Rik sat forward to lean across the table towards her, keeping his voice to a whisper. 'I don't agree. I think we should discuss it,' his tone levelled reasonably, 'if only to set the record straight between us.'

'There's nothing to set straight between us!' Sapphie shot back at him fiercely. 'And I'm sure you don't usually return to discuss one-night stands after they've happened!'

He drew in an angry breath. 'I have never thought of that night in those terms-'

'Of course you have!' she ripped back. 'Stop trying to romanticise something that just wasn't that way at all!'

Perhaps he had been guilty of thinking of their night together in those terms, but he didn't think of it that way now any more-and he didn't care for the fact that she still did!

'That night was as much out of character for me as I'm sure it was for you,' he grated. 'Ask anyone who knows me: my brothers, my sister, and they will all tell you-'

'I have no intention of discussing that night with any third party, thank you very much!' she told him, drawing in controlling breaths. When she spoke again, her voice had softened and become reasoning. 'Why can't you just accept that I want to forget that night? That it would be better for everyone if you did, too?'

He sighed his frustration at her stubbornness. 'I want to get to know you better, Sapphie-'

'Well, I don't want to know another single thing about you,' she a.s.sured him. 'Now, would you just leave the subject alone?' she demanded with feeling as she observed Dee and Jerome beginning to wake up.

No, he was afraid he couldn't do that. Not now that he had met Sapphie again. Because she was much more real to him, their night together was so much more real to him, than the mirage of Dee he had carried around in his heart for five years.

But, in the circ.u.mstances, he knew that convincing Sapphie of that was going to be no easy task!

Still, a Prince had never been one to back away from a challenge...

Although none of his plans to see Sapphie again showed in his demeanour for the rest of the train journey as he conversed lightly with Dee and Jerome.

Only Sapphie remained distant and apart from the conversation. No doubt wishing the miles away so that she could get away from him all the sooner!

Was there something wrong with him, he wondered, some quirk in his nature that made him feel attracted to women who didn't want to know? Well...in Dee's case, that wasn't strictly true; she had given him the impression that she wanted him too, but couldn't have him. Sapphie just didn't want him!

Except that he was pretty sure he hadn't mistaken her response this morning when he'd kissed her...

He was also pretty sure that he wanted to kiss her again. And sooner, rather than later!

'I have a car waiting, if you would like to join us?' Jerome informed Sapphie and Rik, as they all made their way out of Waterloo Station. Other bystanders started recognizing Dee, and soon a crowd had started to gather around them.

'No, thanks, I think we'll just take a cab.' Rik was the one to answer for both himself and Sapphie, at the same time as he took a proprietorial hold of her arm.

'I'll see you later this evening, Sapphie, when I visit Mummy,' Dee had time to call out to her sister before she and Jerome were caught up in the crowd and their wave of adoration for the actress, Diamond McCall.

'Phew.' Rik breathed his relief as he and Sapphie escaped the throng.

Sapphie pulled out of his grasp before stepping away from him. 'I'm not getting in any taxi with you,' she told him stiffly, seeming even more distant now that they were back on her native soil.

He wasn't too surprised at having his plan to take Sapphie home thwarted, and at the same time find out her address; Sapphie was neither stupid, nor gullible.

Of course, there was always the possibility that she shared a home with the faceless Matthew...

d.a.m.n it, why hadn't he thought of that earlier?

'I wasn't seriously suggesting that you would,' he rasped harshly, more annoyed than he could ever have imagined he'd be at the idea of Sapphie living with another man. 'I just thought you would prefer not to be caught up in Dee's three-ring circus!'

Mobile phones and cameras were flashing further down the station now, as excited travellers took their chance to record the actress's arrival. There were even one or two paparazzi.

With a cynicism Rik hadn't known he possessed, he couldn't help wondering if Dee or Jerome hadn't tipped off the Press themselves. Dee certainly seemed to court adoration, and Jerome, as her agent, was too much of a businessman not to want to take advantage of that.

