‘So how did you get into his bed? I take it that was what he meant just now?’
Kate nodded. ‘He put me there.’
‘I see.’ James bit his bottom lip. ‘And when you woke up?’
She blushed. ‘I was alone. But—well, he—he said he’d slept in the bed with me. And he—he started to—’
‘Yes, yes!’ he said tersely. ‘I don’t want to hear all the details of his practised seduction, just tell me if he actually made love to you.’
‘No. He—he went to shave and I—I crept out while he was out of the room.’
‘And the bath together?’
She still blushed at the thought of it. ‘That isn’t quite the way it seems either. When I crept out I went to your apartment. I was in the bath when Damien walked in. Oh, it’s all so embarrassing, James. I don’t want to talk about it any more. Nothing happened, no matter how much he implied it did. And Matt Strange can be explained even more simply—he made one of his usual passes and Damien came in and put a stop to it.’
‘You’ve had quite a weekend, haven’t you?’ The tension started to leave his body. ‘I shouldn’t have let you go out with him. I should have known better. He isn’t to be trusted.’
‘I liked him, James,’ she explained.
‘Did you indeed? He liked you too, he was furious just now when he thought I was going to marry you.’
‘Of course he was—he thinks I used him to get you to propose. He was being deliberately cruel just now when he revealed those things to you. As my future husband you could be expected to protest loudly at my conduct.’
‘As your brother I can be expected to protest just as loudly.’ His face relaxed into a smile. ‘But if you say you’re all right I’ll try to get over it. You realise that this just increases my conviction that it isn’t a good idea for you to live alone?’
‘Oh, James!’ she pouted.
‘You aren’t safe left alone. I’ve put Damien off for the moment, but once he realises that it’s Sheri I’m marrying he could just be back.’
That was what she was hoping. Oh, she didn’t want to become the latest in the long line of women in his life, but she would like to get to know him better. Her feelings had become more involved with him than with any other man she had ever known, her initial hostility turning to a burning curiosity to know more about him.
She felt the age-old longings of woman to be the one to tame the rogue male. And Damien was certainly that. He felt responsible to no one and gave the impression he never would be. A man alone, and intending to remain that way.
‘He may be,’ she admitted, ‘but I would doubt it. He told me he never chases after any woman.’
‘I don’t suppose he needs to,’ James said dryly.
‘Exactly. So I’ll be perfectly safe from him if I move into a flat of my own.’
‘No, Kate,’ he refused adamantly.
‘Well, how about if I move in with someone else?’ She laughed as his face darkened. ‘Female, James, female!’
His brow cleared. ‘Oh, I see. Mm, I suppose that’s an idea. Do you have anyone in mind?’
‘No, but I could advertise,’ realising he was weakening.
* * *
So it was that three months later Kate found herself sharing an apartment with Josie Walker, a lighthearted girl who giggled incessantly but who had a very strong sense of moral behaviour, much to James’ relief. Some of the replies they had received for Kate’s future flatmate had been quite impossible, and James had refused to even contemplate most of them.
But Josie had been an instant hit with both of them, although she had been a trifle overawed at meeting the famous James St Just. She didn’t seem to find it odd that James more or less interviewed her, blossoming shyly under his practised charm. Josie was a girl of twenty, sharing a flat with four other girls at the moment, but as an only child she found the constant companionship tended to make her feel claustrophobic after a while.
They had moved into the apartment James miraculously found for them three weeks previously, and although Kate missed the luxury of being waited on she revelled in the freedom of not reporting back to James after every move she made.
Poor James, he had been so busy of late that he hadn’t been able to keep his usual brotherly eye on her. He had had the run of his play to finish and was also trying to organise his wedding to Sheri before they began shooting Damien Savage’s film, declaring he wanted at least a month’s honeymoon before he began work again.
Josie handed her the skirt to her black velvet suit, nodding her approval as Kate smoothed it on over her slim hips. The pale russet-coloured blouse was tucked in at the waist and once she had on the jacket it should be suitable attire for a wedding.
‘Are you sure you won’t come, Josie? Not even to the reception?’ Kate began to brush her long hair.
Josie shook her head, her own long black hair secured at her nape with a wooden slide, her slim body clothed in denims and a long-sleeved smock-top. She was a pretty girl, very vivacious, with laughing deep blue eyes. ‘I wouldn’t feel comfortable in the midst of all those film stars and models.’
‘Most of them are pretty normal.’ Kate grinned as she said this; she could think of a couple of them that were a bit weird.
‘No, I don’t think I will come. It’s very nice of Mr St Just to ask me, but I don’t think Paul would like it.’ Paul was her managing director boss, quite a young one at thirty,
