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e any rose oil?’
He knew she always travelled with at least one small bottle of soothing oil, and rose oil had always been her favourite. Once upon a time, in a land far away, it had been one of the sweet smells of their lovemaking.
Thea opened her eyes and sat up. ‘No, I have lavender oil. Will that do?’
‘Perfect. Stay there.’
When he collected the oil from the dresser, he switched a lamp on, turning out the main light. He threw open the heavy curtains, letting the darkness in. Lucas wasn’t afraid of the dark the way that she was.
‘Lucas?’
‘Nothing’s going to hurt you.’ He lifted her feet to put a towel under them and tipped a little of the oil into his palm, rubbing his hands together to warm it. The smell of lavender did little to calm her.
His hands again, rubbing gently. Missing nothing, the sensitive skin in the arches of her feet, her ankles. Lucas was concentrating on his task in silence. Gradually a feeling of well-being began to suffuse her whole body.
‘That’s it.’ He leaned forward, picking up her hand, and she realised that it had slid from her stomach to her side. He massaged her palm, sending warm shivers all the way up her arm.
‘Where did you learn this?’ Even her voice seemed to have relaxed into a low whisper.
‘I went to a class with my dad. When Mum was ill.’
‘And it made her feel better?’ Thea tried to call to mind the studies she’d read about massage and illness, and decided that she could do that some other time. The warmth of his hands, the delicious smell, the way he seemed to be touching her whole body was a powerful drug.
‘Not the massage. He wasn’t all that good at it. But she really appreciated him going; it was a bit of a departure for him. My father’s always been a proponent of measurable cause and effect.’
‘And you’re not.’ Lucas knew all about the magic of touch. The subtle rhythms of the human body that defied any attempt to categorise them.
‘I’m a proponent of both. Science is important. What’s going on in someone’s head is important too. I thought we agreed on that.’
The world in which they had to talk about anything, to work out whether they agreed or disagreed, seemed a long way away. Here it was just his hands. Like sex, only… Only without the consequences. You didn’t wake up the next morning hating yourself because someone had rubbed your feet the night before. You didn’t have to worry about contraception or what the world thought. It was just feet.
‘Roll over.’
She obeyed him without a murmur. When he raised one foot, his fingers sliding along her calf, all she could think was that this was lovely. A sigh escaped Thea’s lips.
‘Good?’ If she’d been able to see his face, she would have seen the tenderness that his voice betrayed.
‘Yeah. Nice.’ If he’d rolled her over again, and stripped off her T-shirt and sweatpants, she would have done nothing to resist him. But she knew that he wouldn’t. When she felt his fingers at the small of her back, she gave herself up to him as completely as if he’d been inside her, warmth spreading from the cluster of nerve endings and making the tips of her fingers tingle.
‘You’ve got a knot, there.’ His fingers concentrated on a spot in the middle of her back, pressing hard, and Thea felt her own momentary resistance before the muscles relaxed. His fingers pressed a little harder, and her gasp drew a grunt of approval from him. He explored the spot a little more and then moved on to the next vertebra.
Lucas knew how to arouse and he wasn’t employing any of the tricks that would have made her cry out for him. He wanted something different from that and he’d got it. Her body felt as if it was floating, warm and weightless. Far too relaxed to want anything other than this moment.
She felt his lips brush her back, and then he pulled her T-shirt back down. The pressure of two fingers on her shoulder was more than enough, and her body obeyed him, rolling over.
‘Don’t get up yet. Just relax for a moment.’ He slid the towel out from under her feet and covered her with the counterpane. The last thought that drifted through Thea’s head was that she’d just stay here for a minute longer before she finished her tea.
* * *
She was asleep. Curled up on the bed, her breathing soft and regular. Lucas thought for a moment about undressing her and decided that the night was not so hot that it was a necessity. In any case, that was much too much to expect of himself. His body was already raging with an intense need and he couldn’t stand much more of it.
Quietly he closed the curtains. The lamp glowed in the corner of the room, and he decided to leave it on in case she woke later on. Temptation roared through his veins and he reminded himself that if he lay down beside her tonight, there was always a chance that someone would see him leaving in the morning and they’d become the latest victims of the conference gossip machine. The thought propelled him towards the door. He opened it an inch, looking outside to make sure that no one was in the corridor, then walked quickly back to his own room.
* * *
Thea found Lucas on the covered veranda, drinking coffee and watching the rain. The breeze meant that the air was cool and fresh. A perfect morning.
‘You slept well?’ He grinned at her as she sat down in the other wicker chair at his table.
