Their Most Forbidden Fling

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  His expression tightened as his gaze met hers. ‘The one thing you can’t accuse me of is not being honest with you,’ he said. ‘This is all I can give you.’

  ‘Fine,’ Molly said in a perverse attempt to act all modern and casual about it. ‘We’ll have our fling and once it’s time for me to leave, I’ll just kiss you goodbye and get on with my life and you’ll get on with yours. Does that sound like a plan?’

  His jaw worked for a moment. ‘As long as we both know where we stand.’

  ‘But of course,’ she said. ‘If anyone asks, I’ll just say we’re housemates with benefits. How does that sound?’

  His forehead was deeply grooved with a brooding frown. ‘Couldn’t you think of a better way to put it than that?’ he asked.

  ‘Get with the times, Lucas,’ Molly said as she gave him a cheery fingertip wave from the door.

  Lucas came back from helping the registrars with a new patient when Jacqui pulled him to one side. ‘What’s going on between you and Molly Drummond?’ she asked.

  Here we go, he thought with a roll of his eyes. This would be the first of no doubt many comments he was going to get. ‘Why do you ask?’ he said.

  ‘Everyone’s saying you’re a couple now,’ she said, her eyes bright with interest. ‘Is it true? Are you officially together?’

  Lucas was still trying to get his head around Molly’s term for their relationship. Call him old-fashioned, but he didn’t like the sound of housemates with benefits. It sounded like he was taking advantage of her. He hadn’t invited her to stay in his house so he could sleep with her. That had just...happened. OK, well, sure, he’d wanted it to happen. He still wanted it to happen, but it couldn’t happen for ever.

  He wasn’t a for ever type of guy.

  ‘You know I never discuss my private life at work,’ he said as he continued briskly on his way.

  Jacqui kept pace with him like a little Chihuahua snapping at his heels. ‘Come on, Lucas,’ she said. ‘What would it hurt to get it out in the open? She’s such a sweetheart and it’s so cool that you’ve known each other for years and years. I bet your parents and hers will be thrilled to bits. It’s so romantic.’

  He threw her a hard look. ‘Don’t you have work to do?’

  ‘You make such a lovely couple,’ she said. ‘I bet you’ll make gorgeous babies together. Will you invite me to the wedding? I’ve always wanted to go to Australia. That’s where you’ll have it, won’t you?’

  Lucas dismissed her with a look. ‘There’s not going to be a wedding,’ he said, pushing open his office door. ‘Excuse me. Some of us around here have work to do.’

  * * *

  Molly was home first and spent some time playing with Mittens before she started cooking dinner. She wondered if she was doing the right thing in setting candles and flowers on the table, but she just couldn’t get her head around being that casual about things. Somehow waiting naked in bed for him wasn’t quite her. She wanted to read his mood first, see what sort of day he’d had. Help him relax and put work stresses aside. She wanted to show she cared about him as a person, not just as someone she was having a fling with. She put on some romantic music on the sophisticated sound system that was wired through the house and opened a bottle of wine she had bought on the way home.

  Glancing at her watch a couple of times, she wondered when Lucas would be home. She hadn’t seen him since their conversation in his office. She had been busy with a new admission and he had been called to a meeting with the family of an elderly patient who wasn’t expected to make it through the night.

  He came in just after nine p.m. Molly got off the sofa in the sitting room where she had been whiling away the time with a glass of wine and met him in the foyer. ‘Hard day?’ she asked when she saw his heavy frown.

  ‘You could say that,’ he said, shrugging off his coat.

  ‘I made dinner for you,’ she said.

  His frown deepened as he hung up his coat. ‘You shouldn’t have bothered.’

  ‘It was no bother,’ Molly said. ‘I love cooking. I set up the dining room. It looks fabulous.’

  He turned from the coat stand, his frown even darker on his brow. ‘What for?’ he asked.

  ‘Because it’s a beautiful room that’s just crying out to be used,’ she said. ‘What’s your problem? You won’t eat out. I thought this would be the next best thing. Kind of like a date at home.’

