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turned pleading eyes toward her. "I didn’t know where else to go."
      Her eyes narrowed. "What kind of trouble?"
      "I’m being blackmailed."
      "Blackmailed." Kate took a couple of seconds to digest the news. "By whom?"
      "A woman." He averted his eyes. "A woman…I slept with a couple of nights ago."
      "Oh, Eric." Kate slowly shook her head as a sense of deja vu swept over her. Eric had always had a weakness where women were concerned, but when Rose had told
      her that he’d changed now that he was engaged to Megan Hollbrook, Kate had wanted to believe it-for Alison’s sake. "You slept with a woman two months before your wedding? Have you lost your mind?"
      He stopped his pacing and leaned against the kitchen counter. "Believe me, Kate, you aren’t telling me anything I haven’t told myself a dozen times already. All I can say in my defense is that I was drunk."
      "Apparently not too drunk to have sex."
      "No. Although I doubt that a lack of libido would have made any difference."
      "What do you mean?"
      His eyes flashed with sudden anger. "I mean that even if I hadn’t been able to screw her, that bitch would have made it look as if I had. Just so she could squeeze money out of me."
      Kate took two fresh mugs from the cupboard and filled them with coffee. "Why don’t you start at the beginning?"
      Eric took the mug she handed him with both hands and stared into it for a moment. "I met her at Lyle Wanamaker’s birthday bash on Saturday night."
      Kate knew Lyle well. A rich playboy who liked to live on the edge, he had a deplorable influence on Eric. "You went there alone?"
      He nodded. "Megan’s bridesmaids were giving her a shower. I didn’t want to go without her, but she insisted I should, that Lyle would be offended if I didn’t at least make an appearance."
      "And within minutes, you had a leggy blonde attached to your arm," Kate said sarcastically. "Some things never change, do they, Eric?"
      "It wasn’t like that." He still wouldn’t look at her. "She was the one who came on to me. Her name was
      Gina Lamont. She said she was a model and that a friend had brought her to the party. But I had her pegged for what she was-a high-priced call girl-the moment I laid eyes on her."
      He set the mug down, and without asking her if he could smoke, he reached into his coat pocket, pulled out a pack of Salems and shook a cigarette out. Kate started to object and then stopped. He was upset enough as it was without adding to his misery. Having no ashtrays, she reached inside a cabinet, pulled out one of her mismatched saucers and set it on the counter.
      Using a solid gold lighter, Eric lit the cigarette and drew on it deeply before releasing the smoke toward the ceiling. "When she asked me if I wanted to take her home, I told her I was engaged and very much in love with my fiancee, but she wouldn’t leave me alone."
      "You could have left."
      "I could have done a lot of things. Unfortunately, after three martinis, I wasn’t exactly thinking with my brain."
      "So you took her to bed."
      He nodded. "I woke up at three in the morning with a hangover and a naked woman lying next to me."
      "What did you do?"
      "What do you think? I dropped a hundred bucks on her bureau and hightailed it out of there as fast as I could, while praying I’d never see her again."
      "I take it your wish didn’t come true."
      He took another drag on the cigarette. "Unfortunately no. At two o’clock this afternoon, the little bitch waltzes into my office, perches her ass on my desk and waves a videotape under my nose. Then, before I have a chance to ask what the hell it is, she sashays to my VCR and inserts the tape into it." He paused before adding, "Fin sure you can guess who the main attraction was."
      Kate’s eyes widened. "You mean she taped the two of you? In bed?"
      "She must have had a camera set up in the bedroom. I bet she does that with all