Harlequin Romance September 2013 Bundle: Bound by a BabyIn the Line of DutyPatchwork Family in the OutbackStranded with the Tycoon

by Kate Hardy

  ‘Stay here tonight with me, like we planned. And tomorrow, first thing, head back to Cardiff. Screw your colleague and his lecture. Forget about your family for a couple of days. You’re supposed to be in Chester until Thursday, right? So no one will know you’re home. You can knuckle down, sort out your book, and then spend Christmas relaxing instead of stressing out about all the work you should be doing.’

  Luce’s gaze darted away. ‘I’m not sure I even remember how to relax.’

  Ben smiled. ‘Spend the night with me and I’ll remind you.’

  * * *

  Oh, it was so, so tempting. Not just the sex—although that was bad enough. But the thought of three whole days with nothing to do except work on her book. No one asking her for anything.

  Luce bit her lip. ‘What about the lecture? Or my conference report? Or the Christmas Eve dinner?’

  ‘Screw them,’ Ben said, raising his glass to her. ‘Decide, right here and now, that you are more important than what other people want from you. Decide that your book is what matters most to you at this moment in time and focus on that for the week. Make your family help you for a change. Get some priorities for once.’

  He was right. The world might stop turning on its axis because of it, but he, Ben Hampton, was actually right. Maybe he’d been wrong every time he’d called her boring or obsessed at university—or maybe he hadn’t been. But now he was right. She needed priorities. And maybe, if nothing else, three days alone would help her figure out what they were.

  ‘Maybe I can get my ticket refunded. Or changed to tomorrow,’ she mused. The conference organisers had bought the original ticket, but after the fiasco with her hotel room she didn’t feel inclined to trust them to rearrange her travel home. She’d head down to the station in the morning—see what they could do.

  ‘I’ll buy you a ticket,’ Ben said carelessly. ‘First-class. You can work on the train.’

  Luce raised her eyebrows at him. ‘What? As payment for services rendered? I’m not sleeping with you, remember?’

  ‘As an apology.’ Sitting up straighter, Ben fixed his gaze onto her own, and she found it impossible to look away. ‘From Hampton & Sons. For losing your booking. I don’t pay for sex.’

  He looked more than insulted. He looked hurt. Luce’s gaze darted away. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean...’

  ‘Yes, you did.’ Ben sighed. ‘Look. You’re pretty much out of options here, Luce. I’m leaving tomorrow, and I have no doubt that this suite will be booked up for the rest of the week. You can try and find somewhere else in the city with a cancellation, or you can go home. And once you’re there it’s your choice whether you let anyone else know you’re back.’

  ‘Why are you doing this?’ Luce asked. ‘Trying to help me, I mean?’ Could he possibly be so determined to get her to sleep with him that he’d try to fix her whole life to achieve it? Surely even Ben Hampton couldn’t be that single-minded.

  More to the point, how the hell was she meant to keep on resisting him if he was?

  But Ben just shrugged. ‘Because I can. Because fixing things is what I do for a living. Because it’s so blatantly obvious what you need.’ His words were casual, thrown away without thinking. But there was a tightness around his eyes that suggested something more.

  Did he remember that night in the library? Was that what he was trying to make up for by helping her?

  And, really, did it really matter? It was eight years ago. But she might never see the man again after tomorrow, and she knew the curiosity alone would drive her insane. ‘Do you remember the night of your twenty-first birthday?’

  Ben didn’t even blink at the change of subject. ‘Barely. Mostly I remember the hangover the next day. That kind of misery stays with you.’

  He didn’t remember. And if he didn’t remember, it was as if it had never happened. She could forget it, too. Let the past go.

  ‘I do know that I got dumped because of my actions that night.’ Ben raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Care to fill in the missing memories?’

  Luce smiled. ‘Maybe one day.’ Except there wouldn’t be another day, would there? Tomorrow she’d take the train home and forget all about Ben Hampton.

  She tried to remind herself that this was a good thing.

