Savage Interlude
Carole Mortimer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

‘YOU had no right to do it, James. No right at all!’ Kate smoothed back her almost waist-length hair, now pulled back and secured on the top of her head, the gold flecks in her brown eyes more vivid in her anger. ‘Why must you always interfere?’ she demanded.

James looked up from the script he had been casually perusing, a faint smile to his cynical lips. ‘I had every right, Kate. Humphries is not for you.’ He threw the script down on the sofa beside him.

Tears filled her eyes. ‘No one will be for me if you carry on like this. As fast as I become interested in someone you effectively get rid of him.’ She sat down dejectedly in the chair, throwing one bare leg over the arm.

He snorted with laughter, getting up to refill his glass with a liberal amount of whisky. ‘You’re only eighteen, Kate dear. Stop trying to latch on to the first man you meet. You have plenty of time to meet the man of your dreams,’ his lip turned back in a sneer, ‘you don’t have to rush it.’

Kate pouted sulkily. ‘But I really liked, Nigel. He could be fun.’

James shrugged. ‘Can’t they all? And take that sulky look off your face. Damien Savage will be here soon, and with you glowering at him like that he isn’t likely to stay long.’

‘Good,’ she returned childishly. ‘Who wants to meet Damien Savage anyway?’

‘I do,’ he told her dryly. ‘This film script isn’t bad.’

‘Up to your standard, brother dear?’ she taunted.

He frowned his displeasure at her flippancy. ‘I’ll stop you seeing Susan if you don’t stop picking up her mannerisms,’ he warned darkly. ‘And don’t call me brother, you know I don’t like to advertise the fact that we’re related.’

‘Neither did your father,’ she put in shortly.

‘Our father,’ he corrected.

‘Mm, that was a closely guarded secret until he died.’

‘Stop grouching,’ he grinned. ‘He made provision for you in his will, didn’t he?’

‘Oh, yes. And dragged me from obscurity into a life of gaiety. Like hell he did!’ she added fiercely. ‘He forced you to accept me into your life, took me away from the people I knew, and now half the people we know think I’m little more than your—–’

‘Calm down, Kate! My—our—father was a much respected man in the business world, and I’m not exactly unknown myself. And there’s my mother to think of. What do you think it would do to her if it came out that her husband had fathered you?’

‘It wouldn’t help your reputation much either,’ she grimaced. ‘So in the meantime everyone thinks I’m your mistress, woman, whatever.’

‘And they think I’m a cradle-snatcher. What the hell, I couldn’t give a damn about what people think. It does me no harm to be thought to have my mistress in residence, none at all. And this way I can protect and look after you as our father intended.’

‘So I’ve noticed. For the past two years, since I insisted on leaving that dreadful boarding school you sent me to, I haven’t been able to do anything, see anyone without your say-so. It’s so restricting!’

‘Now come on, Kate. You aren’t exactly deprived of meeting people. Look at the crowd we have this weekend.’

‘All of them your friends,’ she flashed back at him. ‘The distinguished, the famous, the handsome, the notorious James St Just. You’ve appeared in so many films that have been shown all over the world that we can’t go anywhere or do anything together without you being recognised.’

‘You knew that when you demanded to be taken away from school.’

‘Yes, but I didn’t ask to come and live with you instead. I thought the school was bad, but this place is like a prison in comparison!’

‘Don’t exaggerate. You have everything you could wish for here—clothes, money, friends. You want for nothing.’

‘Except love.’

He laughed at her woebegone face. ‘I love you, funnyface. What more can you want?’

‘Indeed,’ drawled a voice behind them, the faint American accent only slightly noticeable. ‘It would appear that Miss Darwood has what numerous women in the world would gladly give up everything else for.’

‘What the hell—–!’ James sprang to his feet, turning to face the intruder. ‘No one is allowed in this part of the house—Damien! By all that’s holy! But I told Jennings to show you out to the pool when you arrived.’

Green eyes narrowed. ‘I didn’t come all this way to be fobbed off to the pool with your other guests. I’m sorry I interrupted your těte-à-těte with Miss Darwood, but I have a limited time in England, and all of it accounted for.’

The voice was attractive enough, deep and faintly husky, but what he was saying wasn’t. And the contempt in those deep green eyes wasn’t very pleasant either. Kate had seen numerous photographs of this famous man, but no photograph could do him justice. It couldn’t begin to hint at his height, well over six feet, or the blackness of his hair, and the deep emerald of his eyes. His face was deeply tanned as if he enjoyed being out in the sun, his features harsh, from the thinned contemptuous lips, the taut aquiline nose, to the deep lines grooved either side of that satanic face.

‘Come in, come in,’ James invited, unperturbed by this man’s terseness. ‘Of course you don’t have to go to the pool if you don’t want to. Can I offer you a drink?’

‘Whisky will be fine,’ Damien Savage nodded consent.

James poured out the whisky for his guest himself. ‘I’ve read the script, Damien. I like it.’

The film director looked at Kate pointedly. ‘Could we discuss this somewhere more private? The script is not for the public yet.’

‘Kate isn’t the public,’ James laughed. ‘I have no secrets from her, you can talk quite freely.’

‘Nevertheless I would prefer that we spoke alone.’

James shrugged. ‘Would you mind, Kate?’

She looked from her brother to the arrogant face of Damien Savage. ‘But I—–’

‘Please, Kate.’ Her brother’s eyes were pleading.

She glared at Damien Savage. Damn his arrogant face! He walked in here looking like the devil himself, dressed completely in black from head to foot, and proceeded to order everyone about. Well, she would do as James asked this time, but if that man dared to order her about again, she would …

‘All right,’ she agreed ungraciously. ‘I’ll see you later, James.’ She deliberately ignored Damien Savage, but from the bland look on his face that didn’t bother him in the slightest.

She swayed gracefully out of the room, well aware that her perfect figure was shown to advantage in the pale green bikini she wore. What an arrogant devil that Damien Savage was! His importance as one of the leading film directors in the world must have gone to his head. Goodness knows James was famous enough in his own right, but even he had seemed rather overawed by the man’s dominating personality.

‘Kate darling,’ Sheri greeted with her low American drawl. ‘Where’s James?’

Kate sat down next to the tall junoesque Sheri, admiring the other girl’s cool blonde beauty. Her own red hair often led to her losing the fiery temper that went with that hair, no matter how she tried to prevent it happening. She had been having another heated argument with James only minutes earlier, about his ruling concerning her friends. In fact, it hadn’t yet been settled, Damien Savage had seen to that. Damn the man! With James in his rare good humour of the last few days she could perhaps have managed to make him change his mind about Nigel. Who knew what his mood would be like the next time she saw him?

‘He’s inside,’ she told Sheri. ‘With Damien Savage.’

‘Damien’s arrived?’ Sheri’s blue eyes lit up excitedly.

Kate grimaced. ‘Oh, he’s arrived all right. Sweeping all before him.’

Sheri gave a husky laugh. ‘That sounds like Damien. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly.’

‘Are you saying I’m a fool?’ Kate demanded indignantly.

‘Oh dear, has he upset you already?’

‘You say that as if he does it often.’ Kate looked at the other girl interestedly. She had only ever seen newspaper reports about Damien Savage’s women friends and what a brilliant director he was, nothing about the rest of his life. But there had been plenty about the women in his life; he always seemed to be involved with one leading lady or another.

‘He’s very—blunt,’ Sheri told her.

‘You’ve met him before?’ she couldn’t help her interest.

‘Mm,’ Sheri sipped her lime juice, ‘at a couple of James’ parties in London. He’s very good-looking, and so masterful.’

‘I can think of a few other choice words to describe him. I don’t like him at all. And James surprised me, he more or less let him walk in and take over.’

‘You do that with Damien. And to appear in one of his movies is to guarantee success, and you know how James loves success. Damien never fails. I think it’s all to do with the fact that he writes them as well as directing them. He’s brilliant, everyone accepts that.’

