‘Look, Leonie, you’re right about your parents being disappointed if you don’t turn up for their party. Even once you’ve explained about your sprained ankle. Fortunately, I don’t have any other plans for this weekend—’
‘What about Rachel?’ Leonie put in hastily.
His mouth twisted. ‘My mother certainly doesn’t need me to babysit her when she’s in London! She’s meeting up with friends over the weekend,’ he added impatiently as Leonie continued to look doubtful.
As in Michael Harris? Leonie couldn’t help wondering…
‘Or is it that you think, in the circumstances, you might take the boyfriend, after all?’ Luke rasped harshly.
‘His name is Jeremy.’ She felt stung in defending. ‘And, no, I hadn’t thought of asking him…’ Especially now, when she was so unsure about that relationship.
She had played with the idea a month or so ago when her grandfather had told her about tomorrow’s party, of asking Jeremy to accompany her and so introducing him to her family, but had finally dismissed the idea on the basis that it might give Jeremy the impression she was trying to put their relationship on a more serious level. Now she was grateful she had made that decision…
‘Fine,’ Luke bit out tersely. ‘I’m available, I’ve offered to drive you—so where is your problem?’ he asked harshly, obviously impatient now with her continued protests.
Her problem was this man himself! What on earth were people going to think, her parents, her grandfather, the other family members who would be present at the party tomorrow evening, if she arrived with Luke Richmond as her partner, rather than Jeremy, whom they all vaguely knew she had been dating for the last few months?
No, she couldn’t do it!
Could she…?
CHAPTER 9
‘YOU’RE a little early—Jeremy!’ Leonie gasped her dismay as, having opened the door to her basement apartment fully, she recognised her visitor, not Luke as she had imagined, but Jeremy.
He gave her a quizzical look as she continued to stare at him. ‘I’m not interrupting anything, am I…?’
She gave herself a mental shake. ‘No, of course not. I just—I wasn’t expecting you,’ she awkwardly excused her unwelcoming behaviour. ‘Er—would you like to come in?’ she offered abruptly.
What on earth was Jeremy doing here on a Saturday afternoon? He hadn’t mentioned anything about calling round today when Leonie had telephoned him midweek and explained she couldn’t meet him yesterday evening. In fact, he had never just called round like this before…
‘If it’s no trouble.’ Jeremy shrugged ruefully. ‘I—what have you done to your ankle?’ He frowned concernedly as Leonie moved back to let him in and he obviously saw the support bandage on her left ankle above the bareness of her foot.
‘It’s nothing,’ Leonie assured him as she led the way through to her sitting-room. ‘I slipped last night and gave my ankle a bad sprain.’
A fact the midnight visit to the hospital had confirmed. But the doctor had insisted she wear the support bandage, and stay off her ankle as much as possible, until it felt easier to walk on. Much to Luke’s satisfaction!
Luke! She remembered with an anxious glance towards the clock that stood on her unlit fireplace.
She might not have been expecting Jeremy a few minutes ago, but she was expecting Luke to arrive in the next twenty minutes or so in order to drive her to her grandfather’s house. The last thing she wanted was for these two men to meet!
She gave Jeremy a bright smile. ‘What can I do for you?’
‘I’m not sure.’ He looked a little uncomfortable, hands thrust into the back pockets of his faded denims. ‘You seemed a little—distant, on Monday evening, and I just—Leonie, I haven’t done, or said, anything to upset you, have I?’ He frowned across at her.
‘Of course not.’ She forced lightness into her tone; after all, it wasn’t Jeremy’s fault she felt so uncertain about the continuation of their relationship. That, she knew, was entirely due to Luke! ‘I’m just a bit—preoccupied, with this Rachel Richmond biography at the moment,’ she dismissed ruefully. ‘I did try to warn you at the beginning that it would take up a lot of my time.’ She grimaced, at the same time giving another surreptitious glance at the clock.
Almost four o’clock, the time Luke had told her he would arrive to pick her up in order to drive her to Devon. Thankfully, in his own car this time. A three-hour drive, with the roof of Leonie’s car down to accommodate Luke’s height, had not appealed to either of them!
