Originally a temporary arrangement, she’d bought the apartment because she couldn’t bear to return to the home she’d made with Rick. In her too vivid imagination his ghost haunted the rooms looking for her and their baby. She hadn’t been able to face it and did that make her a coward? The thought shamed her. Her eyes continued to brim and spill over with tears.
When had she become a runner? A coward? She’d run from dealing with her home. She’d run from dealing with her grief by burying herself in work. And now she was planning to run from Lucas.
The time had come to give the simmering attraction between them serious thought. He was too dangerous to her vulnerable heart. The bond between them had been instant and was growing with each passing day and it had absolutely nothing to do with his spectacular looks. She was used to attractive men. It was she knew, the sex and quietly domineering style. He challenged her in ways that made her feel truly alive again.
But did she like him?
The answer came with the memories of how he’d held her in his arms as she’d wept. How he’d supported her during visits to the gynaecologist and how he’d supported her with Justin. And how he’d welcomed her into his home. Yes, she did like him, perhaps too much?
Lucas stirred emotions in her she didn’t want stirred she admitted now. He was too much. His looks, his smile, his kiss, the way he’d taken her body and her undeniably passionate response to him was all just too much.
Her feelings for Rick she’d begun to realise with something like dismay had been too safe, too secure. Was her mother right after all? Had she settled by marrying Rick and by doing that had she short-changed Rick and herself?
And then Justin’s accusations buzzed in her mind. Had she really become so focused on herself, on her own misery, to the exclusion of everything and everyone? Had she clung to grief like a lover? What would Rick think of her now? Would he be ashamed of her? Justin was right in one way. She needed to start living and breathing again.
Rick had died in seconds by a silent killer and how hellish was that? Her baby girl had fought like a warrior to survive for three hours. And she’d buried them together in a place she’d need to visit again very soon.
But now something fundamental changed inside her . She had other lives to consider.
There was another person who could help her. Someone who loved and had cared for her unconditionally in spite of the arguments and rifts they’d endured. Although she’d told her stunned mother she was pregnant she still hadn’t told her of the fact she was having twins. Or that she was wildly attracted to the father of her children. And that was wrong of her. It did not honour the woman who’d brought her into the world.
How the hell Becca wondered, had she managed to make such a mess of her life?
Lucas arrived home early determined to spend more time with Becca.
She was the only woman he’d ever known who’d become a permanent part of his thoughts. Except for Irina. But he knew now that they’d been too young to get married, they’d been caught up in the heady feeling of falling in love for the first time. Might it have lasted had she lived? Who knew the answer to that? But what he did know was his feelings for Becca were too powerful and life changing. Hell, she’d already complicated his life in so many ways.
He’d endured a vile couple of weeks with Becca retreating from him, refusing to talk about how she felt and he’d backed off to give her more time.
But a nagging feeling that he needed to talk to her refused to leave him. Usually the house was quiet, but today music boomed from the ballroom, a room he rarely used.
Intrigued, he placed his laptop case, jacket and tie onto a hall chair.
He pushed open double doors and stopped dead.
All the furniture had been moved against the walls. Two priceless Turkish rugs were rolled up to give her space to dance.
Becca wore a sleeveless bone coloured leotard, cut high on the hip, with a skinny belt of black leather. Her hair, the colour of glossy toffee, was piled in a high knot on her head. On her feet were black leather jazz shoes and leg warmers slouched on her ankles.
At the moment she appeared to be doing some sort of stretching exercise. Legs apart she bent from the waist, hands flat on the floor. He couldn’t take his eyes off her stunning bottom, all toned and lean and those fabulous long legs.
Moira bustled past him with a tray containing a jug of fresh lemonade and a couple of glasses.
‘Don’t interrupt her,’ he was told in a no nonsense voice. ‘She’s doing her cool down.’
Irritated, Lucas followed his housekeeper into the room. She set the tray on top of the baby grand piano.
‘What happened to rest and relaxation?’ he wanted to know.
Upside down, Becca peered at him and beamed a smile.
‘I’m nearly finished.’
