The B4 Leg

by Various

  Had she always loved him?

  Four and a half years ago Annie had been completely bowled off her feet by the rakish and exciting Luc. Had realised once she returned home from her ski trip that one glance had been all it had taken for her to fall in love with him. For her to have behaved completely out of character by spending the night with him.

  But had she continued to be in love with Luc for all this time?

  Her lack of interest in going out with other men, and her disappointment in the few she had dated, all seemed to indicate that she had.

  Annie now glanced across at Luc beneath lowered lashes as he placed his overnight bag on top of the bed before unzipping it to look through its contents.

  No. She glanced across at Luca de Salvatore.

  Because this man, so darkly brooding, so much in control of both himself and his surroundings, was not the devil-may-care Luc that Annie had met and fallen in love with.

  So did that mean that in the past two days she had fallen in love with Luca de Salvatore too?

  God, it was all so complicated. So confusing. Luca de Salvatore and Luc were one and the same man, and yet somehow they weren’t.

  Luc had been exciting. Wild. Irresponsible. A man Annie had known instinctively wouldn’t make a good husband for her or any other woman, let alone a father to the baby she had discovered she was expecting.

  Luca de Salvatore was something else, however…

  Ruthless, powerful, completely confident of himself and his abilities, Luca de Salvatore would take his responsibilities as a father, at least, very seriously indeed.

  He did take them seriously!

  To the extent he was insisting that Annie marry him or risk a legal battle for Oliver.

  How could she possibly have allowed herself to fall in love with him all over again?

  ‘Annie…?’ Luc frowned across at her as he saw that her thoughts—whatever they were—had made her face go pale, and her eyes take on a slightly haunted look. ‘The doctor seems confident that Oliver will be able to go home in the morning.’

  Those deep blue eyes now sparked at him angrily. ‘Just in time for you to try and take him away from me!’ She took a protective step towards the bed where Oliver slept.

  Ahh…

  Luc was sure that Annie had no idea how young and vulnerable she looked as she faced him so challengingly. Like a tigress protecting her young.

  When they had met again at Lake Garda, and Luc learnt that she was Anna Balfour—one of the notoriously wayward daughters of Oscar Balfour—he had made assumptions about her character. About her fitness to be a mother to his son too, once he learnt of Oliver’s existence.

  Seeing her distress this afternoon over Oliver’s accident, her tension on the journey back to England, and then observing how tender and loving she was with the little boy once they had arrived at the hospital, Luc now realised how wrong he had been. Annie’s love for Oliver was absolute. A fierce and protective love that would see Luc in hell before she would ever relinquish her son to him.

  Just as it had only taken Luc one glance at Oliver, one touch of his delicate little hand, to be overwhelmed by that same fierce and protective love.

  ‘Mummy?’

  Luc’s attention sharpened on the little boy in the bed as Oliver awoke for the first time, his eyes the same deep, deep blue as his mother’s as he looked up at her so trustingly.

  ‘Hello, darling,’ she greeted him huskily, smiling as she sat on the side of the bed to gently brush a curl back from the little boy’s brow. ‘How are you feeling now?’

  He pulled a face. ‘My head hurts.’

  Annie gazed down at him tenderly. ‘Would you like me to go and ask the nurse to give you something to make the hurt go away?’

  ‘Yes, please, Mummy.’ Oliver gave a tentative smile.

  Oliver looked so much like him at that age, Luc recognised achingly as he stood back from the bed watching Annie and Oliver together. The same dark curls. The same wide brow. The same shaped face.

  Only the blue of his eyes was different.

  Beautiful deep blue eyes.

  Annie’s eyes…

  She looked across at him now, those eyes guarded. ‘Would you sit with Oliver while I go and find a nurse?’

  Luc could feel a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw as he nodded. ‘Of course.’

  She turned back to Oliver, giving his hand a little squeeze as she stood to move slightly away so that Luc was now visible to the little boy. ‘Oliver, this is Luc. He—he’s a friend of mine,’ she added awkwardly.

