Savage Interlude

by Carole Mortimer

‘Yes, it was, and yes, I am.’

  ‘And you haven’t missed me at all?’ he asked softly, watching her intently.

  ‘Was I supposed to?’ Kate couldn’t help her surprise.

  Each time they parted Damien made his intention of never seeing her again perfectly clear.

  ‘Maybe,’ he said nonchalantly. ‘Did you?’

  ‘No,’ she lied.

  Sheri came back into the room at that moment. ‘Jennings says dinner is ready. Shall we all go through to the dining-room?’

  Kate ate hardly anything of the beautifully prepared meal, all too much aware of Damien sitting just across the table from her. His personality reached out and touched her, making it impossible for her to ignore him, no matter how much she tried.

  Sheri poured out their coffee as they were seated in the lounge. ‘Did you borrow James’ trousers the weekend you took Kate away?’ she asked conversationally, obviously curious about them, having received no information from her husband. Besides, the intent looks Damien was giving Kate were not going unnoticed by James—and he was getting angrier by the minute.

  ‘Yes,’ Damien answered shortly, still looking at Kate.

  ‘Do you have to make it sound like that?’ James demanded of his wife. ‘It was all perfectly innocent.’

  Sheri wasn’t sure this could be true, not by the look of embarrassment on Kate’s face and the look of derision in Damien’s eyes. ‘I only mentioned it because that weekend has happy memories for me. That was the weekend we got engaged.’

  She saw her husband’s face darken and the sharp look Damien gave him and she wondered what she had said wrong this time. Kate merely looked resigned, and Sheri’s puzzlement grew.

  Damien looked at her now. ‘You got engaged that weekend?’

  Kate felt sorry for her sister-in-law, she could have no idea what she had just done. Herself, she felt relieved the truth was at last coming out, but James just looked angry. She wasn’t sure how Damien had reacted to this information; after his first initial surprise his expression had become deadpan.

  ‘Yes,’ Sheri smiled happily.

  ‘I somehow thought it was much later than that,’ Damien persisted.

  ‘No, that was the weekend James popped the question.’ She gave her husband a loving smile which he reluctantly returned, realising that he couldn’t stop the truth coming out now. ‘You probably got that impression because I had to return to the States to fulfil a contract and so the engagement wasn’t actually announced until later. I left the day after we got engaged and was away a few weeks.’

  Poor Sheri, she had quite innocently made her husband out to be a liar. Not that Kate minded, it just proved to Damien that she had been telling the truth when she had told him she had never had any intention of marrying James. Not that it would make the slightest difference to Damien’s opinion of her, but at least in that he would know she hadn’t been lying.

  She looked at her wrist-watch; it was getting quite late and she would have to get back to town for her date with Alan. She stood up, making her excuses. ‘I’ve enjoyed my dinner,’ she added politely.

  James stood up too. ‘You won’t leave it so long next time? A week is much too long for you to stay away.’

  ‘I’ll be over again in the next few days,’ she promised.

  ‘I’ll drive you back to town,’ Damien offered softly.

  She gave him a cool look, steadily meeting his probing green eyes. ‘That won’t be necessary. I have my own car.’ It was a green Spitfire, an eighteenth birthday present from James.

  His mouth tightened. ‘Then I’ll meet you back in town. I want to talk to you.’

  ‘That isn’t possible either, I’m afraid,’ she refused.

  Damien’s look was challenging. ‘Why not?’

  ‘I’m meeting someone. That’s why I have to leave so early.’

  ‘Alan?’ For the moment the two of them had forgotten they were not alone, the old antagonism and attraction coming to the fore.

  Kate blushed. ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Have you met him?’ James broke up the intimacy of their conversation. ‘Nice chap, isn’t he?’

  The look he received from the other man was glacial. ‘I’ve hardly spoken to him.’ But that Damien disliked the man was obvious.

  ‘Oh. I just assumed—’

  ‘Well, don’t,’ Damien told him shortly. ‘I have to be going now too. Thank you for the dinner, Sheri. I hope you’ll all excuse me.’

  His departure was so abrupt that for a few minutes none of them spoke, staring in amazement at the firmly closed door.