‘Oh, I admit he’s clever, I’ve never denied that. But does he have to be so bossy with it. I didn’t—–’

‘James!’ Sheri stood up to greet him, pursing her lips to receive his kiss. She hugged his arm to her side. ‘Kate was just telling me you’d been delayed. Damien, how nice to see you again,’ she smiled at him.

‘Sheri,’ he nodded curtly, those piercing green eyes now hidden behind dark glasses.

‘I didn’t realise you’d be coming here today,’ she said conversationally.

His look was scathing. ‘At least James didn’t feel it necessary to inform all his guests of my plans.’

Kate knew he was referring to her and she felt her hackles rise. He had a nerve! Why shouldn’t James discuss things with her? She might only have been in his care four years, but during that time they had become as close as any normal brother and sister who had been brought up together.

James was twenty years her senior, and a very famous film star into the bargain, but he always had time for her—sometimes too much time, which was when they had their arguments. But he had been very good to her since he had learnt on his father’s death that he was not an only child after all, but had a fourteen-year-old-sister by another woman. Kate had been in an orphanage since her mother had died and it had seemed like a dream come true to suddenly find that her brother was James St Just, and that he intended looking after her.

She had every reason to feel grateful to him, and so on being allowed to leave school at sixteen had set out to become his friend and confidant. And she had succeeded, although there were still certain things he shut her out of, times when he could be stricter than a father, and these were the times she wished he didn’t take his guardianship of her so seriously.

She rejoined the conversation at Sheri’s suggestion that they go for a swim. ‘Not you, Kate,’ James said sternly. ‘You’ve only just eaten your lunch.’

‘Oh, but—–’

‘You’ll have to excuse me too, I’m afraid,’ drawled that infuriating voice. ‘I’ve just eaten myself.’

‘Oh!’ For a moment James looked undecided. ‘Oh well, we can talk again later. Just ask one of the staff for a drink and relax for a while.’

He and Sheri ran to the pool’s edge before diving into the clear blue water, leaving Kate alone with the man she already heartily disliked. Too magnetically attractive and arrogant for his own good, that was her opinion. She made a move to leave. ‘Well, if you’ll excuse me …’

She was stopped from leaving by the firm, blood-stopping grip of his hand on her wrist. She looked down at that hand, even in her discomfort admitting that it was a nice hand, strong and sensitive at one go, and not at all rough as she had imagined it to be.

He smiled mockingly as he interpreted her surprised glance. ‘Surely you aren’t going to leave me alone, Miss Darwood—Kate? I’m sure James wouldn’t like you to do that.’

She was sure he wouldn’t either. Bother the man, he was too damned sure of his own importance! She subsided back on to the lounger, watching him from behind her dark glasses as he slid on to the one next to her. ‘Are you working on a film at the moment, Mr Savage?’ She had learnt during the. last couple of years that there was nothing most of James’ friends liked more than talking about themselves.

‘Damien, please,’ he said smoothly. ‘Yes, I’m working on a film at the moment. Do you enjoy this sort of life?’ She was startled by the suddenness of the question, expecting the next fifteen minutes or so to be spent in boredom as she pretended to listen to him praising himself. ‘Lounging about poolsides,’ he continued, ‘and no doubt attending numerous parties.’

Kate had to admit she had attended a few, but only with James in close attendance. She shrugged. ‘It’s okay.’

‘Okay!’ he snorted his disgust. ‘Wasting your life away here! Why don’t you get yourself a job instead of hanging around here like some sort of expensive groupie for St Just and his rich friends? Go out and meet life head-on instead of sitting here waiting for it to come to you.’

Kate had visibly stiffened at his use of the word groupie, and had gone on to burning anger. She sat up rigidly. ‘You don’t have the faintest idea what you’re talking about, Mr Savage, so I’ll try to ignore all your insults.’

‘I don’t want you to ignore them, I want you to listen and take note. You have good bone structure, good colouring, in fact you’re quite beautiful. Have you ever had a screen test?’ he shot the question at her.

‘No, I haven’t. James wouldn’t like it.’

He gave a cruel smile. ‘I can imagine. Probably because with the right tuition you could be a bigger star than he is.’

‘And I suppose you think you’re the person to give me that tuition,’ she said sarcastically.

‘I could be,’ he replied deeply.

‘I thought so. You’re just another wolf, Mr Savage.’ And she had met plenty of them the last couple of years.

To her surprise he smiled. ‘At least I don’t dress up in sheep’s clothing. I meant what I said about you becoming a bigger star than James. Come round to the studio on Monday and we’ll see about that screen test.’

‘With the contract finalised on the couch in your office, no doubt?’ she returned.

‘Oh no,’ he smiled. ‘We’re a little bit more sophisticated than that nowadays. I take you back to my apartment for the night,’ that taunting mouth mocked her. ‘Can you act, by the way? It isn’t really necessary, but it would be a bonus if you can. Of course you can act,’ he answered his own question impatiently. ‘You’re doing it here all the time.’

‘I am not! I don’t like you and I’m making no pretence about it.’

‘I don’t ask that you like me, just that you turn up on Monday. And why should you pretend to like me when James openly admits to loving you? He’s rich enough to keep you in luxury for the rest of your life—or until someone richer comes along. Just as a point of interest, I am richer than James.’

‘So?’ she asked insolently.

He shrugged. ‘I just thought I’d save you the trouble of having to find out my bank balance.’

‘As I’m not interested in you your bank balance doesn’t interest me either,’ she told him angrily. The conceit of the man!

He was watching Sheri and James’ antics in the pool. ‘I suppose you’re used to sharing him with other women. James doesn’t seem to be able to settle down with just one woman.’ He was looking at her behind those dark glasses and she wished she could see the expression in his eyes. ‘You’ve lasted quite a long time now, a couple of years at least. Although it doesn’t seem to have stopped his other little diversions. How old are you?’ again the question was shot at her so suddenly it took her by surprise.

‘Eighteen,’ she answered jerkily. ‘Nearly nineteen.’

He nodded his dark head, his hair over-long and brushed back in the casual windswept style that was fashionable at the moment. ‘That’s what I thought. And you’ve been living with St Just since you were sixteen,’ it was a statement, not a question. ‘Don’t your parents mind? Or don’t they care what you do?’

‘My parents are both dead.’ Poor Mummy, who had to live with the guilt of having borne an illegitimate child, and her stepfather who had never let either of them forget that they owed their respectability to him. Given the same circumstances herself, Kate would have preferred to have remained unmarried rather than put up with Arthur’s abuse day and night.

Her mother and stepfather had been killed in a road accident when she was only fourteen and as she had no other family she had been put into care. Unbeknown to her she did have other family; her real father had been made aware of her existence from some papers left for him by her mother. Unfortunately the knowledge of his daughter’s existence had brought on a heart attack, closely followed a couple of months later by another one, this time fatal. But in his will he had left her to the guardianship of his only son, James St Just.

‘Perhaps that’s as well,’ that hateful man interrupted her thoughts. ‘I don’t think they’d like to see what you’ve become.’

‘I haven’t become anything,’ she told him angrily. ‘I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of.’

‘Nothing?’ He raised one dark eyebrow. ‘So that’s how you’ve managed to keep St Just interested. I should warn you, I don’t play by the same rules.’

‘I can imagine. You don’t appear to be a gentleman.’

Her comment caused him some humour, and she watched in fascination as his mouth curved into a smile, showing even white teeth. ‘No,’ he agreed, ‘I think we can safely agree that I’m not a gentleman. That’s why I find it quite easy to invite you to a party with me this evening.’

‘This evening? But James is expecting you to stay here overnight.’

‘Then he’s going to be disappointed. I’m in England for three days only and then I return to Hollywood. I have a lot of things to do, a lot of people to see.’

‘And I’m not one of them,’ Kate said firmly, hoping to make her escape.

‘You’re an unexpected bonus. And I mean to take advantage of it.’

‘But not of me,’ she told him vehemently.

‘That could be arranged. I’ll be leaving in about an hour’s time, be ready to go with me. Bring something with you to wear to the party, you can change at my apartment.’

‘No, I can’t, because I’m not even leaving the house with you, let alone going to your apartment.’ How dare he suggest such a thing to her!

