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Luke shrugged, unfazed. It had taken him a long time to trust enough to love another woman—he wasn’t going to do it by halves. ‘I don’t want to be anywhere you’re not and if that means here then so be it.’
Claudia couldn’t believe the words coming from his mouth. In just about every way possible it was exactly what she’d wanted to hear. Except if that means here was hardly a ringing endorsement. She’d loved Luke most of her life—he’d definitely been in her DNA. She knew how much he’d wanted London. How much he’d wanted to be at the forefront of the global advertising industry.
How long before he resented his choice? Before he resented her?
‘Come on, Claude,’ he murmured. ‘I think you might love me too. Give me a chance.’
Claudia looked at him and shook her head, her heart breaking just a little bit more. Of course she loved him. She loved everything about him. Including his pride and his self-respect and how much his career was wrapped up in that.
‘So what are you going to do?’ she asked. ‘Play hotel manager with me? Something you’ve already rejected?’
‘No.’ Luke shook his head. He loved the Tropicana but he needed something else. ‘Start my own business here, I guess.’
Claudia snorted—it didn’t sound as if he’d put a whole lot of thought into it. ‘You guess?’
Luke raked a frustrated hand through his hair. ‘I know it sounds like I’m making this up as I go along but I didn’t realise how...over London I was until I came back here. I’d put my dissatisfaction down to work...to the divorce. It wasn’t until I came here I realised... This place kind of got to me again. I took it for granted growing up—that was stupid. I really enjoyed working on Jonah’s budget campaign. It felt...grass roots. I think I could make that into something.’
Luke surprised even himself with his words but it suddenly felt right. Like being here with Claudia did.
‘I thought you needed the bright lights?’
‘Yeah,’ he admitted. ‘I did. But I was eighteen, Claude. I’ve been there and done that. People are allowed to change their minds.’
‘I didn’t.’
Luke smiled. That was just one of the things he loved about her—ever since his mother had given her that clipboard for Christmas, she’d been so sure.
‘People are allowed to stay the same as well.’
Claudia looked at his beautiful face, nicely delineated by the slither of moonlight emanating from the quarter moon. Thanks to his close shave she could see every line and dip of his jaw and cheeks; she could even make out the remnant of his Crescent Cove tan not yet faded after two weeks in rainy London.
She loved it. Loved every plane and angle. She even loved the ruthless smoothness of his face. But it was a blaring reminder of who he really was. She took a couple of paces towards him, lifted her hand and ran her fingers over his face. He watched her as she caressed his cheek, his jaw, his chin. The top of his lip.
All perfectly smooth. Perfectly London.
Not Crescent Cove.
‘You shaved on the plane?’
Luke nodded. ‘Of course.’
Claudia dropped her hand. He thought he wanted to be here with her? She didn’t think so. Initially maybe when there was lots of sex and sunshine, and then what, when his business didn’t match up to his expectations and the bright lights called again? She couldn’t risk it. Having him for a while only to lose him again?
Maybe he did love her—her breath caught at the thought, her heart tap-danced in her chest, but she quashed them instantly. She just didn’t think he’d thought it through properly. He was acting on lust and desire and a screwed-up sense of possession and she needed more than his jealous bullshit.
‘I have to get back,’ she said.
Luke took a pace towards her, worried at the sadness, the finality in her tone. ‘Claude.’
‘Don’t,’ she said. ‘Don’t come here with half-arsed, on-the-fly plans.’ She picked her hem up again. ‘I have to get back,’ she said, turning away.
Luke watched her go, frustrated by her stubbornness but encouraged. ‘You never told me if you loved me,’ he called after her.
She turned to face him, walking slowly backwards. ‘I’ve always loved you. Doesn’t mean it’s enough,’ she said before turning her back on him again.
Luke knew that was true. But it was a start.
* * *
Claudia was in her office working on the housekeeping roster, or pretending to anyway, the next morning when her mother knocked on the door. ‘Thought you might like a cuppa,’ she said.
