‘Would you like me to call you a taxi?’ he enquired.
It was a good idea, but it would perhaps be safer to flag one down once she had got away from this apartment block, safer because she had no doubt Damien Savage would be furiously angry once he realised she had cheated on him once again. He really did have a cheek, believing she would let him make love to her after only one evening spent together. The conceit of the man!
She gave the man a bright smile. ‘No, thank you. I don’t have far to go.’ She left before he could say any more, unwilling to be drawn into a conversation with him. She just wanted to get away from here as quickly as possible.
James’ apartment wasn’t too far away and it didn’t take long to get there in the taxi she had managed to acquire. She would have a quick bath and change before finding some way of transporting herself back to James’ country home. Perhaps she could ring him and ask him to come and fetch her. But if she did that he would want to know what had gone wrong—and she had no intention of telling him what had taken place the night before, or this morning for that matter.
The bath was so relaxing and luxurious that she spent more time over it than she had intended, lazing under the soft scented bubbles. It was so nice to just let herself relax after the terrible day she had spent yesterday, and she lay back, her head resting on the back of this large sunken bath, her hair secured on top of her head with a black velvet ribbon.
She smiled slightly at the size of the bathroom. James certainly liked to live in style, and the luxury of this sunken bath, fitted carpet, and completely mirrored walls all added to that.
‘I wouldn’t fall asleep in there.’
Her eyes flew open and she gasped as she saw Damien Savage lounging just inside the room, his reflection thrown back at her from the four corners of the room. She sank further below the bubbles. ‘How did you get in here?’
He walked casually over to stand on the bath’s edge, his leather-clad feet only inches away from her head. ‘You left these in the door,’ he held up the keys. ‘Very careless of you.’ He dropped them uncaringly into the water at her feet.
Kate sat up with a start, searching frantically about in the cooling water for the keys. ‘What did you do that for? Where on earth are they?’ she muttered worriedly.
Damien kicked off his shoes, sitting down on the bath’s edge before slowly sliding into the water. ‘I’ll help you look for them.’
She gasped, her eyes opening wide with shock. ‘Get out of here! I’ll find the keys when I let out the water. You’ll ruin your trousers,’ she added desperately when he didn’t seem to be listening to her.
He shrugged. ‘So I’ll borrow a pair of James’. I’m sure he must leave some here.’
Kate shrank back against the side of the bath, covering her bare breasts with her hands, jumping nervously as his searching hand came into contact with her leg. ‘Will you get out of here!’ she demanded hysterically.
‘No.’ His green eyes rested on her red face. ‘Stop panicking, honey. I’ve seen you naked once this morning already.’ He bent down and scooped her up in his arms, wading out of the water and into the bedroom, dripping water everywhere. He threw her down on to the bed, pinning her there with his arms. ‘Now,’ he said, his face only inches away from her own, ‘would you mind telling me why you felt it necessary to run out on me this morning?’
‘Your—your clothes!’ She looked down at the wet outline her body had made on his black shirt. ‘You’re all wet!’
His hand tightened about her wrist. ‘Answer the question, Kate.’
‘Wh-what was it?’ She couldn’t think, his closeness unnerved her. Why had he followed her here? What was he hoping to achieve? Surely he wasn’t hoping to continue where they had left off in his bedroom this morning, surely even he couldn’t expect that?
‘Why did you run out on me?’ he repeated.
She looked away. ‘You must know why.’
‘Must I?’
‘Yes!’ she answered shortly, well aware of the dangerousness of her position lying here beneath him. ‘You—you seduced me with your closeness this morning, and you’re doing the same thing now. You’re taking advantage of my weakness.’
His warm breath fanned her cheeks as he released her hair from the restricting ribbon with one strong hand. ‘Do I make you weak?’
She pushed his hand away. ‘You know you do,’ she said crossly.
‘I know, do I?’ he mused. ‘And how would I know that?’
Kate glared at him, resenting his taunting tone and the way he had complete control over her. ‘You know because you’re well aware of the effect you have on all women. You emit a sensuous arrogance that sends out a challenge to every woman who looks at you.’
‘And you accepted that challenge, did you?’ he mocked softly, his eyes passing tantalisingly over her face and body.
‘No, I didn’t! Look, I don’t have the experience to fight men like you. I’m a complete pushover when it comes to your sophisticated type of seduction, I admit that.’ She stopped fighting him. ‘So if you want me you might as well get on with it—I don’t have any defences left where you’re concerned.’
To her surprise he started to laugh, a deep throaty sound that was very attractive. He rolled away from her. ‘What a turn-off that is! I like my women willing, yes, but I don’t like them uninterested.’ He stood up, throwing the damp coverlet over her naked body. ‘I can wait until you’re ready to come to me willingly.’
‘That will probably be never.’ She clutched the coverlet to