  Oliver turned curious blue eyes in Luc’s direction. ‘Hello,’ he greeted solemnly.

  There was a lump in Luc’s throat that prevented him from answering immediately. An emotional surge that made breathing difficult.

  ‘Luc?’ Annie prompted, frowning at his continued silence.

  What was wrong with him? Why didn’t Luc say something? Was he annoyed because she had introduced him to Oliver as only a friend?

  Well, that was just too bad because Annie had no intention of just blurting out, in what to Oliver was the middle of the night, that Luc was his father. There would be plenty of time for them to explain things to him once he was allowed home and was back amongst things, and people, that were familiar to him.

  Which Luc certainly wasn’t!

  He seemed to give himself a mental shake before he stepped closer to Oliver’s bed. ‘I am very pleased to meet you, Oliver.’ His voice was low and warm as he proffered his hand to the little boy.

  A formality that Oliver obviously took delight in as he returned the gesture. ‘Have you been to Italy with my mummy?’ he asked curiously.

  Annie raised mocking brows at Luc as she waited to see how he was going to deal with that question!

  ‘I live in Italy, Oliver,’ he answered.

  Oliver’s eyes widened. ‘You do?’

  Luc nodded. ‘I am Italian. My full name is Luca de Salvatore.’

  And you are my son…

  Annie could almost hear those five unspoken words on the end of that sentence. Unspoken for now, that is.

  She straightened abruptly. ‘I’ll be back in two minutes,’ she promised firmly before hurrying from the room.

  Luc scowled a little at the warning he had heard in her tone. As if she half expected him to claim Oliver as his son right here and now.

  He forced a relaxed smile to his lips as he moved to take her place, sitting on the side of the bed. ‘I believe that you had an argument with a horse earlier today?’ he teased lightly.

  ‘I lost!’ Oliver grinned, revealing tiny, even white teeth.

  Luc chuckled. ‘So you did. But the doctor says you will have a most distinguishing scar once you have healed.’

  The little boy thought about that for a moment before pulling a face. ‘I didn’t mean to worry Mummy.’

  Luc gave him a reassuring smile. ‘In my experience, mummies always worry.’

  Oliver shook his head. ‘My mummy smiles and laughs a lot.’

  ‘Does she?’

  The little boy nodded. ‘Not when she has to go away on business for Granddad, of course. Then she frowns a lot, because she doesn’t really want to go.’

  Out of the mouths of babes and innocents…

  The picture Oliver was painting of Anna Balfour as his mother was one of warmth and love and laughter. With a definite aversion to going ‘away on business for Granddad.’

  Luc gave Oliver another reassuring smile. ‘It wasn’t for very long though, was it?’

  Oliver shrugged. ‘She still doesn’t like it.’

  Annie had told Luc that herself. Explained that she worked for her father because she was a single mother who, far from being one of the spoilt and wayward Balfour sisters, felt she had to work at something in order to pay her way in life. Even if it was doing something she didn’t like.

  Begging the question, what would Annie have done with her life if she hadn’t become pregnant four and a half years ago?

>   If Luc hadn’t left her alone and pregnant?

  Luc’s tension was so palpable when Annie came back into the room that she almost felt as if she could reach out and touch it, making her wonder what he and Oliver had been talking about in her absence.

  ‘I brought you a coffee,’ she told Luc as she crossed the room carrying the two cups. She almost spilled most of Luc’s in the saucer when she felt the light touch of his fingers sliding against hers as he stood to take the hot drink from her. ‘So how have you two been getting along in my absence?’ Annie prompted brightly as she moved to stand beside her son.

  Oliver beamed up at her. ‘Luc says I’m going to have a dist…a distinshed scar when my cut gets better.’

  ‘Distinguished,’ Annie corrected automatically, deliberately keeping her gaze averted from Luc after her earlier reaction to just the touch of his fingers against hers. Although she couldn’t help but be completely aware of him as he stood on the other side of the bed.

  It wasn’t fair, simply wasn’t fair, that she responded in this way to Luc’s slightest touch. Things would be so much easier for Annie if she could just have hated him.

