Savage Interlude

‘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!

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