He stood up in one lithe movement. ‘I wouldn’t be too sure of that. I should talk to James first before you say a definite no, he wants this part in my film pretty badly. The party tonight is being held by Matt Strange, he wants that part too.’

‘But I—– That’s—blackmail!’ she glared at him.

‘All I did was invite you to a party. Be at the front of the house in an hour, I don’t want to have to come looking for you.’ He left her to join a group of people on the other side of the pool, instantly becoming the centre of attention.

James touched her shoulder with one wet hand. ‘Why so deep in thought?’ He picked up a towel and began to dry his bronzed body. ‘Have you fallen for our enigmatic director too?’

‘No, I haven’t. I think he’s awful. Conceited and arrogant! He had the nerve to order me to go to a party with him tonight—I say ordered because he certainly didn’t give me any choice in the matter.’

‘Tonight?’ James frowned. ‘He isn’t staying here?.’

‘I would have thought that was obvious when he’s invited me to a party.’

‘All right, Kate,’ he sighed. ‘Just calm down. The man’s a damned nuisance. I expected to get him slightly inebriated, introduce him to a couple of nice girls, and then get his agreement to my playing the lead in his next film.’

Kate looked at him closely. ‘I thought the part was already yours?’

James slipped on a knitted blue top. ‘Matt Strange is after it too. But I want this part, Kate, I want it badly.’

‘I thought you said the script wasn’t bad. That doesn’t sound like the part of a lifetime to me.’

‘All an act, Kate. The part is brilliant. And I’d be good in it, I know I would. And I need this part, Damien never fails.’

‘I gathered that,’ she said dryly.

He grinned. ‘You’re in the minority as far as women go, they usually go down like ninepins. So where is he taking you?’

Kate’s eyes widened. ‘He isn’t taking me anywhere. I told him I wasn’t going.’

He bit his lip. ‘I wish you hadn’t done that.’

‘You can’t be serious, James. I don’t want to go to Matt Strange’s party. I don’t like him any more than I do Damien Savage,’ and she looked at him anxiously.

‘Look, Kate, I’m at the top of my profession now, as far as I can go without starring in a Damien Savage film. Most of his films are for an unlimited budget, he can do what he damn well pleases. And no matter what he does it’s always a smash hit. Anything new he tries and all the other film companies take it up too. I’m not getting any younger, and there won’t be too many more opportunities for me to play a part like this one.’

‘Thirty-eight isn’t old,’ she put in disgustedly.

‘It is to still be playing the hero. There’s too much young competition appearing on the scene, Matt Strange is only twenty-seven. Pretty soon I’ll start having character roles offered to me. Oh, I won’t mind, at least I’ll still be working. But they aren’t leading roles.’

She couldn’t miss the look of pleading in his eyes. She had never thought of his career in this light before, he always seemed to have so much money and be constantly surrounded by other television and film stars. The money could be easily explained, the St Justs had their own family fortune, and the so-called friends would fade away as fame did.

‘But he wants me to go to his apartment with him first,’ she told him desperately, seeing her chances of getting out of this becoming slimmer and slimmer. She loved her half-brother, and if her going to a party with the hated Damien Savage was going to help him in any way, then she would go, no matter what her own feelings were in the matter.

James pursed his lips thoughtfully. ‘That can easily be got around,’ he said carelessly. ‘You can go to our apartment and meet him later.’

‘But I don’t like the man!’ Her plea was only half-hearted now, as she realised that James was really serious about her going out with Damien Savage. She wished she didn’t feel quite so much as if she were selling herself to further her brother’s career.

He smiled. ‘You’re only going to a party with him, you don’t have to like him for that.’

She raised her eyebrows. ‘And how does the evening usually end for you and your date on these occasions?’ She saw his face flush knowingly. ‘Exactly,’ she told him dryly.

‘He won’t expect that of you on your first date. He won’t expect that of you at all, I won’t allow it!’

Kate had to laugh at his determined expression. ‘You can’t very well stop it a hundred miles away.’ All humour left her face. ‘But I think I should warn you that even though I may love you and want to help you, I am not prepared to go to bed with the arrogant Mr Savage to do it.’

‘You haven’t been asked yet,’ came the dry comment from behind them. ‘And there’s every chance you never will be.’

Kate blushingly turned to face Damien Savage, wondering just how much of the conversation he had heard, and what construction he had put on it. ‘This seems to be becoming a habit,’ she said shortly.

‘That’s right,’ he agreed unconcernedly. ‘And now that you’ve both declared your love for each other perhaps you would like to get some things together. I plan to be on my way in about fifteen minutes.’

Kate looked appealingly at James. ‘I—I haven’t said I’ll go with you.’

He looked at her brother too, arrogance in every line of his superb body. ‘Do you have any objections to my taking your—to my taking Miss Darwood to a party this evening?’

James evaded Kate’s pleading eyes. ‘Not if she wants to go.’

‘I—–’

‘She does,’ Damien Savage interrupted coolly. ‘I’ll return her to you some time tomorrow. I’ll also let you know about the part.’

That was a veiled threat if ever she had heard one, a threat that meant she had no choice but to go to her room and get the requested clothes. She did so with ill-grace, slamming about her bedroom throwing clothes uncaringly into the open suitcase on her bed. Why should she have to go out with someone she disliked? More to the point, why did he want to go out with her?

Well, if he thought he was going to have an affair with her he was going to be disappointed. She didn’t go in for that sort of thing. But he wasn’t to know that! To all intents and purposes she was living here quite openly with James, without thought of marriage. So how was Damien Savage to know she wouldn’t be just as willing to have an equally intimate relationship with him? Because she would tell him, that’s how he would know!

James and Damien Savage were still at the poolside when she came out a few minutes later. She walked up to James’ side, leaning intimately against him. She saw the other man’s mouth tighten disapprovingly and smiled more warmly at her brother. What Damien Savage didn’t know couldn’t hurt him, and she had no intention of telling him of her family tie to James.

‘Are you ready to leave now?’ he asked shortly.

Kate looked at him coolly. ‘My case is in the hallway.’ She had changed into slim-fitting brown trousers and a matching shirt, leaving her hair smoothed back on top of her head. Her mother had always refused to have the flaming red hair shorn, and although it could be a nuisance at times she too kept it to its long length.

‘We’ll be on our way, then.’ He picked up his discarded jacket.

She looked quickly at her brother. ‘James, the apartment,’ she reminded him pointedly.

Damien Savage looked at the two of them impatiently. ‘What’s wrong now?’

James looked uncomfortable. ‘Kate would like you to drop her off at our apartment in town so that she can change.’

‘I’ve already said she can do that at my apartment.’

‘Yes, well—–’ James laughed nervously. ‘She would rather go to ours, and it isn’t that far from your own. You could drop her off and then pick her up on the way back.’

Damien sighed heavily. ‘If that’s what the lady wants.’

She wanted to stay here, but he was making that impossible. ‘I do,’ she told him firmly.

‘Right.’ Damien put out his hand to James, giving the proffered hand a firm shake. ‘Thanks for the hospitality, James. See you tomorrow some time.’

‘Yes—right. Fine. Well, have a nice time this evening.’ James looked at Kate anxiously, trying to find some sign of softening towards him in her rigidly held features, and finding none. ‘Kate?’

She stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. ‘Goodbye, James.’ There was no warmth for him in her voice either.

‘Come on,’ Damien Savage said impatiently. ‘I don’t have time to waste.’

‘So you’ve already said,’ she returned tartly.

He frowned his displeasure at her tone before marching through the house and out to his car parked on the forecourt. He didn’t wait to see if Kate followed him, but she knew he expected it, and with a resigned shrug in James’ direction she did so. The car was as impressive as the man, a black Lotus Elan. She knew the make of car because James had thought of buying one last year before finally settling for a Ferrari.

After stowing her small case in the back of the car he climbed in beside her, settling back comfortably in the low seat. ‘I thought we were never going to get away!’

Kate answered less sharply than she would have done normally, all too much aware of how close they were in the compact interior of the car. ‘Why did you come in the first place if you felt that way?’