  ‘Well!’ James finally burst out. ‘The nerve of the man!’

  ‘Now come on, James,’ Sheri chided. ‘It wasn’t wholly his fault. You set out to antagonise him from the start, pushing Alan down his throat when even a blind man could see he fancies Kate like mad.’

  ‘That’s why I pushed Alan down his throat. I don’t like him chasing my sister.’

  ‘You made that pretty obvious,’ she returned dryly. ‘And I didn’t help the situation. What did I say to upset him, Kate?’ She looked at her pleadingly. ‘He suddenly went all narrow-eyed and watchful.’

  Kate shook her head. ‘I think you should ask your devious husband that—he’s the one with all the answers. Now I really do have to get back to town or Alan will think I’ve stood him up. I’m probably going to be late as it is.’

  That Sheri wouldn’t rest until she had extracted everything from James Kate had no doubt, but she didn’t have the time to stay around and watch the fun. One thing she was sure of, Sheri would have little patience with James’ interference.

  Alan was sitting in his car outside her apartment when she arrived home. She invited him in, pouring him out a whisky before sitting down next to him on the sofa.

  ‘I’m sorry I’m late, darling.’ She leant against his chest, his arm about her shoulders. ‘I spent the afternoon with Sheri.’

  ‘Have a nice time?’

  ‘Yes, thank you. It was just the usual girlish chatter, but I did enjoy myself.’ Until it came to dinner!

  ‘Good. I’m glad.’

  Kate looked at him sharply. There was something wrong. Alan wasn’t his usual cheerful self. And now she came to think about it his hello kiss had been much more restrained than normal.

  ‘Is there anything wrong?’ she asked him worriedly.

  He looked down at her vaguely. ‘Wrong? Why should there be anything wrong?’

  She sat up on the sofa, her legs tucked beneath her. ‘You’re different, I can tell that. What’s happened?’

  Alan removed his arm from about her with a sigh. ‘Am I that transparent?’

  ‘Just tell me what’s wrong.’

  He put up a hand to gently caress her cheek, a look of tenderness for her in his face. ‘Why couldn’t you have loved me?’ he mused softly. ‘One little show of love on your part and I would have been your slave for life.’

  ‘What do you mean, Alan?’ she asked.

  ‘I mean that if you were going to fall in love with me there would have been some sign of it by now,’ he sighed again. ‘But there hasn’t been. I’m just wasting my time with you.’

  She gently kissed his hand where he touched her. ‘I like you tremendously, Alan, you know that.’

  He took her roughly by the shoulders, shaking her slightly. ‘It isn’t enough, Kate. Liking me isn’t enough!’

  ‘But what can I do about it? What do you want me to do about it?’

  ‘There’s nothing you can do. It’s that other man, of course. You’re in love with him,’ he scowled.

  Kate moved out of his grasp to stand up, her hands kneading together nervously. ‘What other man?’ she evaded.

  ‘Damien Savage,’ he said harshly.

  She gave a light choking laugh. ‘You’re being ridiculous! I don’t love—’

  ‘Yes, you do! I saw your reaction to him at that party, saw the way he looked at you too. How long did you go out with him?’

&nb
sp; ‘I’ve only ever been out with him the once.’ But she had seen him so many other times, and each time her love for him deepened.

  It seemed her decision that she wasn’t being fair to Alan was being taken out of her hands. From the way he was talking she had the feeling he was going to finish with her, not the other way round. But perhaps it was as well it should happen this way.

  ‘That once was enough for you to fall for him.’

  ‘Maybe you’re right,’ she admitted gently.

  ‘I know I am.’

  She looked at him with anguished eyes. ‘But that doesn’t stop me liking you! And we—we’ve had fun together, haven’t we?’

  ‘Yes, but now that has to stop. I have to be honest with you and say it isn’t only because of Savage that I don’t think we should meet again.’ He looked embarrassed, his blue eyes troubled. ‘I—I’ve been meeting someone else.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘She’s someone I met at work,’ he explained hurriedly. ‘I’ve taken her out a couple of times during the last few weeks. Sue’s more my type, Kate. I don’t fit in with the theatrical crowd you mix with.’

