A Night of Scandal

‘I know you think I’m a coward—’ he lowered his forehead to hers, his voice unsteady ‘—but give me the chance to prove to you that I’m not. I’m a tough guy. Want to feel my muscles?’

The tears came then. They brimmed in her eyes and then slid past her smile. ‘I know you’re not a coward. I just wanted to make it better and you kept pushing me away.’

‘I won’t be doing that again. Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.’ Nathaniel swiped the tears away from her cheeks and took her mouth in a brief, desperate kiss. ‘Katie, I really—Please … I’m telling you I love you—say something.’

Terror and hope danced together. ‘I can’t let myself believe you. I don’t know if you’re acting.’

‘You know I’m not acting. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life living with you in Katie-land. And you can throw out those magazines because you have the real thing.’

She made a sound that was half laugh, half sob. ‘We’re so different ….’

‘Not so different. You hid behind brown clothes. I hid behind m

y job.’

‘I haven’t worn brown since Wolfe Island.’ She sniffed and mopped her tears on the sleeve of her sweater. ‘You made me feel beautiful.’

‘You are beautiful.’ Sliding his arms around her, he frowned. ‘Have you lost weight?’

‘I’ve been miserable.’

With a groan of remorse, he flattened her against him. ‘I’m never letting you out of my sight again. I’m going to take you straight back to LA—’

‘I’m already going back to LA’ Katie pulled away from him and looked at the boxes stacked by the door. ‘I spoke to Howard Kennington this week and he wants me to come out and work on his next movie. He really liked my work. I assumed it was because of you, but he was really cross that I’d flown back here without talking to him first. He sent me a flight ticket.’

‘You won’t be needing it because I’m going to fly you home. I knew your work was exceptional the moment I saw it.’ He stroked her hair away from her face. ‘I’m going to give up acting and concentrate on directing. We can work on films together.’

Together. Her heart twisted with emotion.

‘Katie Field, Costume Designer.’

‘Katie Wolfe, Costume Designer.’

She didn’t dare move for fear of breaking the spell. ‘Nathaniel—’

‘I want you to marry me. Say you’ll marry me.’

There was a buzzing in her ears. ‘You want to marry me? But … you—Oh, my God—you’d break a billion female hearts.’

‘There’s only one female heart I care about,’ he said softly, and cursed lightly as her eyes filled again. ‘Don’t do that. I can’t stand it when you cry—I never want to see you cry ever again.’

‘This time it’s happy crying.’ Katie leaned her head against his chest. ‘I can’t believe this ….’

‘Usually when I ask a woman to marry me I already know the answer because it’s in the script.’ Uncharacteristically unsure of himself, Nathaniel gave a horrified groan. ‘I forgot the ring.’ He swore under his breath and delved into his pocket. ‘I’m doing this all wrong. I had it all planned out, the whole on-the-knee thing, fairy tale, Katie-land style, and then I saw you and—sorry, I’m sorry, can we do another take?’ He dropped to his knees. ‘Katie Field, will you marry me? Will you love me and talk to me as long as we both shall live?’

Her laughter turned to a gasp as he slid a huge, glittering diamond onto her finger. ‘Oh, my—’

‘If you don’t like it we can choose a different one. Maybe I should have let you choose it. I’m sorry—as proposals go I totally messed that one up.’

‘No, you didn’t …’ She could hardly make her voice work. ‘It was perfect.’

‘I forgot the ring and I forgot to go down on one knee,’ he said dryly. ‘What was perfect about it?’

‘It was perfect because it was real. It came from the heart, not from a script. If you’d been fluent I would have thought you were acting.’

‘Really?’ His voice was raw and there was uncertainty in his eyes as he looked at her. ‘In that case is there any chance of an answer some time this century?’

‘Yes!’ The word flew from her heart to her lips. ‘Of course yes. I love you. You know I love you.’