Goodness, she was in good form today! ‘I believe in marriage, Mrs St Just. It just isn’t possible for some people.’ Her mother, Angela Stevens, and Richard St Just had met when her mother had become his temporary secretary during his own secretary’s illness. It had been instant attraction for both of them, although because of Richard’s marriage they had both fought against it.
But their romance had been inevitable, only ending after a few months’ duration because his wife found out about their illicit love affair and demanded an end to it. Richard had asked for a divorce but had been firmly denied it, his wife pointing out that his reputation wouldn’t stand it.
Kate could imagine it had been a traumatic time for her mother, being only twenty to Richard’s already forty years. But it had been made all the worse by Louise St Just’s spiteful attitude to the younger girl, even going so far as to visit her and tell her what a mess she was making of her husband’s life. Her mother had been impressionable and shy, only her overwhelming love for the sophisticated and distinguished Richard causing her to have the one moral lapse of her life. She had paid dearly for that moral lapse, the birth of her child, Kate, a child completely unknown to the father as her mother had already opted out of his life.
No matter what Louise St Just might have thought of the younger girl her mother had not been the sort of girl to use the leverage of her expected baby to force him into leaving his wife and son. And so she had quietly disappeared from his life and he had never heard from her again, until her death, when she had left the care of their child to him.
But even now, all these years later, Louise St Just couldn’t forgive and forget, taking out her anger and humiliation on the child of that liaison. Kate was used to it now, but she couldn’t allow this to happen in front of Damien.
‘No,’ Louise agreed. ‘Your sort seem to have a penchant for other women’s husbands. I hope James is sensible and keeps you out of his life in future.’
‘I would think that’s highly possible, Mrs St Just,’ Damien spoke for the first time. ‘If you hadn’t yet noticed, Kate is here with me.’
Grey eyes swept over his relaxed arrogance, the sneer left her face and a charming smile lit up her beautiful but ageing face. ‘Mr Savage,’ she purred. ‘How nice to meet you! James has talked a lot about you.’
‘Really?’ he returned dryly.
‘Yes, really. I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse Katherine and me, we’re old adversaries. If you know anything about my family at all you’ll realise why.’
‘I guess so. But like I told you, Kate is with me now,’ he told her hardly. ‘James can take care of his wife in future, I’m taking care of Kate.’
Louise gave Kate a scathing look. ‘You’ll never change, will you—you and Angela, both with the morals of an alley-cat!’
Kate saw red, a high flush to her cheeks. ‘Now that’s enough!’ Her own insults she would take but not ones against her mother.
‘I couldn’t agree more,’ Damien interrupted softly, too softly, his gaze rapier-sharp. ‘I think you would be wise to remove yourself from our company, Mrs St Just. After all, you might become tainted by our lax morals.’
Louise’s mouth tightened at his deliberate snub. ‘Perhaps you’re right,’ she nodded haughtily. ‘Good afternoon.’
Damien watched her go, his face grim. ‘Not a pleasant woman,’ he remarked coldly. ‘And she obviously hates your guts. I suppose that’s because you enslaved her precious son. Mothers are always like that over their only children.’
Kate could have laughed at the irony of that statement; it was because James wasn’t an only child that his mother was so embittered. She couldn’t bear sharing his affections with his half-sister, she had hated her mother and the hate had passed on to Kate.
‘Is your mother the same?’ she couldn’t resist asking.
He gave a slight smile. ‘My mother’s the opposite. She’s openly admitted that she’ll laugh herself silly if some poor female gets me hooked.’
‘Poor female?’
‘Mm,’ he grinned openly now. ‘The Savage men are known for their—let’s call it rakish behaviour. We’re equally well known for being possessive as hell when we do fall in love, and we all fall in the end. I’m just taking longer to do it than most, which doesn’t please my mother. She swears I’m doing it on purpose because I know she wants grandchildren, as an only child I’m thwarting her plans somewhat.’
‘Then why haven’t you married?’
‘I’ll marry when I’m good and ready, not to suit someone else. I’ve known a lot of women and loved none of them. I’m beginning to wonder if the woman I could love has been born yet. There has to be more to love than sexual need.’
Oh, there was, Kate had found that out since she had realised she loved him. Sometimes love happened suddenly and unexpectedly, or so she believed; it had for her anyway. Initial hostility, fear even, had turned to blinding love. And he was right, she wanted him in the fullest sense of the word, but she also enjoyed just being with him. But he believed her to be promiscuous, hardly the sort of girl he would ever fall in love with.
‘I suppose we’ll have to mingle a bit,’ he muttered tersely. ‘But don’t go wandering off. I’m taking you home once Sheri and James have left. We have a lot to talk about, like when are you going to move in with me?’
CHAPTER SIX
KATE shook her head firmly. ‘I’m not moving in with anyone. I’ve just got my
