‘This time?’ He sat back in his chair, totally relaxed. ‘Just tonight. But I may come back,’ he added throatily, his dark gaze intent on the beauty of her face, forcing her to look at him with the insistence that she should.
He was flirting with her, she knew that, with his words but without actually touching her. He didn’t need to touch her, just the warmth of his gaze was like a caress. But he was only here for the one night, and despite what he said to the contrary she doubted he would ever come back here. With his cool sophistication he was more suited to London than this small northern town, and once he got back there he would forget all about Keilly Grant, the woman who had caused a minor stir because she dared to criticise Rod Bartlett, the darling of the film world.
She waited for their meal to be served before speaking again, her voice waspish as she saw the smile he bestowed on the already besotted Brenda. ‘Which newspaper do you work for?’
‘Which——? Oh I’m freelance,’ he replied easily. ‘I write an article and then try and sell it,’ he added by way of explanation.
‘Whatever takes the public’s interest,’ she derided.
‘Which at the moment is you,’ Rick drawled. ‘You’ve caused quite a sensation, little lady.’
Her mouth twisted. ‘Because I don’t happen to think Rod Bartlett is wonderful!’ her tone showed her contempt for such a thing being important.
Rick shook his head. ‘Because you came out and said it.’
‘Isn’t that allowed?’ she taunted.
‘Apparently not,’ he mused, sipping the wine that had been poured for them, consulting her on his choice, not one of those men who arrogantly assumed they knew the likes and dislikes of the person they were dining with and ordered for them. Keilly couldn’t stand such dominating men, and although Rick appeared to be forceful he certainly wasn’t inconsiderate. ‘Yours was the only letter of dissension they received at the magazine about the article. You should have seen the sacks of mail they received from people who wanted to lynch you from the nearest tree once your letter had been published,’ he derided.
‘All of them women,’ Keilly dismissed scornfully.
‘Actually, no,’ he refuted gently. ‘Rod Bartlett has quite a following among both sexes.’
‘Men wishing they were as macho as him,’ her mouth twisted with distaste.
Rick narrowed puzzled blue eyes. ‘He really did do something to upset you, didn’t he.’
She flushed. ‘Don’t tell me you think he’s wonderful too!’
He seemed to hestitate, an emotion that didn’t sit well on such a decisive man. ‘Have you seen “Beginning Again"?’ he named Rod Bartlett’s most recent film.
‘Certainly not,’ she snapped. ‘But you obviously have,’ she looked at him accusingly.
‘It’s a beautiful and sensitive film——’
‘Nothing about Rod Bartlett could possibly be beautiful or sensitive,’ she cut in heatedly, and then wished she hadn’t as he gave her yet another speculative look. She had to remember that no matter how charming and easy to talk to Rick was he was still a reporter, and reporters had been known to forget all ethics if they thought they were on the trail of a story. Rick had only promised not to quote her, not to refrain from writing the story altogether. ‘There’s no room for nakedness in a beautiful and sensitive film,’ she added uncomfortably.
‘How do you know that if you haven’t seen it?’
She flushed at his quiet rebuke, the food on her plate only half eaten as Brenda took them back to the kitchen, although Rick seemed to be experiencing no such loss of appetite, eating all of his food. ‘I thought you said we wouldn’t talk about Rod Bartlett all evening,’ she reminded waspishly.
‘And I don’t intend to,’ there was a dark promise in his steady gaze. ‘Not all evening. But I wondered what your reaction was to him coming back here?’
Keilly raised a stricken gaze to him, sure she couldn’t have heard him correctly. ‘I—Did you say he was coming to Selchurch?’ she swallowed hard.
‘It’s been rumoured that he is,’ Rick nodded. ‘I have a friend on the magazine you wrote to—Jeanie. I think you met her?’
She nodded, remembering the tall blonde woman who had arrived from the magazine to interview her. She wondered how much of a ‘friend’ the beautiful woman was to Rick, and then chastised herself for these ridiculous feelings of jealousy. After tonight she would never seen him again, and one casual dinner together certainly didn’t give her the right to be jealous of the other women in his life.
‘She’s the one who interviewed Bartlett for the article,’ Rick continued softly. ‘Apparently he mentioned that he’s taking a break soon. He hasn’t stopped working for the last five years, you know.’
‘I’m sure he hasn’t,’ Keilly derided. ‘But that hasn’t prevented him playing either.’
Rick shrugged. ‘A man needs relaxation of some kind——’
‘So does a woman,’ she bit out.
‘Then no one gets hurt, do they,’ he shrugged.
Keilly gave him a disbelieving look. ‘Is that what you really believe?’ she asked slowly.
‘Keilly——’
‘Do you?’ she insisted he answer, impatient with his reasoning tone.
He sighed, the blue eyes hard now. ‘If a man and woman want to sleep together, for whatever reason, mutual gratification, love, then surely that is their business and no one else’s?’
‘And if only one of them loves?’ Her eyes flashed deeply grey, neither of them making any effort to eat the dessert that had been placed in front of them minutes earlier.
His mouth firmed impatiently. ‘Keilly——’
She moved her hand from the table down on to her knee as he would have grasped it. ‘You were telling me about Rod Bartlett coming back here,’ she prompted stiffly.
Rick shrugged dismissal of the subject, looking at her exasperatedly. ‘He mentioned to Jeanie that he was thinking about it.’ ‘When?’
‘He was only thinking about it, Keilly,’ he sighed.
‘He’ll probably decide to go to the Bahamas instead,’ she scorned.
Rick shook his head. ‘He isn’t that keen on hot weather,’ his mouth twisted at the wind that could now be heard blowing in strongly from the sea. ‘This would suit him a lot better.’
‘He won’t find any bikini-clad beauties down here!’
He smiled. ‘He’ll find one,’ he teased. ‘And very beautiful she is too.’
Keilly blushed at this blatant flirtation, although her thoughts were far from the man seated opposite her. It would be disastrous for the actor to come to Selchurch! Perhaps it had just been a whim, one he had instantly dismissed? After all, he hadn’t been back for twelve years, so why should he decide to come back now? It had probably just been talk, people like him were always trying to convince the public that they hadn’t forgotten their ‘roots’. Nevertheless, her unease about the idea persisted. If he should come back—-
‘Why do I get the feeling I’m rather superfluous?’ Rick drawled self-derisively.
He looked quite put out by the fact that she kept fading off into her thoughts and ignoring him. And she could understand why. He was too attractive, too attentive a companion himself to usually be treated in this off-hand manner.
She