LITMIR.BIZ

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with me, just as we should get to know each other a bit more intimately –’

      ‘Splendid idea!’ he cut in, laughing, and breaking the tension between them.

      Katharine laughed too. ‘I didn’t mean it that way, you wolf! Look, Kim, we’ve only been dating a few months and a lot of that time you’ve been in Yorkshire. Let’s wait a while before we announce our engagement. Let’s keep our feelings a secret for the moment. Our secret. Promise?’

      ‘Can’t I tell Francesca?’

      Katharine shook her head.

      ‘All right, I promise.’ He sounded reluctant.

      ‘How long will you be in Yorkshire this time?’ she asked, adopting her plaintive little girl’s voice and widening her eyes prettily.

      ‘A few weeks. Which reminds me, getting back to the cancelled dinner. Father is going to ’phone you tomorrow, some time late morning, to apologize, and also to invite you to Langley for a weekend. You will come, won’t you? I think you should see where you’re going to live, and in the not too distant future if I get my way.’

      ‘Oh yes, Kim! Of course. I’d love it. When does he want me to come for the visit?’

      ‘Oh any time in the next month. Actually, he’s going to invite Victor and Nicholas Latimer to join us at the same time. He rather liked them, Victor especially. Doris Asternan will be there, and the old man wants to make it a nice, jolly weekend house party. Gus will be able to drive you up together on a Saturday night after the play. Just as you suggested to Victor, if you remember.’

      ‘Yes,’ Katharine replied in a subdued tone. ‘How kind of your father.’

      ‘Then it’s settled.’ Kim took her in his arms and held her close to him, stroking her hair. He lifted her face and kissed her, but pulled away after one kiss, suddenly brimming with laughter. ‘I think you’d better throw me out, before I forget I’m a gentleman, and take you up on that tempting offer you made me a few minutes ago.’

      Perhaps any other young woman would have agreed at once to become engaged to Kim. He was young, attractive and intrinsically a kind and loving person. He had position, a title in his own right, and was heir to one of the oldest earldoms in England. In short, he was enormously eligible.

      But not Katharine. She was far too intelligent and clever and calculating to rush into the engagement without being assured of the Earl’s blessing. She knew instinctively that, whatever Kim’s feelings, the Earl’s total acceptance of her was crucial. Without his approval, consent, and co-operation, there would be no wedding, of that there was no doubt in her mind. Her shrewdness had prompted the suggestion that the Earl become better acquainted with her. She was confident she could charm him, win him over to her side with the greatest of ease, and in the shortest possible time. However, she was also aware that the engagement of the Earl’s only son and heir would be an occasion for celebration and thus entail all manner of social obligations. Distractions of this nature she could not afford at this time. First she must make the film. That was her most vital priority. And so she had demurred, but she did not believe she was taking a gamble. Katharine was eminently sure of herself, and doubly sure of her place in Kim’s affections.

      Now, as she sat relaxing in the bath, she smiled. She had not even considered it a gamble when she had offered herself to him a short while ago. She had enough psychological insight into Kim to understand that his sense of honour and decency would ultimately prevent him from accepting her proposition. Very simply put, his conscience would not permit him to take advantage of a virginal girl. The way she had presented it, with tears and hesitancy, had ensured the outcome. She would never have made the offer if she had believed otherwise.

      She lifted a shapely leg and rested her foot on the tap, regarding the pink-painted toenail reflectively. It is better to wait a while before announcing our engagement, and later on I’ll convince Kim that I should continue my acting career. Even if he objects at first, I’ll manage to persuade him. Kim will do anything I want, he loves me so much. She smiled again, filled with happiness, and slipped farther down into the water, so that it lapped around her aching neck and shoulders. She made her body go limp, relaxing completely, and closed her eyes, and the wheels turned endlessly in her head.

      It had been an incredible day. Even memorable in one sense, because of Kim’s proposal of marriage. Quite involuntarily she thought of her father. How would he react when he discovered she had married an Englishman and a titled one at that? He hated her, so he wouldn’t care. Inwardly she laughed cynically. But he hated the Sassenachs more, and so he would be furious. How he ranted and raved about the English and what they had done to Ireland. She had grown sick and tired of hearing about the ‘ould sod’ during her childhood, the Potato Famine and the cruelty and the injustices. As if he knew anything about the Potato Famine. It had been long before his time, and anyway he had been born in Chicago. Yes, her father would be irate on principle. The thought of his anger pleased her for she was not without spite where he was concerned.

      Well, her life was going to be very different soon, with her success and her fame and her money and her title. And Kim of course. A wonderful life. What a terrible mess Terry has made of his life, she thought with a rush of sadness. But she was going to save him. She would soon straighten him out and get his life organized. He would agree to make the film. He had no option really, because of his terrible financial problems.

      Hilary. She was the crux of the matter, not only with Terry but with Mark as well. If she agreed to design the costumes, and there was no reason why she shouldn’t jump at the chance, she could undoubtedly be persuaded to exercise her influence over Mark, to prevail upon him to direct Wuthering Heights. Katharine wished she had thought of Hilary Pierce before. If she had, Mark might have been signed up already, and she would have avoided all those sleepless nights worrying about the right approach to make to him. he adored his wife, who was twenty-two years his junior, and would do anything for her. In turn, Hilary would do anything for Terry.

      But would she?

      This last possibility had not previously occurred to Katharine and she sat up in the bath with a start. Essentially, her schemes revolved around the assumption that Hilary still cared for Terry. But did she really? Estelle had said Hilary had drooled over Terry all night at the Standish party several months ago. Naturally she still cares, Katharine reassured herself. What woman could resist the opportunity to help a former lover save his career and extricate himself from the cluches of another female, in this instance Alexa Garrett, who was very beautiful and consequently a threat to most women. It was too tempting by far. But I’ll have to have a very serious talk with Hilary, explain everything to her, so that she understands all the ramifications, Katharine added to herself. Understands that Mark is the vital factor, that he must agree to be the director, otherwise Victor might not sign her as the costume designer.

      Katharine considered Victor Mason now. A bargain had been struck between them. Although it had not been couched in so many words, Katharine knew, nevertheless, that it was a deal. A deal Victor would hold her to, no matter what. His offer had been irresistible. Her screen test in return for Terrence Ogden and Mark Pierce. Delivered to him on a plate. Victor had failed to persuade them to do the film. She had been given the task of doing it for him. He hadn’t even guaranteed her the part. Only the test. And everything hinged on her success with these two. Until Norman had unwittingly presented her with exactly the right tools, she had been frantically seeking ways to make them change their minds.

      A smile of triumph flickered on Katharine’s face as she stepped out of the bath and towelled herself dry. ‘They’re both in the bag!’ she said out loud, still thinking of Terry and Mark. She slipped into her nightgown and padded through into the bedroom, where she sat down at the dressing table. She began to brush her hair, briskly at first and then more slowly. Terry was going to be so grateful to her for arranging everything so beautifully for him, and certainly the film would be a boost to his career. He had nothing to worry about any more, not even the damage to the flat. She would handle all that with Kim’s help. And Hilary would be thrilled to work with a world-famous movie star like Victor Mason. What a marvellous credit for her. It would certainly give her the stamp

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