‘There was some discord with the daughter the night before,’ Luke said.
‘I saw it in your notes,’ David said. ‘Scarlet didn’t mention it to me, just said she was going to stay with a friend.’
Luke said nothing. The fact there had been an argument was pertinent to Anya’s care plan and that was the reason he had noted it.
Where Scarlet was staying wasn’t pertinent.
‘Thanks for that.’ Luke stood, though knew he had to ask David for more than he usually would. ‘David, can you call me if there is any change in Anya, either way?’
‘Where on the list do you want to be?’ David sighed as he headed away from the desk and towards another patient and there was a slightly sarcastic edge to his voice. ‘Before or after her manager, the DON, the—’
‘Can you call me first?’ Luke interrupted.
David stopped walking and looked at Luke and frowned for a moment. It was a very unlikely request from a very unstarstruck Luke.
‘I’m asking as a friend,’ Luke said.
‘Okay.’
‘Don’t ask any more than that,’ Luke said.
‘I shan’t,’ David agreed.
‘But you will call me?’ Luke checked.
‘I shall.’
‘And will you pass that on to whoever takes over from you in the morning?’
David nodded. ‘I’m here on and off for most of the week. I’ll be sure to keep you informed.’
‘Thank you.’
Luke said goodnight and then he walked out, past the entourage and then down the corridor and there, walking just ahead of him, was Angie. When he called her name she turned around and, Luke thought, she looked just as tired as he felt.
‘How come that you’re still here?’ Luke checked.
‘Full moon,’ she said. ‘Do you need a lift?’
‘I’ll be fine. Anyway, I live ages away...’
‘Which will give us plenty time to talk, and I promise not to lecture. I can listen, though.’ Angie gave a wry smile.
Luke never said very much.
‘So what are your plans?’ Angie asked as they drove out of the car park.
‘No plans really,’ Luke admitted. ‘I think it’s just about giving Scarlet some space.’
‘You won’t get any space if they find out where she is.’
‘We’ll see.’
They drove in silence for a while.
‘Why do you live so far away?’ Angie asked when they hit the motorway.
‘It’s just nice to get away,’ Luke answered.
That wasn’t the full reason, but Luke kept that to himself.
‘Have you spoken with her private physician?’ Angie asked with a sarcastic edge.
‘Not yet.’ Luke’s response was tart as he thought of Vince. ‘He’s unavailable at the moment.’
‘I’ll bet.’
They were silent for a while but for Luke it was an angry silence, not at Angie, but because all that had gone on in the past was now firing his mind in all directions.
‘Did I tell you that Anya once offered me a job as her private doctor?’
‘No.’
It still angered him now. ‘That was Scarlet’s solution, to put me on her mother’s payroll and have me be a part of that circus.’
‘I think that sounds more like Anya’s solution,’ Angie said. ‘Anyway, she’d soon have fired you when she realised how tight you are with drugs.’ Angie smiled. When she’d had her wisdom teeth out Luke had rationed all the decent stuff, but then she stopped smiling at the memory and was serious. ‘The baby would have been a part of the circus too.’
‘No.’ Luke shook his head.
‘Of course it would have, and so would you.’
Luke just stared at the road ahead. He’d thought about it, of course he had. Life as Scarlet’s partner or ex, access visits played out with the media looking on.
And even if he could have somehow taken it, which he doubted, what about his own family? They had their own lives, their own secrets, their own issues, and he’d have been exposing them too.
No, he couldn’t live that life and neither would he have wanted it for his child.
‘I’d never have let it come to that,’ Luke said.
‘Do you really think you could have shielded Scarlet, a pregnant Scarlet at that, from the press?’
‘I’d like to have at least had the chance to try.’
‘Is this what this is about?’ Angie asked as they pulled up at his home.
‘No,’ Luke said, but then he looked at his house, which felt very different with the knowledge that Scarlet was in there. ‘Maybe. Or maybe I’m just trying to give her a break.’
‘God knows, she must need one after twenty-five years of it. Her whole life played out in front of the cameras...’
Luke sat there as Angie spoke.
‘Poor kid,’ she said. ‘She’s never known anything different.’
‘She wanted to, though.’
