Brand of Possession

He had expressed a desire for her and his reaction to her this morning had more than proved he still felt the same way, but he had the wrong idea about her morals. She realised she was to blame for that, she had told him she had lived with Matthew for a time, and she had behaved shamefully by spending the evening with Paul Forbes the night before.

If Jake knew just how attracted she was to him he might expect her to enter into an affair with him, and although she knew people in her profession were supposed to be promiscuous she had never found that to be the case. And it certainly wasn’t true of her. She might have been brought up in an orphanage, but they had taught her to have a moral code, one she had stuck to. Her wedding night would be the first time she knew a man in the full sense of the word.

It took her longer than Jake’s stated ten minutes to make herself presentable. She couldn’t help but feel shocked by the state of her mouth and arms. It had taken quite a lot of make-up to hide the dark marks on her skin, and her mouth still looked swollen, as if she had been kissed with great passion, as Jake had suggested. Although it was a hot day she had to change into a long-sleeved dress to cover up the purple bruises on her arms.

Jake was scowling by the time she met him downstairs, his gaze passing mockingly over the lip-colour that partly hid the discoloured skin beneath. ‘That’s quite a good repair job,’ he taunted, taking hold of her arm to lead her outside to the sports car.

‘I did my best,’ she retorted sharply.

‘Like I said, you did a good job.’

‘It was the way you said it, almost as if I invited that attack.’

‘I see your temper has returned with your composure,’ he mocked arrogantly.

‘Do you think I invited what happened last night?’ she demanded.

‘Did you?’ He quirked an eyebrow.

‘Jake!’

‘Then don’t ask such damned stupid questions,’ he returned coldly.

There were plenty of people about to witness their arrival when they reached the cove that was being used for filming, and the two of them received more than their fair share of curious glances.

Stacy clung to Jake’s hand as if it were a lifeline, never feeling quite so conspicuous in her life before. By the time they reached Martin Payne’s side she felt as if her face was permanently red.

They were shooting some of the scenes with Juliet and were obviously having a little trouble, Martin Payne losing his temper with his male star. ‘For God’s sake, Paul, you’re supposed to be making love to the girl! You’re moving about like a wooden doll!’

Stacy caught Jake’s grin of satisfaction and turned hurriedly away before her own humour began to show too.

Paul Forbes turned a furious face on the director. ‘I’m sick and tired of doing this damned scene, that’s why.’

‘Then you should have got it right the first time,’ Martin Payne rebuked. ‘All right, all right, let’s take a break. Five minutes only,’ he added warningly, turning to look at Jake. ‘I don’t know what you’ve done to him, but Paul has been damned impossible to work with today.’

‘Isn’t he every day?’ Jake returned dryly.

The director sighed. ‘Most days,’ he admitted. ‘But he can usually act, today he can’t even do that. He’s supposed to be making love, instead he holds the girl as if he’s frightened to get near her.’

Jake grinned. ‘That’s probably because he is. It can’t be all that comfortable when your ribs feel as if they’re broken in a dozen different places.’

‘My God, you didn’t actually hit him?’

Jake’s grin widened. ‘And enjoyed every moment of it.’

‘Why the hell didn’t he just say so? We could have shot something else today, instead of which I’ve wasted a whole morning.’

‘The circumstances behind my hitting him probably aren’t something he wants to talk about.’ Jake looked down at Stacy as she squeezed his hand warningly. He was right, she would prefer people to think they were lovers rather than that Paul Forbes had tried to make love to her against her will. ‘All right, honey?’ Jake’s voice lowered intimately.

‘Yes, I’m fine. I—er—I’ll just go and have a word with Juliet,’ she said awkwardly.

‘Okay,’ he nodded. ‘I’ll look for you when I’m ready to leave.’

She escaped as he and the director became deeply engrossed in discussing one of the scenes, slowly making her way over to where she could see Juliet in conversation with one of the other girls. She was almost there when she looked up and met the hate-filled eyes of Paul Forbes. She stopped in her tracks as he walked towards her with purposeful strides, his mouth turned back in a sneer.

CHAPTER SEVEN

STACY wanted to move, to walk away, but she was rooted to the spot by her own fear. Last night this man had tried to rape her, and although she knew he couldn’t hurt her in front of all these people, verbally he could rip her to shreds.