  Ben drained the last of his brandy and got to his feet. ‘Well, I guess I’d better let you sleep on your decision. Unless...’ He gave her a hopeful look.

  ‘I am not sleeping with you.’ Whatever her rebellious body was hoping. She could feel a tightness growing in her belly just thinking about it.

  He laughed, far more cheerful than she’d expected him to be about being turned down. ‘In that case, if you’ll excuse me, I have a long drive ahead of me tomorrow.’

  Bending down, he brushed a kiss against her cheek. His lips were softer than she’d imagined. Not that she’d been thinking of them.

  ‘Goodnight, Luce.’

  She watched him place his glass on the counter and saunter into the bedroom, closing the door firmly behind him. And yet she was still staring at the door.

  Her fingers brushed her cheek, as if she could trace the kiss his lips had left.

  Damn him. Somehow she knew that all she’d dream about that night was what might have happened if she’d said yes.

  * * *

  Ben was not naturally an early riser, but his father had been, and Seb had inherited the trait, so he’d had to learn to function well before seven-thirty. And, given the motivation of breakfast with Luce before he packed her off to her new and improved existence in Cardiff, he was awake, showered and dressed before the sun was fully up the next morning. Which wasn’t as impressive in December as it would have been in July, but Ben still felt a little pleased with himself as he knocked on Luce’s door.

  At least he was until she answered it moments later, already dressed in some sort of knitted jumper dress and those incredibly enticing boots.

  He’d spent a lot of the previous evening thinking about those boots. And what Luce might be wearing under that dress. It hadn’t been his most restful night’s sleep ever, but his mind had at least been happily occupied.

  ‘You’re up at last, then,’ Luce said, eyebrows raised.

  ‘Were you always so smug in the mornings?’ he asked as Luce wheeled her already packed suitcase into the living area. He had Seb for smugness. He really didn’t need any more smug in his life. At least not unless he was getting to feel it for once.

  ‘Probably.’ Luce flashed him a superior smile. ‘But you were mostly sleeping in while I was up working. You might not have noticed.’

  Taking her suitcase and resting it against the wall by the door, Ben decided it was time to change the subject. ‘So, have you decided what you’re doing today?’

  Luce bit her lip. ‘Heading back to Cardiff, if that offer of a train ticket still stands?’

  Ben nodded. ‘Of course. And when you get there?’

  ‘I finish my book. In secret.’

  A sense of relief washed over him. ‘Good.’ He’d done it. He might not have been able to bring his mother back from the brink before she jumped ship, but he’d fixed this. He’d fixed that little bit of Luce’s life that he could influence and now he could move on, forget all about her.

  That, right there, was one good day’s work.

  ‘I’ve ordered us breakfast,’ he said, just as a knock on the door indicated its arrival.

  ‘If nothing else, the Hampton & Sons hotel chain has certainly fed me well during my stay,’ Luce said, taking a seat at the table in the dining area. ‘I should write to the management.’

  ‘I’ll pass on a message.’ Ben let in the room service staff member and took his own seat as platters of food were laid on the table. Eggs, bacon, toast, pastries—and plenty of hot coffee. Should keep him going on his drive through Wales, and it would
make sure Luce had one more good meal before she lost herself in research and writing for the rest of the week.

  ‘Shall I open the curtains, sir?’ the room service guy asked, and Ben nodded.

  Helping himself to eggs as Luce poured the coffee, Ben couldn’t help but think how domestic this was. Far more couply than he’d ever managed, even with women he’d actually slept with. It was a good job she was leaving today, or she’d be straightening his tie and calling him ‘honey’ in no time. She was that sort.

  ‘I’ll call the station when we’ve eaten,’ he said as light flooded into the room from the opened curtains. ‘See what times your trains are.’

  But Luce wasn’t listening to him. Instead she stared out of the window, coffee cup halfway to her mouth. Ben followed her gaze.

  Outside, rooftops and roads were coated in a thick layer of snow, gleaming white and icy. Heavy flakes fell lazily from the sky, adding to the perfect Christmas scene.