‘Actually, I’m really rather busy this afternoon too,’ Leonie continued with a pointed look at the diaries she had spread out on the dining-table as she worked her way through them. So far she had got as far as Rachel’s twenty-fifth birthday. ‘As you can see,’ she added lightly.
Jeremy strolled over to pick up one of the diaries, glancing down at the flowery scrawl that filled the pages, before looking incredulously at Leonie. ‘Are these what I think they are?’
Leonie moved the short distance between them to take the diary out of his hand, filled with a sudden, fierce protectiveness. She very much doubted that anyone other than Rachel and herself had ever read these diaries; Luke’s comments last night had certainly seemed to indicate that he had never read any of them.
‘They are,’ Leonie confirmed tersely, placing the diary back on the table with the others. ‘I really am rather busy today, Jeremy…’ she added pointedly, smiling to take any sharpness out of her words.
‘I can see that.’ He nodded good-naturedly. ‘Are we still okay for Monday evening? The ballet,’ he lightly reminded as Leonie looked at him blankly.
‘Of course,’ she confirmed breathlessly. The ballet! She had totally forgotten that they had booked the seats for Swan Lake weeks ago. At the time she had seen it as a promise of the continuation of their relationship; now she could only see it as an enforced evening in Jeremy’s company. ‘I’m looking forward to it.’
‘Good.’ Jeremy nodded his satisfaction. ‘I’ll leave you to get on, then.’ He turned to leave, and then paused. ‘Have you read the diary yet from the year before her son was born?’ he prompted speculatively.
Leonie frowned her irritation with his obvious curiosity. It didn’t need a mind-reader to know the reason Jeremy had questioned that particular diary. He was curious, as were a lot of other people, to know who Luke’s father had been. Or still was… The chances were that the man was still alive.
‘I’m reading them in order,’ she told Jeremy stiffly. ‘I haven’t got that far yet.’
Jeremy shook his head incredulously. ‘It’s the first one I would have gone for!’
‘Really?’ Leonie bit out sharply, finding herself deeply resentful—whether on Rachel’s behalf, or Luke’s, she wasn’t sure—of Jeremy’s lascivious interest in who Rachel’s lover had been thirty-eight years ago. ‘I’m approaching this in a methodical way.’ She shrugged dismissively.
Jeremy gave her a teasing look. ‘You’re not even the least bit curious?’
Of course she was curious, she wouldn’t be human if she weren’t. But reading the diaries at all felt intrusive on her part, let alone rushing to read that particular diary. Somehow, that felt disloyal to Luke…
‘It may not even be in there, Jeremy,’ she dismissed, deliberately walking—hobbling?—him towards the door in an effort to get him to leave; the minutes to four o’clock were fast ticking by!
‘If you need any help reading through them… Only joking, Leonie.’ Jeremy laughed softly at her grim expression, bending to kiss her lightly on the lips. ‘See you on Monday.’
Leonie closed the door behind him with firm sharpness, intensely irritated by what he called his ‘joking’ remarks.
Of course she realised that Rachel’s diary from thirty-eight years ago was probably amongst the dozens she still hadn’t read, but Leonie had found she really had no desire to read that particular one. No matter how she tried to approach looking at it, professionally or personally, i
t did somehow feel disloyal to Luke…
Oh, she knew he was arrogant, bossy, sarcastic, downright rude on occasion, but she also knew from his treatment of her last night after she had twisted her ankle that he could be kind, tender, and gently caring if the situation warranted it.
He had taken her to the hospital with the minimum amount of fuss, sat with her while she’d been examined and X-rayed, listened intently to the doctor when he’d come back with the results of those X-rays, driven her home, before helping her to get down the steps to her apartment. He had even offered to help her get undressed and into bed!
An offer she’d had no hesitation in refusing—even if it had taken her twice as long as usual to undress once she’d been on her own, every movement seeming to cause renewed pain to her ankle.
