By her 31st birthday, Charlie's number one TV Angel expects to be married. To whom, she isn't sure. Odds are the man who takes her to the alter will not be Warren Beatty, nor Nick Nolte, nor Aspen star Sam Elliot--all of whom she has dated recently. Kate doesn't think actors make good husband material. Marriage, however, isn't a pressing consideration. Not now.

"I'm not thinking in terms of a permanent relationship--yet," she says. "I'm too busy to be tied down. Warren and Nick are very nice, attractive men. I have great respect for Warren, who I think is a brilliant filmmaker. I learned something about being honest from warren, too. He'll tell you exactly what he thinks, what he feels. And he's got the best sense of humor. I don't want to talk about Nick because we haven't gone out all that much. But to any man I date the best I can say is, 'maybe in a couple years you'll still be around. I hope so. But for now I'm enjoying this little area of time being happy by myself.'"

The most private of all Charlie's Angels plans to spend the next two years establishing herself as an actress, writer and producer. Once she feels secure professionally, there will be time enough for a serious commitment with a man.

"I haven't fallen in love," she says, "because I won't allow it at this point. But in two years I'd like to be married because I want to have children. I look forward to hearing the pitter-patter of little feet and then the pitter-patter of larger feet--belonging to the housekeeper--right behind them. You see, I want marriage and children, but I also definitely plan to be a career woman the rest of my life."

"I know everything will happen in it's own good time. And it won't be much longer before I have a very special man in my life. The man I marry will probably have to be creative. I don't think I could marry an actor. I'd probably get along better with a producer or director. Anyway, I'll know the right man when I see him. I believe in destiny. If I don't find him, he'll find me."

In the meantime Kate says she's having fun being single.

"I like going to dinner one night with one man, to a movie the next night with someone else, and to a party on the weekend with still another man. I enjoy seeing different people. It's a full, rich life for now."

Kate is a practical woman who thinks of herself as "together," independent and self reliant. And she is. But in the early days of Charlie's Angels, she was assailed by vague self -doubts, in spite of the success of the series.

"I seemed to have everything a woman could want," she says. "But I didn't feel happy. I wanted to enjoy the success of the show and the things that were happening in my career. Yet I didn't want to fall into the traps I see so many other show business people falling into. I wanted to know if there was anything brewing in my subconscious that I really ought to know about. Sessions with a psychatrist helped a lot. I am happy and content now. One of the reasons for my happiness is that I created a family of friends. All single people should."

Co-angel and fellow-southerner Jaclyn Smith is part of Kate's family of friends. And although there have been rumors of rivalry between the stars, in actuality the two work well together.

"My friendship with Jackie is a great help on the set," Kate says. "Sometimes we get so tired we can hardly go on, but then one of us will kick the other into gear, and somehow we make it through the day."

"I guess Jackie and I are a study in contrasting lifestyles," she adds. "For example, last night Jackie gave a small birthday party for me. I, the guest of honor, sat down to her elegant dinner wearing my blue jeans, a turtleneck sweater and a seven-year-old workshirt with the sleeves cut off. Jackie wore a smashing silk blouse and slacks. We're very good friends, but we're very different."

Another part of establishing a happy, single life, according to Kate, is knowing how to keep busy. She spends 14 hours a day as Sabrina Duncan, the no-nonsense leader of Charlie's Angels. After a draining day at work, she jumps into her Mercedes or Jeep and heads for home. Two nights a week are taken up with vocal lessons. She devotes other hours to guitar and piano practice, and to phtography. Because she customarily tumbles into bed at 10 o'clock at night (she must be up at 5 A.M), Kate tries to limit her social life.

"Some people call me a loner. Perhaps. I'd rather be by myself in a darkroom than be bored stiff at a party with a hundred people around. I need time to be alone. Don't forget, I'm with sixty people all day long at the studio."

While privacy and independence are important to her, from time to time Kate does feel a need to share her life with a sympathetic man.

"I'm aware of that void," she says. "Sometimes I come home and sit down and ask myself, 'Now what?' But that happens less frequently than it used to. I'll start a fire in the fireplace, lean two pillows against the couch and read a book; or maybe I'll make a few calls and flirt on the telephone."

To millions of American viewers, Kate Jackson at home with a good book for company must seem a far cry from what they imagined her life to be. But as she repeats, being single--which also means being alone sometimes--is what she wants for now.

In her first television series The Rookies, Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, asked Kate to star in their next project, a series titled Alley Cats.

"I didn't think the title would work," Kate says, "So I met with them to give them my ideas. At the meeting I saw a squawbox on Aaron's desk and suggested that three girls work for a guy they never see; he only talks to them on the phone or squawbox.

Then I noticed a picture of three angels on Aaron's wall; so I said 'Let's call the girls angels.'

"Almost a year to the day later, the first script, with my ideas and title included, was delivered. Sure, I'd been adlibbing in that meeting. But the instincts were working, and I was at the right place at the right time. One of the reasons the show's a success is because we're angels.

"The amazing thing about the sudden success is that although on a personal level nothing seems different, so much has, in fact, changed. I live in a house now instead of an apartment. I've just built a ski house at Park City, Utah, and I'm going to spend every weekend of the season up there on the slopes. I met Prince Charles when he came to Hollywood. The magazine covers and all the attention are flattering. Everything has changed from the outside, but from the inside--my point of view--nothing is really different. I still want the same things from life.

"I'm not interested in amassing wealth. I'll never understand why they pay me to do the things I should be paying them to let me do. I earned ten thousand dollars a week last year, and they gave me a raise this season. The main thing is that my work allows me to be creative and feel alive and vital.

"If I'm a together lady, it's because I work at it. I try to be healthy, emotionally and physically. I feel that if you have good health, ninety percent of your emotional problems disappear. That's why I don't smoke, and drink on only rare occasions. And I guess I'm one of the few women you know who gets down on her knees by the bed to pray every night.

"It all boils down to being happy with yourself. What have I got to cry about? I may be disappointed or sad sometimes, but I don't allow myself to be hurt. Hurt is something you allow yourself to feel when you don't want to combat a problem. Suffering and unhappiness are boring, depleting and no fun. So I stay on an even keel emotionally all I can. Call it self-indulgence, but that's the way I am."

Because Kate is so free of bad temperament and other neuroses common to many actesses, the Charlie's Angels crew painted a sign that she keeps hanging in her dressing room: HELP THE PARANOIDS ARE CHASING ME!

There's one other motto that Kate finds reassuring. She discovered it during a recent bout with insomnia.

"I'd lie awake wondering what I'd done wrong that day," she says, "or I'd wonder what the next day held in store. I wasn't starving, I wasn't living in a neighborhood where I would be afraid to walk down the street at night. I hadn't lost a husband. I had no sick child.

"Then one night I said, 'I haven't a care in the world.' And it must be true because I repeat that thought every night and I drop right off to sleep."