'Oh.' Sapphie looked slightly nonplussed at his explanation. 'I would.' She smiled awkwardly. 'Thank you.'

Rik felt his anger fading. 'Did it hurt you to say that?'

She gave a self-deriding grimace. 'Only a little,' she sighed before drawing herself up determinedly and thrusting out her hand. 'Well, Rik, this is goodbye. It's been-interesting, meeting you again.' She gave a humourless smile. 'Perhaps we can do it again in another five years or so!'

Rik reached out to lightly grasp the hand she held out to him, not to shake as she had intended, but to gently pull her towards him. 'This isn't goodbye, Sapphie,' he warned, unable to fight the compulsion he felt to take her in his arms and kiss her.

And for a moment-too brief a moment as far as he was concerned!-he felt her response, her lips parting beneath his, the slenderness of her body pressed against his, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s warm and soft- Sapphie pulled sharply away, her eyes blazing like molten gold as she glared up at him. 'I said goodbye, Rik, and that was what I meant!' She bent to pick up her bag before turning on her heel and walking away from him, quickly becoming lost in the crowd.

Rik stood where she left him, not even attempting to stop or follow her, knowing he had pushed his luck enough for one day where Sapphie was concerned.

He walked slowly out of the station, got into a cab and gave the driver his brother Nik's address, a slight smile starting to curve his lips as he settled back on the seat and began to formulate a plan for seeing Sapphie again.

Because no matter what Sapphie might think to the contrary-might hope to the contrary!-there was far too much left unsaid and done between them for him to allow this to be the last they saw of each other.

Far too much!

CHAPTER SEVEN.

'HONESTLY, Mother, I have absolutely no idea what we're even doing here!' Sapphie grumbled as she looked around the star-filled reception room in one of London's top hotels.

'Don't be such a wet blanket, Sapphie,' Joan McCall chided her daughter affectionately. Joan was still a voluptuously attractive woman in her early fifties, the black sequinned dress she was wearing showing off her curvaceous figure to advantage, her shoulder-length auburn hair only needing a little professional help to maintain that vibrant colour. 'I, for one, am enjoying myself. This is the first time Dee has ever invited us to one of these parties.' Joan glowed happily.

Actually, technically, Dee hadn't done the inviting this time; Jerome had. And after a week of glancing nervously over her shoulder in case Rik should suddenly appear-there had been far too much of a determined glint in his eyes when they'd parted a week ago for her to be sure that he wouldn't!-Sapphie was treating the whole thing with suspicion. But so far-thank goodness!-there wasn't a Prince in sight!

And there was no doubting that her mother was enjoying this after-premiere party. They hadn't actually been invited to see the film itself-but Joan's face lit up excitedly as her hazel-coloured eyes spotted one star after another.

Sapphie, less trusting of the sudden invitation, had checked, and double-checked, to see if any of the Prince brothers-director, actor, or screenwriter-had had anything to do with the making of Dee's latest film. They hadn't. So, reluctantly, and under pressure from her mother, Sapphie had accepted for both of them.

She sipped her gla.s.s of champagne and looked around her-there had to be some consolation to feeling like a goldfish in the midst of a group of piranhas!-before answering her mother. 'Personally, I would much rather be at home with Matthew,' she muttered, not at all mollified by the fact that Matthew had told her she looked a lovely mummy when she went to tuck him in and kiss him goodnight.

To add insult to injury, she had even had to go out and buy a new dress for the evening! Occasionally Sapphie went to parties, or enjoyed just quiet evenings with friends. But there had certainly been nothing in her wardrobe to wear to a post-premiere party. Especially one that celebrated her sister as the star of the film!

Her mother had gone on the dress-shopping expedition with her, persuading Sapphie to spend some of her hard-earned royalties on a Chinese-style sheath of gold-coloured silk. With her hair lightly secured on top of her head, her legs tanned and silky and three-inch heels on her gold-coloured shoes, Dee certainly couldn't complain that she hadn't made an effort!

