Mistress at a Price (27 page)

‘
Bad publicity.
’
Cat leaned her forehead against his shoulder.
‘
My cousin Belinda heard her talking about it once to Aunt Susan. Vanessa had morning sickness and everyone at the theatre knew she was pregnant. If she
’
d even enquired about an abortion it would have been in all the papers the next day. Her young goddess image would have suffered.

‘
So she went ahead with the pregnancy. My God, they even called me Katharine, and people said how sweet that was.
’

‘
Imagine if you
’
d been a boy,
’
Liam said.
‘
It could have been a damned sight worse. Do you think you
’
d have been Pet for short?
’

‘
Oh, God,
’
she said, with a ghost of a laugh.
‘
I never thought of that. Anyway, after Belinda told me, I refused to be Katharine with a K any more. I changed to Catherine with a C instead.
’

‘
And to the Cat that walks by herself?
’

‘
No.
’
She grimaced, shaking her head.
‘
That came later.
’

‘
And what did your parents say about the change of initial? Did they never ask why?
’

‘
I doubt they even noticed.
’
She realised he was still holding her, and freed herself gently.
‘
My aunt and uncle brought me up, and they were concerned, I know. But David and Vanessa were rarely around. Besides, the marriage was just starting to be in trouble, and they had more important considerations, anyway.
’

‘
Debatable,
’
he said. He paused.
‘
As a matter of fact, I saw them in that production of
The Taming of the Shrew
, when I was at school.
’
He shook his head.
‘
I thought your mother was the most beautiful thing I
’
d ever seen. I even managed to get hold of a signed photograph of her.
’

‘
I hope you told her,
’
Cat said with forced lightness.
‘
She
’
d be thrilled.
’

‘
I did,
’
he said.
‘
And she was.
’

‘
Do you still have the photograph?
’

‘
She asked the same thing.
’
He grinned slightly.
‘
I had to confess I wasn
’
t sure. It was a long time ago, and I
’
m not much of a hoarder.
’

‘
Well.
’
She smiled too.
‘
I dare say she
’
ll forgive you.
’
She felt as if she was feeling her way round the edge of some abyss.

He shrugged.
‘
She seems prepared to.
’

‘
But she doesn
’
t know we
’
re
—
involved?
’

He looked past her.
‘
She didn
’
t hear it from me.
’

She said quietly,
‘
Then let
’
s keep it like that. Stick to the rules over this at least.
’

His gaze travelled slowly back to her face.
‘
If it
’
s still what you want.
’

‘
Yes, of course,
’
she said.
‘
You
’
ve accidentally met my mother, but nothing else has changed.
’

Liam
’
s mouth twisted.
‘
If you say so.
’
He paused.
‘
While we
’
re on the subject, have you any other requests
—
or needs
—
that I might be able to satisfy?
’
He put his hands on her shoulders, drawing her towards him.
‘
Only because I
’
m here, and so are you,
’
he added huskily as his mouth descended towards hers.
‘
You do understand that, I hope?
’

‘
But you said you weren
’
t here for that,
’
Cat reminded him, her heart lurching in mingled joy and anguish.

Want me, she cried out silently. Oh, keep wanting me
—
please. And I
’
ll survive on that somehow. Whatever may happen.

‘
I lied,
’
he told her softly, and began to kiss her.

CHAPTER TEN

September

CAT switched off the phone and replaced it on the table beside the bath with a deep sigh of satisfaction. Liam had been gone for nearly two weeks, and her inconsolable body had ached for him each day and night of their separation.

She lifted herself lithely out of the water and began to pat herself dry. Then she padded naked into the bedroom and removed the lid from the flat blue and gold box which waited on the bed.

The usual courier had delivered it at her own flat earlier
—
the latest in a series of gifts sent by Liam over the past weeks. Flowers came regularly, interspersed with delicate pieces of expensive jewellery, flasks of her favourite scent, and occasional articles of glamorous nightwear such as the present offering.

Cat caught her breath all over again as she drew the nightdress from the sheltering folds of tissue paper. The filmy white fabric seemed to drift through her hands as she held it against her. It was little more than an exquisitely simple veil for her body, with silver ribbon shoulder bows supporting a tiny bodice that barely covered her breasts, from which the skirt fell, sheer and softly revealing, to the floor. Which was exactly where it would end, once Liam had undone those pretty bows, she thought, smiling.

