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Luke opened the cab’s passenger door. ‘She already knows how fabulous she is. And the backstage area will be packed with her fans and sycophants. It’ll take us an hour to get anywhere near her. And I’ve got something much better we could be doing.’
The husky tone rippled through her.
Well, okay, then.
‘Jump in,’ he said, raising his arm towards the cab like Prince Charming directing Cinderella into her carriage. ‘Come on, Ruby, scoot.’
A rather impatient Prince Charming.
She climbed into the cab.
‘I still think it’s a bit rude not to even acknowledge we were there, and we enjoyed it,’ she said as Luke climbed in beside her. Although she wasn’t sure he had enjoyed it that much. He’d fidgeted throughout, which was unlike him.
‘Fine, I’ll do it now.’ He yanked his phone out as the cab accelerated away from the curb.
Ruby watched, increasingly appalled, as he opened WhatsApp, selected MOM, typed in a string of clapping hands emojis, tapped send, then switched the phone to sleep mode and shoved it back in his pocket.
‘Luke! That’s not a proper thank you. It’s not even a proper acknowledgement.’
‘Sure it is, my mom loves emojis.’
‘But won’t she be hurt? That you didn’t go and see her in person?’ Ruby asked.
He grasped the handle as the cab turned the corner on to Waterloo Bridge. ‘Ruby, if you want to meet my mom, why don’t you just say so …’
‘B-b-because …’ She spluttered, trying to come up with a believable lie. ‘This isn’t about me wanting to meet her.’
He didn’t blink.
‘All right, maybe it is a bit about me wanting to meet her.’ She tried to look contrite. ‘But why don’t you want me to meet her?’
Just when she thought she’d won the argument, he leaned across the seat, captured her cheek and drew her face towards his.
‘That’s kind of obvious,’ he whispered, blocking out the view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and replacing it with a much more exciting one. ‘I’m busy.’
His mouth covered hers, his tongue taking advantage when her lips parted on a gasp of surprise and need.
They were all the way to the Palace of Westminster before she had a chance to get another word in edgewise. But by then, she’d completely forgotten what they were talking about.
Glancing at the partition, Luke finally released her and settled into the seat. ‘We better chill out before we shock the driver.’ Taking her fingers in his he lifted them to his lips and buzzed a kiss into her palm. Her heartbeat stumbled.
‘So you liked the show?’ he asked absently, not meeting her gaze.
‘I loved the show. Didn’t you?’ she fired back, determined not to ask all the questions she really wanted to ask.
After coming down from the blast of euphoria earlier – when she hadn’t been summarily dumped as expected in Brynn’s – Ruby had gotten a grip and figured out why. Tonight was an exercise in avoidance.
The mad dash to get to the National in time for curtain-up, and the show itself had made it impossible for them to talk about anything important. And she’d figured out why a while ago.
Their time together was nearly over, maybe not tonight but certainly soon. And Luke didn’t want to say so.
She had figured out the truth from Luke’s impatience, the fidgeting, the strange decision to invite her to a place she knew he would usually avoid. He’d been photographed by the press, they both had, some enterprising hack was bound to figure out who she was eventually, which meant he wouldn’t be able to continue working at The Royale much longer.
But of course, that didn’t matter if he was about to leave the country.
As she’d watched Helena Devlin weave her magic over an audience of her peers from the Cottosloe’s stage – she’d come to terms with the reality. And promised herself, whatever happened, she wasn’t going to ruin the little time they had left together.
The fact Luke seemed so determined to keep things light made her heart stutter as his thumb stroked the back of her hand and they sped along Chelsea Embankment.
