The Tycoon's Scandalous Proposition

‘Irritating woman,’ he muttered as he steered Kate over to their table. ‘Do you know she had the hide to ask to see my speech? Claimed she needed to check if it was too long.’

‘How rude!’

‘That’s what I thought. Lord knows how people like that stay in business. Anyway, I didn’t show it to her because I haven’t written one. I just assured her it would be the shortest best man’s speech in history. Which it will be. I detest long speeches.’

Kate gnawed at her bottom lip. ‘You’re not going to say anything...revealing, are you?’

‘About Lachlan being a player, you mean?’

‘Yes.’

‘Of course not. That’s not my place. My role tonight is to be complimentary and charming and funny.’ Blake laughed at the doubtful look on her face. ‘Don’t worry. I can be all of those things when I need to be. I’m actually a very good actor myself.’

CHAPTER FIVE

BLAKE WAS AS good as his word, keeping his best man’s speech very short and very witty, heaping gushing compliments on the bride and hearty praise on the groom, refraining from any of the usual tasteless double entendres concerning the groom’s past behaviour with the opposite sex, and finishing up by toasting the happy couple with gusto.

I really am a good actor, he decided when he sat down to huge applause less than five minutes after he’d stood up. Because it had certainly gone against the grain for him to say the overly nice things he had. He hadn’t lied for Lachlan’s sake, of course, or for the bride, but for Kate, whom he could see had been upset by his revelation about Lachlan’s lack of morals.

He regretted telling her now. It had been unnecessary. He’d achieved nothing except to increase her anxiety over the future of her sister’s happiness. Clearly she was fond of her sister, despite her parents’ obvious favouritism for the younger girl.

He cringed when he recalled the father of the bride’s over-effusive speech about his perfect younger daughter. It had been sick-making. If he’d been Kate he would have walked out. Or thrown something at him. But she’d just sat there, sipping champagne and smiling, even laughing at some of her father’s gushing stories about Maddie as a little girl.

She was an incredibly generous and sweet-natured soul. Odd, given her chosen career. Aspiring actresses were rarely sweet. Unless they were faking it. And Blake felt confident she wasn’t.

He smiled when he thought of her smallish breasts and her lack of false eyelashes. No. Nothing fake about Kate Holiday.

Which was one of the reasons he found her so attractive.

She found him attractive too.

Blake was an expert in female body language, and he’d noticed her reaction to his none-too-subtle compliments. She liked them, but didn’t quite know how to react to them. Didn’t seem to know how to flirt.

Not like her sister. He might not have met the bride before, but he’d seen her in action tonight—both with the celebrant and the photographer and also himself, to a degree. Not that she’d actually said anything to him yet. There’d been no opportunity. But she’d fluttered her false eyelashes at him whenever she’d had a chance, her smile both sweetly coy and smoulderingly sexy at the same time.

She was a piece of work, all right. Lachlan just might have met his match with Maddie Holiday.

Finally the interminable meal and the speeches were over and the happy couple rose, leaving the table to go and cut their three-tiered wedding cake.

Blake immediately moved into the bride’s vacant chair so that he could talk to Kate. ‘So what did you think?’ he asked her on a teasing note. ‘Did my speech meet with your approval?’

She smiled at him, her expression wry. ‘You’re right. You’re a very good actor. You didn’t mean a single word of it, did you?’

‘I meant the bit I slipped in about the beautiful bridesmaid. I didn’t think the groom complimented you enough in his speech. Now, the dancing will start soon. I’ve been to a few weddings in my time, so I know the routine. First the bride and groom will do the bridal waltz, and then we’ll all be invited to join them on the dance floor.’

‘Yes, I know,’ she said. ‘I have been to the odd wedding or two as well. Though never as a bridesmaid.’

‘Never?’ That surprised him, given her age and her niceness. ‘But you must have loads of girlfriends. Haven’t any of them got married yet?’

‘Actually, no,’ she said.

‘No, you haven’t got loads of girlfriends? Or no, none of them have got married yet?’

‘I do have a few girlfriends from my years at NIDA, but no one so close that they would ask me to be a bridesmaid.’

‘What about from school?’

‘No. I wasn’t popular at school. I was considered a nerd. And not very cool.’

‘I find that hard to believe,’ he said, but he was lying.

He could see that she was on the reserved, rather introverted side. He’d been very popular at school—perhaps because he’d been a rebel. There was no rebel in Kate. Not a great deal of confidence, either. How on earth did she expect to succeed as an actress if she didn’t exude confidence?

