Page 78 of Masquerade

“Was the permanent presence of a camera why you broke up with Andrew Levin?” he asked, his voice too casual.

“You know him?” Secrets and lies, she thought. Anna said you were always caught out. She sighed because she’d hoped to start this conversation differently—in bed, after they’d made passionate-seeing-each-other-again love.

“He moves in much more rarefied circles than mine.”

“So, you know I was living with Andrew Levin when I was twenty-five.” She shook her head at her younger self. She was a different woman now.

“I know you were an item. Tell the story, Kate.”

“I hated the celebrity couple part of our relationship because it reminded me of my childhood. But he was an entertainment lawyer. Said it went with the territory. At first, I was too besotted to object.”

“And then?” he asked quietly, sitting back against the booth, prepared to wait for an answer.

“You lawyers sure know how to do a good interrogation,” she mock-grumbled while she selected and discarded words. “Half-questions, long silences, serious looks.”

He raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

“I met him at one of my dad’s launches. Here in Sydney. He was charming, sophisticated and seemed to be more interested in me than my father’s fame. That was a ruse, by the way. He thought I’d provide an entrée to my dad’s circle.” She despised herself for being so naive. “Anyway, to cut a long story short, I tumbled headlong into a relationship without giving myself time to think. He created a kind of whirlpool. I was hurtling towards marriage, putting his wishes ahead of mine, seeing his friends rather than mine before I worked out he wanted a slave.”

“He was controlling.” He didn’t baulk at the ugly connotations of the word, moving from his side of the booth to hers. His thigh pressed against hers, his arm wrapped her close and his acceptance of her version of events healed a broken part of her.

“A lot of people don’t understand,” Kate said. In Liam’s arms, the last tentacles of anger and shame lost their strangling power. “My role was to draw the limelight to him, to coax my father’s circle to employ him and to be his domestic goddess.”

“He never tried your cooking?” Liam deadpanned.

She giggled, another release from Andrew. “He was never really interested in me. When I said I wasn’t designed to be anyone’s domestic anything, he issued an ultimatum. My work or him.”

“How did he take your rejection?” His conviction she’d been the one to call a halt was another reason to love him. Liam had faith in her.

“Not well.” Even after all this time, she hated the tremor in her voice when she talked about Andrew. Kate watched comprehension dawn in Liam’s beautiful eyes, and it hurt that he knew she’d been afraid, and for a time, helpless.

“He didn’t accept no for an answer.” He tipped her head onto his shoulder, his fingers massaging her nape.

“Andrew followed me, or perhaps stalked is a better word.” She pressed her hand against Liam’s heart, his steady beat making the words come more easily. “For a while his appearances were accompanied by protestations of love: ‘how could I turn my back on something so special? So intense?’” She shivered at the memory. “Then he threatened me. Maybe they were empty threats, but he said he’d use me to embarrass my father.”

A smart man like Liam would want to know how Andrew could use her to embarrass her father. If he asked, she’d answer his questions, but first she wanted Liam to understand how she’d come to distrust herself as a woman, and why she’d chosen to be a loner.

“What did you have to do to get rid of him?” He kissed the top of her head.

She lifted her head to meet his gaze. “I gave up any claim to a social life, changed jobs, moved to the cottage—”

“And changed your appearance.” He released a long, low whistle. “The billboard switch was to mislead him.”

“Give the man a prize. Andrew’s ego can’t cope with rejection.” She inhaled deeply again and huffed out the exhalation. To gain trust you had to show trust, so she explained Ms. Dowdy and Ms. Billboard. “The billboard was a test to see if Andrew could tell the difference between me and Anna, and if he’d come after me again.” All her solutions involved hiding.

Why didn’t I see that earlier?

“He’s the reason you hate suits. Photographs, my apartment and suits—that’s a lot of hating.” His perception made coming clean easier.

She remembered her parents’ friends.

“Not the only reason. But a large part of it. I’ve, um, overcome my dislike of some rooms in your apartment,” Kate admitted, feeling heat climb up her throat. “Your solutions to that problem have been very creative.” She caressed the fine wool covering his thigh. “Andyoursuits are sexy.”

“Hold that thought.” Liam gave her a long, leisurely kiss, relegating Andrew permanently to the past and locking him away.

“Montepulciano,” Tony crooned as he set down their plates. “Always improves my mood.”

“Let’s have dinner and go back to my place.” Liam reached for a fork. “I have a magic garden.”

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