The Playboy's Ruthless Pursuit

It was ironic that Alice came into view right at that moment, smiling and chatting with people as she worked the room, a glass of champagne in her right hand. Their eyes met and Jeremy smiled at her, at which point George’s ruddy face swivelled round to see what he was smiling at.

‘Very nice,’ George said, thankfully in a low voice. ‘Is she your date for tonight?’

‘No,’ Jeremy admitted. ‘She’s the lady who’s organised this do. Her name’s Alice Waterhouse. Alice!’ he called out, and beckoned her over. ‘Come and meet some very good friends of mine,’ he added, smiling at the thought that she could hardly avoid him now.

‘I know Alice,’ Mandy piped up. ‘I spoke to her on the phone when I first got her email about tonight. When I told her how much a fan I was of Kenneth Jacobs’s books, she said she’d put me on the same table as him.’

* * *

Alice plastered a smile on her face and went to meet Jeremy’s very good friends.

Jeremy introduced them, Alice quickly remembering her phone conversation with Mandy.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she said straight away, glad to be able to direct her conversation towards anyone but the very annoying Jeremy, who continued to smile at her in that smug fashion, as though they had some kind of secret relationship going on. ‘Mr Jacobs can’t be here tonight. He’s got a dreadful cold. We’re still auctioning off his prize, though. His publisher here has very kindly agreed to do the auctioneering honours tonight.’ With that, she served Jeremy with a saccharine smile that didn’t touch her eyes.

‘What?’ George’s eyes widened with surprise. ‘Is she talking about you, Jeremy?’

‘She is indeed.’

‘When did you become a publisher?’

‘Shortly after I left banking.’

‘Is there money in it?’

‘Probably not,’ Jeremy said drily. ‘But as they say in the classics, it’s not always about the money.’

George guffawed. ‘That’s a good one. A Barker-Whittle saying it’s not about the money.’

Alice noticed that Jeremy’s eyes stopped sparkling for a split second. Not that she cared.

A waiter with a tray of drinks paused next to their group, offering them flutes of champagne or orange juice. They all selected champagne, all except Alice who already had a glass, which she was not actually drinking. She couldn’t afford to get tipsy, not if she had to deal with lover boy all night. Her vain attempt to avoid him till dinner hadn’t worked, she conceded with a degree of frustration.

‘I really should mingle,’ Alice said. ‘I’ll see you all at dinner, since we’re on the same table.’

‘How lovely!’ Mandy gushed.

‘I’ll mingle with you,’ Jeremy offered immediately.

‘No need to do that,’ Alice blurted out in alarm. ‘You should stay and look after your friends.’

‘We don’t need looking after, little lady,’ George retorted. ‘Off you go, both of you.’

The conspiratorial smirk he sent Jeremy did not escape Alice’s notice. Lord knew what he’d said to the man.

‘Why did George look at you like that?’ she asked bluntly as she made her way through the milling crowd, Jeremy at her side.

‘Like what?’

She ground to a halt and glared up at him. ‘Like he was secretly playing matchmaker.’

‘Can’t say that I noticed.’

Alice sighed in exasperation.

‘George is a bit of a romantic,’ he added. ‘Take no notice of him.’

She was struggling to find something to say when Jeremy was claimed by another couple who knew him, this time some television executive and his wife. And that was how it went for the next forty minutes, lots of other guests vying for his attention as if he were some kind of celebrity, all of them assuming she was his girlfriend, something he occasionally didn’t deny. Not that that stopped the women from flirting with him. Neither did it stop her feeling ridiculously, irrationally jealous.

Irritated and confused, Alice had difficulty maintaining her usual calm demeanour. Finally, the urge to snap something rather rude at an over-made-up blonde whose false eyelashes were in danger of falling off she was fluttering them so much, almost overwhelmed Alice. Sucking in a deep, gathering breath, she turned to Jeremy, smiling up at him in a somewhat brittle fashion. ‘Sorry, Jeremy, but I must visit the ladies’ room before the evening begins. I’ll see you later at the table. Ours is table number one.’

The relief she felt at exiting his presence was enormous. But the sight of her over-bright eyes in the powder-room mirror was both telling and worrying. Be careful, Alice, she warned herself. Be very, very careful.