‘I had to see James. Besides,’ he added tauntingly, ‘I may not have met you if I hadn’t.’

‘And I’m sure you would have been devastated.’ She admired the way he handled the car, going fast but always in complete control of the vehicle, not a movement wasted.

He gave a grin and she was amazed at how much less forbidding it made him, and younger, much younger. But then he couldn’t be all that old, mid thirties at most. ‘I doubt I would have been devastated, a little disappointed, maybe, but nothing so extreme as devastation. I’ve seen you before, of course.’

Her brown eyes widened. ‘You have?’

‘Mm,’ he looked thoughtful, his strong tanned hands manoeuvring the car without need for concentration, almost as if the vehicle were a part of the man himself. ‘Usually on the news, getting on or off a plane with James,’ he continued. ‘It’s amazing we’ve never met before.’

Kate looked uninterestedly out of the window. ‘Amazing isn’t quite the word I would use.’

‘I should think lucky fits in more with your idea of things.’ He glanced sideways at her. ‘James must want this part pretty badly to allow me to walk off with his girl.’

‘I’m not his girl!’ she snapped.

‘You’re hardly more than that. Eighteen years of age!’ he said with disgust.

‘Nearly nineteen,’ she put in resentfully.

‘How nearly nineteen?’

‘Well, I—In eight months’ time!’

‘Like I said, eighteen years of age. And already you have someone like James St Just in love with you. You have me intrigued too, if that’s any consolation to you.’

‘It isn’t,’ she said firmly.

‘Look, kid, the James St Justs of this world will only use you. You’d be better off, with people of your own age, people who don’t want you for what they can get.’

She glared at him angrily. ‘Is that why I’ve been forced to come with you?’

‘I didn’t force you. If there was any forcing done it was by James. I merely requested that you come with me.’

‘Requested!’ she scoffed. ‘You blackmailed me.’

His green eyes narrowed. ‘And how did I do that?’

‘You—you threatened me.’

‘I did no such thing,’ he denied mildly.

‘Well, you threatened James, then,’ she blustered. ‘You more or less said that if I didn’t accompany you to this party you’d give the part to Matt Strange, the part James wants.’

‘My dear girl—–’

‘I’m not your dear anything,’ she interrupted.

‘My dear girl,’ he continued as though she hadn’t rudely interrupted him, ‘if I intended giving Matt Strange that part then believe me he’d get it, no matter what bribe James put in front of me. Even if you are the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in years.’

‘Then you don’t intend giving Matt Strange the part?’

He shook his head. ‘No, James is definitely right for it, he knows it and I know it.’

‘Then why—–’

‘Why the supposed indecision?’ he finished for her. ‘I never believe in letting my actors become too sure of themselves, and a little healthy competition does them no harm at all.’

‘So you’ve already decided to give James the part?’ she demanded, a feeling of indignation beginning to well up inside her.

Damien Savage nodded. ‘That’s right.’

‘So I have no need to be here really?’ Her fiery temper was definitely beginning to take over now.

The look in his eyes could only be described as intimate. ‘I wouldn’t say that.’

‘Well, I would!’ Kate turned fully in her seat to glare at him. ‘You have a damned nerve! You’re like a puppeteer, you pull the strings and everyone moves as you tell them to. I don’t like you, Mr Savage, I don’t like you at all.’

‘I know,’ he admitted calmly. ‘I think that’s half your attraction to me.’

‘I don’t want you to find me attractive. I—–’ She suddenly noticed that he had pulled the car to a halt. She looked about her dazedly. This was an apartment block, but it certainly wasn’t where she and James had their apartment. ‘Where are we?’

He was already getting out of the car. ‘At my apartment.’ He came round to open the door for her.

‘But I—– You said you’d drop me off at James’!’ she accused.

‘So I did,’ he taunted. ‘But you didn’t honestly believe I would, did you? Let’s go,’ he continued. ‘I promise not to look while you change.’

CHAPTER TWO

KATE hung back, glaring at him indignantly. ‘I know you won’t look while I change, because I’m not changing anywhere near you. I’m not going anywhere near your apartment either. I’m not completely naïve!’

Damien Savage looked down his haughty nose at her. ‘And I’m not going to suddenly leap on you as soon as the door is closed behind us. I have more finesse than that.’

‘I can imagine,’ Kate returned dryly.

‘I’m sure you can, little girls like you often have vivid imaginations. Don’t be such a coward, Kate!’ he snapped. ‘What harm can it do you to come up with me, take a shower, change, and then go on to a party?’

Put like that it sounded quite innocent, but how could she be sure it would be with a man of his reputation? ‘I—I’m not sure,’ she looked at him uncertainly.

Damien was no longer looking at her but had turned his attention to the man who had left the apartment building at their arrival. ‘Good evening, Barry,’ he greeted the man, handing over his car keys. ‘I’ll be needing it again about eight-thirty.’

‘Right, Mr Savage,’ the younger man smiled.

Damien Savage raised a taunting eyebrow at Kate as she still sat inside the car. ‘Ready?’ he asked softly.

He left her no choice but to follow him, which she did with ill grace. She fumed silently all the way up in the lift, hardly aware of her surroundings, except to note absently that they were plush and obviously the height of luxury. She would still have liked to refuse to come up here with this man but had baulked at causing a scene in front of the other man. As he had known she would!

The lift doors opened directly into the penthouse apartment and Damien Savage stepped out into the luxurious interior, waiting only fleetingly for Kate to follow him. He led the way silently into the lounge, moving forward to switch on the stereo before turning to face her.

The music that pervaded the room was soothingly melodious and not jarringly obvious as most music seemed to be nowadays. In fact the whole room was decorated for comfort and not for fashion, and it instantly found favour in Kate’s eyes. A three-piece suite in deep brown leather stood before the mock fireplace, a deep-pile cream carpet adding to the warmth and relaxation of the room, an antique mahogany dresser and stereo unit completed the furnishings.

Damien Savage was watching the play of emotions across her expressive face. ‘I take it my home meets with your approval?’

‘It’s—it’s very nice,’ she replied awkwardly.

‘But not what you expected,’ he guessed shrewdly.

‘Hardly.’

‘You’ll have to go to James and his friends if you want the ultra-modern decor they seem to find attractive. Personally, I think it’s hideous and totally unrelaxing.’

‘So do I.’

‘You agree?’ he looked surprised.

‘Certainly. You didn’t expect that, did you?’

‘No,’ he answered honestly. ‘But I like women who can surprise me.’

The faintly intimate tone to his words reminded her of her reasons for being here. ‘Your likes and dislikes in women don’t interest me,’ she said sharply. ‘Nothing about you interests me.’

‘I’ll do my best to change that,’ he promised deeply, his green eyes caressing.

Her lips turned back in a sneer. ‘I shouldn’t bother. I doubt my opinion of you will alter with better acquaintance.’

‘You never know,’ he taunted. ‘I’ve been told that I can be quite charming on occasion.’

‘I won’t ask what occasion,’ she said bitchily.

He chuckled at the disapproval in her face. ‘Perhaps you’re right. Would you like me to show you your room?’

‘My room—–! You can show me where I’ll be changing,’ she corrected. ‘But it certainly won’t be my room.’

‘I’m not going to argue with you—yet. I’ll take you to the room now. I only have someone come in to keep the place free of dust and stock up the refrigerator, I manage everything else on my own,’ he continued conversationally, taking her down a short corridor and into a bedroom on the left-hand side. ‘I’m not in one place long enough to keep permanent staff.’

Kate could well believe it; he always seemed to be reported to be moving to one location or another. She liked the bedroom, the huge four-poster bed, the Queen Anne furniture. What extraordinarily good taste this man had, quite surprisingly so.

‘This is lovely,’ she told him appreciatively.

‘Changed your mind about staying?’

‘No! Definitely not.’

He shrugged. ‘I’ll leave you to sort out your clothing while I fix us something to eat.’

She couldn’t imagine the worldly, sophisticated Damien Savage doing that and she protested loudly. ‘I’m not hungry,’ she lied.

