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‘Must have been a bloody big crack,’ Luke murmured.
‘Massive, I’m sure,’ she mocked. ‘I must admit I was surprised when I first saw it. I never took you for an attention-seeker, Luke.’
‘Maybe because I’m not.’
‘So …?’
‘So your sister-in-law Holly persuaded me to let her run a magazine article to raise money for one of her charities. Holly just forgot to tell me when the photographers were coming.’
‘Forgot on purpose, knowing Holly,’ Lucia guessed, biting down on a smile. Holly could be ruthless when it came to landing a scoop. ‘So the photographers caught you out?’
‘No need to sound quite so pleased about it.’
Luke had brought his stubble-shaded face so close she could feel his heat warming her. ‘You might have smiled for the camera,’ she said, swinging away.
‘They seemed satisfied with the shots they took, so I guess angry men sell more magazines than smiling men.’
‘Well, I don’t like angry men.’
‘Don’t you?’
‘Don’t act so surprised, Luke. You know I don’t. I’ve always preferred mild-mannered men who are kind and thoughtful.’
‘And who have just stepped off the cover of a book of fairytales? Get real, Lucia.’ Luke’s voice turned hard. ‘Or are you going to live in that fantasy world of yours for ever?’
‘My world seems pretty real to me right now.’ And she knew more about the real world than she cared to, which was something Luke definitely didn’t need to know.
‘Does this real world of yours turn on daydreams or actions?’ he demanded. ‘I hope for Margaret’s sake you’ve thought this through. And as for those hard, driven men? You’re a hopeless liar, Lucia. You love hard, driven men. You should do. You’ve grown up with four of them. You just think it’s fashionable to pretend that you don’t.’
‘Why on earth would I do that?’ she flashed as the temperature soared between them.
‘Hell if I know,’ Luke fired back with an angry gesture.
‘Since when has what I feel become your business?’
‘You’re right,’ he said, turning for the door. ‘I have absolutely no interest in you whatsoever.’
‘Where are you going?’ She realised as Luke swung around to stare at her that the desperation in her voice had pealed out like a klaxon.
‘I’m going to check this cooker. You can’t use it,’ Luke added, having given the sagging heap of tin a cursory examination. ‘And it can’t be repaired, so don’t even think of exercising your new-found practical skills.’
‘Why would I be practical when you and my brothers have snatched things out of my hands for as long as I can remember?’
‘Only so you couldn’t beat us over the head with them.’
True. ‘So why are you here, Luke? To offer me a job, or to compile a list of my failings for Nacho?’
‘I’m not sure I want such a difficult employee.’
‘Too much for you?’ she taunted, mellowing a little.
‘As it happens, I didn’t come here to offer you a job. I came to tie up some loose ends with Margaret, so everything we’ve been talking about may have to be put on hold.’
Until Margaret had given her agreement to Luke buying into the business, Lucia surmised, knowing she mustn’t do anything to spoil Margaret’s chances. Maybe co-operation was the key—just so long as it was co-operation and not annihilation.
‘Do you ever think back to those holidays, Lucia?’
Whoa, cowboy! That was a nifty change of tack. But Luke had always known how to reach in for her heart and squeeze it tight. And there was nothing like poignant memories that joined them both to do that. ‘I think about those holidays all the time,’ she said honestly. And then, because she didn’t want Luke knowing how that made her feel, she added waspishly, ‘You always were such a charmer.’
