Playing by the Rules by Imelda Evans Page A

in an already very bumpy environment.
    If it had been locked, she might have lost her nerve, but luck was on her side, in this at least. Screened by the DJ, she turned the handle, slipped through, pulled Josh in behind her and shut it behind him.

CHAPTER TWELVE
    The room ran under the stage and was exactly as she remembered it: full of flats, props, backdrops and all the assorted paraphernalia of theatre productions. Still towing Josh, she eased her way carefully past cardboard trees and canvas buildings until she found a clear spot near the back of the room, where there were some boxes that looked as if they would bear their weight. Shoving Josh, none too gently, onto one of them, she rounded on him, hands on hips.
    ‘Right. I need some answers. Exactly what is all this about for you?’
    She glared at him, but the effect was plainly not what she was hoping for, since he looked more amused than anything.
    ‘What is what all about, Kate?’
    ‘All of it! The flashy dancing! Raving about how gorgeous I am! Telling stories about what I was like in school! Going on and on about the wonder of Kate! Telling everyone how in love with me you are. Were. Whatever! All of that! What do you think you’re playing at?’
    Josh looked confused.
    ‘I rather thought I was being complimentary – and helpful.’
    This set Kate back a little. Now that he mentioned it, it did sound a bit ungracious to be giving him a hard time for saying nice things about her. Especially when she had asked him to. Kind of. Kate felt telltale itches rising in her skin as reason and emotion wrestled for control of her body.
    ‘I asked you to come with me – well, I let Jo ask you and that’s the same thing. And yes, I asked you to pretend to be my fiancé. I did. I probably shouldn’t have. It was dumb. And it wasn’t fair to you. But I couldn’t bear . . .’
    To feel as though nothing had changed. To feel that she was back at square one. To feel that she was more Crystal than Belinda.
    ‘I wouldn’t have agreed if I wasn’t happy to do it, Kate.’
    ‘And I’m grateful! Don’t think I’m not. I wanted to get the better of that cow and you helped me do that.’ She paused to scratch frantically at her arm and the emotion seized control of her mouth. ‘But what about the rest? Why did you have to make up all those lies about me? About us? I didn’t ask you to do that! I didn’t ask you to hold my hand, or kiss me, or dance with me like . . . like . . . like we were having sex standing up! I didn’t ask you to pretend so well that —’ That she had almost believed it herself. Until he’d made fun of her. ‘I didn’t ask you to share things that I’ve spent the last dozen years trying to forget. I didn’t ask you to use me as an excuse to show off to a captive audience. And I definitely didn’t ask you to enjoy it so much!’
    As her pain-and-wine-fuelled anger mounted again, Kate had been getting closer and closer to Josh, until, with her last words, she was standing over him. So she had a close-up view of the dumbfounded expression on his face – and of the change when it contorted into a scowl.
    For a moment, he sat there, glaring at her; then he stood up and Kate took an involuntary step backwards, as she realised again how tall he was.
    ‘I’m sorry. I knew you weren’t interested at the time, but I wasn’t aware that you’d been trying to forget me for twelve years.’
    He was talking nonsense.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Isn’t that what you just said? You’re mad at me for reminding you that I was in love with you twelve years ago because you’ve spent all the time we’ve been apart trying to forget it! I didn’t realise I was so repulsive.’
    Abruptly, he turned and took a step away from her, nearly knocking her over in the process. In his anger, he seemed too big for the crowded room, and Kate couldn’t help noticing that his hands, so lean and elegant at rest, looked much more substantial when clenched into