‘And are you satisfied with that?’ He sat forward, his dark head only inches away from her own. ‘Don’t you mind having to sit back and wait to be noticed?’
She shrugged. ‘He’s a famous man, he has to pander to his public.’ But not as much as he was doing! He had more or less ignored her through dinner and now he had spent almost half an hour chatting to flattering females. She knew he had only asked her to join him for dinner, but she now felt he had tricked her into that. He didn’t look any more in need of help to keep his solitude than she did. He certainly wasn’t acting as if he wanted to get away from his fans—the opposite if anything.
Jake ran long sensitive fingers down her cheeks. ‘I’d rather pander to you.’
She gave a short breathless laugh, her skin tingling where he touched her. ‘Your line in chat is as polished as his is.’
His mouth tightened with displeasure. ‘It isn’t a line,’ he snapped harshly.
He stood up abruptly and Stacy thought he was leaving, only to find herself pulled to her feet seconds later and dragged on to the dance floor. She reacted violently as he moulded her body close to his to move slowly in time to the music. His hands where at the base of her spine, his thumbs moving caressingly over her lower back, and Stacy had perforce to put her arms about his neck.
‘What on earth did you do that for?’ she demanded crossly. ‘Couldn’t you have just asked me to dance like any other man would have instead of using brute force?’
Jake shrugged. ‘You would have refused.’
‘Yes,’ she agreed instantly.
‘That’s why I didn’t ask you.’
‘Your arrogance is unbelievable!’
‘It wasn’t arrogance, Stacy, although I do admit I have that too. Forbes has just managed to break away from the public he pretends to despise so much, so I decided to whisk you away before he came over and monopolised your attention.’
She licked her lips. ‘What do you mean, pretends?’
‘I mean that he really loves all that attention. He says he doesn’t, but I can assure you he would be most upset if no one recognised him.’
She could imagine he would be. ‘That was still no reason to make it impossible for me to do anything other than dance with you. I’m really not in the mood for this right now.’ She was too much aware of the taut outline of his body against her own to be able to relax and enjoy the music.
‘It was the only way I could think of to get you into my arms,’ he answered truthfully. ‘Has Paul Forbes ever kissed you?’ he asked suddenly.
‘How dare—’
‘Has he, Stacy?’ His arms tightened painfully about her waist, bringing her even closer to him.
‘No, but I expect him to,’ she added defiantly. It was true, he did kiss her in the film, in fact he did a lot more than kiss her.
One of Jake’s hands moved to run his fingertips over her parted lips. ‘I hate to think of him violating this rosebud of a mouth,’ he said softly.
‘Well, I can assure you he’s going to.’
He continued that featherlight caress against her mouth. ‘I won’t let him,’ he vowed fiercely.
‘You won’t be given the chance to stop him. I decide who kisses me and who doesn’t. And will you stop doing that!’ She pushed his hand away. ‘People are looking.’
‘I like to touch your mouth. It’s the most I can do in here,’ he said impatiently, his hand returning.
‘It’s the most you’ll do anywhere,’ she corrected him. ‘And I wouldn’t be letting you do that if I didn’t think it would cause too much of a scene to insist.’
‘Then we’ll stay here all night. I’m certainly not taking you back so that you can let Paul Forbes maul you about.’
‘And I’m not staying here any longer. They’ll think it odd if we don’t return to the table.’ And being this close to him was shooting her temperature through the ceiling!
‘I would have thought you would have learnt by now that I don’t give a damn what other people think of me.’
‘Then try to think of me.’
‘Perhaps you’re right,’ he admitted with a sigh. ‘But I don’t like the woman I want being with another man, especially someone like Forbes. Even Matthew Day would be preferable to him.’