CHAPTER FIVE

JEREMY FOUND GEORGE and his wife before entering the ballroom at twenty-five minutes past eight, chatting away with them as they made their way to table one, which was right at the front of the room near the stage. Alice was nowhere to be seen, her continued absence frustrating him. Never one to beat a dead horse, Jeremy began to accept that perhaps Alice actually wasn’t attracted to him. But if that was the case, why had she reacted negatively a couple of times to women flirting with him? And she had. Oh, yes. He’d glimpsed definite irritation in her body language, especially when that blonde had started giving him gooey-eyed looks.

Jeremy was thinking about the reasons for Alice cutting and running when she suddenly walked out onto the stage, making her way slowly towards the podium. How magnificent she looked up there, he thought, unable to take his eyes off her. Like a young Audrey Hepburn, though with blonde hair. Talk about class! Once in position at the podium she turned on the microphone and tapped it a couple of times, bringing relative quiet to the buzzing ballroom. Once everyone was seated, she cast a wide smile around the room and began to speak in that well-educated, crystal-clear voice of hers.

‘Welcome, everyone,’ she began. ‘First, I must thank you all for coming here tonight and supporting a cause that is dear to my heart. It is unfortunate that women’s refuges are necessary in our supposedly civilised and enlightened world, but that is sadly the case. Some of you might not know this, but I work as a counsellor at a few of the inner-city refuges, and I know personally that they are all struggling to make ends meet, plus to cope with the number of women asking for help. We desperately need more refuges. More case workers. More counsellors. Of course, that all means more money, some of which we hope to raise tonight through your kindness and generosity. So please...dig deep. Trust me when I say that whatever you donate will make a huge difference to those women who have nowhere to go and no one to turn to. They need your help. Thank you.’

When Alice stopped speaking, the whole room erupted with clapping, Jeremy feeling immensely proud of her, and quite moved. What a speech! What a woman! Politicians could take a leaf out of her book when it came to inspiring people. If he hadn’t been doing the auctioneering job, Jeremy would have been tempted to bid for every single item himself, making sure that the very best price would be achieved before the gavel came down. As it was, he vowed to give the charity a hefty donation of his own at the end of the night. Who knew? Maybe the gesture would make her agree to go out with him. Because he was still going to ask her, wasn’t he? Nothing was surer in his mind.

When Alice sat down at the table, everyone spoke to her at once, congratulating her on her lovely words and assuring her that they would all dig deep. Jeremy couldn’t get a word in edgewise. As soon as he could, he leant a little closer to her and said quietly, ‘That was a seriously impressive speech, Alice. You could do fund-raising for a career, if you wanted to.’

* * *

Alice stiffened at the way her body responded to that deeply masculine voice of his, plus the warmth of his breath against her ear. Her stomach tightened, and so did her nipples, something which had never happened to her before. It was quite frightening, but also insidiously beguiling. She ached to turn to him and give him a real smile, one which told him how desperately she wanted to give in to the erotically charged spell that she suspected he was capable of casting over her. If she let him.

But to do so was to dance with the devil, the devil being men who had no conscience or morals. She’d seen first-hand what such men could do to a woman. Okay, so maybe Jeremy wasn’t as bad as her sister’s abusive bully of a husband. Or that vile creep she’d gone out with from college. But he was still a serial womaniser who wanted a woman for one thing and one thing only. Admittedly, since meeting him, her own traitorous mind had been filled with that same thing. Clearly, Jeremy was a Casanova extraordinaire who didn’t have to lift a finger to make women swoon. His elegant looks and his natural charm did it for him. And yes, that wonderfully sexy voice of his.

Despite being sorely tempted, Alice refused to become just another of this playboy’s conquests. So she schooled her face into a polite smile before turning her head to answer him. Unfortunately, she hadn’t anticipated just how close Jeremy’s face was. Barely centimetres separated their noses, their eyes, their mouths...

Her smile froze in place as she stared at his lips, hating herself for wondering what it would be like to be kissed by them. But she wondered just the same. And she wanted. Oh, yes, she wanted. For a long moment she almost surrendered to the crazed urge to close the gap between them. But at the last second she pulled herself together. And he, thank God, leant back into his chair.