  Instead she had fallen in love with him. Again.

  Which was going to make things very awkward when she refused to marry him and he attempted to try and take Oliver away from her.

  They stood to one side as the nurse bustled into the room to check on Oliver before administering the liquid medicine that would help to ease his pain.

  ‘Thank you for the coffee,’ Luc murmured gruffly.

  ‘You’re welcome,’ Annie dismissed as she continued to watch Oliver chat happily to the nurse.

  Luc drew in a harsh breath at her coolness. ‘Would you prefer it if I didn’t stay here tonight?’

  She snorted. ‘What would your reaction be if I were to say yes?’

  Luc smiled a little. ‘Then I would respect your wishes and leave, of course.’

  Her eyes were wide with disbelief as she finally looked up at him. ‘Really?’

  ‘I am not a monster, Annie,’ he said quietly.

  ‘I’ve never said that you are.’

  ‘But you have thought it,’ Luc guessed, grimly now.

  Her mouth firmed as she looked away. ‘Maybe.’

  He drew in a sharp breath. ‘Oliver is a beautiful child.’

  ‘Yes, he is.’

  ‘A beautiful and happy child.’

  Her jaw tensed. ‘Yes.’

  ‘And you are obviously a wonderful mother.’

  Annie turned to him impatiently, irritation creasing her brow. ‘Knowing that isn’t going to stop you from trying to take him away from me though, is it?’ she hissed under her breath.

  Luc frowned fiercely. ‘You still reject the idea of marriage? Do you not feel that Oliver would benefit from living with both his parents?’

  Her chin rose stubbornly. ‘Not if it means I have to marry you, no! Now, if you’ll excuse me…?’ She put her empty cup down on the table. ‘I would like to sit with Oliver until he falls asleep.’ She moved back to Oliver’s side now that the nurse had quietly left the room, sitting down to once again hold her son’s hand as she murmured soft words of reassurance.

  Luc remained standing across the room, for once in his ordered life completely at a loss as to how to proceed.

  Marriage, and providing the necessary heirs to one day take over the reins of the de Salvatore business empire, had both been things Luc had envisaged for some time in the future. The far and distant future. Learning he already had a son had made him rethink those plans, dictating that he marry Anna Balfour now and legitimise his son. He had seen her refusal to marry him as merely an obstacle to be overcome. One that, if she persisted in her refusal, Luc would circumvent by instead legally claiming Oliver as his son and heir. The Balfour family might be rich and powerful, but the past four years had ensured that Luc was even more so!

  It had been a decision, as with all the decisions Luc had made, based on cold, hard facts rather than emotions.

  Luc certainly hadn’t been prepared for how he would feel when he saw Oliver for the first time. The instantaneous and almost overwhelming feelings of love that had besieged and captured him in a single heartbeat.

  The same overwhelming love that Annie so obviously felt for her son.

  The same adoration that Oliver felt for the mother who had unselfishly loved and cared for him since the day he was born.

  Was Luc now to be instrumental in these two warm and loving beings having to be torn apart from each other? Could he really do that to either of them?

  To Oliver…

  To Annie…

  That same warm and passionate woman Luc had held in his arms only hours ago as the two of them made passionate love to each other.

  Emotion had played no part in Luc’s life over the past few years, and now he was beset with too many of them. Emotions that made a nonsense of cold logic and practicality. Emotions that made his heart ache and resulted in the breaking down of the barriers he had so painstakingly erected about his heart in his determination to rebuild the de Salvatore business empire until it was bigger and more powerful than it had ever been before…

  ‘Luc? Luc!’ Annie repeated more insistently as he seemed so lost in thought he didn’t hear her the first time. ‘Oliver is asleep now so we may as well try to grab a couple of hours’ rest ourselves,’ she explained softly as those narrowed dark eyes finally focused on her and asked a silent question.

  No doubt Luc had been hatching plans as to the best way to take Oliver away from her with the least trouble to himself, Annie surmised angrily.

  He nodded his understanding. ‘I will be back shortly.’ He strode over to the door.