In a single smooth move she sat, legs split wide apart and rested her torso on the floor. Whoa, very bendy and supple, and a jolt of pure lust speared into his groin.
‘You will not be able to do that for much longer,
querida
.’
She turned her face to him and raised a brow. ‘You’d be surprised.’
‘Becca,’ he said softly. ‘What are you doing?’
She got to her feet and padded over to a pile of A4 paper next to an iPod deck and turned down the music.
‘I’ve been walking through a piece of work that’s been giving me nothing but problems for weeks.’
Becca moved to the piano, picked up a pen and jotted down a few notes as Lucas peered over her shoulder.
The scent of warm female surrounded him along with her shampoo and a fresh floral fragrance that made his mouth water. Studying her notes he realised she was choreographing her steps. It all looked terribly complicated and intricate with beats and timings of arm and leg movements.
Over the last two weeks he’d been careful not to make any sudden moves that might upset the status quo between them. But giving into temptation he pressed his mouth to the soft skin of her bare shoulder, delighted when she gave a jolt followed by a tiny trembling that vibrated through her body.
‘I’m all sweaty,’ her sexy voice was husky and low and it did amazing things to his rampant libido.
A picture flashed into his head as he picked up a white hand towel draped over a chair.
He turned her round and dabbed her forehead and neck.
‘I prefer the term perspiration.’ His gaze took a leisurely stroll over her lean torso and endless legs. ‘Very nice.’
Big eyes stared into his as she took the towel and wrapped it around her neck.
‘You’d think you’d never seen a leotard before,’ she said in a cool tone that made him grin. The knot in the muscles as the base of his neck eased.
‘I have never seen
you
in that particular leotard,
querida.
What happened to rest and relaxation?’
‘This does relax me. I’m not overdoing it.’
He raised a brow. ‘Who moved the furniture?’
‘John and Moira.’ Those big eyes went wary now. ‘Do you mind?’
His knuckles gently stroked her cheek. ‘Not at all. The room is rarely used unless I’m hosting a cocktail party.’
Concern and something like fear entered those blue eyes now. ‘You do a lot of entertaining?’
‘Mostly I use hotels. Much more convenient.’
Relief crossed her face and Lucas tucked his tongue firmly in his cheek.
‘Do not worry,
querida
. I do not expect you to cater for cocktail parties.’
A flush rose over her cheeks. In the past couple of weeks he’d learned that Becca could burn water.
‘If I could move the way she does I’d be useless in the kitchen too,’ Moira informed him, totally unrepentant that she’d overheard part of their conversation.
Lucas caught Becca’s shocked wide-eyed stare.
‘
Si
, my housekeeper has no filter between her brain and her mouth.’
Completely unfazed by the insult, Moira simply shot him a look.
‘Lunch is served in the orangery.’
Becca turned laughing eyes on him. ‘I’ll go and change.’
But he captured her hand in his. ‘No, please, let me have the pleasure of looking at you just as you are. And I have a present for you.’
Moments later Becca caught her hands behind her back and peered up into his face.
‘Are you serious?’
Baffled, he looked at her. ‘It is a laptop.’
She stared at it as if it was an atomic bomb.
‘I know it’s a laptop. But I’m a complete technophobe. It’ll probably burst into flames or self-destruct.’
He blinked. ‘What about social networking?’
‘Nope.’
‘Shopping, email, facebook, twitter, pinterest?’
‘Nope. And I don’t want to know what pinterest is.’
‘It is very creative, you would enjoy it. What about business?’
Becca shook her head still glowering at the laptop. ‘I do my level best never to be left in a room alone with one.’
Bewildered now he stared at her. ‘Alone with one what?’
‘A computer.’ His laugh had her glare at him. ‘Seriously, you never know what it might do.’
‘
Querida
,’ he said in a silky voice. ‘I will show you.’
‘If an IT wizard couldn’t teach me, what makes you think you’ll crack it?’
He gave his signature shrug. ‘It is very simple and you are clever and creative.’
She simply stared at the slim silver laptop and didn’t bother to hide the bitterness in her voice.