‘Rubbish. I’m pretty good at cooking omelettes, light and fluffy as they should be,’ he added temptingly. ‘And I can have it ready in about five minutes.’

She ignored the rumblings of her stomach. ‘Why should you want to get me a meal?’

Damien Savage sighed. ‘I happen to be hungry myself. It’s quite some time since I last ate.’

‘Oh well.’ Kate turned away to begin taking out her gown for the evening. ‘In that case I might as well join you. I’d love an omelette.’

‘With salad?’

‘With salad,’ she agreed.

She didn’t need to turn to know he had left the room, she just sensed it. This was the strangest day she had spent since the day she had suddenly been introduced to James’ unusual but interesting life. Strange, because a few hours ago she hadn’t even met Damien Savage; she had had the usual girlhood dreams about him a few years ago, but now she was actually in the bedroom of his apartment. Her immature daydreams had never taken her this far.

She hung up her dress on a hanger she found in the closet. It was a black silk gown, so it hadn’t creased too much in the case. An hour or so on a hanger should ensure that it had no creases at all.

Dinner was ready for her when she came into the kitchen a few minutes later. A place was set for her at the breakfast bar and she sat down without a word. Damien sat next to her and they ate in silence.

He heaved a sigh of satisfaction as he drank the last of his coffee. ‘Right,’ he stood up. ‘I’ll go and shower and leave you to clear this away.’

‘You’ll what?’ Kate looked at him in amazement, pushing back a stray wisp of hair that had escaped her topknot.

‘You heard me. I’m not going to wait on you all evening.’ He stopped at the door. ‘And wear your hair loose tonight,’ he ordered.

‘I will not!’ She faced him, a slender defiant figure in her fitted trousers and blouse. ‘I hardly ever leave my hair free.’

‘For me you will,’ he promised softly. ‘I love longhaired women. How long is it?’

‘Almost down to my waist,’ she told him sulkily. ‘And I don’t want to be classed with your women!’

‘I don’t have any women at the moment,’ he answered with some amusement. ‘Only a little girl that I’m finding more desirable every moment I’m with her. I like females that answer me back,’ he surprised her with this disclosure, ‘and you do little else.’

‘If I’d realised that I would have been so nice to you you would have longed to get away.’ The golden flecks were more noticeable in her wide brown eyes. ‘I wish I’d known!’

‘Too late,’ he laughed huskily.

Left alone in the kitchen, Kate had little choice but to wash the dishes and tidy them away. By the time she had finished Damien was back, dressed only in a black silk robe that reached just above his knees, his strong tanned legs bare beneath its short length, and the V-neckline showing her the thick dark hair that grew on his brown chest. He had obviously shaved, and droplets of water still glistened in his hair where he had showered.

He watched her over the flame of his lighter as he lit the long cheroot in his mouth, smoke drifting about the. room. ‘Your turn,’ he said softly, his green cat-like eyes never leaving her face.

She was disconcerted by his complete unselfconsciousness at his almost nakedness, her nostrils appreciating the aroma of the cheroot. ‘I—er—couldn’t you have dressed before coming back in here?’ she demanded defensively.

He shrugged his broad shoulders. ‘Why should I? I live here.’

‘Yes, but—but I’m here.’

‘So? I’m wearing more now than James was this afternoon, and yet you didn’t appear shocked then.’

‘That was different, and you know it,’ Kate accused. ‘Now we’re alone, and you—well, you aren’t dressed.’

Damien gave a half smile. ‘Come on, honey, I’m quite adequately clothed, and you’re just wasting time. It’s seven-thirty already.’

‘All right, I’ll shower and change. And for goodness’ sake get dressed!’

The smoke wafted about his head. ‘I intend to—in my own good time.’

Kate moved to the door, but he blocked her exit. Her eyes were riveted to the dark hairs on his chest and she couldn’t raise her eyes any higher, fearing the mockery in his eyes. ‘Will you let me pass, please?’ Her voice was a husky whisper and she cursed herself for her timidity. But he was so overpowering, so essentially male.

He moved slightly aside, but not far enough for her to pass through without touching him, and she didn’t want to do that. ‘Go ahead,’ he encouraged, smiling tauntingly.

Kate set her lips determinedly and brushed past him, her body coming into full contact with the hard muscle of his. She recoiled away from him instinctively, hating herself for her weakness. She walked hurriedly to the room Damien had given her to use, closing the door firmly behind her.

God, how he unnerved her! Much as she hated to admit it, it was an inescapable fact. She had met men like him before, arrogant, darkly attractive, but none of them had ever affected her as he did. She was constantly aware of him, mainly in anger, but sometimes as a vibrant attractive man who demanded attention unconsciously.

And he was attractive, much more handsome than most of the men who appeared in his films. He could almost have been a film star himself, in fact he had been at one time, until directing had interested him more. And he was good at his job, excellent in fact.

But he frightened her; she wasn’t up to the sophisticated games he seemed to be constantly engaged in. She didn’t need two guesses as to his interest in her, but under James’ guardianship she wasn’t even allowed to date the same man more than a few times, let alone indulge in promiscuous affairs. But she felt sure Damien Savage didn’t plan a platonic friendship between the two of them, it wasn’t his way at all.

What would she do if he tried anything like that on her? What could she do? She certainly wouldn’t give in to him. She couldn’t do that, although she was sure he could be very persuasive.

A warm shower and fresh make-up and she felt more confident of herself, and once she had on the figure-hugging black dress she felt a hundred per cent better. It was a strapless dress, finishing abruptly as it rested on her firm uptilted breasts, smoothing down over her narrow waist and slender hips. It suited her and she felt good in it.

Damien was in the lounge when she came out of the bedroom, looking handsome and sophisticated in black trousers accompanied by a blue velvet dinner jacket, the startling white shirt he wore opened casually at the neck. His eyes slowly travelled up her body, pausing momentarily on her breasts with a probing insolence, finally passing on to her face. She saw him frown in the subdued lighting of the room. ‘Your hair,’ he snapped, his eyes narrowed. ‘You didn’t listen to what I said earlier.’

‘I did.’ She held herself stiffly. ‘I just didn’t want to do it.’

‘Do it now,’ he commanded.

‘No,’ she shook her head.

‘Do it, Kate, or I’ll do it myself.’ He made a threatening step towards her. ‘And I probably won’t be as gentle as you would.’

She put up a self-conscious hand to her confined hair. ‘It looks a mess when it’s loose,’ she said uncertainly, put off by the determined glint in his eyes.

‘I mean it, Kate.’

‘But—but we’ll be late! It’s already eight-thirty, the car will be downstairs.’

‘It can wait, and so can the party for that matter.’ He stood firm, and she knew by the arrogant lift of his head that he wasn’t going to relent.

She threw down her evening bag angrily on to a chair, beginning to pull out the pins that secured her hair. ‘Oh, all right! But don’t blame me if you feel like drowning me halfway through the evening. This hair of mine seems to have a life of its own when it isn’t confined.’ She ran her hand through the long loose waves of her red hair, tumbling it down her back like a shimmering flame.

Damien’s eyes never left her. ‘Beautiful!’ he breathed softly. ‘I’m even more convinced that you’ll be photogenic.’

Kate was brushing her hair in long vigorous strokes, feeling it crackle with healthy life. ‘I’m not going to that screen test, you know,’ she tugged viciously at a tangle.

‘Why not? Frightened I meant it about coming back to my apartment for the night?’ he mocked her.

‘Not at all,’ she answered with a confidence she didn’t feel. ‘I’m just not interested in what people call stardom.’

He raised a surprised eyebrow. ‘You’re not?’

Kate shook her head, her hair now a silken curtain of fire down her back, the red and gold lights in it brought into more prominence by the black of her gown. ‘Definitely not.’

Damien moved forward with a triumphant laugh. ‘I think I’m really going to like you, Kate Darwood. The most beautiful hair I’ve ever laid eyes on and no bid for stardom! You sound like perfection to me,’ he bent his dark head with a suddenness that took her by surprise, catching her off guard as he claimed her lips possessively with his own.

