Dishonourable Proposal

'I don't know why Monica behaved as she did; perhaps she heard you arrive and wanted to stir up trouble. I've known her a long time, and she has a very twisted sense of humour. I was stunned when she threw her arms around me and started talking about us. I quickly disentangled myself and left about five minutes later.'

'Hmph!' Katy snorted. 'And I suppose next you will tell me you never went on holiday with her.'

'I am telling you the truth, Katy. As for the skiing weekend, Monica came on one of our regular trips to Switzerland—not as my companion, but with a friend of mine from college. When she said we never left the hotel it was because I had broken my leg and she had broken her ankle. I can understand how it must have sounded to you, but it was entirely innocent.'

Katy looked searchingly at his darkly handsome face. Innocent, he said. She doubted if Jake had had an innocent relationship with a woman other than his mother the whole of his life. He was far too virile, much too much a man, and she would have to be fifty kinds of idiot to believe a word he said. Anyway, it was no longer relevant. He had spent the past weeks dragging her all over town, so her dismissal from his life would be very public, and all for some petty vengeance.

'Well, thanks for the explanation, but it was a lifetime ago, Jake. Right now would you mind calling me a taxi, and I'll get out of here?'

'You don't believe me, do you?' He shook his dark head. 'You don't want to believe me...'

'It's not necessary that I believe you-----'

'What the hell would you know what is necessary, with your rigid little mind?' he cut her off sarcastically, and, picking up her other case, he added, 'There is no need for a cab. I'll drive you—it will be quicker.'

Katy did not deign to argue. He was in a hurry to get rid of her, she thought bleakly. So much for his pat explanation! In a very short while he would be out of her life for good. All the arguments and recriminations in the world could not change that fact. Silently she followed him to the car.

They had been travelling for some time, when Katy realised Jake was not taking her to her apartment, and as she looked out of the window, and saw the sign for Heathrow Airport fade away, obviously Paris was not on the agenda either.

'Where are we going?' she blurted. Jake shot her a sidelong glance, his lips twisted in an ironic smile.

'I wondered how long it would take you to break your sullen silence and acknowledge me,' he drawled mockingly.

Acknowledge him? Didn't he realise she was aware of every movement of his lithe body, the muscles rippling in his thighs as his feet operated the pedals, his long fingers lightly clasping the steering-wheel with supreme confidence? It was a constant battle for her to mask just how very much aware of him she was.

'This is not the way to my apartment and we have passed the airport,' she said firmly. 'I want to-----'

'What you want, Katy, is the truth, and if you can bring yourself to humour me for a few hours that is exactly what you're going to get. Now shut up and go to sleep. You look shattered and it will be a while before we arrive at our destination.'

'Adding kidnapping to blackmail, are we?' she drawled, but her words lacked force. The anger that had kept her going for the past couple of hours had seeped away. Katy could feel the pain growing inside her and her eyes ached with unshed tears. Why Jake was prolonging her agony she had no idea. Maybe it was male pride; he refused to let her have the last word. Yet his attempts at justification for his actions were so pathetic as to be laughable.

He glanced across at her, one dark brow arched sardonically. 'Sarcasm does not become you, sweetheart. Do as you're told. Trust me, for once in your life.'

She looked at his hard profile; his attention was once again fixed on the road in front. His earlier anger and the uncertainty she had sensed before was gone. He was all virile, confident male. Trust him, he said! She would as soon trust a rattlesnake. She opened her mouth to demand he take her home, and closed it again.

Inconsequentially she remembered a popular quote in France. The great Maurice Chevalier once said, 'Many a man has fallen in love with a girl in a light so dim he would not have chosen a suit by it.' The- same was true for women, she thought sadly. She loved Jake, and yet there was no good reason for her passion.

Jake had seduced her at eighteen and betrayed her. Blackmailed her at twenty-two. Now he seemed intent on abducting her. Love was certainly blind in her case. If she had any common sense at all she should have had him arrested by now. Instead she sank back in her seat, and closed her eyes, praying her ordeal would soon be over, and she could walk away from him with some remnant of her pride intact.

CHAPTER TEN

A hand on her shoulder woke her from a deep sleep. Katy blinked and opened her eyes. It was dark outside, the glare of the car headlights the only illumination in the black velvet of the night.

Slowly she sat up, blushing as she realised she had been asleep with her head on Jake's shoulder. 'Where are we?' she demanded, smoothing a few loose tendrils of hair back over her head, and pulling her sweater neatly down over her waist.

'You will soon see,' was Jake's enigmatic reply as he got out of the car.

She watched him for a second, but her gaze was distracted as a full moon appeared from behind the clouds, bathing the landscape in a wash of silver. She noted the rolling lawns running down to stop at a band of black leafless skeletal trees outlined against the night sky, and through a small gap a headland, and moonlight on water—the sea. She swung round in the seat, and in a daze stepped out of the car. The place was achingly familiar, but-it couldn't be, she told herself.

Katy breathed deeply, filling her lungs with the cool salt-scented night air. Her green eyes, wide as saucers, roamed over the massive granite structure before her. Elegant stone steps led to a large double oak door that swung open as she

watched, sending out a beam of golden light. She raised her head: over the door a beautiful arched stained-glass window sent a kaleidoscope of colours flickering across the car.

Katy gasped, and took a step forward. It was her old home. The outline of a miner in coloured glass confirmed it. 'Jake, wait!' she cried, running up the steps after him. She grabbed his arm. 'You can't barge in here. My father sold it.'

'Don't panic, Katy; we are expected.' He took her hand in his and tugged it under his arm, forcing her to accompany him into the house.

She cast a frantic glance at the elderly man standing in the entrance hall, and mumbled, 'Good evening.' What was Jake doing? she thought furiously. Was the place a hotel now? God knew, it was big enough. She had a vivid memory of herself as a child, and only having just learned to count, going methodically round the house counting every room and cupboard, the grand total thirty-five.