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Either that or he was a surprisingly crap investigative
journalist—contrary to all the boasts about his bestselling byline.
His gaze dipped yet again, this time meandering all the way down to the front of her camisole. Her nipples tightened on cue. And the blast of heat napalmed her cheeks.
‘All right, if you absolutely insist, I’ll stay put.’
If he isn’t going to break cover, then neither am I. After all, I’m not the one who has a problem with impulse-control.
‘I insist.’ He smiled, like a certain wolf in granny’s clothing.
‘Fine, then I insist we establish some ground rules,’ she added firmly.
She’d already let jet lag and frustration get the better of her temper in Monroe’s office, causing her to hit out at Luke and accuse him of stuff that, for once, he might not actually be guilty of.
She didn’t think he was a bad father, particularly. The truth was, she didn’t really know what kind of a father he was. On Lizzie’s initial visits to Paris, she’d quizzed her daughter about Luke to check that he was being a responsible dad. But after those first few glowing reports, she’d stopped encouraging Lizzie to talk about him, because she didn’t want to think about him or hear about him, if she didn’t have to.
‘What rules?’ Luke’s jaw hardened to granite. ‘Because if it includes getting any more third parties involved so you don’t have to have a conversation with me, you can forget it.’
It was another dig at her decision to communicate through Jamie. She ignored it. She wasn’t apologising for that, even if she had underestimated how much her no-contact rule had pissed him off in recent years.
‘Don’t worry, no solicitor fees need apply.’ She dug a couple of mugs out of the cabinet. ‘All I’m suggesting is that we aim to stay out of each other’s way.’ She tipped the newly made espresso into one of the mugs, then set up another shot. ‘I’ve got some customer briefs I have to work on.’ Not entirely true, but she did have several books to read, preferably the ones that didn’t involve feisty copulation on kitchen counters. Moving swiftly on. ‘And I was looking forward to some genuine downtime while I’m here. But I don’t find your company particularly relaxing.’
About as relaxing as making a baked Alaska in the Sahara Desert, if you must know.
He picked up the mug of coffee she’d poured and took a sip, watching her intently over the rim. The careful consideration unsettled her.
As a girl, she’d never been able to figure out what Luke was thinking. It had frightened her then, eventually making her hideously insecure. Unfortunately, that inscrutable expression didn’t have a completely negligible effect on her nerves now, either, if the rabbit punches of her pulse were anything to go by.
‘I agreed to come all the way to Tennessee,’ she continued, ‘and to be your plus-one for this stupid article. Apparently, I also agreed to do a load of extreme sports activities that will probably kill me. And to share a cabin with you.’ Stop babbling and get to the point. He doesn’t make you that nervous. ‘And while I could dispute that, I won’t.’ She emptied the second espresso shot into her mug.
‘That’s big of you.’
‘Yes, I thought so,’ she replied, matching his sarcasm and raising it. ‘But I did not agree to spend two weeks playing house.’ She’d done that once for three years. She did not need a reminder. ‘So while we’re here, alone …’ She took a gulp of the coffee, then winced at the bitter aftertaste. ‘I will stay out of your way, and I’d appreciate it if you would stay out of mine.
I.e.: no shared hot-tub time.
He drained his mug and leaned past her to place it in the sink. She shifted to the side to make space for him, the fine hairs on her forearm prickling alarmingly as his elbow skimmed the skin. His gaze caught hers as he stepped back.
And she knew. If he had been unaware of those inappropriate hormone bumps before, he certainly wasn’t now. Because she could see the knowledge reflected in his eyes.
‘I’ll stay out of your way on one condition,’ he said.
‘What condition?’ Deal or no deal, Present Halle wasn’t going to be suckered into agreeing to any more impossible bargains Future Halle would be forced to fulfil.
‘Once you’re back in London, I can email you directly about Lizzie, without getting your damn solicitor involved.’
‘Done.’ She capitulated quickly, relieved by the harmlessness of the request. And a little surprised how easy it was to agree to.
Maybe she’d been wrong to keep him out of the loop for so long. As Lizzie’s dad, he was the only other person who cared about Lizzie as much as she did. Talking with him about their daughter didn’t have to be bad.
As long as he was safely on the end of an email. In another country.
Face-to-face, in a luxury mountain cabin in the Tennessee mountains, with no Wi-Fi? Not so much.
‘You want to shake on that?’ He held out his hand, the way he had in Paris.
She stared at the long blunt fingers, the sun-browned skin, the curved scar by the base of his thumb. And, for one breathless moment, recalled exactly what those calloused fingers had once been capable of.