‘I couldn’t be a professional fund-raiser,’ she said with her usual cool reserve. ‘I don’t like asking anyone for money. At least this way people get something in exchange for their donation. I’ve been assured the food and wine will be good, but of course there won’t be much choice. It’s a set menu, with only two dishes in each course, served alternatively so that people can swap if they want to. That’s the only way the staff could cope with so many meals.’

‘It looks good to me,’ Jeremy remarked as the starters arrived at their table.

Alice was glad that she had something to concentrate on other than her crazy feelings. She glanced over at Jeremy’s plate—scallops cooked in a white wine sauce—then down at her own, which was a stir-fried beef dish served on Asian greens. Alice heaved a sigh of relief when everyone at the table tucked in without swapping, all of them seemingly pleased with the food. And with the wine, red or white being offered by the constantly circling waiters. Each table already had jugs of iced water and freshly squeezed orange juice if people didn’t drink alcohol. Mandy, who was on her right, chose the white, as did Alice. Not that she had any intention of drinking much.

‘Eat up,’ Jeremy said when she just sat there with her fork in her hand, and her mind still elsewhere. ‘I love a woman who enjoys her food.’

Alice rolled her eyes at him. ‘I get the impression that you love all women.’

He just smiled, not seeming in any way offended. ‘You could be right there. They are definitely the nicer sex.’

‘With the emphasis on the sex part,’ she retorted, thinking to herself that she was insane to start this kind of tit-for-tat conversation.

He gave her a searching look. ‘You don’t like men much, do you? Or is it just me?’

Guilt consumed her at the realisation of how rude she had been when in truth he had done nothing wrong. Everything had been in her overheated imagination, plus her overheated libido.

‘I do apologise,’ she said sincerely. ‘I’m not normally this rude. It’s been a long and difficult day. I do like you. Honestly. I appreciate your coming tonight and being my auctioneer. It’s just that...’

‘What?’

She closed her eyes and shook her head. Impossible to explain the situation without being rude again.

‘Nothing,’ she added, opening her eyes and throwing him a wan smile. ‘I’m a little tired.’

‘You don’t look tired,’ he said. ‘You look beautiful.’

Oh, Lord. He was like the Chinese water torture. ‘Please don’t,’ she said with a low groan.

‘Please don’t what? Tell you that I think you’re wonderful? I’d like to ask you out, Alice. To dinner, with me paying next time.’

Alice could not believe how tempted she was to just say yes. Yes, yes, please take me out to dinner then take me back to bed. It shocked her, the strength of that temptation, not to mention her desire. Fiona had been so right about Jeremy. He was seriously dangerous.

‘Thank you for asking me,’ she answered. ‘I’m flattered. But my answer has to be no.’

His eyes narrowed as they scanned her face. ‘Why is that, might I ask? You just said you liked me.’

‘Do I have to give you a reason? Maybe I already have a boyfriend.’

‘Do you?’

‘No,’ she said, lifting her glass of white wine to her lips. So much for her decision not to drink. But Lord, this man would drive any woman to drink.

‘Girlfriend?’

Her startled gasp sent wine splashing over the rim of her glass.

With the speed of a quarter horse jumping out of the stalls, Jeremy whipped the snow-white handkerchief out of his breast pocket and dabbed at where the wine had run down her chin and throat, heading for her cleavage.

‘Don’t do that,’ she snapped, even as her arms broke out into goosebumps.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he countered as he continued to mop up the wine.

Both George and Mandy said something but she wasn’t listening, her focus solely on where that infernal handkerchief was straying, down towards her bullet-like nipples.

Just before he reached them, his hand stopped and he put the handkerchief away. Alice was not sure if she was relieved or disappointed.

‘So what’s your real reason for refusing to go out with me?’ he asked her quietly as she snatched up her fork and attempted to finish her starter. ‘And I’d like the truth, please.’

She swallowed one meagre mouthful before putting the fork down. ‘If you must know, it’s because of your reputation.’

He looked bemused. ‘And what reputation is that?’

‘Come now, Jeremy, you must know what people say about you. You’re a playboy.’

‘Oh, is that all?’ he said, and laughed. ‘And that’s your only reason?’

She blinked at him. ‘You don’t think that’s a good enough reason?’

‘I’ve never come across it before.’

She just stared at him, thinking that she had never come across someone quite like him before, either. He was arrogant, yes, but with a wonderfully easy-going manner, which was both disarming and seriously seductive.

