Penny Jordan - Passionate Nights

She grimaced a little, remembering the open interest Julian had shown in the pearl earrings and solitaire ring she had been wearing—an inspired addition to her outfit on her own part; unlike her couture gown and earrings, the ring was anything but genuine, but Julian had certainly been taken in by it—just as his unworldly naive victims had been taken in by him. Dee was right—it was time someone turned the tables on him—but, much as she wanted to help her friend, Kelly had to admit to wishing there might be some other way she could do so.

‘You, Kelly are suddenly going to become an extremely rich young woman,’ Dee had told her. ‘All you have to do is let him believe that you’re prepared to commit yourself and, more importantly, your future to him. His own ego and his greed will do the rest.’

Kelly hoped that she was right, because there was certainly no way she was going to be able to give Julian any physical, sexual confirmation of her supposed desire for him. No way at all!

KELLY looked up as she heard the shop doorbell go. She was expecting Dee. They had spoken on the phone earlier when Dee had announced that she intended to come round to collect the ballgown accessories which had, in fact, been hired from an exclusive dress shop and to discuss what had happened at the ball.

Kelly had had a pleasingly busy morning with several customers. She hoped that Beth was going to be able to source a supplier of high-quality glass in the Czech Republic as this morning alone she had promised three potentially interested customers that they were hopefully going to be able to provide them with the sets of stemware they wanted.

‘Something different … something pretty … something not too expensive …’ had been the heartfelt pleas of their potential customers. Fingers crossed that if Beth’s quest was successful they would be able to meet all three requirements.

‘Right,’ Dee commanded briskly as she walked up to the counter. ‘How did the ball go? Tell me everything …’

‘Julian was there with his new girlfriend,’ Kelly began, pausing before she added quietly, ‘I felt so sorry for her, Dee. She’s plainly very much in love with him and so young and naive … I hate the thought of doing anything that might hurt her …’

‘She’ll be hurt much, much more if Julian succeeds in persuading her to marry him, which he’s going to go all out to do. His finances are in a complete mess and getting worse by the day. He’s desperately in need of money. She’s quite wealthy in her own right and then, when you add on the financial benefits which could accrue to him through her brother … But from what Harry has told me Julian was making a very definite play for you …’

‘Yes, he was,’ Kelly agreed, tracing an abstract design with the tip of her finger on the polished glass counter before saying hesitantly, ‘Dee, I’m not sure if I can go on with what we planned. I don’t like Julian, and, whilst I like even less what he’s done to Beth and what he’s doing to Eve Frobisher, I …’

‘Would it help if I gave you my solemn promise that on no account and on no occasion would I ever allow a situation to arise where you would have to be on your own with him?’ Dee asked her.

Kelly stared at her. How on earth had Dee guessed what was troubling her?

‘You’re quite right,’ Dee told her, answering the question Kelly still had to ask. ‘I wouldn’t want to be on my own with him either, especially if I thought that there was any risk that he might guess what we’re up to … Harry is quite aggrieved with me, you know,’ she added with a chuckle. ‘He not only feels that as your friend and landlady I ought to put you wise to Julian’s real character, he also shares your concern on behalf of Eve Frobisher.

‘In fact,’ she told Kelly ruefully, ‘I’m afraid he’s rather taken me to task over the whole thing.’

‘Does he now know what we’re doing, then?’ Kelly asked her in some surprise. Instinctively she had felt that Dee was a woman who exercised her own judgement, made her own decisions and played her cards very close to her chest.

‘Not entirely,’ Dee admitted, confirming Kelly’s private thoughts. ‘Harry is a sweetie, as solid and dependable as they come. He wouldn’t recognise a lie if he met one walking down the street; subterfuge and everything that goes with it is very much alien territory to him, which does have its advantages, of course. He’s wonderful potential husband and father material …’ She cocked a thoughtful eye at Kelly. ‘He’s comfortably off, and I know for a fact that his mother is dying for him to settle down and produce children. If you were interested …’

‘He’s a honey,’ Kelly told her hastily, ‘but not, I’m afraid, my type.’

Nor, she suspected, was she his, but she rather thought she knew someone who might be. She hadn’t missed the anxious and protective looks Harry had been giving Eve over dinner the previous night.

‘Mmm … Pity … Look, I’ve got to dash,’ Dee told her. ‘When Julian rings you—which he will—I want to know about it …’

‘Dee,’ Kelly said, but it was too late; the other woman was already heading for the door, ignoring her half-panicky protests.

What was Dee saying? Julian wouldn’t ring her. He wouldn’t dare. Flirting with her last night was one thing, but …

In her heart of hearts Kelly knew that despite her desire to do the right thing by Beth and the rest of her sex she was secretly reluctant to have anything more to do with Julian. Not because she feared him. She didn’t. No. Contempt, dislike, anger … those were the emotions he aroused within her.

Admit it, she told herself sternly ten minutes later as she locked the shop and disappeared into the small back room to have her lunch, ‘you just hate the thought of anyone thinking you could possibly be attracted to him. Anyone … or a specific someone … a very specific someone.

Pushing aside her half-eaten sandwich, Kelly started to frown. Don’t start that again, she warned herself. He’s not much better than Julian … Look at the way he treated you. Kissing you like that.

Kissing her … Abruptly she sat down, her insides starting to melt and then ache.

Watch it, she warned herself, deriding herself fiercely. It isn’t just your insides he’s turning to mush, it’s your brain as well.

Her frown deepened as she heard someone ringing the shop doorbell. Couldn’t they read? They were closed. The ringing persisted. Irritably Kelly got up. There was no way she could finish her lunch with that row going on.

Opening the communicating door, she marched into the shop and then stopped abruptly as she saw Brough Frobisher standing on the other side of the plate-glass window.

Her hand went to her throat in an instinctive gesture of shock as she breathed in disbelief, ‘You.’

Shakily she went to unlock the shop door. Brough was frowning as he stepped inside.

‘I’m looking for Kay Harris,’ he told her abruptly. The sense of shock that hit her was so strong that for a moment Kelly was unable to reply.

‘She does work here, doesn’t she?’ Brough was demanding curtly, looking at her, Kelly realised, as though he doubted her ability to answer him competently.

‘Yes. Yes, she does … I do … It’s Kelly, not Kay,’ Kelly corrected him shakily. ‘K is just my initial.’

‘You!’

Sensing his reluctance to believe her, Kelly drew herself up to her full height and told him in her most businesslike voice, ‘My partner and I run this shop.’

‘You paint china?’ His disbelief was palpable and insulting.

Kelly could feel her temper starting to ignite. There were many things she was not, and she had her fair share of human faults and frailties, but there was one thing that she was sure of and that was that she was extremely good at her chosen work—and that wasn’t merely her own opinion.