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He’d done it again, read her mind. Kim didn’t know whether to be angry or thrilled, but in view of all the complications that went hand in hand with this man she decided on the former.
‘That’s very kind of you,’ she began tersely, ‘but—’
‘No, it’s not kind, Kim.’ He looked up at her then, and she felt her breath leave her body at the intensity in the beautiful silver eyes. ‘It’s selfish, if you really want to know. I want to be here with you, and with Melody. I’ve wanted to be with you every damn weekend for months and this morning I decided enough was enough.’
‘Oh.’ She stared at him, totally taken aback and with all coherent thought clean gone.
‘So what do you say to a day together?’ he asked slowly.
He wasn’t touching her, not in any physical way, but Kim could feel the power of his magnetic personality reaching out and enclosing her. He looked hard and dark and sexy, and she found herself beginning to tremble.
‘I thought perhaps lunch at a little place I know,’ he continued quietly, ‘and then an afternoon on the river, followed by dinner at my place. Martha is standing by for Melody’s likes and dislikes.’
‘Lucas—’
‘Just friends, Kim, if that’s what you want.’ He surveyed her with unfathomable eyes. ‘You can’t deny you could use a friend right now.’
A friend was one thing; Lucas Kane was quite another. Nevertheless the thought of a day with him was like Christmas and New Year rolled into one and magnified a million times, and Kim felt her resolve wavering. And then Melody took the decision right out of her hands when her daughter came to stand in front of them, small hands on tiny hips, as she said, ‘Can Lucas stay for lunch, Mummy? Please?’
Kim hesitated for a moment, but it was long enough for Lucas to sense her indecisiveness and capitalise on it with the ruthlessness that was an integral part of him. ‘Better than that,’ he said lightly. ‘We’re going out to lunch and then you can have a ride in a boat on the river—would you like that? And if you’re very good…’
‘What? What?’ As Lucas let his voice die away mysteriously, Melody jumped up and down in her excitement.
‘If you’re very good you can come and see where I live,’ Lucas said softly, ‘and meet Jasper and Sultan.’
‘Who are Jasper and Sultan?’
‘My dogs—very big dogs.’
‘Do they bite?’
‘They don’t know how to bite,’ Lucas assured her seriously, ‘only how to lick.’
Melody nodded, believing him utterly. ‘I like dogs like that,’ she stated firmly.
Kim looked at them helplessly, and then, as Lucas raised his eyes to hers, the crystal gaze pinned her. ‘Go and get changed,’ he said very quietly, ‘while I wait for you.’
They continued looking at each other for a second, and Kim’s pulse leapt at the tone of the last words. He was an enigma, this man. Every time she thought she had got him worked out he did something to amaze her, the way he had today. But whereas all Graham’s surprises had been nasty ones, everything she learnt about Lucas just made her love him more.
It was too dangerous a line to pursue, and Kim held out her hand to Melody. ‘Let’s make ourselves pretty,’ she said as lightly as she could.
It was an enchanted day, the first of many in the weekends that followed. Lucas seemed to hit just the right note with Melody, being neither too indulgent or too strict, and Melody took to Greenacres—Lucas’s fabulous home with its several acres of grounds—like a duckling to water.
She took huge delight in bossing Lucas’s enormous hounds around and fell in love with each one of Martha’s cats, as well as Martha herself. And the old woman fully reciprocated the feeling, taking on the role of fussy grandma as though she had been born to it.
Lucas was always the perfect host—relaxed, urbane, amusing and thoughtful, and his kisses—social kisses, Kim assured herself, and not to be confused with anything else—were gentle, warm and totally non-threatening. The kisses of a friend.
After that first Saturday, Kim had tried to refuse further outings but Lucas had simply ignored her protestations with an arrogance that was pure Kane, although she had stuck to her guns about never staying the night at Greenacres. She felt uncomfortable at the thought of waking up in Lucas’s home; she felt uncomfortable about a lot of things that were happening. But she kept reassuring herself that Lucas knew exactly where he stood—she couldn’t have been more specific.
So all in all it was a magical summer, partly, but with dark surreal undercurrents that sometimes brought Kim wide awake and sweating in the middle of the night.
And then, at the beginning of September, two things happened within a few hours of each other which ripped Kim’s fragilely built world apart, and were all the more unexpected for the great weekend she’d just had.
The weekend had started with Maggie phoning her from America on Friday evening to say that Pete had turned up on her doorstep with an engagement ring.
‘He can’t do without me, Kim.’ Maggie had been on such a high the receiver had fairly vibrated. ‘Apparently when I left England it prompted him to do some serious thinking and he’s been having counselling for his fear of commitment. It brought up all sorts of things, issues he’s been burying for years all relating back to his childhood and so on, but he knew he’d lose me if he didn’t persevere—so he did!’
‘I’m so glad, Maggie.’ And she had been.