  ‘But mat’s the reason why I—’

  ‘Why you first started going out with me,’ he finished for her. ‘I know that, I’ve always known it. And I suppose at first I was attracted to the glamour surrounding you. You’re really something special, I hope you know that. I still liked you even when I got past the glamour, and as I said, given the right encouragement I could so easily have fallen in love with you.’

  ‘But I didn’t give the right encouragement?’

  ‘I was quite hopeful until I met Damien Savage, but after that I knew I didn’t stand a chance. I’ve just been kidding myself all these weeks.’

  Kate cleared her throat; she was going to miss Alan in her life. ‘And Sue, what’s she like?’

  The gentle smile he gave told her just how fond of the other girl he really was—and the fact that she felt no pain at this knowledge just confirmed how little her own affections had been involved.

  ‘She’s small, with glossy black hair and laughing brown eyes. She’s just an ordinary girl, I suppose,’ he shrugged.

  She gave him a soft smile. ‘I’m glad for you, Alan, really glad.’

  ‘We aren’t getting serious or anything like that,’ he went on. ‘It’s much too early to know our feeling for each other yet. But I—I thought I should tell you the truth.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She reached up to kiss him lightly on the lips. ‘It was very nice of you to come over and tell me.’

  ‘Yes, well, I—I suppose I’d better be going.’

  She burst into tears once he had left, more because she suddenly felt so lonely than because she had been upset about their parting. She was upset, but the outcome had always been inevitable. If she had been going to get over these feelings she had for Damien she would have done so by now, and it just wasn’t right to use another man as a shield against these feelings.

  It was still so early, only nine-thirty, what could she do to pass the time? It was much too early to go to bed and yet too late to go out again. In the end she decided to wash her hair, have a long leisurely bath, and give her nails a manicure. Not that there was much left of her nails, the typing she did at college had effectively broken most of them. But it was something to do, something to take her mind off being lonely.

  Eleven o’clock saw her firmly tucked up in bed, tired of attempting to read and trying very hard to fall asleep instead. She wasn’t doing a very good job of that either, and she struggled thankfully out of bed as she heard the insistent ringing of the doorbell. Josie had probably forgotten her key again. She was a lovely girl and a true friend, but she did have the most shocking memory.

  Kate hurried out of her bedroom, eager to answer the door before Josie gave up, thinking that she herself wasn’t home yet. She released the lock on the door and moved back quickly as it slammed back with a loud thud.

  Swaying slightly in the doorway, his eyes grim and red-rimmed, stood Damien Savage. He had a wild look in his eyes and as he pushed past her Kate was distressed to realise he had been drinking—and heavily, by the look of him. He reeked of whisky, and she followed him nervously as he strolled uninvited into the lounge. He had made no move to close the door after his unwanted entrance, so Kate closed it with a slam before hurrying after him.

  He swung round to look at her, his smart appearance of earlier much less immaculate now. His shirt was almost fully unbuttoned, his trousers very creased. He looked her up and down as she clutched the sheer nightdress to her otherwise naked body. She hadn’t thought a wrap was necessary just to let Josie into the flat, but she wished she had thought better of it now. By the look in Damien’s eyes she might as well not have bothered with the nightdress either.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded, attempting to feel outraged but finding that fear was her predominant feeling, fear of that look in his eyes.

  ‘That’s a damn stupid question to ask me,’ he sneered. ‘Where is he? Still in the bedroom?’

  Her mouth fell open in surprise. ‘What are you talking about?’

  If it was possible he sneered even more. ‘Your lover—this Alan you seem to find pleasure in tormenting me with.’ His voice was decidedly slurred, even more evidence of his having been drinking.

  ‘You’re drunk,’ she accused.

  He threw back his head with a harsh laugh. ‘Of course I’m drunk! What the hell else do you expect me to be?’

  She took an involuntary step towards him, flinching as he pushed her away. ‘Damien, what’s wrong?’

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he repeated scathingly. ‘You left James’ house this evening with the intention of jumping straight into bed with this Alan you seem to find so attractive—of course I’ve been drinking! I’ve been trying to forget exactly what you are and what you’ve been doing all evening.’

