but it does.’ Liz’s long-nailed fingers curved about her arm. ‘Cass, my love, I know what you’ve said, and believe me, I can guess how you feel. But getting involved with a man like Jay Ravek—–’
‘Who said anything about getting involved?’ Cassandra’s brows arched impatiently. ‘Liz, you must stop treating me like a china doll! I’m not. I never have been. If I were, Mike would have broken me long ago.’
Liz studied her friend’s face with genuine concern. ‘But you’re not denying that Mike has left you with a—how shall I say it?—a chip on your shoulder, hasn’t he?’ She paused. ‘Not all men are like Mike, Cass. Remember that.’
‘I do remember it.’ Cassandra felt vaguely indignant that Liz should feel it necessary to speak to her in this way. ‘Look—if I’d let Mike poison my mind, I wouldn’t be interested in any other man, would I?’
‘No.’ Liz conceded that point. ‘But I just don’t want you to get hurt again, that’s all. And—well, Jay Ravek has quite a reputation for hurting people, women particularly.’
Cassandra expelled her breath quickly. ‘Liz, I only asked who the man was. I didn’t say I was going to climb into bed with him!’
Liz bowed her head. ‘All right, all right, I’m sorry!’ Her hand fell to her side. ‘But pick someone else to re-sharpen your claws on. Jay Ravek is not in your league.’
Cassandra wanted to protest that she was not the innocent Liz thought she was, but she doubted her friend would believe her. All Liz knew was that she had had one bad marriage, and the deeper implications of that statement had never been discussed between them. Liz had been too discreet to ask and Cassandra had felt too raw to tell her immediately after Mike’s death, and now, nine months later, the subject was too difficult to broach.
‘So—–’ Liz changed the subject. ‘What do you think of Stafford’s work? I must admit I don’t really understand it, but he’s had such wonderful reviews it must be good.’
‘Not necessarily.’ Cassandra was still brooding over their earlier conversation. ‘Just because it’s received critical acclaim, it doesn’t mean it’s unequivocally good.’ She grimaced. ‘I think it’s ghastly, quite honestly. All those heads appearing from nowhere—it’s positively gruesome!’
‘That’s what I like, an honest opinion.’
The two girls started with equal degrees of disconcertment, but Cassandra’s confusion was compounded of embarrassment and a certain amount of apprehension. Damon Stafford was standing right behind them, his arms folded across his chest, his bearded face alight with amusement, and right beside him stood Jay Ravek.
‘Oh—Damon!’ Liz recovered her composure with immaculate ease, her wide mouth spreading in an apologetic smile. ‘You know what they say about eavesdroppers, don’t you, darling? And Cass was only being bitchy, weren’t you, love?’
Cassandra’s fingers clutched her bag more tightly. ‘I’m afraid I know nothing about modern art, Mr Stafford,’ she offered, intensely conscious of Jay Ravek’s dark eyes upon her. ‘You must forgive me if you think I was rude. Naturally my opinion is of no importance.’
‘On the contrary, Miss—er—–’
‘Mrs,’ Cassandra corrected him formally. ‘Roland.’
‘Well, Mrs Roland,’ Damon Stafford smiled, ‘anyone will tell you, I’m always interested in the opinion of a beautiful woman.’
Cassandra blushed, she couldn’t help it, and Liz uttered a relieved laugh. ‘Very nicely put, Damon,’ she complimented him drily. ‘You really shouldn’t put people on the spot like that. It’s not nice.’
‘Oh, I’m sure Mrs Roland will forgive me.’ Damon glanced sideways at the man beside him, as if for confirmation, and then, turning back to Cassandra, he said: ‘Let me offer you some more champagne, Mrs Roland. Your glass appears to be empty.’
‘Thank you, but no.’ Cassandra covered the rim of her glass with her palm as Damon turned to summon one of the white-coated attendants circulating among the guests at the reception. ‘We—er—we were just leaving, weren’t we, Liz? I for one have to get back to work.’
‘What is your work, Mrs Roland?’
It was Jay Ravek who had spoken, and Cassandra’s tongue appeared, to moisten her upper lip as she was obliged to answer his question. ‘I’m an interior designer, Mr Ravek.’
It was not until after she had finished speaking that she realised she had used his name without thinking. The faint quirk of his mouth might have indicated his observance of that fact, but if he had been about to make a comment, Liz forestalled her.
‘And she’s very good at it, too,’ she declared, giving Cassandra a knowing smile that the other girl found quite annoying. ‘She only started the business six months ago, and already she’s gaining quite a reputation.’
‘Really?’ Damon sounded impressed, but Cassandra wanted to die of embarrassment.
‘It’s a very small business really,’ she insisted, giving Liz a quelling look, but her friend just arched her brows at her and was obviously unrepentant.
‘Perhaps I could contact you about my apartment,’ remarked Damon, pulling a notebook out of his pocket. ‘What did you say the name was? Roland? I’ll make a note of that.’
‘It’s Ro-Allen, actually,’ Liz inserted, looking over his shoulder. ‘Ro-Allen Interiors. Chris Allen is Cass’s partner. He has a brilliant eye for colour.’
‘Liz!’
Cassandra was furious, but Liz only shrugged her shoulders. ‘Contacts, darling—that’s what it’s all about. Don’t you agree, Mr Ravek? In your work, you must find I’m right.’
‘If you say so, Miss Lester.’ Jay Ravek’s lean face was sardonic. ‘However, we don’t all have your opportunities for contacting the right people.’
Liz’s rather pointed features seemed to sharpen, but she bit her tongue on what she would obviously have liked to retort, and took Cassandra’s arm. ‘Time to go, darling,’ she declared pleasantly. ‘We mustn’t outstay our welcome.’
‘You couldn’t do that,’ Damon replied gallantly. ‘I’ll look forward to reading your comments. Oh—–’ he glanced at the man beside him again, ‘—and don’t be too hard on Jay, will you? You columnists have given him a pretty raw deal, one way and another.’
‘Perhaps it’s nothing more than he deserves,’ observed Liz with a tight smile. ‘Goodbye, Damon. Thanks for the champagne. It was delightful!’
The Seely Gallery occupied the upper floor of a building in South Molton Street, and the two girls emerged from the shadowy stairwell into the watery sunshine of a November afternoon. It wasn’t particularly cold, but it was damp, and Cassandra thrust her hands into the pockets of her suede coat and hunched her shoulders in a momentary shiver.
‘Bastard!’ said Liz, with unexpected fervour, and Cassandra gazed at her in surprise.
‘Who?’ she exclaimed, although she could