Still, she had him to help her now. She just didn’t know it yet. It was probably not the right time or place to offer her a part in one of his movies tonight. Or to try to seduce her, either.

But he couldn’t let the grass grow under his feet. He was flying back to LA in a few days. And Blake had no intention of going back without having some delicious sex with this delightful creature, as well as giving her career a much-needed boost.

He would invite her out to dinner tomorrow night. Somewhere seriously good. After which he would take her back to the city penthouse he was staying in. It belonged to Byron, but he wasn’t using it much now that he’d moved into this absolutely gorgeous harbour-side mansion.

‘What about boyfriends?’ he asked, wanting to know the lie of the land before he got his hopes up too high. Not that a boyfriend would stop him now. The more time he spent with Kate the more he wanted her.

‘What?’ she said, blinking up at him.

God, she did have lovely eyes. And so expressive. Perfect for the camera.

‘You said you don’t have loads of girlfriends,’ he went on, ‘but you’ve surely had loads of boyfriends. There must be one at the moment.’

A strange cloud dulled her eyes. Strange, because he couldn’t read the emotion behind it. What was it? Not distress. Or dismay. Sadness again? Yes, that was it. Sadness. A very deep sadness. He wondered if she’d had a serious boyfriend and something dreadful had happened to him. He couldn’t imagine any man worth his salt dumping Kate, so what else could it be?

Only death, Blake decided, warranted this depth of sadness. A very recent death, possibly. That would explain everything that had puzzled him about her tonight. It might also explain why she hadn’t responded all that strongly to his none-too-subtle overtures. Perhaps by finding him attractive—and he was pretty sure she did—she felt she was betraying her loved one.

Blake pulled himself up sharply before he got carried away. Which he did sometimes. Nothing worse than being a movie-maker. He found drama in every situation. The reality was probably nothing like what he was imagining.

‘Actually, no,’ she said, a rueful little smile hovering. ‘I do not have a boyfriend at the moment. I have had boyfriends in the past, of course.’

Well of course she had. If she hadn’t she wouldn’t be normal.

‘Then there’s no one to object if I ask you out to dinner tomorrow night?’ he went on.

She didn’t look totally surprised, just a little wary.

‘No,’ she said, but there was reservation in her voice and reluctance in her eyes.

He knew then that she wasn’t going to be easily seduced. One part of him admired her for it, but that other part—the part which was aching and hard and more conscienceless than it had ever been—refused to be deterred.

So he decided to play his trump card. Too bad if it was a bit premature. A man had to do what a man had to do.

‘I want to talk to you about a part in my next movie which I think would be perfect for you,’ he added, dangling what he knew would be a powerful carrot.

There was no doubting her surprise. No, her shock. Genuine, ingenuous shock. God, she really was irresistible.

‘But why would you do that?’ she asked, jerking her head back a little as she blinked up at him. ‘Surely you would need me to audition for you first.’

Damn it all, why did she have to be so difficult? He respected her for it, but it was irritating.

‘I don’t need to see an audition from a graduate of NIDA,’ he dismissed. ‘Their programme produces the most talented actors.’

‘Yes, but...but...’

‘Kate Holiday,’ he said sternly. ‘Do you want to be a successful actress or not?’

‘Of course I do,’ she replied, looking quite offended. ‘It’s what I want most in the world.’

‘Then stop looking a gift horse in the mouth.’

She smiled then. Which pleased him no end.

‘You’ll come to dinner tomorrow night?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good. Now, let’s go and dance.’

CHAPTER SIX

HOW AMAZING, KATE thought a little breathlessly as Blake swept her onto the dance floor and into his arms. Dinner tomorrow night and a part in a Blake Randall movie.

Amazing, but also a little worrying. She’d heard casting couch stories, knew that it still happened, and wondered if Blake was of that ilk. Would he expect her to have sex with him at the end of the evening?

Kate knew he fancied her—had seen desire in his eyes. And even more worrying was the suspicion that if he made a pass at her she might just say yes to whatever he wanted. Which was not like her at all!

But this was her chance, wasn’t it? she reasoned desperately. Her chance to get her career off the ground. And she did find him attractive. Very attractive. And sexy. Very sexy. It was that mouth of his. And the hot, hungry gleam which fired up his eyes whenever he looked down at her. Which he was doing at the moment. He made her feel sexy in return. And terribly tempted.

A thought suddenly came to her, however—one she didn’t like at all.