'Don't be silly, dear,' her mother dismissed distractedly now. 'It's eleven o'clock; Matthew has been asleep for hours.'

'Curled up in bed with a good book, then,' Sapphie persisted; who on earth went out to a party that only started at ten-thirty?

She would stay for an hour, an hour and a half at the outside, she had promised herself when she accepted the invitation. Just long enough to add weight to the happy-family image that Dee was promoting this week.

The news of Dee's pregnancy had appeared in the newspapers earlier in the week, photographs of an ecstatic Dee and Jerome printed along with them.

Although as she looked at Dee now, surrounded by friends and admirers, radiantly beautiful in a revealing green dress that exactly matched the colour of her eyes, her figure still slender and willowy, it was difficult to believe that in six months' time she would be a mother.

Sapphie shook her head as she turned back to her starry-eyed mother. 'I can't wait to leave!'

'I'm sorry to hear that, Miss Benedict,' a man drawled pleasantly behind her, his accent noticeably American-although thankfully it wasn't Rik Prince's! 'It is Miss Benedict, isn't it?' the man enquired lightly as Sapphie turned sharply. 'I believe we met in New York several years ago.'

The man was older than Rik, his eyes a cool grey, but nevertheless the likeness between the two men was obvious; the dark hair was the same, as was the powerfully lean body, and that sensually smiling mouth.

Nik Prince!

There was no mistaking those arrogantly sculptured features. And if Sapphie had any doubts-which she didn't!-the red-haired woman standing smilingly beside him gave his ident.i.ty away; it was only weeks ago that a blaze of publicity had surrounded Juliet 'Jinx' Nixon, now Jinx Prince, and her photograph had been on the front page of every British newspaper.

Sapphie had met Nik Prince only briefly six years ago, and she very much doubted she was memorable enough for this man to greet her again like this. But the alternative of Rik having talked to his eldest brother about her didn't ring true either.

'Yes, we did,' Sapphie finally answered him politely.

'I thought I recognised you.'

Sapphie still wasn't convinced. 'This is my mother, Joan McCall.' She drew her mother forward into the circle. 'This is Nik and Juliet Prince, Mother,' she introduced guardedly, still wary at having Nik Prince's considerable charm turned on her.

A charm which he now turned on her mother. 'I can see why Sapphie and Dee are so beautiful; obviously they both take after their lovely mother!' he complimented Joan warmly as the two shook hands. 'You don't look old enough to be an almost-grandmother!'

Joan blushed with pleasure at this flattery from such a gorgeously handsome man. 'How kind of you to say so, Mr Prince, but actually I'm al-'

'Mr Prince is a well-known film director, Mother,' Sapphie quickly cut in over what she was sure was going to be a mention of Joan's other grandchild, Matthew. Sapphie's son.

'Please call me Nik,' he invited. 'And most of my wife's intimate friends call her Jinx,' he went on warmly, the smile he bestowed on his wife one of intimacy.

Which was a good enough reason for Sapphie to stick to calling the other woman Juliet; she wasn't going to become intimate with any of the Prince family!

'I find these parties a little overwhelming too,' Juliet confided, clearly attuned to Sapphie's own discomfort. 'Perhaps when Rik arrives we can all go and have a quiet drink somewhere else in the hotel?'

Only one part of that suggestion registered with Sapphie-when Rik arrives!

She glanced quickly around the room, feeling like prey that was being hunted, but unsure exactly which direction the attack was going to come from!

Rik was coming to this party, too!

Now she was convinced that her invitation wasn't just the act of kindness on Jerome's part that it had appeared. But the question was, who had been instrumental in setting this meeting up: Jerome, as another act of misguided matchmaking, or Rik himself?

The fact that Nik Prince and his wife were here and had made a point of coming over and speaking to her made her inclined to believe it was the latter...