  Annie frowned. ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘I need some fresh air before sleeping,’ he paused to say before leaving.

  Annie glared at the closed door for several long seconds, but there was very little point now that he’d gone. ‘Fine,’ she muttered to herself before grabbing her own overnight bag and going into the adjoining bathroom, closing the door firmly, but quietly, behind her.

  There was no way, Annie told herself forcefully as she stared at her dishevelled reflection in the mirror over the sink, no way on this earth that she would ever allow Luc to take Oliver away from her and the family that loved him.

  ‘I bet he’s with his lawyer right now plotting and planning how best to take Oliver away from me!’ Annie said furiously the next morning as she paced restlessly up and down Tilly’s sitting room at the gatehouse in the grounds of Balfour Manor.

  As promised, Oliver had been discharged from hospital earlier this morning, and a couple of hours ago Luc had driven the three of them to the gatehouse. Luc had then carried a sleepy Oliver up to his bedroom and seen him settled down for a nap before making his apologies and leaving to keep a business appointment in London.

  Considering that Luc hadn’t even known he was going to be in England today, to Annie’s mind that business appointment could only be to discuss one thing!

  ‘Perhaps you’ve misunderstood him, darling?’ Tilly’s worried frown totally belied her reasoning tone.

  Annie gave her mother a pitying look. ‘You can’t really be this naive, Mummy. You were married to the original arrogant despot for four years, for goodness’ sake!’

  ‘I really can’t allow you to talk about your father in that way, Annie. Besides, Oscar never once suggested taking my children away from me when we divorced,’ Tilly defended her ex-husband.

  ‘Only because he wouldn’t have known what to do with us if he had!’ she pointed out with some disgust.

  Her mother tutted reprovingly. ‘Annie, your father is my best friend.’

  ‘I know that, Mummy.’ She sighed heavily as she dropped down into an armchair. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t mean to upset you, I just—’ She gave a frustrated growl. ‘I didn’t misunderstand Luc, Mummy. He was perfectly clear when he told me that I either become his wife or he will take his son
away from me by other means.’

  Luc had been completely uncommunicative when he’d returned from his walk outside the night before, and again this morning during the drive back to Balfour Manor.

  Annie hadn’t been feeling exactly chatty herself after spending an almost sleepless night alternately checking on Oliver and trying to ignore Luc’s disturbing presence on top of the bed beside her own.

  But she didn’t need to be more than half awake to know the reason Luc had disappeared so abruptly to visit London so soon after arriving at Balfour Manor.

  ‘Your father would never allow it—’

  ‘I don’t see how he can stop it when Luc is so obviously Oliver’s father.’ Annie scowled darkly, her fierce determination of the previous night severely depleted after her virtually sleepless night.

  She wished she had her mother’s optimism, she really did. But the more Annie thought about Luc’s claim on Oliver, of the love she had seen burning brightly in the darkness of Luc’s eyes as he looked at his son for the first time, the less sure Annie felt in her ability to stop him from taking Oliver from her.

  Which left a loveless marriage between herself and Luc as the only other viable option—and one that Annie had been fighting against with every fibre of her being!

  How could she possibly marry Luc when to him she was just part and parcel of a smooth and trouble-free claim on Oliver? When she was so hopelessly in love with him and he so clearly did not feel the same way about her?

  ‘Yes, I’ve been longing to talk to you about that.’ Her mother eyed her curiously. ‘How on earth did you ever meet Luca de Salvatore in the first place, let alone—Well…’ Tilly gave a rueful grimace.

  ‘Go to bed with him?’ Annie finished drily. ‘Bad luck!’ she muttered, almost to herself. ‘Pure bad luck!’

  ‘Not the most flattering description I have heard in regard to my bedroom skills,’ Luc said as he strolled confidently into the drawing room, very dark and handsome in a white polo shirt and tailored black trousers. ‘Mrs Williams,’ he greeted a blushing Tilly with a mocking lift of his dark brows. ‘Would you mind very much leaving Annie and me alone for a few minutes so that we might talk?’