‘This part you have in mind for me,’ she said as he whirled her round, thankfully at arm’s length. ‘It’s not in one of Lachlan’s movies, is it? I honestly don’t want to be in one of his movies.’

‘No, it’s not a rom-com. More of a family drama. A character-based script which I wrote a few years ago but hadn’t got round to making. But it’s all systems go now, and we start shooting in late November. Look, keep this under your hat, but I think Lachlan and I will be parting company in the near future.’

‘But why?’ she asked, totally taken aback.

Blake glanced over at the man in question before answering. Fortunately the dance floor was big enough for them not to be too close. Nevertheless, when he spoke he kept his voice low.

‘Mr Rodgers has an exalted opinion of his acting abilities. He doesn’t really understand why his movies with me have been so successful. He thinks it’s solely due to him. He might do one more movie with me, but he’ll go with the money in the end. He recently got himself a new agent—one who’s buddy-buddy with the big production companies. They’ve already offered him a very lucrative contract for three movies. He says he’s just thinking about it, but I can see the writing on the wall.’

‘That’s not very loyal of him,’ Kate said, feeling upset for Blake. Though he didn’t seem that upset himself.

He shrugged. ‘There’s no such thing as loyalty in Hollywood. Just box office figures. I’ll survive without him, I can assure you. I have several new projects already in the pipeline—none of which rely on Lachlan Rodgers.’

‘That’s good.’

Good, too, that she wouldn’t have to work with him. That would have been just awful. And so would her acting have been, with her new brother-in-law’s presence being both distracting and upsetting.

Still, Blake might be right about Lachlan’s acting abilities being limited. When they’d been at NIDA he certainly hadn’t come top of the class. He’d been good, but not as good as some of the others. She herself had been singled out by their teachers for more praise than he had.

‘Let’s not talk about Lachlan any more,’ Blake said. ‘I’d rather talk about you. So, tell me, if you’ve only had that one part in a play since you graduated, how have you been surviving financially?’

‘Well, I do live at home, rent-free. And I’ve been working at a local deli at the weekends. That pays for my clothes and fares, and leaves me free to go to auditions during the week.’

‘Do you have a good agent?’

Kate sighed. ‘I thought I did. But I’m beginning to have my doubts.’

‘You need to get yourself a new one, then.’

‘I think I will.’

The music changed from a waltz to a faster, more throbbing beat. More people got up to dance, at which point Blake pulled Kate very close and told her to put her arms around his neck. After a slight hesitation she did so, and felt Blake dropping his hands down to her hips. His grip was firm, pulling her lower half against him, making Kate quickly aware of something hard pressing against her stomach. It was impossible to ignore.

Blake’s eyelids grew heavy with the contact, and a tense silence enveloped them as their fused hips swayed to the music. On her part she felt mesmerised—both by the obvious evidence of his desire for her and her own shocking thoughts. She began imagining how it would feel to have his flesh buried deep inside hers, to have his mouth on hers, kissing her, only lifting to whisper hot, hungry words in her ear.

Her mouth went dry.

Not so another part of her anatomy.

Suddenly she needed to go to the bathroom. ASAP.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, flustered by the urgency of that need, not to mention what was going on in her head. ‘But I... I have to go to the Ladies. Too much champagne.’

A total lie. She’d only had one glass during dinner, worried that if she drank too much she might do something she’d regret, might somehow make a total fool of herself.

It had taken every ounce of her acting ability not to react to her father’s speech, not to let jealousy for Maddie take her over. She loved her sister. She always had. But she did so hate it that everyone else loved her so much, with no love left over for her. Lachlan’s speech had been total agony, and Kate hadn’t been able to look at him even when he’d toasted her, as was his duty.

‘Sorry,’ she repeated, and then hurried away out of the marquee, almost running back to the house and up the staircase to the bedroom and en-suite bathroom where she’d dressed earlier.

There was probably a powder room or two downstairs, but she didn’t know where they were and she simply couldn’t wait. But, perversely, when she sat on the toilet she didn’t do all that much, and yet the odd feeling of pressure remained.

She’d never felt anything quite like it. Not painful, exactly. No, not painful at all. Just weirdly tight and tense. Her belly was as hard as a rock, whilst elsewhere she was hot and embarrassingly wet. Once again her thoughts took flight, her fantasies definitely on the R-rated side.

‘Good grief, Kate,’ she groaned aloud, confused by the way she could want any man like this, when she was in love with someone else.

