And then a couple in front of her stepped back to let someone through en route to the bar and cut Luke from view.

Kate swallowed and dropped her eyes, annoyed to find herself flushing.

`Do you think he did recognise you after all?' Serena said excitedly. She had watched the look Luke and Kate had exchanged with interest.

`No.' Kate sounded curt, but she was having difficulty bringing her heart under control again. It kept jumping around in an alarmingly erratic manner. `No, I don't think so,' she said again, more lightly. The eyes had been as unreadable as ever, but she would swear that there had been no recognition in them, only a speculative sort of contempt.

To Kate's intense relief, a bell began to ring insistently over the noise of the crowd just as Serena opened her mouth to pursue the matter.

`Come on, drink up,' she said, taking a hasty swig of her gin. `The second half's about to start.'

They joined the queue shuffling noisily back into the auditorium. Serena seemed to have forgotten Luke, and was telling Kate about her not-so-subtle attempts to get her handsome neighbour to notice her. Wedged in the middle of the crowd, Kate rolled her eyes and laughed at her friend. She had a warm, arresting smile that lit up her quiet face-but which switched off abruptly as she found herself looking once more into Luke Hardman's hard eyes.

He and Helen were unhurriedly finishing their drinks while the crowd pushed past them. Luke Hardman had never been a man to waste time standing in a queue with everyone else.

Someone was pushing Kate from behind, but she hardly noticed. Luke had lifted his glass in a silent toast and sent her a swift, mocking smile that flamed the colour in her cheeks.