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‘Yes, you did.’ Ben sighed. ‘Look. You’re pretty much out of options here, Luce. I’m leaving tomorrow, and I have no doubt that this suite will be booked up for the rest of the week. You can try and find somewhere else in the city with a cancellation, or you can go home. And once you’re there it’s your choice whether you let anyone else know you’re back.’
‘Why are you doing this?’ Luce asked. ‘Trying to help me, I mean?’ Could he possibly be so determined to get her to sleep with him that he’d try to fix her whole life to achieve it? Surely even Ben Hampton couldn’t be that single-minded.
More to the point, how the hell was she meant to keep on resisting him if he was?
But Ben just shrugged. ‘Because I can. Because fixing things is what I do for a living. Because it’s so blatantly obvious what you need.’ His words were casual, thrown away without thinking. But there was a tightness around his eyes that suggested something more.
Did he remember that night in the library? Was that what he was trying to make up for by helping her?
And, really, did it really matter? It was eight years ago. But she might never see the man again after tomorrow, and she knew the curiosity alone would drive her insane. ‘Do you remember the night of your twenty-first birthday?’
Ben didn’t even blink at the change of subject. ‘Barely. Mostly I remember the hangover the next day. That kind of misery stays with you.’
He didn’t remember. And if he didn’t remember, it was as if it had never happened. She could forget it, too. Let the past go.
‘I do know that I got dumped because of my actions that night.’ Ben raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Care to fill in the missing memories?’
Luce smiled. ‘Maybe one day.’ Except there wouldn’t be another day, would there? Tomorrow she’d take the train home and forget all about Ben Hampton.
She tried to remind herself that this was a good thing.
Ben drained the last of his brandy and got to his feet. ‘Well, I guess I’d better let you sleep on your decision. Unless...’ He gave her a hopeful look.
‘I am not sleeping with you.’ Whatever her rebellious body was hoping. She could feel a tightness growing in her belly just thinking about it.
He laughed, far more cheerful than she’d expected him to be about being turned down. ‘In that case, if you’ll excuse me, I have a long drive ahead of me tomorrow.’
Bending down, he brushed a kiss against her cheek. His lips were softer than she’d imagined. Not that she’d been thinking of them.
‘Goodnight, Luce.’
She watched him place his glass on the counter and saunter into the bedroom, closing the door firmly behind him. And yet she was still staring at the door.
Her fingers brushed her cheek, as if she could trace the kiss his lips had left.
Damn him. Somehow she knew that all she’d dream about that night was what might have happened if she’d said yes.
* * *
Ben was not naturally an early riser, but his father had been, and Seb had inherited the trait, so he’d had to learn to function well before seven-thirty. And, given the motivation of breakfast with Luce before he packed her off to her new and improved existence in Cardiff, he was awake, showered and dressed before the sun was fully up the next morning. Which wasn’t as impressive in December as it would have been in July, but Ben still felt a little pleased with himself as he knocked on Luce’s door.
At least he was until she answered it moments later, already dressed in some sort of knitted jumper dress and those incredibly enticing boots.
He’d spent a lot of the previous evening thinking about those boots. And what Luce might be wearing under that dress. It hadn’t been his most restful night’s sleep ever, but his mind had at least been happily occupied.
‘You’re up at last, then,’ Luce said, eyebrows raised.
‘Were you always so smug in the mornings?’ he asked as Luce wheeled her already packed suitcase into the living area. He had Seb for smugness. He really didn’t need any more smug in his life. At least not unless he was getting to feel it for once.
‘Probably.’ Luce flashed him a superior smile. ‘But you were mostly sleeping in while I was up working. You might not have noticed.’
Taking her suitcase and resting it against the wall by the door, Ben decided it was time to change the subject. ‘So, have you decided what you’re doing today?’
Luce bit her lip. ‘Heading back to Cardiff, if that offer of a train ticket still stands?’
Ben nodded. ‘Of course. And when you get there?’