Her silent wish of three months ago seemed to have been granted. Liam
’
s desire for her showed no sign of abating. Their hours together were spent in passionate abandonment to each other
’
s pleasure.

But how he spent his time when he was not making love to her remained a closed book. One that she wanted to open and read every page.

But that, it seemed, was not an option that would ever be available to her. She
’
d hoped, after the encounter with Vanessa, when he
’
d told her his full name, that other disclosures would naturally follow. However, there had been no breach in the wall he
’
d built around himself, and any tentative probing Cat had attempted had been blocked. Gently but quite firmly.

And deliberately casual remarks about new eateries she
’
d heard of, films she would like to see, and places she
’
d always meant to visit had received no response at all. As had hints that she might sometimes meet him at the airport.

When they were in bed he was a passionately generous lover, but it seemed that keeping the rest of his life a no-go area suited him very well.

She wondered sometimes what his reaction would be if she said, Hey, can we renegotiate our deal? Become a couple in public as well as private? But she did not dare, in case he turned her down. Told her, in fact, what she most dreaded to hear
—
that she wasn
’
t the only lady in his life. And that someone else accompanied him to the theatre and out to dinner, and waited for his plane to land.

Because she did not think she could survive a rejection like that, or the knowledge that she wasn
’
t the only recipient of his expertise as a lover.

However, that did not stop her looking for him, constantly and unashamedly. Every time she entered a restaurant
—
and she had returned several times to Mignonette and to Vanni
’
s just to see if he was there
—
she was scanning the tables, half in hope, half in fear, in case he was there and not alone.

She had even scoured the telephone book for subscribers called Hargrave, and tried all those listed, but to no avail, forcing her to the conclusion that Liam protected his privacy by having an ex-directory number.

Well, she
’
d sold him this idea of a secret affair, however much she might regret it now. So she had no one to blame but herself if he was better at keeping secrets than she was.

No past
,
not future
,
only the enjoyment of the present
. And how could she possibly have been fool enough to make such a choice?

Because I never knew I could feel like this, she told herself, her throat tightening. And it
’
s exactly what I was so desperate to avoid.

Liam, she had realised a long time ago, had the power to break her heart. When she had watched him with Vanessa she had been savaged by jealousy, and she was still wondering what that oddly intimate conversation had been about.

He had never referred to it since, and, more surprisingly, neither had Vanessa, although Cat had been meeting her quite regularly, and, considering her mother
’
s reaction at her encounter with him, had expected her to mention Liam
—
express some opinion about him at the very least. But she
’
d not said a word, and Cat had decided against raising the subject herself. If Vanessa had met him and promptly forgotten him it was probably all for the best.

Besides, her mother was now deep in rehearsals for
Playwright in Residence
. Another tricky situation into which Cat had been dragged.

Her father
’
s initial reaction to the news that his ex-wife and current mistress would soon be vying for his favours on stage had been volcanic.

‘
She
’
s going to make us both a laughing stock,
’
he
’
d roared at Cat, storming up and down her sitting room.
‘
Why the hell didn
’
t you talk her out of it?
’

‘
Because it
’
s none of my business,
’
Cat had retorted.
‘
I have my own life. You deal with it.
’

By the time he
’
d left he
’
d cooled down to icy fury, and had made it clear that he
’
d no intention of pulling out of the production, as he
’
d threatened initially.

And he
’
d managed to deal with the resultant gleeful headlines in the press with strained good humour.

Vanessa had responded buoyantly, telling reporters it would be wonderful to work with darling David again after all this time, and offering Sharine her services as dialogue coach.

And when
‘
darling David
’
riposted by announcing that he and Sharine were engaged, Vanessa said in an interview that she could only hope with all her heart that he might somehow be able to find happiness this time.

Stalemate, Cat thought grimly, and probably worse to come.

Yet it seemed that the anticipated stand-up, knock-down rows during rehearsals had not materialised after all, and that, in spite of everything that had gone before, both her errant parents seemed to be behaving with meticulous professionalism. It was all very strange.

But no mysteries tonight, and no useless regrets either, she thought, determinedly clearing her mind. Just the continuing rapture of Liam
’
s possession.

It seemed an eternity before she heard the downstairs door open and close.

When he came in, she was standing in the doorway of the bedroom, the lamplight behind her turning her nightgown into transparency.