She certainly hadn’t done so for the last four years. Never. Not once. Blake Randall, however, seemed to have broken through her frozen libido and brought it to life in a startling way. More than startling when she considered that even when she’d first fallen in love with Lachlan he hadn’t evoked so violent a physical reaction.

Her feelings about him had always seemed more softly romantic than starkly sexual. She sighed over him. And dreamt about him. But she’d never been consumed by explicit sexual fantasies. Which she had been a minute ago.

Kate shuddered as she recalled that moment when she’d literally ached to have sex with Blake. She was still aching.

Oh, Lord, whatever was she going to do?

You’re going to get a grip, that’s what you’re going to do. Then go back downstairs and...

And what?

She honestly had no idea. She’d probably leave it up to Blake to make the next move. And he would. She felt sure of it. And the prospect was sending an excited shiver down her spine.

After she’d washed her hands she stared at herself in the vanity mirror, seeing her over-bright eyes and flushed cheeks. Glancing down, she checked to see if her nipples were on show. Thankfully they weren’t, courtesy of the corset-style underwear she had on. Maddie had chosen it for her, insisting that it would give her some shape. Which, right now, she was grateful it did.

Kate couldn’t deny that she wanted Blake to pursue her. What she didn’t want was for her own desire to be embarrassingly obvious, or for him to think any response of hers was because he had offered to give her a part in one of his movies. Because what she was feeling at the moment had nothing to do with her career and everything to do with herself as a woman.

It was quite thrilling to be the centre of attention for a change. To feel special, and attractive, and truly desired.

At the same time Kate still felt flustered by the strength of her own sexual response to Blake’s overtures. She didn’t quite know what to do next. Flirting didn’t come naturally to her. She wasn’t like Maddie. She didn’t have her sister’s sexual boldness. Or her confidence. What if she was misreading the situation?

This last thought brought a laugh to her lips. How could she possibly have misread that erection? Unless, of course—she giggled a little—Blake had a gun in his pocket.

Kate had a smile on her lips as she left the bathroom—a smile which was wiped away when she encountered Lachlan standing in the bedroom, with a dark scowl on his beautifully shaped mouth.

‘Lachlan!’ she exclaimed. ‘What are you doing here? Where’s Maddie?’

‘Dancing with your father. She won’t miss me for a minute or two. I told her I was going to the Gents. Look, I saw you duck out of the marquee and I followed you.’

Kate frowned. ‘But why?’

‘I wanted a word with you in private. I wanted to warn you.’

‘Warn me? About what?’

‘About Blake bloody Randall.’

Kate sucked in sharply. Why on earth was Lachlan speaking about his mentor and best man with such disrespect? ‘What...what about him?’

‘About his modus operandi with pretty women—especially ones who have acting in their blood.’

Kate was torn between being flattered by Lachlan calling her pretty and worrying about what this dreaded ‘modus operandi’ could be. Though she was beginning to suspect...

‘First things first: does he know you went to NIDA with me?’

‘Well, yes, he does. I told him.’

‘Damn. That’s stuffed things good and proper, then. No doubt he’s already offered you a part in one of his movies? That’s one of his moves when he fancies an actress. And you’re looking extra-fanciable tonight, Kate. Frankly, I’ve never seen you looking so good. Blake only goes for the good-looking ones. So, has he offered you a part?’

‘Well, yes,’ she admitted, feeling a little bit sick. ‘A small one.’

‘I don’t doubt it’s just a small one,’ Lachlan scoffed. ‘Mr Perfectionist wouldn’t risk spoiling one of his movies by giving an unknown a seriously good part. You’ll probably only have a few words here and there. Just enough to make sure you have to be on location with him so that he can shag you every night. But once the movie is wrapped up you can bet that will be the end of it. He has a reputation for seducing his female stars, but once the movie is over so is the affair.’

He came forward and curved his hands over her shoulders—a gesture that shocked Kate rigid because it forced her to look up into his eyes...those beautiful blue eyes which had entranced her from the first day they’d met.

Perversely, however, neither his touch nor his proximity sent her weak at the knees, as she might have expected. All she felt was a confused wariness.

‘I wouldn’t like to see that happen to you, Kate,’ he went on. ‘You’re far too nice a girl to be used by that bastard.’

Goodness. Such strong words! ‘Is that why you didn’t tell Blake I was in your class at NIDA?’ she asked, trying to make sense of Lachlan’s present attitude, not to mention his past actions. ‘You were trying to protect me?’

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