  ‘Huh!’ Ben said, watching it fall. ‘When did that happen?’

  * * *

  ‘I should never have gone out for dinner,’ Luce muttered to herself as she waited on hold for the station. If she hadn’t gone out for dinner with Ben Hampton she’d have had to try to find somewhere else to stay. When that had inevitably failed she’d have had no option but to get a train home. She’d be warm and cosy in Cardiff, watching the snow fall as she worked on her book.

  Except, if she was honest with herself, she knew she wouldn’t be. She’d have called her mother as soon as she got back to sort out the Christmas Eve dinner, and then she’d have been caught up in the responsibility net again. She’d be at her family’s beck and call, sorting out their problems and organising their Christmas season. The book wouldn’t have got a look-in.

  Of course she would still have had a roof over her head, which was more than she’d have right now if the trains weren’t running.

  The hotel room door slammed open and shut and Ben walked back in, his hair damp with snowflakes. ‘It’s really not stopping out there,’ he said, shrugging out of his coat. ‘I spoke to Reception—apparently all trains are subject to significant delays, and a lot simply aren’t running.’

  Luce pressed the ‘end call’ button and dropped her phone onto the sofa before perching on the arm herself. ‘Fantastic.’

  ‘You’re thinking this is all my fault somehow, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’ What the hell did she do now?

  Ben pulled up a chair and sat opposite her. ‘Okay, well, let’s see what we can do to fix this.’

  Luce rolled her eyes. ‘I know you pride yourself on being able to solve problems in hotels, but I think the British railway network might be beyond even your capabilities.’

  Ben ignored her. ‘Daisy on Reception says this room’s booked out for tonight, and the guest has just called to confirm they’ll still be coming, despite the snow. So that’s out. We might possibly be able to find you another room if we get some cancellations, but there’s no guarantee. Or...’

  ‘Or?’ Luce sat up a little straighter. Another option was exactly what she needed right now. Unless, of course, this was another Ben Hampton plan to seduce her.

  ‘I’m driving south today anyway. Headed to my cottage down in the Brecons. Apparently it’s not so bad further south just yet, and I’m confident my four-by-four can handle it.’ He shrugged. ‘Wouldn’t be too far out of my way to take you on down to Cardiff. I can always stop for the night in one of our hotels there if the snow worsens.’

  Blinking at him, Luce considered. It would mean hours in a car with Ben, on bad roads, but somehow she felt he was a surer bet than the trains. And not even he would try to seduce her in a snowdrift, right? ‘You’d do that?’

  ‘I still owe you for the room mix-up, remember? And this is cheaper than a first-class train ticket, anyway.’

  He made it sound like nothing, but Luce knew better. He was fixing her life again. But if it got her home and her book finished maybe she should just let him. Accept help for once.

  Grandad hadn’t had a saying to cover that one, but Luce thought there might be potential in it all the same.

  ‘Okay, then,’ she said, grabbing her phone and standing up. ‘Let’s go.’

  CHAPTER SIX

  SOMEWHERE AROUND WELSHPOOL Ben finally admitted to himself that this might not have been the best idea he’d ever had.

  The integral sat nav in the car had wanted him to cross over the border and drive south through England, before nipping back into Wales just before Cardiff. But Ben had done the drive south through Wales to the Brecons and the cottage enough times to feel confident in his route, and he didn’t need advice for the uninitiated. Besides, the travel news had reported a pile-up on the A49 that would make things incredibly tedious, so really a drive through the hills had been the only option.

  Right now, though, he’d take a three-hour traffic jam over these roads.

  Daisy on the front desk had assured him that the snow was worst in the north. What she hadn’t mentioned was that it was heading south. Every mile of their journey had been undertaken with snow clouds hovering above, keeping pace, and dumping more of the white stuff in their path as they drove.

  Ben’s arms ached from gripping the steering wheel tightly enough to yank the car back under control as the road twisted and slipped under them. His eyes felt gritty from staring into the falling snow, trying to see the path ahead. And Luce was not helping at all.