As for Luke’s offer to drive her to Devon today…
Personally, she was sure, the less time she spent in Luke’s company, the better it would be for her already troubled peace of mind. But from her parents’ point of view…they would be deeply disappointed if she weren’t at her grandfather’s with the rest of the family this evening to help them celebrate their wedding anniversary. Quite what she was going to do with Luke once the two of them had arrived, she wasn’t sure, but she would have to cross that bridge when she came to it!
She—
Luke, she realised as the doorbell rang for the second time in ten minutes. A little early, but not as early as she had at first thought!
Her breath caught in her throat as she opened the door to him. His dark hair was still damp from his shower, the green of his shirt deepened the colour of his eyes, black trousers fitted low down on his hips. Leonie gave an inward groan. How on earth, with her senses reeling just from looking at him, was she supposed to spend the weekend with this man without, at some point, making a complete idiot of herself?
She had no idea, Leonie admitted weakly, but—
‘No wonder you ended up flat on your face in those high heels last night; you probably have to wear flat shoes most of the time when you go out with the dwarf!’ Luke rasped disparagingly as he walked straight past her into the apartment without waiting for an invitation.
That was how, Leonie acknowledged irritably as she turned to watch him as he strode arrogantly down the hallway to her sitting-room. Luke only had to open his mouth to—
His words implied he had seen Jeremy leaving! Had Jeremy also seen him arriving…?
‘Don’t look so worried, Leonie,’ Luke taunted after she had slowly joined him in the sitting-room. ‘I thought it prudent to let the boyfriend leave before I got out of my car and came down here!’
Prudent? Or better ammunition with which to mock her? Knowing Luke, it was the latter.
‘For your information, Jeremy is five feet ten inches tall—hardly a dwarf,’ she snapped, her head going back challengingly. ‘And you needn’t have bothered waiting until Jeremy had left. I’m sure he would have enjoyed meeting you,’ she added truthfully; Jeremy had shown in the last ten minutes that he was just as curious as the rest of the world when it came to the Richmond family.
Luke’s mouth twisted derisively. ‘The feeling wouldn’t have been reciprocated,’ he dismissed tersely before looking around the untidiness of the room, and then glancing down pointedly at her bare feet. ‘Are you ready to go?’ he drawled sceptically.
Leonie drew in a deeply controlling breath; there was no point in falling out with him before they had even started the journey! ‘I just have to get my overnight bag from the bedroom. I can’t get a shoe on that foot,’ she added in a disgruntled voice as he gave another pointed look at her bare feet.
‘Fine,’ he sighed impatiently. ‘I’ll just have to carry you upstairs again then, won’t I?’
Leonie gave a pained frown at his obvious terseness. ‘Luke,’ she began slowly, ‘if you’ve changed your mind about driving me to Devon—’
‘I haven’t,’ he snapped, eyes flashing icy green.
She swallowed hard. ‘Then why are you so—irritable?’ she said for want of a better word. So much for her deciding a few minutes ago that Luke could be ‘kind, tender, and gently caring’!
‘I’m not irritable, Leonie—I’m furiously angry!’ he bit out forcefully, his hands clenched at his sides.
Leonie looked at him frowningly, totally taken aback by the fierceness of this verbal attack. There was a nerve pulsing in Luke’s cheek, his mouth was a thin, angry line, those green eyes so pale they shimmered silver.
‘But why…?’ She shook her head uncomprehendingly.
‘How long had the ageing hippie been here before I arrived?’ Luke snapped coldly. ‘Or did you telephone him as soon as I left you last night, and he came rushing over to be at your side?’
’Luke—’
‘“Luke” nothing!’ he rasped furiously, moving forward to pull her roughly into his arms, his mouth coming down forcefully onto hers.
Leonie was so taken aback by the suddenness of his kiss that at first she stood acquiescent in his arms, arms that were wrapped tightly around her.
But the stupefaction didn’t last long under the assault of that insulting kiss, Leonie starting to struggle in his arms, pushing against the hardness of his chest.
He wrenched his mouth from hers, looking down at her intently as his hands cradled each side of her face, her cheeks hot against those hands. ‘Don’t, Leonie!’ he groaned throatily before his lips claimed hers for a second time.
But gently this time, sipping from her lips, sensuously searching, asking for her response rather than demanding it.
