She Hates Me Not: A Richer in Love Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

a scene, you mean?”  Kip shook his head.  “Never.  Cat would rather play the damsel than the shrew.”
    “All right then.”  Lou stepped forward until nothing – not even a champagne flute – could wedge itself between them.  “One good turn deserves another.”
    Her hands threaded themselves at the back of Kip’s neck as she rose up on her toes to kiss him.  At first he was too startled to do anything more than grunt and rear back.  Lou responded with her smoky laugh.
    “This is only going to work if you do your part.”
    Stunned, Kip studied her face.  Nothing bashful there.  Only freckles and spirit and a come-hither smile that emphasized her loveliness.  If he bowed out now, he was a bigger fool than Liam McGreevy.
    Slipping his arms around her waist, Kip leaned forward to meet Lou halfway.  Their second kiss was less tentative and more tender than the first.  As Kip felt Lou relax against him, his hand drifted upward until it found the bare skin exposed by the open back of her dress.
    He’d kissed other women he barely knew.  None compared to the one he now held.  Lou wasn’t some passing dalliance to be avoided or dismissed.  For Kip, she was a discovery, one that lured him away like a magical light from his sterile, grey world.
    Unwilling to end their kiss, Kip waited for a hint from Lou that he’d begun to press his luck.  If anything, she held him tighter.  Kip mirrored her intensity until he was roused by the repeated sound of his name.  The voice wasn’t Lou’s.  Neither was it kind.  It was unmistakably familiar.
    Letting go of Lou, he stepped aside and wiped his lips.  “Cat.  Hi.  How’ve you been?”
    If Catrella heard him, she didn’t bother to reply.  Instead, she stared at Lou like they’d completed Round One of a game Kip had no clue to how to play.  Even defeated, Cat was staggeringly beautiful.  And very aware of that fact.
    “Who is this?”
    Although Cat glowered at Lou, Kip assumed she spoke to him.  Swiftly he introduced them and prayed his earlier statement about Catrella was right.  Perhaps she never caused a scene because she was always in command.  Now, however, the tables were turned.
    “Pleased to meet you.”
    Lou’s singsong greeting was not well received by Cat.  “Kip, may I speak to you alone?”
    This particular ploy he remembered.  Divide and conquer.  It was both effective and transparent.
    To bolster himself, Kip took hold of Lou’s waist, drawing her closer than he probably ought.  If she wished to slap him later, he would gladly hold still.
    Then again, she had kissed him first.
    “Not tonight, Cat.”
    Soon as he uttered the words, Kip suppressed a wince.  Not tonight implied possibly tomorrow.  Cat would pounce on that option if he allowed it.
    “Not any time soon either,” he continued.  “Lou and I are quite occupied for the next several days.”
    “Weeks,” Lou added.  “It’s a while until I go back home.  If I decide to leave England at all.”
    Kip wished that were true.  Catrella, he could see, did not.
    “Right.”  Cat assumed a distracted air.  “I’ll leave you to it, then.”
    As she whirled around, the train of her crimson dress billowed and swished in her wake.  Cat had bought it during a weekend jaunt to Monte Carlo.  On that same holiday, Kip had given her jewelry to match – the ruby earrings and pendant she also wore.
    He pivoted toward the river so no one inside could see his face.  “What if she returns?”
    “She won’t come back out here,” Lou promised.  “Not with all those witnesses.  Right now she can act jilted, but another visit makes it look like she’s fiddling in our business, and she doesn’t strike me as the type who plays second fiddle. Or settles for being a third wheel.”
    In spite of his worries, Kip laughed.  “Not for all the stars in the sky.”
    Craning her neck, Lou clutched the railing with both hands.  “My mama used to tell me that every star in