  Kate shook her head, staring at him disbelievingly. ‘You don’t know what you’re saying.’

  ‘Like hell I don’t!’ He looked towards her bedroom, the glowing light in there evidence of her recent occupation. ‘What’s he doing, hiding in the bedroom?’

  ‘There’s no one here but us,’ she denied.

  ‘I can’t believe he’s left already.’ He staggered over to the bedroom door and kicked it open with his foot. ‘Well, well, well.’ He walked into the room, looking about him interestedly. ‘So you really were alone.’

  ‘I told you I was.’ Kate held the bedroom door open pointedly. ‘Now if you wouldn’t mind removing yourself?’

  ‘Oh, but I do, I mind very much.’ He sat down on the bed, patting the space beside him. ‘Come over here.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘No!’

  He lay back on the rumpled bedclothes. ‘Mmm, quite comfortable.’ His voice seemed to be becoming fainter and Kate’s face mirrored her dismay. He just couldn’t pass out here!

  She rushed over to his side, trying unsuccessfully to pull him to his feet. ‘You can’t fall asleep here,’ she said desperately. ‘Please, Damien! Get up.’

  His answer was to give her hand a sharp tug, unbalancing her so that she fell on top of him. With a swiftness she wouldn’t have believed him capable of in his inebriated state he rolled over, pinning her beneath him.

  ‘Damien!’ she pleaded.

  There was no mercy for her in those narrowed green eyes as he bent his head to kiss her throat. ‘Damien what?’ he muttered. ‘Damien, leave me alone? Or Damien, love me?’ He continued with his caressing lips down to the hollow between her breasts.

  ‘Damien, I—’ she groaned as he touched her breasts with his mouth, coaxing them to full pulsating life, her denials for his touch dying on her lips.

  ‘Damien, love me,’ he answered for her throatily. ‘I intend to, angel. I intend to love you all the way to hell and back.’

  ‘Hell?’ she asked breathlessly.

  ‘I’m going to give you some of the hell you’ve put me through since I met you. O
h, Kate,’ he moaned against her lips. ‘I’ve got to have you, whether it be willingly or a fight to the end.’

  He took her lips with a savagery that told her he wasn’t going to be gentle with her, that his taking of her was to be a punishment. A trip to hell he had described it, and she could well believe he meant it.

  ‘No, Damien!’ She began pushing at him. ‘Not like this.’

  ‘Exactly like this,’ he told her between gritted teeth. ‘You won’t taunt and tease me again, that I can promise you.’

  Her whimper of pain as he pinned her to the bed was unheard by him. He was intent only on taking her body, his lips painful and brutal. Finally, when she thought she could fight him no longer, she felt the life go out of him, his body suddenly heavy on hers.

  ‘Damien?’ she queried tentatively, not sure if this was another trick. She said his name again when he didn’t answer her, but there was still no reply. There could be no doubt about it, he had passed out.

  It took all her strength to push him off her, but finally she managed it. He must have had a lot to drink for it to have affected him like this! It was impossible to wake him, so in the end she gave up trying. He would have to stay here for the night. She could sleep on the sofa.

  She made him more comfortable before leaving the room, slipping off his shoes before sliding his legs on to the bed. She wished she could take off his jacket, but he was much too heavy for her to move. Oh well, it served him right if he ached in the morning. She had no sympathy for him.

  She was still shaking when she came out of the bedroom, turning out the light and closing the door behind her. Damien was going to have the devil of a headache in the morning. And so he ought to have!

  Kate was sipping a cup of coffee when Josie came in, her nerves slowly steadying. She had no doubt that if Damien hadn’t passed out he would have carried out his threat. There had been a steely inflexibility that would have ignored her protests.

  Wordlessly she poured Josie a cup of coffee from the pot, still too shaken to engage in polite conversation.

  ‘Thanks.’ Josie sipped the brew. ‘There’s a fantastic car outside,’ she exclaimed excitedly. ‘Paul and I have just been looking at it. I wonder if it belongs to someone living in the building.’