It was a response Leonie was powerless to resist…
She felt as if she were burning, her body on fire, her skin so sensitive that each touch of Luke’s hands was like a searing flame.
His hair, beneath her fingers, felt like liquid silk, dark and soft, Luke groaning low in his throat as she caressed the nape of his neck, teeth gently biting her lips now as desire rose unchecked.
Her nails dug briefly into his skin before her arm moved compulsively about his neck, returning the passion of his kiss, never wanting the pleasure to stop, unsure now where she began and Luke stopped, their bodies curved perfectly into one.
Luke’s lips were burning a trail down her throat now, her head back as lips and tongue explored the hollows at the base of her neck, one of his hands moving to cup the tautness of her breast.
Leonie groaned low in her throat as the soft pad of his thumb brushed the turgid nipple, pleasure coursing through her body to centre achingly between her thighs.
She turned her lips to kiss the hardness of his jaw, the smooth planes of his cheeks, his eyes closed as she looked at him, dark lashes fanning cheeks flushed with desire.
She—
‘Ouch!’ Leonie gave an involuntary groan as she had moved slightly and pain shot through her injured ankle.
Luke’s head reared up as he looked down at her concernedly. ‘What is it? Did I hurt you?’ He held her slightly away from him, his gaze moving searchingly over her body.
Leonie swallowed hard, the sensual spell broken as the full realisation of exactly what she had been doing washed over her. ‘I—my ankle hurt.’ She couldn’t look at him now, overcome with embarrassment at her own response, deliberately moving away from him, able to breathe easier once out of Luke’s arms.
If not her ankle, would they have—? Could she have—? Only too easily, she acknowledged with an inward groan.
‘What are you thinking now?’ Luke rasped hardly, his gaze darkly unfathomable as Leonie finally looked over at him, his expression enigmatic, his jaw tightly clenched.
She wasn’t about to tell him what she had been thinking! She didn’t even want to think about that herself!
Her chin rose defensively. ‘I was thinking that you still didn’t tell me why you were so angry when you arrived,’ she answered tautly.
His mouth twisted derisively, whether at himself, or her, Leonie couldn’t tell. ‘Oh, I told you, Leonie—you just weren’t
listening!’
Her eyes widened in puzzlement. ‘But—’
‘Shouldn’t we be going, Leonie?’ Luke gave a pointed look at his plain gold wrist-watch. ‘It’s after four already.’
And whose fault was that? she inwardly chuntered to herself at the injustice of the accusation in his voice. ‘You still want to drive me?’
‘I still want to drive you,’ he echoed dryly. ‘Your bag is in the bedroom, you said?’
‘Yes, but—Luke—!’ She stopped him as he would have turned and left the room. ‘You don’t know where my bedroom is,’ she said lamely when he turned back to her, his brows raised with obvious impatience.
He grimaced derisively. ‘The apartment isn’t that big that it will take me long to find it!’ he mocked, then he paused before leaving the room. ‘Or is it something else about my going into your bedroom that bothers you?’ His gaze narrowed speculatively.
Leonie frowned. It seemed far too intimate to have him go to her bedroom, yes—which, after what had happened between them a few minutes ago, seemed rather ridiculous of her! But other than that, she couldn’t think—
‘Perhaps you haven’t made the bed yet?’ Luke added with hard derision.
Colour blazed in her cheeks at the clear insult in his accusation. ‘For your information, Jeremy only arrived ten minutes before you did!’ she snapped resentfully.
Luke gave a humourless smile. ‘What a pity!’ he muttered with complete insincerity.
How was it possible to go from burning passion, to burning anger, in just a few seconds? Leonie had no idea—she just knew that only Luke was capable of inducing those two strong emotions within her in such quick succession. In fact, at all!
She drew in a controlling breath, determined not to give him the satisfaction of losing her temper with him. ‘As we’ve just proved,’ she bit out scornfully, ‘my ankle isn’t up to passion at the moment!’ She met his gaze challengingly, refusing to confirm or deny his suppositions concerning her relationship with Jeremy. Let him think what he liked—he usually did, anyway!
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