be naive, as she was constantly being told, but she wasn’t that naive. She was woman enough to know when a man wanted her all right … and when one didn’t.
Julian hadn’t wanted her tonight. He had pushed her away when she had tried to snuggle into his arms.
‘Harry,’ she whispered huskily.
‘Don’t look at me like that, Eve,’ he groaned, adding gruffly, ‘I want to kiss you so damn much … In fact, I’m going to kiss you,’ he announced boldly.
Going into Harry’s arms was like going home, Eve decided blissfully, all warm and cosy and safe. Happily she turned her face up to his and waited.
She didn’t have to wait very long.
His kiss was everything she had known it would be—gentle, reverential, asking, not taking; and it was something more as well, something entirely unexpected and exciting, she recognised as the tiny quivers darting through her body began to grow and gather strength.
‘I shouldn’t have done that,’ Harry told her harshly as he suddenly pushed her away. ‘In fact …’
Without saying anything more he turned his back on her and started to walk very quickly away from her.
Feeling as though she had been completely abandoned, Eve stared after him. Why had he left her like that? Had he lied to her about not being involved with Kelly? She knew instinctively that Julian had done so when he had told her that Kelly meant absolutely nothing to him. She wasn’t completely blind. She had seen the way Julian had been watching Kelly at the ball, but she loved Julian so much … far too much to give him up … Far, far too much to enjoy kissing another man … Hot-cheeked, she pressed her hands to her face. What on earth had she been doing? And why?
It was no wonder, really, that Julian had been so out of sorts and cross, she decided compassionately as she made her way back to her car. It had been a big disappointment for him, poor darling, when Brough had refused to finance his new venture.
She had tried to tell him tonight that she had absolutely no influence at all over Brough’s decision, and then he had started to ask her about her own inheritance and she had had to tell him that she couldn’t touch a penny of it until she was twenty-five.
‘That’s four years away,’ he had exploded irritably. ‘What happens if we get married and you need some money to buy a house?’
If they got married …
‘I don’t know,’ she had confessed, adding brightly, ‘Maybe the bank would lend me some money against it … I’d have to check with Brough …’
‘No! No, don’t do that,’ Julian had told her hastily.
‘Yes, because when we get married I shall move in here with you, won’t I?’ she had agreed, blissfully trying to snuggle up against him.
‘Yeah …’ he had said so unenthusiastically that she had started to frown.
It was then that she had made her first mistake, asking him uncertainly, ‘You do want to marry me, don’t you, Julian? Only I couldn’t help noticing at the ball that you seemed awfully interested in Kelly …’
‘Kelly’s an old friend,’ he had told her angrily. ‘Not that it’s any business of yours …’
Poor darling, of course he was irritable and on edge with all the money worries he was having. It really was too bad of Brough to refuse to help him. Eve’s brow creased. She knew, of course, that her brother didn’t really like or approve of Julian, but he didn’t know him the way she did.
CHAPTER SIX
‘HI, KELLY, it’s Dee.’
Kelly smiled as she recognised their landlady’s voice. It was eleven o’clock in the morning and Kelly had just served her third customer and put on the kettle to make herself a cup of coffee.
‘Anything to report?’ Dee asked her. ‘Has Julian been in touch?’
‘He rang yesterday,’ Kelly told her, ‘but I couldn’t really talk to him; I had someone here in the shop. You know that Julian is hoping to persuade his girlfriend’s brother to finance some new venture he’s getting started?’
‘Was hoping,’ Dee corrected her wryly. ‘Brough has turned him down.’
How did Dee know that? Kelly wondered curiously.
‘Look, we could do with having a meeting,’ Dee told her. ‘How about lunch tomorrow?’
‘Tomorrow? No, I’m afraid I can’t,’ Kelly told her. ‘I’m going to Staffordshire.’
‘Staffordshire?’ Dee queried sharply. ‘On a buying trip? But I thought …’
‘No, not that. Actually I’m going with Brough; he’s asked me to undertake a private commission for him.’
‘And you’ve agreed?’ Dee asked her. ‘Be very careful, Kelly. Don’t forget his sister is dating Julian and hopes to marry him and he’s bound to be extremely suspicious of your role in Julian’s life. You haven’t told him the truth, have you?’ Dee demanded.
‘No, of course I haven’t,’ Kelly reassured her immediately.
‘Well, you mustn’t. It would ruin everything.’
‘I’m not a complete fool, you know, Dee,’ Kelly informed her a little irritably. She liked Dee, but sometimes her autocratic attitude irritated her a bit. She wasn’t like Beth, who accepted Dee’s slight bossiness with placid gentleness even whilst she accepted that the older girl’s heart was in the right place and her motives good.
‘No, not a complete fool,’ Dee agreed dryly, ‘but certainly foolish enough to agree to go to Staffordshire with Brough. I understand he’s a very attractive man,’ she added slyly.
‘Not so far as I’m concerned,’ Kelly responded immediately, ‘but the china he wants me to copy certainly is and, not only that, it’s extremely rare and may even be unique. It’s a wonderful opportunity, Dee,’ she added, warming to her theme, her enthusiasm for the project colouring her voice. ‘An almost once-in-a-lifetime chance to work on something very different and very special.
‘Oh, Beth rang, by the way,’ Kelly informed Dee. ‘She’s having problems with her interpreter, apparently, but she never said a word about Julian, thank goodness.’
‘That is good news,’ Dee agreed.
‘I do feel worried for Eve Frobisher,’ Kelly told her.
‘You must concentrate on the business in hand,’ Dee advised her. ‘Eve Frobisher has her brother to protect her interests. Has he said anything about Julian to you, by the way?’
‘He’s certainly made it plain that he doesn’t approve of my relationship with him,’ Kelly informed her.
‘Mmm … You know, I’ve been thinking … It could work to our advantage if you let him think that he might be able to persuade