  He moved past her on his way to the stairs. ‘I’m not hungry.’

  Molly felt her spirits plummet. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked. ‘Have I upset you?’

  His hands gripped the balustrade so tightly his knuckles whitened beneath the skin. ‘Why would you think that?’ he asked.

  She folded her lips together, feeling horribly uncertain and unsophisticated. ‘I was so looking forward to you coming home,’ she said. ‘I thought you would be looking forward to it, too. I guess I was wrong. You’d obviously rather be alone.’ She swung away to the kitchen, determined not to cry.

  ‘Molly.’

  ‘It’s all right, I quite understand,’ she said, turning back to face him. ‘We obviously have different expectations about how this is going to work. I’m afraid I haven’t read the latest edition of the Having A Fling handbook. Maybe you could give me a few tips. Clearly soft music and candles are out. Perhaps I should’ve just draped myself over your bed instead.’

  He shoved a hand through his hair and blew out a weary sigh. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m in a rotten mood. It’s wrong to take it out on you. Forgive me?’

  Molly gave him a huffy look.

  ‘Come here,’ he commanded gently but firmly.

  She angled her body slightly away from him, her chin up and her arms across her middle. ‘I’m not that much of a pushover, you know.’

  He moved to where she was standing and gently unpeeled her arms from around her body and gathered her close against him. ‘I’m sorry for being a such a bear,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a lot on my mind just now. I’m used to coming home and being alone with my thoughts.’

  Molly looked up at him with a little pleat of worry on her brow. ‘Do you want me to move out?’

  He smoothed her frown away with the pad of his thumb. ‘That’s the very last thing I want you to do,’ he said. ‘The house feels different with you here. It’s warmer, more like a home.’

  ‘I should’ve checked with you first about dinner,’ she said as she toyed with one of the buttons on his shirt. ‘I didn’t think...I’m sorry.’

  ‘It’s fine, Molly,’ he said. ‘Really.’

  ‘I know it’s been awkward for you today with everyone talking about us...’

  ‘They’ll stop in a day or two when they realise it’s business as usual,’ he said. ‘I’m usually pretty good at ignoring that sort of thing.’

  Molly looked up at him again. ‘Are you really not hungry?’ she asked.

  His eyes smouldered as they held hers. ‘My appetite is being stimulated as we speak.’

  ‘I hope I’ve prepared enough to satisfy you,’ she said with a little smile.

  He scooped her up in his arms. ‘Let’s go and find out, shall we?’

  CHAPTER NINE

  LUCAS WOKE FROM a deep sleep to answer what he thought was his phone. He reached across Molly, who was still soundly asleep, and picked up the phone from the bedside table. ‘Lucas Banning,’ he said.

  There was a shocked gasp and then silence from the other end.

  Molly shifted sleepily against him. ‘Who is it?’ she asked.

  He handed her the phone. ‘I think it’s for you,’ he said. ‘I thought it was my phone. Sorry.’

  She sat up and pushed the tousled hair out of her eyes. ‘Hello?’

  Lucas heard Molly’s mother on the other end. ‘I think I called you at a bad
time. Do you want me to call back when you’re alone?’

  Molly glanced at Lucas. ‘No, it’s fine, Mum... Um, how are you?’

  Lucas got off the bed and went to the bathroom to give her some privacy. When he came out again she had hung up was sitting on the edge of the bed with a strained look on her face. ‘That was my mother,’ she said.

  ‘So I gathered.’

  ‘She was a bit shocked that you answered my phone.’

  ‘I gathered that, too,’ he said.

  She nibbled at her bottom lip for a moment. ‘It’s not that she doesn’t approve of me getting involved with you...’

  ‘You don’t have to pull your punches, Molly,’ he said. ‘I realise I’m not her top pick as a partner for you.’

  ‘She’ll be fine about it once she gets her head around it,’ she said. ‘It was a shock to find out like that, that’s all. I should’ve called her and told her.’

