can I do that?” Kate asked, leaning back against the vanity table and eyeing Holly with fascination.
have to treat him as if he was nothing but a completely forgettable flirtation.”
’s not going to buy that. He knew how I felt. I left to go and break up with Evan and promised to hurry back.”
, but he can’t be one hundred percent sure you did it! Furthermore, he can’t be one hundred percent sure that you weren’t just using him as a temporary stud in Evan’s absence. In fact, he can’t be one hundred percent sure that you didn’t know who he was all along and that your goal wasn’t to pry some juicy details about his life out of him to share with all your friends!”
would do such a thing?” Kate scoffed.
women in your new social circle—which also happens to be the same social circle he’s accustomed to,” Holly said flatly. me, I know what they’re like. I grew up in their Temple of Brittle Humor and Barren Hearts. Evan understands instinctively how the game needs to be played, that’s why he wanted you to be here tonight. He’ll make sure Wyatt sees you with him, laughing and talking and holding your head up. In doing that, Evan will be illustrating to Wyatt that he’s so insignificant that nothing he does could possibly matter to either of you.”
to think,” Kate said with a rueful smile, ’m supposed to be the one with the knowledge of psychology.”
don’t write psychology books to cover the mind-set of the elite few. Anyway, you get the picture now, right?”
.”
, here is theonly emotion you’re allowed to display when you bump into Wyatt tonight. Here is the only emotion that will get you some revenge—”
give up,” Kate said, smiling at Holly’s dramatic pause. is it?”
! You are going to treat him withamusement —as if you know an amusing little secret that he doesn’t know about.”
sort of secret knowledge could I possibly have?” Kate asked, frustrated.
“Thatis the very question he’ll start asking himself. That is the question that will trouble him for a long time.”
MATT ANDMEREDITHexchanged smiling glances with Mitchell as he tried to maneuver his aunt in their direction while she clung to his arm, chattering happily and making him stop every few steps so she could introduce him to someone else. He was over a foot taller than she, and in order to hear her, he had to tip his head way down.
Matt walked over to the bar and ordered vodka for Mitchell. By the time Matt returned with the drink, Mitchell was finally arriving with his aunt. Holding the drink out to him, Matt said, ’s your reward for the successful completion of a long and arduous journey.”
can use it,” Mitchell replied. Lifting the glass to his lips, he glanced up . . .
And he saw Kate.
He froze, staring, his brows drawn together in disbelief that she was here, and that the jean-clad girl with curly red hair who’d kissed him on the balcony in St. Maarten was the glamorous redhead in a sophisticated satin gown strolling casually through the roomful of wealthy socialites, many of whom were drawing her aside to kiss her on the cheek and chat with her.
’s Kate Donovan,” Matt provided, following his gaze. father died recently, and I understand she’s going to try to run his restaurant. Have we ever eaten at Donovan’s when you were here?”
.”
’ll have to do that when you’re here next time.” Drily, he added, never had much luck getting reservations with less than two weeks’ notice when her father was alive. Maybe Kate will give us a break.”
Olivia happily made her own contribution to the discussion. you know Kate just got engaged down in the islands?” she asked Meredith and Matt.
,” Meredith said, watching Mitchell’s gaze stray briefly to Kate again.
Olivia nodded emphatically and included Mitchell in the question. ’t that a romantic way to get engaged?”
wouldn’t know,” he said smoothly, curtly.
announcement was in theTribune on Thursday,” she added. Peering forward, she saw Kate leaving the people who’d stopped her to talk, and Olivia called out cheerfully, “Kate, dear, come over here!”
Satisfied when Kate looked up and nodded, Olivia turned to Mitchell and added, ’ve met the future bridegroom, Mitchell.”
I?”
. She’s engaged to Evan Bartlett.”
Mitchell stared at the vodka in his glass. , to Evan Bartlett?” he said with a cold, ironic smile.
Meredith’s gaze flew to Matt’s and he gave an imperceptible nod of understanding. This was Mitchell’s .”
Kate’s knees shook and she wished she had more than a few drops of champagne left in her glass to give her courage, but she managed to look calm and composed as she obeyed Olivia’s summons and prepared to face the man who had used her and left her. , my dear,” Olivia said. hope you and Evan will be very happy,” she added, and then pressed a kiss to Kate’s cheek.
It was the identical ritual Kate had been through fifty times that night—a greeting, followed by best wishes, followed by a salutatory kiss on the cheek. She’d assumed an hour before that this was some sort of prescribed engagement ritual known to everyone in Evan’s social circle. Mentally she braced herself for Mitchell to follow the same ritual as Olivia added with quaint formality, “May I present my nephew, Mitchell—”
Somehow, Kate managed to execute her plan flawlessly: She looked at Mitchell’s shuttered eyes as if she knew an amusing little secret. ’ve already met,” she replied, leaning slightly forward and turning her cheek in automatic expectation of his salutatory kiss.
“—and we’ve already kissed,” Mitchell replied coolly, ignoring her cheek.
Matt stepped swiftly in front of a startled Olivia, smilingly tucked her hand through his arm, and escorted her toward her table.
Stunned, but utterly determined to appear lighthearted and calm no matter what he said or did, Kate tipped her head to the side and gave him a playful smile. ’t you any good wishes for me?” she teased.
me think of the right one.” He paused a moment; then he lifted his glass in a mocking toast, and said, your continued success in climbing up the social ladder, Kate.”
Mitchell’s accusation that she was a social climber caused Kate’s resolve to slip several notches. ’t tempt me to throw another drink at you!”
would be inexcusably middle class,” he said scathingly, you’re trying to move up into the big leagues. In the big leagues, we cheat, we lie, and we fuck each other’s brains out in private, but we do not indulge in public displays of temper.” Mitchell saw the banked emerald fires leaping dangerously into flames in her eyes, and he deliberately threw verbal gasoline at her. some advice and remember the rules the next time you pick up a stranger in a hotel—”