But why? Hadn't she made it more than obvious-bluntly so!-that she didn't want to see Rik again?

And hadn't she also spent the last week just waiting for something like this to happen, convinced that Rik had meant it when he told her it wasn't goodbye?

She drew in a deeply controlling breath, her smile forced as she turned back to look at the Princes, her hand tightly clutching her evening bag. 'That won't be possible, I'm afraid,' she declined evenly, while inside her feelings were in turmoil; she had to get away from here before Rik arrived! 'I have to be home by twelve o'clock.' Thank goodness she had only booked the babysitter until then!

'Why is that?' drawled an all-too-familiar voice. 'Do you turn into a pumpkin at midnight?'

Sapphie froze, having been surrept.i.tiously watching the main doors for Rik's entrance. However, it seemed he had chosen instead to enter by one of the fire exits at the back of the room. He couldn't have chosen a better way to disconcert her!

Well, if that had been his intention, he had definitely succeeded!

Actually, disconcerted didn't even begin to describe how she felt as she slowly turned to face him, her breath completely taken away by how gorgeous he looked in a black dinner suit, black bow-tie and snowy white shirt, his hair slightly damp, as if it was raining outside, or he had recently taken a shower.

His warm blue eyes echoed the companionship he'd offered her on the train from Paris, his smile wide with pleasure as he took hold of her hand before bending to kiss her lightly on the cheeks. 'It's good to see you again,' he told her quietly, at the same time keeping a firm hold of her hand.

Everything else apart-her mother's presence, Rik's brother and sister-in-law, Matthew-she had to admit it was good to see him too. Her pulse fluttered erratically and her cheeks grew hot with the pleasure of being with him again.

But it wouldn't do-because there was no way Matthew could be kept apart in this situation. There never would be.

'It was the coach that turned back into a pumpkin at midnight, not Cinderella!' she teased.

He shrugged unconcernedly, still smiling warmly down at her. 'I never was very good where fairy stories were concerned!'

Sapphie was, had known them all when she was a child. But she wasn't a child any longer, and she knew there could be no fairy-tale ending to this particular story. All she could hope for was to limit the damage. And the only way to do that, she knew, was to get out of here, as far away from Rik as possible.

'No, as I recall, Rik always preferred adventure stories,' his brother put in mockingly. 'Swashbuckling pirates and the like!'

It wasn't too difficult for Sapphie to imagine Rik as a little boy-after all, she had one just like him at home!-with his head buried in a book, totally absorbed in the adventures written there.

But that image-Matthew!-reminded her all too forcefully of why she had to leave. Now!

'Thanks, Nik,' Rik drawled ruefully before turning to Sapphie's mother. 'I'm Rik Prince, Mrs McCall.'

'Oh, dear,' Joan fluttered fl.u.s.teredly. 'If your brother Zak walks in too, I shall just faint away!'

'Don't worry, Joan,' Juliet Prince was the one to answer laughingly. 'Zak is still away on his extended honeymoon.'

'Yes,' her husband joked. 'We may never see him or Tyler again!'

Juliet gave him a playful punch in the arm. 'You're only jealous because you're an old married man of three months!'

Nik gave her a wolfish grin that totally belied the 'old' part of that statement. 'I'll ask you to say that to me again later tonight, Mrs Prince!'

This family banter was all well and good, Sapphie acknowledged impatiently, but it was holding her back from getting her out of here. Despite several discreet attempts to release herself, Rik still had a tight hold of her hand! 'I really do have to leave-'

'No, you don't, Sapphie,' her mother was the one to answer her firmly. 'I think it would be much more appropriate if I was to leave and you stayed on here with your friends. You get out so little as it is-'

'Mother, I went to Paris for four days only last week,' Sapphie protested sharply. For one thing, none of the Prince family were her friends. For another, she knew by the tingling in her hand and up her arm that she really did have to get away from here. From Rik.