'Is dealt with.' His eyes had a flinty coldness that chilled her blood. 'I don't go looking for trouble, Katie, but I can deal with it when I have to.'
She didn't doubt it. Not for a minute.
'I see.' She kept all shadow of apprehension out of her voice.
'Not yet, perhaps,' he said grimly, 'but you will. As my wife you will come under my protection but unfortunately the tentacles of the media are pernicious. You will learn to say little and be on your guard—'
'Wonderful,' she interrupted wryly. 'It looks like all this is going to be a bundle of laughs. I take it Jennifer is included in this strategy?' she asked carefully.
'Especially Jennifer.' He raised sardonic black eyebrows. 'Your sister is a barracuda on two legs, in case you hadn't noticed. It is fortunate that the two of you have little to do with each other, although having her in the immediate family is a problem I could well do without.'
'Then why—?' She caught herself up abruptly and subsided back in her seat, aware that she had been about to ask the question that had been tormenting her for days but had become more urgent since her conversation with Joseph earlier that day. The knowledge of that other love burnt like fire at the back of her mind.
'You would like me to open the champagne now, Mr Reef?' She could almost have kissed the portly little manager who appeared at their side again, complete with two massive menus, which he handed to them with elaborate ceremony before proceeding to open the champagne and fill their glasses with the sparkling, effervescent wine that tasted quite wonderful.
Once they were alone again Carlton surveyed her thoughtfully over the top of his menu as she took another sip of the delicious drink. 'I seem to have got something right for a change,' he remarked quietly. 'Champagne is obviously your drink.'
'This particular sort is,' she said appreciatively, 'although, to be honest, I didn't think I liked champagne. I've only had it a couple of times at weddings and so on and it didn't taste anything like this.'
'No—' there was a wry amusement in the dark face as his eyes wandered from her pale, creamy skin to the shining silk of her honey-blonde hair '—it probably wouldn't have. That is a very good vintage that you're guzzling so shamelessly. One advantage of the terrible position you find yourself in is that you won't have to drink mediocre champagne, at least.' The grey eyes were mocking. 'What were you going to say before we were interrupted?'
'Say?' She had hoped he'd forgotten but she might have known that that razor-sharp mind never let anything slip, she thought resentfully as hot colour flooded her face. 'I don't remember—'
'We had been discussing Jennifer and then you asked me why…?' She wasn't going to get away with it. She knew it and he knew it.
'It was nothing.' She lowered her eyes to her menu, raising it so that her face was hidden from his gaze as she searched her mind for something to say that wouldn't suggest that she was in any way interested in either his love life or what he thought of her.
'Katie…' The deep voice was insultingly patient. 'In the short time I've known you you have never opened your mouth without something emerging,' he said softly. 'Now spit it out.' She saw him wave the waiter away as he approached for their order and knew her last pretext for hesitating was gone.
'I just wondered, in view of your disliking Jennifer and everything…' She found it hard to continue as the dark eyes held hers, and took a deep, hidden breath before speaking the thought that had been stinging unbearably since the mention of his first love's name. 'I just wondered why you wanted to go ahead with the marriage,' she finished in a little rush, lifting the glass of champagne as he leant back in his seat, his face expressionless, and finishing the contents in two gulps.
'I'm not marrying Jennifer.' He looked devastatingly handsome, she thought helplessly, the dark evening suit a perfect foil for his particular brand of harsh maleness, the dangerous attractiveness that was an essential part of him accentuated by the formal clothes.
'But there must have been other women with fewer complications?' she asked hesitantly, her heart thudding as he watched her so carefully. 'I mean—'
'I know what you mean,' he assured her drily, his tone almost bored. 'But I've already told you, a pretty little socialite with nothing in her head but pound signs doesn't fit the bill for what I have in mind.'
'You don't seem to have had any such compunction in the past from what I've heard,' she said tartly as aching hurt and furious anger at her own vulnerability made her voice tight.
'That's enough.' The easy, bored facade was ripped apart in an instant as he leant forward, his voice low and cold but his eyes fiery. 'If you will listen to rumours and gossip, Katie, then don't expect to hear anything good. Of course I have had relationships with women. At my age I think there would be more justification for anxiety on your part if I hadn't, don't you?' he queried softly with cutting mockery.
'However, if only half of what has been printed about me were true I'd have long ago burnt myself out, and I can assure you I haven't.' The glittering eyes held her own wide ones as if in a steel vice. 'As you will discover in due course.'
He settled back in his seat again as an almost visible mask settled back in place, hiding his thoughts and emotions. 'Now, the poor waiter is getting restless. What would you like to eat?'
In spite of the shaky beginning, halfway through the evening Katie was surprised to find that she was beginning to relax. The food was superb, the service faultless and the clientele… She found herself holding her breath as yet another well-known name, the third in as many minutes, strolled into the dimly lit nightclub. 'Isn't that…?'
'Blake Andrews?' Carlton's voice was smiling and as she turned to him she saw that his face was lit with unconcealed amusement at her wide-eyed enthraldom, and the cynical mockery that was usually evident in the dark face for once was totally absent. 'Yes, it is. I'll introduce you later if you like.'
'You know him?' she asked quietly, hearing the breathless note in her voice with a feeling of self-disgust He must think that she was so naive, so stupid, but this place, this whole scene, was so overwhelming that she couldn't disguise the effect it was having on her nervous system.
'Not intimately,' he drawled lazily. 'But Blake is the sort of entertainer who is always pleased to meet a fan, especially one who is both young and beautiful.'
Although the teasing was light, playful even, it hit a raw spot and she flushed violently, lowering her eyes immediately to her glass. Why was she forever destined to make a fool of herself in front of this man? she asked herself painfully.
'Katie?' His hand covered hers as he leant forward. 'Look at me.' She raised eyes that were jade-green with chagrin to stare into grey ones that were soft with an emotion she couldn't name. 'Be yourself.' It was an order and spoken with a quiet intensity that made her hold her breath. 'I can't—' He hesitated as though searching for the right words. 'I can't drop the habits of a lifetime in a few weeks—they're too deep and too strong—but I'm not trying to humiliate you. Do you believe that?'
'Yes.' It was a whisper but he heard the note of bewildered surprise as she voiced what was obviously the truth and was satisfied, leaning back in his seat again as he surveyed her through narrowed grey eyes.