  To start with she’d just looked tense. Then her hands had balled up against her thighs. Then she’d grabbed onto the seat, knuckles white. Ben had stopped looking over at her as the road grew more treacherous, but he’d bet money that she had a look of terror on her face now.

  ‘Are you sure this is the best way to go?’ Luce asked, her voice a little faint.

  ‘Yes.’ At least at this point it was pretty much the only option.

  ‘Do you think...? Is the snow getting heavier?’

  ‘No.’ Except it was. Any idiot could see that. But the last thing Ben needed was Luce freaking out on him in the middle of a snowstorm.

  ‘Are you just saying that to make me feel better?’

  That sounded more like the Luce he’d had dinner with last night. Sharp and insightful.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Thought so.’ She took a breath and released her death grip on the seat. ‘Okay. What do you need me to do?’

  ‘Keep quiet and don’t freak out.’ Ben ground the words out. Distraction was dangerous.

  ‘Okay. I can do that.’

  He wasn’t sure if she was reassuring herself or him, but she did seem to relax a little. At least until they hit the Brecon Beacons National Park.

  As the car climbed the hills the skies darkened even further, looking more like night than afternoon. The falling flakes doubled in size, until his windscreen wipers couldn’t keep up, and the slow progress he’d been making dropped to a crawl. The road ahead had disappeared into a mist of white and the hills were blending into the sky.

  They were never going to make it to Cardiff tonight.

  ‘Okay. New plan.’ Running through the road systems in his head, Ben prodded a couple of buttons on the sat nav and decided that maybe, just this once, he’d take its advice. Anything that got him off these roads, out of this car and somewhere warm. Preferably with a large drink.

  ‘What? Where are we going?’ Luce peered at the sat nav, which was insistently telling him to turn right. ‘We need to get to Cardiff!’

  ‘We’re never going to make Cardiff in this.’ Ben swung the car slowly to the right and hoped he’d hit an actual road. ‘We need to get somewhere safe until this passes.’

  ‘Like where?’ Luce asked, her tone rising in incredulity.

  ‘My cottage,’ Ben reminded her. ‘It’s a damn sight closer than
Cardiff, and a lot safer than these roads.’

  There was silence from the passenger seat. When Ben finally risked a glance over, Luce was staring at him. ‘What?’

  ‘You planned this,’ she said, her words firm and full of conviction. ‘This was the plan all along.’

  ‘Getting stuck in a snowstorm? I know I’m a powerful man, Luce, but the weather’s up there with the rail network on the list of things I can’t control.’

  ‘That’s why we came this way. You knew the snow would be bad, so you planned to kidnap me and take me to your cottage. You’re still mad I wouldn’t sleep with you last night.’

  Was the woman actually insane?

  ‘Trust me—sleeping with you is the last thing on my mind right now. I’m more concerned with us—oh, I don’t know—not dying.’

  ‘I should have taken the train.’ The words were muffled as Luce buried her mouth into the long fluffy scarf wrapped around her neck.

  ‘Next time I’ll let you,’ Ben promised, relief seeping through him as he made out enough letters on the next road sign to reassure him they were nearly at the village nearest his cottage. Two more turns and they’d be there. Once they got onto the last rocky upward track. ‘Hold on,’ he warned her. Then he took a breath and turned the wheel.

  * * *

  Luce had never liked rollercoasters. Or fairground rides. Or ferries, actually. And the journey through the hills with Ben had felt far too much like all three for her liking. Rising and falling, rocking, swaying in the wind... She could feel breakfast threatening to rise up in her throat as they bumped over the rocky track Ben had just violently swerved up.

  All she wanted was to be at home. Warm, safe and merrily lost in the Middle Ages. Was that so much to ask?

  But instead she was...where, exactly? Somewhere in the Brecon Beacons, she supposed. Risking her life on an unsafe track to get to Ben’s love-nest in the hills. Somewhere to wait out the storm and focus very hard on reasons not to indulge in a one-night stand with Ben.

  Suddenly Cardiff felt a very long way away.