‘I would imagine that not many women would say no to you, Jeremy,’ she said truthfully. ‘But I am. Please don’t make a big deal about it. I’m not interested in wasting time on a man who thinks dating is a game and women are interchangeable.’

‘I couldn’t imagine ever thinking you were interchangeable, Alice. I can see that you are absolutely unique.’

‘Why? Because I’m saying no to you?’

When he smiled she wanted to slap him. And kiss him. And say yes to him.

Her shoulders straightened as they did whenever life put her back against the wall.

‘It’s time for us to go auction off a few things,’ she said coolly, and stood up.

CHAPTER SIX

BY THE END of the evening, Jeremy concluded that if he ever lost all his money and didn’t want to return to banking he could become an auctioneer. Whipping up enthusiasm for the items on offer came naturally to him. But then, he’d always had the gift of the gab. He especially loved the thrill of the bidding wars, plus the moment when he brought the gavel down and said, ‘Sold!’ The whole process had been exciting. And profitable for the women’s refuges. Alice seemed very pleased with the results. They had raised over four hundred thousand pounds from the auction alone, with the profit from the dinner lifting the total to half a million. Dear old George had contributed more than his fair share, bidding determinedly against a few other bidders for the privilege of having his name—plus his darling wife’s—in Kenneth’s next thriller. Mandy had been over the moon.

‘I can hardly believe it,’ Alice said afterwards. ‘I never dreamt we’d raise so much. Of course, I have you to thank, Jeremy,’ she added. ‘You were brilliant.’

Jeremy didn’t get too carried away with her compliment. There was still a wariness in her eyes during her dealings with him. Logic told him he was probably wasting his time pursuing Alice. But logic could not compete with the desire for her that had grown with each moment he spent in her company. She possessed a heady combination of mystery and allure, of unconscious warmth one moment and frosty reserve the next. It did irk Jeremy that, for the first time in his life, his reputation as a playboy wasn’t working for him. It usually whetted female interest, most women wanting to see if he could live up to his reputation as a lover. Others obviously imagined that they would be the one to ensnare his heart and make him settle down. They didn’t know they were fighting a lost cause. A few went out with him just for fun. They were the ones he liked best.

Alice obviously wasn’t any of those. She was a serious girl, with a serious outlook on life. He wondered if her slightly anti-men attitude came from something that had happened to her in the past, or maybe from where she worked. It could hardly endear the opposite sex to Alice if she was constantly dealing with women who’d suffered from domestic or sexual abuse from their boyfriends or husbands. He would never hurt her. He just wanted the opportunity to get to know her, and, yes, to get to know her. Was that so wrong?

Yes, Jeremy, came a voice he wasn’t used to hearing. Possibly his conscience? Alice is not the sort of girl who could handle a fling with a man like you. You would probably end up hurting her, whether you meant to or not.

Rubbish, another voice argued back immediately. His male ego perhaps? You’re exactly what Alice needs. Dating you will make her lighten up a bit. You can give her a fun time, and pleasure. Lots and lots of pleasure!

His loins prickled anew at this last thought.

Naturally, this second voice won the day, Jeremy refusing to be deterred despite Alice’s earlier half-hearted rejection. She was attracted to him. He was sure of it. She just had to get to know him better...

‘I have some wealthy friends who would be only too glad to make a substantial donation to your cause,’ he said as he accompanied her back to the foyer of the hotel. He was thinking of Sergio and Alex, who were both generous givers to charity, Alex especially. ‘I’ll give them a call tomorrow and get back to you. And then there’s the matter of my own personal donation.’

A startled Alice ground to a halt, throwing him what could only be described as a panicky look. ‘But I don’t expect you to donate a thing,’ she said hurriedly. ‘You’ve already been more than generous with your time tonight.’

‘It was no hardship. I enjoyed every moment. But I didn’t pay for my dinner. Neither did I buy anything at the auction. I can well afford to make a donation, Alice. I thought I might match what you raised tonight pound for pound. Now don’t go thinking there any strings attached to this offer, because there aren’t,’ he continued before she could protest. ‘So who will I send the money to?’

‘What?’ She seemed totally flustered.

‘You have registered a proper charity, haven’t you?’