For one mesmerised moment Kate let him kiss her, even allowed herself to respond for a few short seconds, before good sense took over. She was here alone with this man in his apartment, completely at his mercy if he should choose to take advantage of the situation.

She fought against him, wrenching herself out of his arms. ‘Stop that! What do you think I am!’

‘I already told you that.’ He watched her with amusement, glancing at his wrist watch. ‘You’re very beautiful. And we’re going to be very late if we don’t leave now.’

‘I’ve been ready for the last ten minutes,’ she said crossly.

He handed her her bag. ‘And I’m ready to leave now.’

Kate sat bolt upright on her side of the car, the soft music from the cassette doing little to soothe her nerves. How dare he kiss her like that, as if he had a perfect right to do so? James had much to answer for, letting this man calmly walk off with her as if she were an object, and she would tell him so when she got back home. When she got back …

‘Are you annoyed because I kissed you?’ He gave her a sideways glance.

‘You had no right to do it,’ she obstinately refused to look at him, even though his eyes compelled her to.

‘I had the right of a man attracted to a beautiful girl,’ he told her haughtily. ‘Or do you save all your kisses for the faithless James?’

‘I don’t save any of them for him.’

‘Perhaps that’s as well. He’s very keen on Sheri, you know.’

Kate did know. At first she had felt a sisterly jealousy towards the American girl, her own new-found relationship with James still so fresh that she felt a certain possessiveness towards him. But she had found that his obviously growing affection for the other girl made no difference to his loving care regarding herself, and so instead of being a hated enemy Sheri had become the female confidante she badly needed.

‘I do know,’ she said tightly.

‘And it doesn’t bother you?’

‘Why should it? I’m not his keeper. He’s a grown man, old enough to choose his own friends.’ She hoped they were nearly at Matt Strange’s, at least among the crowd that were likely to be there he wouldn’t be able to keep taunting her in this arrogant way of his.

‘As long as he comes back to you you don’t particularly care.’

‘Now look, Mr Savage, I don’t particularly care for your accusations, and if I could I would put you right about a few things. Unfortunately it’s not up to me.’

Damien had turned the car off the main road, down a short narrow lane, and into a long gravel driveway. The mansion at the end of the driveway was bathed in bright lights, and there seemed to be people in every room as Kate looked in at the uncurtained windows. There were obviously curtains there to be drawn, but as the evening was so warm the windows and doors stood wide open. The noise coming from the building was tremendous, and from the amount of cars parked in the large driveway she would say there were hundreds of people here, just what she needed to avoid this man.

He parked the car behind another one equally expensive and sleek. ‘Don’t tell me,’ he mocked. ‘You’re secretly married to James.’

‘Something like that,’ she nodded.

‘Which means you aren’t married, which also means I don’t give a damn about St Just and the hold he has over you—–’

‘There is no hold over me!’ she cut in.

‘Which means,’ he continued as if she hadn’t spoken, ‘I intend to have you for myself.’

‘Wh-what do you mean?’ Her eyes widened.

‘You can’t be that innocent. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I want you. St Just knew it, that’s why you’re here with me now, and you know it too, don’t you?’ His look was caressing.

‘And do you get everything you want?’ The question came out huskily; she was affected by the look in spite of herself.

‘Usually.’ One strong hand caressed her creamy cheek, touching and parting her soft lips. ‘Am I going to get you?’

‘No,’ she answered firmly, hoping she sounded more convincing than she felt. She found it hard to articulate at all, that hand causing strange sensations in her inexperienced body. What had James done, allowing her out with this—this rake! This man emitted sex-appeal without any conscious effort on his part, the heat of his body and the smouldering look in his green eyes enough to turn her legs to jelly.

He moved slightly, bringing his body up close against hers, their two heartbeats sounding as one. ‘Are you sure about that?’ His breath ruffled the hair at her temple, the smell of his aftershave and the cheroots he smoked invading her nostrils to make her aware only of him.

Kate felt mesmerised by the sleepy passion she could see in his eyes, dragging her own gaze away with effort. ‘I—I think so,’ she answered breathlessly.

Damien gave her one last lingering look before he straightened, opening his car door to come round to her side of the car and help her out of the low vehicle. ‘Then you’re going to be wrong,’ he promised softly against her ear, towering above her in the evening’s fading light.

‘I am?’ she squeaked.

‘You are.’ He took her elbow to guide her through the open front door of the mansion and into what seemed to be a lot of raised voices, chinking of glasses, and very loud music.

Everywhere Kate looked there were people, most of them known to her vaguely from James’ parties. The laughter and chatter was overpowering and she felt sure that most of the people here were halfway to being drunk already.

‘Damien!’ They both turned at the sound of that husky voice. Diana Hall, the star of a popular television series, came over to greet him. ‘Damien, I’ve been waiting for you to call me,’ she pouted. ‘You said you would.’ Her short black curls bounced provocatively around her ears, her mouth was painted a vivid scarlet.

Damien raised one dark eyebrow. ‘I did?’

She giggled. ‘You know you did, the last time we were together. I remember we were—–’

‘Diana, do you know Kate Darwood?’ he interrupted her, frowning darkly.

Blue eyes focused on Kate, darkening with recognition. ‘Is James here this evening?’

Kate knew that this was a spiteful dig on the other girl’s part, and she knew by the scowl on Damien Savage’s face that the dig had gone home. ‘No,’ she replied softly.

Those narrowed blue eyes turned on Damien. ‘Have you been doing a little kidnapping of your own, Damien?’ she taunted. ‘I always thought you despised James’ association with a girl young enough to be his daughter.’

The glitter in those green eyes was the only sign that he was at all angered by the last remark. ‘I’m hardly old enough to be Kate’s father,’ he returned smoothly. ‘Her uncle perhaps, but as that isn’t the way I think of her I don’t think it applies.’

Diana bit her bottom lip, the bright smile she gave in the next few seconds not quite reaching her narrowed blue eyes. She looked at Kate. ‘Do I take it that James is now a free agent again? Or are you going to hold on to two of the world’s most eligible men?’

Kate could see by the brightness of her eyes that the other girl had had too much to drink, otherwise she might have lost her temper at her rudeness. As it was she thought Diana Hall would have much to regret in the morning; Damien wasn’t someone she herself would like to anger, and he was certainly angry.

‘I’ve never even held one, let alone two,’ she replied evenly.

‘Excuse us, Diana,’ Damien cut in abruptly. ‘We haven’t said hello to Matt yet.’

‘He’s outside somewhere. I can take you if—–’

‘That won’t be necessary,’ he said curtly. ‘We can find our own way.’

Still guiding Kate by the elbow, he led her through two more rooms equally crowded with people and out on to the patio. It was much cooler out here after the oppression of the smoke inside and Kate heaved a sigh of relief at not being jostled about any more.

Damien lit a cheroot. ‘I’m sorry about that,’ he said shortly. ‘Diana isn’t usually so bitchy.’

Kate leant against the wall overlooking the garden, the illumination out here almost as bright as inside. ‘That’s all right. But I think you should just warn me in case any of your other girl-friends decides to throw a tantrum about my being here with you. The next one might get violent.’

He gave a reluctant smile, his harsh features softening at her sarcasm. ‘She was that obvious?’

‘As one of your girl-friends?’ She saw him nod. ‘Very obvious. Do all your women get as possessive about you as she has?’ she asked tauntingly.

‘Apparently not, by your attitude towards me.’

She blushed. ‘I’m not one of your women.’

‘Yet,’ he added softly.

‘I thought you despised men who chase young girls.’ He couldn’t mistake the contempt in her voice.

Amazingly he wasn’t angered by her taunt, but laughed softly. ‘I’m thirty-three years of age, that makes me fifteen years older than you, and it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. All it means is that I have the experience to match your youth.’

‘Experience in bed, you mean!’ she snapped.

He nodded. ‘If you like. Does my age bother you?’

‘Why should it? I’ve already told you, I’m not interested in you, sexually or otherwise.’

‘We’ll see.’ He seemed to lose interest in the subject, much to her chagrin; she would have liked to insult him some more. ‘Actually, talking to Diana gave me an idea. This thing between James and you—is he your father? Is that the link between the two of you?’ he pinpointed her with his eyes.