  ‘I guess it’ll be your father calling you next to tear strips off you,’ Lucas said, snatching up his trousers and shaking out the creases before he put them on.

  She got off the bed and came over and put her arms around his waist. ‘I can handle my father,’ she said. ‘We are the only people in this relationship. It’s got nothing to do with anyone else. Not at work or back at home in Australia. This is about us, here and now.’

  Lucas let out a long exhalation and gathered her close. The here and the now wasn’t his greatest worry. It was what happened next that had him lying awake at night. Within a few weeks she would be heading home. He couldn’t ask her to stay with him, to give up her life back home, all her friends and family, all that was familiar and dear to her. How could he ask it of her? He could more or less cope with the parental opposition but he couldn’t cope with hurting her by not being good enough for her. How could he ever be good enough when he had caused her more hurt than anyone?

  He kissed the top of her head and put her from him. ‘I have to get moving,’ he said. ‘I have a couple of meetings this morning and another one after work. I’m not sure what time I’ll be home.’

  ‘I thought I’d touch base with Emma Wingfield about the fundraising dinner,’ she said. ‘Would you be agreeable to having it here? It would cut down the costs of hiring a venue. I understand if you don’t want to. I know it’s a lot to ask.’

  Lucas saw the little spark of enthusiasm in her eyes. What would it hurt to let her go to town with the dinner? It would be something to look back on once she had gone. ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Why not? Let me know what you need. I’ll get Gina to give you a hand.’

  She stood up on tiptoe and kissed him on the lips. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I’ll make sure it’s a night to remember.’

  * * *

  Molly hadn’t long got home from work that evening when her father called.

  ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he said without preamble.

  ‘Hi, Dad,’ she said. ‘I’m fine, and you?’

  ‘Of all the people in London you could hook up with,’ he went on, ‘why him? I had to drag it out of your mother. She wasn’t going to tell me but I knew something was up as soon as I spoke to her. When were you going to tell me you’re sleeping with the enemy?’

  Molly rolled her eyes. ‘I’m not going to discuss my love life with you, Dad. Lucas and I are seeing each other and that’s all I’m prepared to say.’

  ‘He’ll break your heart,’ he said. ‘You just see. It’s what he does best. He’ll use you and then walk away. He just wants his conscience eased. I reckon he thinks a little fling with you will fool everyone into thinking we’ve all moved on. But I’ll never forgive him. Do you hear me? I will not allow that man to come within a bull’s roar of me or any of my family.’

  ‘How is your new family?’ Molly asked.

  ‘Don’t use that tone with me, young lady,’ her father said. ‘I’m telling you right now, if you continue to see him I will never speak to you again. Do you hear me? It’s him or me. Make your choice.’

  ‘Dad, you’re being ridiculous,’ she said. ‘Isn’t it time to move on? Matt would be appalled by your attitude. You know he would.’

  ‘I mean it, Molly. I’ll disown you. You see if I won’t.’

  Molly fought to contain her temper. There was so much she wanted to throw at her father. All the times he had let her and her mother down. All the times he had criticised her for not being as good as Matt at things. All the times she had felt unloved and undervalued by him. It bubbled up inside her like a cauldron of caustic soda. ‘You know, that’s exactly the sort of thing I’ve come to expect from you,’ she said. ‘When things don’t go your way, you have a tantrum or throw in the towel, just like you did with Mum. I’m not giving up Lucas just to appease you. If you want to disown me then go right ahead. It’s your choice.’

  ‘You’re the one making the choice,’ her father said. ‘Once I hang up this phone, that’s it. I won’t be calling again, not unless I hear you’ve ended things with Lucas Banning.’

  The line went dead.

  Molly pressed the off button on her phone just as the front door opened and Lucas stepped in.

  His brows moved together. ‘Your father?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said with a little slump of her shoulders.

  He came over and put a gentle hand on the nape of her neck. ‘Hey.’

