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‘He’s already here.’
‘Oh.’ Dolly paused. ‘Are you cross?’
‘Possibly. I’ll let you know later.’
‘Okay.’
Luce hung up. ‘You and Dolly came up with a plan. You and Dolly. Together.’ The two people least likely to work together or to come up with a coherent, responsible plan.
Wincing, Ben said, ‘Yeah. Guess it’s no surprise it didn’t quite work. I thought you weren’t due in for another hour.’
‘And you still dressed for the occasion?’
Ben glanced down at his paint-splattered clothes. ‘I lost track of time. Come on—let me take your bags.’
‘Where are we going?’ Luce asked as she followed him out to where his car was parked at a wildly illegal angle on the kerb. ‘Another hotel?’
Ben shook his head. ‘We’re going home.’
* * *
She looked incredible. Three months pregnant, straight off an aeroplane, annoyed with him—and she was still, by far, the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
‘Where is home, exactly?’ Luce asked as they pulled out of the airport.
‘I told you about my grandmother’s château?’
‘That’s where we’re going? So—what? You’re moving to France?’
Ben sighed. ‘If you just wait—just a little bit—I promise I can do grand apologies and romantic gestures in style once we get there. And maybe once I’ve changed clothes.’
‘It’s not your clothes I’m worried about you changing. And I’m not interested in romantic gestures.’
She had her arms crossed over her chest, her creamy breasts pushing against the silk of her top. Were they bigger? Not the time, Hampton.
‘Just the apology, then?’
Luce nodded. ‘And I’d rather have that sooner than later.’
Ben smiled despite himself. ‘No patience at all, have you?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. I think I’ve waited quite long enough.’
She had a point. ‘I made a plan and everything, you know. There was a list.’
‘Dolly’s been telling me for weeks that plans need to be flexible. That’s why we’re painting the nursery yellow.’
‘You and Dolly?’
‘She’s moved in. She’s paying rent so we can fix up the house and make it baby-safe. And it means I won’t have to be alone when the baby comes.’
Ben clenched his jaw. She wouldn’t be alone. She shouldn’t ever have thought she had to be alone. Never mind the plan.
‘I’m sorry, Luce. For reacting the way I did.’ Ben glanced across at her. She stared out of the window, intently focusing on something in the distance, or maybe on nothing at all. Either way, she wasn’t looking at him, which was all Ben cared about. ‘I was an idiot. I know that. Seb told me, and Dolly told me.’
‘She wrote a song about how much of an idiot you are, you know.’
Ben laughed. He was starting to actually like Dolly, against the odds.
‘The thing is, I knew I was wrong. I knew losing you, and our baby, would be the worst decision I ever made. I just couldn’t see any way out of it.’
Now Luce looked at him, eyebrows raised, and Ben looked away and concentrated on the road again, just to avoid the anger in her gaze.
‘You couldn’t just say, We’ll figure it out together?’
Ben winced. ‘Apparently not. I was jet-lagged, tired, not thinking straight. But mostly I just didn’t want to turn into my father.’
‘You can’t let your parents’ marriage define your life.’
‘I know. But Seb wanted me to take on this new work, travelling all the time, and I couldn’t drag you and a kid around with me—hell, you’d never let me. And even if you did you’d hate it so much you’d leave me eventually. But I couldn’t see myself staying in one place either. And I don’t want to be one of those dads who’s never around and then shows up for a couple of days in a whirlwind before disappearing again.’
‘So you made all these decisions for me and our child without talking to me about it?’
Luce’s words were cold and hard, and Ben turned off the autoroute with relief. Nearly home. If he could just get her to the château...
‘I’m trying to make up for it now,’ he said. ‘Just give me the chance.’
Luce shook her head. ‘I’m not sure that you can, Ben.’
The pain in her voice made his heart clench. ‘Let me try.’
They drove the rest of the way in silence, and by the time Ben pulled up in front of the château the sky was growing dark. Grabbing her bag from the boot, he opened the door to help her out, and watched her as she stared up at the building.