Close, but not close enough. ‘No,’ she told him calmly, ‘James isn’t my father.’

‘Mm,’ he was broodingly thoughtful. ‘There’s some mystery here. Looking at the two of you together I would swear you’ve never belonged to James. Would I be right?’

‘Why should I tell you that?’

‘Why not?’ He wasn’t looking at her but searching the garden with narrowed eyes. He turned to face her, his eyes holding her immovable. ‘Your virginity doesn’t interest me,’ he said dryly. ‘I merely wondered how intimate your relationship with James had been.’

Kate’s mouth twisted at the casualness of his tone. Damien seemed to find it easy to talk of such things, and although she lived in the midst of the permissive society, James protected her from any situation that could become in the least intimate. But he wasn’t here now, she was in this on her own! ‘I don’t really think that’s any of your business,’ she told him stiffly.

His lean body so close to her was rather unnerving—and she thought him well aware of the fact. ‘Oh, I think it is,’ he returned mildly. ‘I want to know what limit of competition I have.’

‘Competition!’ she repeated scathingly. ‘With your conceit I’m surprised you allow for such things.’

Damien quirked an eyebrow at her. ‘You think me conceited?’

‘I don’t think it at all—I know it. Dragging me off whether I wanted to come with you or not appears to me to be the height of conceit.’ She gave him a disgusted look.

‘But I already knew you had no intention of coming with me unless I made it impossible for you to refuse. Your affection for James gave me the leverage I needed.’ His eyes taunted her. ‘The first and only time I’ve ever used my supposed privileged position. Let me assure you, I’m not in the habit of using blackmail to get what I want,’ he shrugged. ‘In your case I’m afraid shortage of time made it impossible for me to do anything else.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I have tomorrow and part of Monday left in England, then I return to my home in the States. That doesn’t give me a lot of time to get to know you.’

Kate would have liked to have informed him that she had got to know him as well as she wanted to, but thought better of it. No doubt he would have given her an equally blistering reply. There didn’t seem to be much that would ruffle this cool self-assurance of his, and she felt certain she wouldn’t be able to do it.

‘Does it matter?’ she asked casually.

‘That I get to know you?’ His eyes deepened with an emotion she didn’t care to analyse but thought she recognised as desire, blatant unhidden desire. ‘Oh, I think so, don’t you?’

‘Not at all.’

‘Oh, Kate,’ he shook his head, a slight smile to his lips. ‘I’m not that frightening, am I?’ He stilled the nervous movement of her hands, gently lifting one to kiss her palm. ‘Am I?’ he watched her keenly.

She tried to pull her hand away, but his hold tightened, making it impossible for her to escape his grip. Her clenched hands had been a purely unconscious movement and she resented him for seeing it. ‘You’re not frightening at all,’ she said crossly. ‘Not at all.’

He was prevented from answering her by the appearance of their host, a tall blond-haired, blue-eyed man, very handsome in a rugged sort of way, accompanied by a girl on each arm. He had never been popular with Kate and she couldn’t hide her disgust at the two giggling girls gazing up at him adoringly. But then he was always surrounded by girls.

‘Damien,’ he shook hands with the other man. ‘Diana told me you were here somewhere.’

Damien gave an easy smile. ‘You’re not an easy man to find. Kate and I came out here to get out of the crush.’

Matt smiled. ‘Invite a couple of people over and the whole world turns up.’ He turned those light blue eyes on Kate, eyes that she hated, horrible leering eyes that undressed her with one look. ‘And I see you have the beautiful Kate with you. Did James come too?’

‘No,’ Damien snapped. ‘Kate and I came alone.’

‘Oh, I see.’ Matt looked surprised. ‘I naturally assumed …’

‘Well, don’t,’ the other man replied shortly. ‘Just accept that she’s here with me.’ He looked disapproving. ‘This sort of atmosphere isn’t really suitable for what I wanted to say to you.’

‘By your choice of partner I would say I already know what you have to say.’

Damien frowned deeply. ‘Kate being with me has nothing to do with our conversation. Do you have somewhere more private we can talk?’

Matt looked down at the two girls at his side. ‘Get lost, girls,’ he laughed at their pouting looks. ‘I’ll find you both again later, I haven’t forgotten your promises. But it must be business before pleasure. We’ll go to my study, Damien.’

Damien looked at her with those startling green eyes. ‘Kate?’ he caught her attention. ‘Will you be all right here for a few minutes?’

She looked hurriedly away from Matt Strange’s taunting face, not particularly wanting to be left alone here but not wanting to say so in the face of such mockery. ‘I’ll be fine. Why shouldn’t I be?’

He nodded distantly. ‘Indeed.’

Kate was regretting her obstinacy several minutes later, standing on the edge of the crowd, knowing she didn’t fit in here. She usually managed to avoid parties of this kind, only occasionally attending one with James. She had never realised quite how nervous she felt about these people, all of them drinking and smoking too much. She had even had a couple of drinks herself in an effort not to look quite so much like an outsider, and she was beginning to wish she hadn’t now; the alcohol had gone straight to her head.

‘Kate!’

She blinked rapidly to clear the smoke from her eyes. ‘Nigel!’ her eyes lit up with pleasure. ‘How nice to see you.’ He would never know how much! She had just about been ready to run, feeling totally out of it standing here.

He looked around nervously, an often shy, fast-speaking individual who had become quite a good friend the last few weeks, she had hoped perhaps more than a friend. Until her brother had interfered! ‘Is James here?’ He had obviously been thinking along the same lines as herself.

She laughed naturally, suddenly feeling more relaxed. ‘Anyone would think we were a double act. You’re the third person to ask that this evening.’

‘Well, let’s face it, you hardly ever go anywhere without him,’ he laughed shortly. ‘So how did you get here?’

Kate was just about to answer him when she felt an arm slide about her waist and pull her close against another human being, distinctly muscular and male. ‘She came with me,’ Damien Savage answered for her.

She watched Nigel’s instant recognition, resenting the way he smiled ingratiatingly at the other man. And she had thought herself almost in love with him—how could she, when he didn’t even seem to mind that possessive arm about her waist! Well, she minded, she minded very much.

‘Mr Savage,’ Nigel gushed. ‘How nice to meet you.’

‘Likewise,’ drawled the older man, his American accent more noticeable. ‘Are you ready to leave, honey?’

She watched Nigel’s face for any reaction to Damien’s implied intimacy between them—and found none. Obviously her growing affection for this man had not been returned. ‘Ready,’ she answered in a soft pliant voice, her anger towards Nigel making her feel more friendly towards Damien.

‘Do you have to go?’ Nigel looked disappointed. ‘I’ve wanted to meet you for so long, Mr Savage, and it’s—–’

‘I’m ready, Damien,’ she said firmly.

‘Okay, Kate. Some other time.’ He smiled coolly at Nigel before taking Kate’s hand and leading her out of the house. He turned to her in the confines of the car. ‘Who was that?’ He accelerated out of the driveway.

‘Nigel Humphries,’ she answered shortly.

‘A friend of yours?’

‘I believed so.’

‘But not any more?’

‘I don’t think so.’ Not if he couldn’t feel normal jealousy. ‘He’s an actor,’ she supplied, suddenly realising just what a good one he was. He had really had her thinking his interest was solely in her, but she knew now she had just been a way of getting to James.

‘I’ve seen him in a couple of small roles. I didn’t like you talking to him, Kate. I didn’t like it at all.’

Kate was too busy panicking to answer him. He had driven past James’ apartment yet again. He was taking her to his home!

CHAPTER THREE

BUT of course he was; they had to pick up her case yet. Kate felt herself relax again, cursing herself for her stupidity. She shouldn’t suspect all his motives like this, she was getting a positive complex about the man. She must get herself out of this near-hysterical state, laugh a little, act more naturally. As he had said earlier, he wasn’t suddenly going to leap on her. She was just being silly, blowing everything up out of proportion because of his reputation.

