Follow a Stranger

she explained anxiously.

“I talked to her about that,” he said. “She said she was

only unhappy because she thought it was a business

arrangement—that Jean-Paul did not really love her. He

had never breathed a word of any affection to her, of

course. It was all done through me. And Pallas hated the

idea of an arranged, loveless marriage. But she is

attracted to him, all right.”

“Oh, dear, I hope I haven’t harmed them,” said Kate,

biting her lip.

“I doubt it,” Marc said. “Jean-Paul must convince her

he loves her, that’s all. She is still very young. He will

have plenty of time.” He reached for her and kissed her

hard. “Never mind them. What about us? When will you

r /> marry me?”

“I don’t know ...” She wriggled uneasily. “Marc, we

come from such different worlds. Do you think we could

make a marriage work?”

He looked very seriously into her eyes. “It has got to

work. I need you too much to let you go. Don’t start all

that again, Kate. I couldn’t bear it. When I saw you with

Jean-Paul tonight at the concert, holding hands like a

pair of lovers, I almost killed him. And I drove back to his

apartment, only to find him out. I waited around the

corner, where I could see when his lights went on, and

then when I got up there, and found you, with your hair

all tousled, as though he’d been making love to you ...”

he drew a deep breath, looking savage. “I am amazed at

how well I controlled my urge to knock him down.”

Kate shivered at the look on his face. “Don’t!” she said