A Night of Scandal

‘Then you can’t fix it.’ The implications thudded home. ‘This play was an important p

art of my career plan. I was going to get noticed. It was the first rung of the ladder …’

‘There are other plays—’

‘Do you know how many people applied for that job?’ Panic drove her voice up an octave. ‘Eight hundred! And it’s the same for every job. You have no idea what it’s like—’

‘I’ll give you access to my address book.’

‘I don’t want to make it because of who I know.’

‘Then you’re being naïve,’ he said coldly, ‘because that’s what success in this business is all about.’

Trying to think straight, Katie shook her head stub bornly. ‘Apart from the fact I don’t have any money, I have a really important meeting today with a costume designer. It’s even more important now I’m jobless.’

Jobless. The word made her want to hyperventilate. She couldn’t afford to be jobless.

Nathaniel sighed. ‘What’s her name?’

‘Meredith Beynon.’

‘Never heard of her. She’ll do nothing for your career.’

‘But—’

‘What you need is an apprenticeship with one of the top costume designers. Have you heard of Alicia Brent?’

‘Of course. Everyone has. But she’s not going to talk to someone like me.’

‘She will if I tell her to. Good. That’s settled. Now, fetch your passport. We have to get out of here.’

Katie’s head was spinning. ‘You know Alicia Brent?’

‘Yes. And if it doesn’t work out with her, there are others.’ His voice had an edge to it. ‘Passport!’

Suddenly her future was hazy and terrifyingly unclear. A meeting with Alicia Brent wasn’t going to pay off her debts, was it? She needed work. ‘Where are you planning to go?’

‘A journalist-free zone. I need to lie low until the Sapphire ceremony. A deserted island. Sun, sea and se—’

‘I am not having sex with you.’

A ghost of a smile touched his mouth. ‘I was going to say seclusion, but sex sounds good to me. You talk when you’re awake and you talk in your sleep. It remains to be seen whether you talk during sex.’

CHAPTER FOUR

WHY the hell had he brought her with him?

At the time it had seemed the only way to make sure she didn’t talk to the press, but he was only now realising what her presence meant. He had company at a time when he wanted it least.

Not just company. He had Katie—a girl who believed that all would be right with the world providing you had someone with whom to share your problems. A girl who believed talking solved everything.

It was probably just punishment for dragging her into this mess.

She was furious with him.

He glanced at her tense profile, careful to reveal nothing of his own emotions.

‘You don’t have to look as though your world has come to an end,’ he ground out. ‘It was a small-time costume drama with second-rate actors. It would have been provincial and boring.’