Back in his apartment again she wasn’t so sure. He seemed in no hurry to leave again, offering her a drink and helping himself to a whisky at her refusal. She had already downed the two Martini and lemonades during his ten-minute absence at the party, finding herself drinking them quickly because she was nervous, out of her depth without James at her side. Consequently the rapidity of the drinks had made her feel slightly merry; another drink would probably push her over the borderline between merry and just plain drunk. Alcohol had never been one of her strong points, and already Damien Savage didn’t look quite such an ogre to her. He looked handsome and exciting—most of all exciting.

‘Was Matt Strange annoyed about not being given the part?’ she asked steadily. Oh goodness, it must have been the night air that had made her feel like this; two drinks didn’t normally make her feel so—so much like laughing and singing at the same time. She made an effort to look serious, feeling a humorous twitch to her lips. Whatever was the matter with her!

‘No.’ Damien moved to turn out the main lights, leaving the room illuminated by just three side-lamps. It was definitely more cosy this way— and more dangerous. Kate felt her trepidation grow as he came to sit beside her on the sofa, his thigh only inches away from her own.

She licked her lips. ‘He—he wasn’t?’

‘Nope.’ He moved closer, their thighs almost touching now, his arm across her shoulders. He had discarded the velvet jacket and unbuttoned several of the top buttons of his shirt in the heat of the apartment.

Kate shifted uneasily under the sensuous look in his mesmerising eyes. ‘Er—why wasn’t he?’ Goodness, he was close, and she did feel so strangely lightheaded.

‘One simple reason.’ His voice had lowered seductively. Damien wound one long strand of her hair about his fingers, making it impossible for her to move. Not that she wanted to, she was quite enjoying being this close to him, feeling his warm breath softly caressing her cheek.

‘Why was that?’ She licked her lips again, fascinated by the deep cleft in his chin.

‘I offered him the other leading role,’ he gave an amused smile.

That pierced her fogged-up brain. ‘The—the other leading role?’

‘Mm.’ He bent his head to caress her throat slowly with firm passionate lips. ‘There are two male leads.’

Those lips were causing strange fluttering sensations in her body, but it was a pleasant feeling, one she didn’t want to stop. This was Damien Savage, the man she had fantasised about at the great age of thirteen, before her devotion had passed on to someone she had believed to be more attractive. She had been wrong; no one could be more attractive than Damien, or more sexually exciting.

But at thirteen she hadn’t known of such things, and as she grew older she had felt her devotion turn to embarrassed dislike, her mind accepting that it was ridiculous to fantasise about men she was never likely to meet, and With the arrogance of youth she had dismissed him from her mind. But now she had met him, only to find her fantasies more than coming true.

He was kissing her as she had once imagined he would, but it wasn’t at all like she thought it would be. It was more, so very, very much more. It was exciting and frightening at the same time, his lips a very pleasurable sensation on her bare shoulders.

‘Damien, I—–’ She fought for control of her senses; she mustn’t let who he was colour her judgment. But it wasn’t who he was that was affecting her, but what he was doing to her. ‘Damien, please!’

He raised his head slightly. ‘Yes?’ His eyes were half-closed with emotion. He ran a hand through the hair at the side of her face, and gentle caressing fingers down her flushed cheeks. ‘Such wide innocent brown eyes. They promise so much and yet withhold much more.’

‘A-about the film,’ she forced herself to sanity. ‘James won’t be very happy about working with Matt Strange.’ She pushed back her tousled hair and sat up straight on the sofa, making an effort to move hint further away from her.

Damien scowled, not relinquishing his hold on her. ‘I couldn’t give a damn about James’ happiness. He either works with Matt or he doesn’t do the movie at all, the choice is his. But I should think the fact that I intend taking you away from him would bother him more than working with Matt Strange.’

‘But you can’t—I mean, why should you—–’

His lips returned to the softness of her perfumed throat. ‘Because I’m going to take you away from him any way I can. You’re going to come and live with me, Kate.’

She moved against those probing lips, his tongue licking flames along the sensitive cord in her neck. ‘I’m not, you know,’ her words were fevered, her mind fogging once again. ‘My home is with James. He takes care of me.’

‘I’ll take care of you,’ he promised huskily, his mouth travelling slowly towards her waiting lips. ‘Much better care of you than James ever could.’

‘No, no …’ Her protests didn’t sound very firm and she knew Damien was aware of it, felt rather than saw his smile of triumph. That should have been her moment to stop him, the moment she should have stopped that mocking, arrogant mouth taking possession of hers.

But she didn’t, she allowed his firm mouth to part and claim her own, gave herself up to the pleasure he evoked. She had been kissed before, she wasn’t completely innocent, but she had never been kissed in quite this way before. His lips teased and deepened the kiss, teased and deepened it until she moaned against him, her body moving to meet his, begging for more than he was giving.

When the onslaught finally came she wasn’t prepared for it, her body relaxed from his hands upon her fevered skin. Suddenly she wasn’t sitting any more but stretched out lengthwise on the sofa, Damien’s long lean length close against her. Her hands were up around his shoulders, touching his warm skin inside his now fully unbuttoned shirt. Her eyes were closed, her throat bared to the warmth of his lips.

‘Oh, Damien,’ she breathed, knowing she would regret this later but for the moment not giving a damn. ‘You go to my head,’ she admitted softly.

His green eyes smouldered down at her. ‘I don’t think I’m solely to blame for that. How much have you had to drink?’

She touched that fascinating dimple in his chin, something she had felt tempted to do ever since she had seen him for the first time yesterday. ‘I only had two,’ she answered vaguely.

‘At Matt’s?’ he asked sharply.

Kate pouted up at him, admiring his lean tough body in the close-fitting shirt and trousers. ‘Mm,’ her tongue slowly moistened her lips. ‘Is it important?’

He groaned in his throat, burying his face in her hair. ‘Not right at this moment. God, you’re lovely!’ He looked down at her. ‘I wish you wouldn’t do that.’ His eyes were tortured.

She looked up at him innocently. ‘Do what, Damien?’

‘Lick your lips like that.’ His mouth briefly covered hers. ‘It’s very provocative.’

‘She smiled happily. ‘Is it?’

He smiled too. ‘You’ve definitely had too much to drink. And I’m not sure I’m up to this sudden change. A little while ago you would have fought like a she-cat not to be in my arms.’

Her look was one of pure challenge. ‘What’s the matter, aren’t you interested now that I’m no longer fighting you? Are you one of these men who enjoy the chase but not the capture?’

‘You silly child, I want you, whether you fight me or not. I must say I prefer you soft and pliant in my arms, but if it has to be a fight then a fight it will be. Victory can be very sweet.’

‘You’re sure you’ll win then?’

‘Oh, undoubtedly,’ he confirmed softly.

Kate laughed slightly. ‘You’re very arrogant, Damien. A veritable devil, in fact.’

‘Mm, are you complaining?’

‘I—–’ her voice faltered, her head began to swim. ‘I feel strange, Damien.’ Her voice sounded faint to her ears. What on earth was wrong with her?

He raised his head to look down at her suddenly pale face. ‘Oh no,’ he swore angrily, shaking her roughly. ‘Those drinks, what were they?’ He sat up, looking down at her anxiously.

Her mind didn’t seem to be functioning. She ran a hand over her aching temple. ‘I—er—I can’t remember.’ Her eyes were wide with distress.

His grip tightened on her forearms. ‘Come on, Kate, think. Answer me!’

‘I—It—Martini and lemonade—I think,’ she added lamely, starting to feel sick now.

‘Oh, hell!’ His mouth tightened. ‘And was Jerry Saunders in charge of the bar? A stocky man with long dark hair and wearing glasses,’ he explained at her puzzled look.

‘I—I think so.’ Her eyes just wouldn’t focus, Damien’s features were taking on a hazy shape that didn’t seem to make sense.

‘God, I could kill him! The stupid—–! Just wait until I see him again, I’m likely to do him some physical damage.’

‘I don’t understand, Damien. I—I want to go home. I feel ill.’

‘But you aren’t going home, especially not in this state.’ His hand smoothed back her hair. ‘You’re staying here tonight, with me.’

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