  Molly looked up at him through moist eyes. ‘I’ve never been able to please him,’ she said. ‘It wouldn’t matter who I was seeing, he wouldn’t approve. He doesn’t love me, not like a father should love his daughter. If he loved me he’d be happy for me.’

  He drew her close against his chest, his hand rhythmically stroking her head where it rested against him. ‘He does love you, Molly,’ he said. ‘He’s just afraid to lose you. It colours everything he does. I would be the same in his place.’

  She gave a heavy sigh and began to fiddle with his loosened tie with her fingers. ‘I thought you weren’t coming home early,’ she said.

  ‘We got through the agenda of the meeting in record time,’ he said. ‘I thought we could go out to dinner.’

  She blinked at him in surprise. ‘Dinner? As in out somewhere? In a restaurant? In public?’

  He gave her a rueful half-smile. ‘I really am dreadfully out of practice, aren’t I?’ he said. ‘Yes, out in public in a fancy restaurant.’

  Molly smiled as she flung her arms around his neck. ‘I would love to.’

  * * *

  Lucas was putting on his jacket at the foot of the staircase when Molly came down half an hour later. Her perfume preceded her’a fresh, flowery fragrance with a hint of something exotic underneath. He turned to look at her, his mouth almost dropping open when he took in her appearance. She was classy and sexy, modern and yet conservative, sweet and sultry. Her mid-thigh-length black velvet dress clung to her figure like a glove. Her high heels showcased her racehorse-slim ankles and calves, and she had styled her hair in a teased messy ponytail at the back of her head, giving her a wild-child look. Her lips were shiny with lip gloss, her eyes smoky with eye shadow and eyeliner.

  It was a knockout combination and he wondered how she had managed to get to the age of twenty-seven without some guy snapping her up and carting her off to be his wife and the mother of his children.

  He tried to ignore the pang he felt at the thought of her ripe with someone else’s child. He didn’t want to think about another man taking her in his arms and making love to her. He didn’t want to imagine another man’s mouth pressed against those soft, sweet lips.

  He wanted her to himself, but how could he have her with the past like a stain lying between them? It would always be there. It would seep into and discolour every aspect of their lives. If they married and had children, he would one day have to explain to them what had happened to their uncle. How would any child look
at its father knowing he was responsible for the death of another human being? There had been a time when he had envisaged himself with a family similar to the one he had grown up in. He’d had great role models in his parents. They were strict but fair, loving and supportive, committed to their children and to each other. He had seen them weather some of life’s toughest dramas and yet they had never faltered in their devotion to each other and their boys. He had assumed he would have a similar relationship but, of course, that’s not how things had panned out.

  It was different now.

  It had to be.

  ‘You look beautiful,’ Lucas said.

  Her eyes shone as they met his. ‘You look pretty hot yourself.’

  He tucked her arm underneath his. ‘Shall we go?’

  * * *

  The restaurant Lucas had booked was a fifteen-minute drive from his house. He barely spoke on the journey, other than to point out places of interest like a jaded tour guide.

  Molly glanced at him surreptitiously from time to time, but each time she looked at him his brow was lined with a frown as if he was chewing over something mentally taxing. Was he regretting issuing his invitation to have dinner? All her insecurities came out to play. Maybe he was having second thoughts about their involvement.

  After all, she had been the one who had made the first move when she had found him sleeping in the library the other night. If it hadn’t been for her bending down to kiss him they might not have become involved at all. They might still be just housemates, two ships passing in the night as they went about their busy working lives. Did he regret their involvement? Did he want to put a time limit on it?

  What was going to happen when it was time for her to leave? Would he sever the connection or expect her to? They had by tacit agreement avoided mentioning the future. But it was still something that lurked in the background. Molly could even sense the ticking clock on their relationship. She had been here almost three weeks. That left only nine to go. Each day was another day closer to the time she would be leaving. Would he ask her to stay? Or would he be relieved when she got on that plane back to Australia?