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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 (#ulink_b81368f2-5bcc-5cea-a0d1-0a3a0ea56d98)
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.’
His mouth twisted as he stood up, his hands thrust into the back pockets of his denims. ‘I made the connection later between Richard and Richard James. Everyone has heard of him, seen him too. He isn’t exactly an elusive figure in the City, is he?’ Jared added mockingly.
‘Whether he is or isn’t is not important, the fact that I wear his ring is,’ she snapped.
‘Wear it again, don’t you mean?’ he drawled.
Kate frowned. ‘I don’t know what you mean …’
Jared gave a deep shrug. ‘When we met you had an indentation on that finger, as if from wearing a ring. Did you and James fall out, is that the reason you buried yourself in that hotel?’
She turned away. Jared was much more observant than she had given him credit for; she hadn’t realised he had noticed that patch of slightly paler skin on her wedding finger. But that hadn’t been from wearing Richard’s ring, she had accepted that for the first time tonight.
‘Well, is he?’
She spun round quickly as she realised how close Jared was standing, and stepped back with a frown. ‘No, he isn’t, and no, we didn’t! My reasons for being at the hotel are none of your business—–’
‘Then why did you remove his ring?’ Jared pursued relentlessly. ‘Taking the week off, were you? Having a little affair on the side?’
‘No, I wasn’t!’ Her eyes flashed her indignation. ‘Richard and I weren’t engaged then.’
Jared clasped her hand, turning it over to look at the thick platinum band. ‘No,’ he acknowledged softly. ‘The mark on your finger was thinner than this ring could have made.’ He looked up at her with a frown. ‘You wore another man’s ring here?’
She snatched her hand away, glaring at him. ‘I don’t have to tell you anything!’
He whistled softly through his even white teeth. ‘It was another man. Katharine Mary, you surprise me.’
‘Why?’ Her tone was bitter at the gentle mockery in the deliberately Irish lilt to his voice as he said her name.
‘You don’t appear to be an indecisive woman, in fact the opposite, and here you are changing fiancés like you would a blouse!’
Kate eyed him with suspicion, but his expression remained deliberately bland. ‘Are you laughing at me?’ she asked slowly.
He grinned suddenly, one of those wide boyish grins that gave him such a rakish air. ‘Whatever gave you that idea?’
Her anger boiled up to gigantic proportions. ‘What’s so funny about my previous fiancé turning out to be a louse, and the fact that Richard is one of the most powerful and richest men in London?’
‘It’s an inside joke,’ Jared taunted lightly. ‘You wouldn’t get it at all.’
‘I don’t!’ she snapped.
He shrugged. ‘I told you you wouldn’t.’
Kate gave an impatient sigh. ‘Will you just get out of here,’ she said wearily, ‘and take your Irish wit with you.’
‘Oh, I’m not Irish,’ he ignored her first request. ‘My father was, but I’m strictly English.’
‘In that case you spend little enough time here!’ she derided his need to travel.
He nodded. ‘I intend changing all that. In fact, I could just decide to settle in one place.’
‘I’m sure the social services will be relieved!’
‘Hm?’ Jared looked puzzled.
‘They’ll have a permanent address to send your dole money to!’
A smile quirked the firmness of his lips. ‘Again you surprise me, Katharine Mary. You were a little abrupt when we first met, but I don’t remember you being downright nasty.’
She met his gaze in challenge. ‘Well, now you know. And stop calling me Katharine Mary; my name is Kate.’
‘To your friends,’ he acknowledged. ‘I wasn’t sure I still came in that category.’
‘You don’t,’ she told him crossly. ‘But I haven’t been called Katharine since I was at school.’
‘I think I prefer it,’ he said thoughtfully.
She gave him a saccharine-sweet smile. ‘Isn’t it a pity your preferences don’t interest me!’
He gave a wry laugh. ‘I once told you I like your quick mind,’ he grimaced. ‘But I can tell you now that it’s starting to wear a bit thin, with those snide remarks of yours. Perhaps I prefer women without intelligence after all.’
‘I’m glad to hear it,’ she scorned. ‘I’m sure you’ve had a lot of experience with them. Now if you wouldn’t mind, we’ve been talking for over an hour; I’d like to get to bed.’
‘Good idea,’ he nodded cheerfully.
