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‘Yes, it is, and now I’m Lucinda’s PA, and I’ll never leave my cousin in the lurch to chase my own ambition. As long as Lucinda needs me, I’ll be here for her.’
‘You can’t put your career aspirations on hold until your cousin is ready to let you go. And, has it occurred to you that you might be holding Lucinda back?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Maybe it’s time Lucinda stood on her own two feet? Maybe she wants to and doesn’t know how to tell you that your job is done.’
Libby was silent for a long while after that. Lucaj had certainly given her something to think about, but that was a problem for another day, and she wanted to know about the suite and the part he’d played in that.
She frowned. ‘So how did the Chatsfield find this suite of rooms for me? The desk clerks told me the hotel was full. Were they lying to me?’
‘No,’ Lucaj stated categorically. ‘The staff at the Chatsfield would never lie.’
‘Well… I don’t understand.’ And then the mist lifted. ‘Is this your suite, by any chance?’
‘My suite?’ Lucaj paused, and then seeing that Libby wasn’t going to give up, he added, ‘What if it is?’
‘For goodness sake, Lucaj,’ she exploded. ‘You can’t give up your suite for me.’
‘I already have,’ he admitted. ‘And before you ask, there’s no dastardly plot involved. Sleeping here was not my idea, if you remember?’
She did remember. ‘But how could you do that? Why give up your beautiful suite for the hotel’s emergency room, and all for a stranger?’
Lucaj shrugged. ‘Don’t feel sorry for me. I live in a palace – several of them, to be exact, so one night in a room above the air-con system isn’t going to kill me.’
Libby pulled a face and sighed. ‘I don’t know what to say. I haven’t been very grateful, have I?’
‘I don’t want your gratitude. It isn’t necessary.’
‘But it is,’ she insisted.
Lucaj grinned wickedly. ‘I can think of a much better way for you to show your gratitude. Hey – have some confidence, Libby. I couldn’t have known you were going to invite me up, and I came up because I wanted to be with you. I wanted to spend time with you and get to know you.’
‘We’ve certainly worked on that,’ she admitted with a rueful smile.
They both laughed and then the tension dropped.
‘I wouldn’t change a thing about tonight,’ Lucaj murmured, lying back on the pillows and turning his head lazily to stare at her. ‘Would you?’
‘No,’ Libby murmured thoughtfully.
A message pinging on her phone distracted both of them. ‘Lucinda,’ Libby exclaimed, reading the text. ‘She feels bad about abandoning me, and she’s on her way here now.’
Lucaj didn’t answer right away, and then he said, ‘Good.’
But without much enthusiasm, Libby thought. It occurred to her then that as regular guests at the Chatsfield, Lucinda and Lucaj might already know each other.
‘When she coming?’ he asked.
‘As soon as she can get a flight out in the morning.’
‘You’ll be pleased to see her.’ Lucaj’s darkly handsome face brightened. ‘And I’m looking forward to meeting your cousin.’
Was she reading too much into this?
Of course she was. On any other day, and under any other circumstance, she would be thrilled to introduce Lucaj to Lucinda, but she was already bracing herself to take her customary back seat when they met.
Chapter Nine