‘Yes, of course I have. It’s called Save Our Refuges.’

‘Right. I’ll tell my friends.’

‘The Bank of England is handling the donations for us. You can just transfer the money straight into the account. The details were on the email I sent to all the guests. But of course you weren’t a guest, were you?’ she added, frowning. ‘I’ll email Madge in the morning with all the information. But honestly, Jeremy, you don’t have to donate that much money.’

‘Why not? I can afford it. Besides, money doesn’t go all that far these days. If you want to open more refuges you’re going to need a lot more than a million pounds.’

‘I suppose so...’

‘Your charity will also need a few well-heeled patrons, like moi. You will need help, Alice, if you want to achieve the goals you set out in your speech. I’ll tell you what, since you won’t go out to dinner with me, why don’t you drop by my office one day this week and we’ll have a think tank on what other fund-raising activities you can employ? I’ll see if Madge can join us. She’s a smart lady and a fabulous organiser. I’m sure she’d love to be involved. How about Friday afternoon? Are you free then? If you’re busy, we can make it next week some time.’

Alice still seemed reluctant, yet fiercely tempted at the same time. He could see a war going on in her eyes. But she would not, in the end, Jeremy believed, look such a gift horse in the mouth.

‘I...well...yes, I suppose I can make it on Friday afternoon. But not till around four. Is that too late for you?’

‘Not at all. Four would be fine.’ Step one accomplished, which was to make her see that he wasn’t such a bad guy. ‘I’ll have Madge email our address. Let her know if you can’t make it and we’ll reschedule.’ Good to not sound desperate to see her again. Yet he was desperate. Weirdly, irrationally desperate. Jeremy could not envisage letting Alice just disappear from his life. He hadn’t been this captivated by a woman in years. Or this challenged. She wasn’t going to be an easy conquest. But, then, he didn’t really want her to be a conquest. Despite his reputation as a ladies’ man, Jeremy was not a rake, or a libertine. He genuinely liked women, liked their company, in bed as well as out. Seduction was not his usual game, possibly because he rarely had to employ such tactics. Getting a girl to go to bed with him had always been so damned easy.

Alice, however, was not going to be easy. Hell, he couldn’t even get her to go out with him let alone go to bed with him. His pursuit of her was going to take patience, and some cunning. But he was sure she would be worth it.

His eyes ran over her one last time, imprinting her lovely face and figure in his memory bank so that he could download it into his mind at will during the next two days.

‘I’ll go get your coat,’ he offered.

* * *

Alice could have told him that she would get it herself, but she knew that feminist defiance was useless against a man of Jeremy’s nature. He might be a playboy, but he was also a gentleman of the old school who knew how to treat a woman. Alice felt both flattered and frustrated by his gallantry. She also felt flattered and frustrated by his determined pursuit of her. Clearly, he thought that making himself a patron of her charity would make her so grateful that she would finally agree to go out with him.

Silly man. She had no intention of doing so, despite the moments of sexual weakness, which he had effortlessly evoked in her tonight. But she would take his help, and his money, which was much needed by people who didn’t have the resources or the resilience to help themselves. As she watched him walk over and collect her coat, she wondered if he had any idea at all what the women and children who fled to refuges had suffered. Or if he cared. Hard to imagine that a man of his wealth and background really cared about those less fortunate than himself. Or really cared about her, for that matter. She was just an attractive girl who’d dared to resist his charms and say no to him. She’d become a challenge, one which he smugly thought he’d eventually overcome. She’d seen the spark of triumph in his eyes when she’d agreed to come to his office on Friday.

Alice’s mouth curved into a wry smile. If he thought she wasn’t aware of his not very subtle ploy, then he was very much mistaken. Or maybe he didn’t mind if she guessed how far he was prepared to go to get her, or how much he wanted her.

A shiver ran down Alice’s spine at this last thought, a shiver that didn’t bear too close an inspection. Because down deep, in that place reserved for unpalatable and somewhat scary truths, lay the fact that she secretly wanted him back. Perverse, really, given there was nothing to admire about Jeremy Barker-Whittle except his movie-star looks, his silver-tongued voice and his old-fashioned manners, all of which were either God-given or practised traits. He didn’t show any genuine qualities that she could like and respect. Why, he’d actually laughed over his less than admirable reputation. What kind of man did that?