‘Life was so much easier when Apple and Blackberry were fruit.’
He laughed again and shook his head as his dark eyes met hers.
‘Funny girl.’
‘It’ll stress me out and the doctor said no stress.’
Taking her hand in his, Lucas led her through the house into the orangery where Moira was ready to serve lunch.
He sat her in a chair, placed a napkin in her lap before sitting next to her.
‘We will begin tomorrow with the laptop to give you time to get used to the idea.’
He was like a steam train Becca decided.
He rolled over any and all objections.
‘Fine. Lose your temper just once and I’m out of here.’
Those dark brows winged into his hairline.
‘Did Rick lose his temper with you?’
Becca nodded as she thanked Moira for the delicious looking chicken salad mixed with what looked like chunks of mango. The woman was a star in the kitchen and full of fun out of it.
‘Yes, because he loved technology and couldn’t understand why I loathe it.’ And since when had she become comfortable talking about Rick? There was still pain and regret but that spear of grief to the heart had eased. Lucas, she realised, had been gently drawing her out about her life with her husband for days. Sneaky.
Lucas didn’t respond to her comment, instead he paid attention to his food.
His eyes found hers. ‘We should have Justin over for dinner.’
She couldn’t stop her hitch of surprise at the thought that ‘they’ were a real couple. But it was sweet of him to ask, so she kept her tone light.
‘I don’t think so. The two of you didn’t exactly hit it off.’
‘You didn’t tell me how he took the news.’
Her relationship with Justin was none of Lucas’s business. Neither was her career or her business partnership. But at the very least she needed to meet Lucas half way.
‘He surprised me that he took it so well, I expected him to end our partnership.’
‘Is it a contracted partnership?’
Chewing on a tender morsel of chicken breast, she frowned.
‘No, we talked about it before Rick died, but we’ve never got around to it.’
‘But you run a business account?’
‘Yes, but I don’t get involved in all that. I’m happy to work on the creative side. Justin interfaces with the suits. Actually, after I told him I was pregnant, he came up with idea of me working from France. My mother has a dance studio.’
Becca’s brows drew together as she thought about it, and as ever, Lucas picked up her mood.
‘Problem?’
‘Yes, there’s a problem. Technology! Justin’s bright idea is that we use a VR screen when I’m creating.’
‘It is easy enough to set-up. Your mother was a dancer?’
She blinked. They’d never touched on personal things, her choice. Now her conscience pricked because Lucas had no idea who her mother was.
Becca picked up her glass of water, leaned back in her chair and prepared to enjoy herself.
‘My mother is Amelie Babineaux.’
The look on his face was everything she’d hoped for; a mix of shock and surprised amusement.
‘Ah, the Prima Ballerina. My father and I saw one of her last performances. She must be very proud of you.’
‘She is. I haven’t seen her in ages.’
‘You are close?’
‘We were until I married.’
Now why had she said that? As soon as the words were spoken Becca wished them unsaid. The silence stretched between them as each finished their food.
Lucas was the first to break it. ‘She did not approve?’
Becca cleared her throat. ‘She said I was too young, that I hadn’t experienced enough of life.’
In fact her mother had told her she’d never experienced a grand passion and it showed in her dancing which meant she had no business getting married. Her mother also said she’d settled for security and safety in marrying Rick. The rift those comments caused had never fully healed.
‘I have heard she is a woman with strong opinions.’
Becca nodded. ‘That’s putting it mildly. She can’t stand Justin either.’
Lucas didn’t look at her instead he paid close attention to crumbling the bread roll between his long fingers. ‘No?’
‘According to her he’s manipulative and a parasite who feeds on my creativity. But then she
is
my mother and believes the sun shines out of me.’ What, Becca wondered, was the matter with her mouth?
Lucas ran his tongue over his top teeth as he listened. All the time his eyes never left her face.
‘You do not think with her years of experience she might know what she is talking about?’
Becca shrugged feeling terribly disloyal to her mother and to Justin. But she’d opened the bag of dirty laundry and it was too late to close it now. It was important to her that he understood how much Justin meant to her in spite of her mother’s prejudices.