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.
