her eyes a luminous gold.
‘To start with,’ he growled. ‘After that I might let you out for short periods of time—as long as you make it up to me when you get back!’
Kate was smiling to herself as she went up to her flat. Richard had earnt his reputation as the playboy head of James Fashions, a succession of beautiful women passing through his life; she believed him when he said he intended their marriage to be a highly sensual one.
As she searched through her evening bag for her key the door suddenly swung open in front of her. Her startled gaze moved up from the bare feet, the denim-clad legs, the navy blue sweat-shirt and short leather jacket which emphasised the breadth of powerful shoulders. Lastly, the face, the ruggedly handsome face dominated by a roguish smile and laughing blue eyes, thick dark hair falling untidily over his forehead.
Jared’s presence in her flat was so unexpected that for a moment Kate was speechless, just stood there staring at him in numbed surprise.
‘You’d better come in.’ Jared grasped her arm and pulled her inside. ‘You look a little strange standing on your own doorstep in that way.’
As the door closed behind them Kate came out of her shock. This was the second time tonight that her door had opened to reveal this man—and this time he was standing on the wrong side of it! ‘What are you doing here?’ She threw her evening bag down on the side-table, the key superfluous now. ‘How did you get in?’ she glared at him furiously.
He threw himelf down into one of the armchairs, draping one of his legs over the arm, swinging his bare foot back and forth. ‘I told the caretaker I’m your brother,’ he told her cheerfully, without regret.
‘My brother?’ she exclaimed in disbelief, her eyes wide gold pools. ‘But I don’t have a brother!’
‘You do now,’ he grinned.
‘I—You—When I moved into this flat I told the management I don’t have any family here in England, least of all a brother—–’
‘You don’t?’
‘—and I consider this an invasion of my privacy. Ben had no right to let you in!’ she finished with a fierce glare.
‘Ben?’
‘The caretaker!’
‘Oh,’ Jared nodded understanding. ‘I have to tell you I was very convincing as your relative. I told him all about Great-Aunt Bertha and her recent demise.’
‘Geat-Aunt Bertha?’ she repeated dazedly. ‘But I don’t have a Great-Aunt Bertha!’
‘I know that,’ he laughed. ‘But Ben thinks you’re going to come into a considerable fortune now that she’s dead, that I’ve come here to tell you all about it. You must realise that he thought you would want to know as soon as possible that you’re a rich woman?’
‘Don’t worry,’ her mouth was tight. ‘I don’t intend making things difficult for Ben, but I will make sure he knows not to let in my long-lost brother again,’ she derided. ‘Do you realise how awkward this could have been if I’d brought Richard up with me?’
He shrugged. ‘I watched out of the window, he drove off as soon as you entered the building.’
Kate sighed her displeasure. ‘You have no right to be here. Didn’t I make it plain enough earlier this evening, I don’t want to see you again?’ She was breathing hard in her agitation.
Jared nodded. ‘I did seem to detect a certain amount of reluctance on your part. But I had nowhere else to go, and Gill was already otherwise engaged.’
So she had been right about the man in the Lamborghini! ‘So that’s the reason you came back.’ She stood over his chair. ‘I don’t want you here, Jared. There, is that plain enough for you?’ she derided with sarcasm. ‘We spent a couple of days together several months ago and you think that allows you to intrude on my life now, to coming into my home like this. Well, let me tell you—–’
‘Tell me later, Kate,’ he encouraged throatily, one hand grasping her wrist as he pulled her easily down into the chair with him. ‘God, you’re more beautiful than ever,’ he groaned before his mouth claimed hers, the pressure of his body above hers forcing her back into the chair.
She didn’t want to respond to him, knew that she should push him away, and yet at her first tentative rejection of him her mouth began to part under his, her arms moving up about his neck as her fingers became entangled in the thick dark hair at his nape.
‘Beautiful,’ he murmured against her throat, slipping the silver jacket from her shoulders to seek out the hollows there, his lips trailing a fire down to the curve of her breasts, his hands on her hips drawing her in to him, telling her of his arousal.
As she gazed down at the dark head below her, felt his lips at her breasts, she knew this was wrong, and she pushed at his chest in earnest now, fighting the languor that was coursing through her body.
‘What is it?’ Jared looked up at her with bewildered eyes, his sensual arousement obvious in their smoky blue depths. ‘What’s wrong, darling?’ He cupped either side of her face with his long sensitive hands as he searched her face.
‘I don’t want you here!’ Kate managed to struggle up from the chair and stood up, her breasts heaving beneath the black dress in her agitation. ‘You see this,’ her left hand shook as she held it out to him, the diamond in her ring sparkling its possession. ‘This means I belong to another man!’
‘Richard James?’ His voice was soft, dangerously so, the laughing blue eyes suddenly watchful.
She searched the rugged features warily, suddenly conscious of his change of mood, of the steel in his nature she hadn’t even believed possible. So far in their acquaintance Jared had given her the impression that little angered or annoyed him, that he lived a pretty easygoing existence, working when he needed to, not bothering when he didn’t, and yet at this moment he did look angry, his eyes narrowed, his nostrils flared, his mouth a taut line, the jaw beneath this rigid with tension.
What right did he have to be angry, what right did he have to be here at all! He was a drifter, a man without ties or commitment, what could he possibly give her, except the same heartache she had known in the past?
‘How did you know his name?’ she questioned haughtily. ‘You didn’t know him earlier.’