It was what he had admired so very much about her.
Scarlet had wanted to escape.
She had told him the morning they had made love.
Luke had always laughed at the very notion of love at first sight.
Not now.
But he could not let himself remember that morning if he wanted to get through tonight so he thanked Angie for the lift, got out of the car and said goodnight.
Scarlet was definitely here. Luke could tell from the missing bricks in the low wall of his driveway, which he guessed the car had clipped. The house was in darkness and he wondered if he’d have to knock but, no, the door opened and he stepped in and locked it behind him.
Her scent was there and there were his car keys on the hall table beside the theatre cap and the clogs he had given her to wear, which had been kicked off.
Luke walked through to the kitchen and, no, Scarlet hadn’t done his breakfast dishes, he thought with a wry smile as he saw all the evidence of her scrambled eggs. The shells were on the bench; she hadn’t even soaked the pan, though he could forgive that one because he always meant to soak his breakfast bowl but never did.
He poured himself a glass of grapefruit juice and sat there for a long moment before heading upstairs.
Luke walked straight past the spare room. He knew that she wouldn’t be in there and he was right.
Luke turned on the lights to his bedroom and there Scarlet was, naked in his bed and asleep, but she stirred as he came in and then yelped as he whipped back the duvet.
‘Bed,’ he said.
‘I’m in it.’ Scarlet smiled, not remotely fazed that she was stark naked. ‘How’s Mom?’
‘Same,’ Luke said, and scooped her up in his arms and carried her down the hall towards the spare room.
‘Luke, I want you...’
‘No way,’ Luke said.
She was trying to rain kisses on his face as her hands went behind his neck, and recall was instant—he was as hard as anything, feeling her all warm and squirming, but there was no way that he’d be sleeping with her.
‘Bed.’ He dropped her onto the spare one and wished he’d thought to pull back the sheet first because Scarlet lay naked, her arms above her head and every bit as beautiful as he remembered.
More so even.
She had filled out a little bit and there was a jet of pubic hair that hadn’t been there last time.
It was now silky and tempting and taunting Luke in his peripheral vision as he tried to meet her gaze.
Still Scarlet refused to meet his eyes.
‘How could you sleep with me when you can’t even look at me?’ Luke asked.
She didn’t know how to answer that and she screwed her eyes closed in shame.
‘There’s no change with your mother.’ Luke tried to keep his voice calm and even as he brought her up to date. He tried to be all professional and detached but with an aching hard-on and closer to tears than she could ever know. ‘But she’s stable.’
‘When will we know m
ore?’
‘I’ll be called if there’s any change. Other than that, I’ll check on her first thing in the morning. I’ll be leaving early tomorrow. Don’t answer the phone unless it’s me.’
Scarlet nodded. ‘Will you come in and see me before you go to work?’
‘Why?’
‘Because I don’t want to have to wait till tomorrow night to see you again.’
There was so much to say, so many questions, but, no, he couldn’t bear to go there just yet so he gave a brief nod instead.
‘I’ll pop in and say goodbye.’ He could not stay a moment longer. ‘Good night.’
‘How can it be a good night?’ Scarlet asked, as she looked at the man who was walking out the bedroom door.
* * *
It was the longest, loneliest night for both of them.
It simply felt wrong to be at opposite ends of the hallway but raw was the hurt that kept them apart.
And the hurt was still there the next morning as Luke had his breakfast then made her a coffee and braced himself to go up the stairs.
‘Good morning,’ Luke said, as she gave him a just-awake smile.
For both of them it was.
Oh, it was awful still, but better than yesterday’s had been, and certainly better than the seven hundred and forty-eight that had come before.
She watched as he put her coffee down but then, suddenly embarrassed by her behaviour last night, she covered herself with the sheet as she sat up. ‘I don’t get why you’re cross that I came on to you.’
‘I’m not cross,’ Luke said. ‘Sex isn’t going to fix things, Scarlet.’
‘I wasn’t intending to fix things, just...’ She told him the truth. ‘I don’t want you to change your mind about me staying here and I thought—’
‘I didn’t bring you here for sex, Scarlet. Did you sleep?’
‘I did!’ Scarlett sounded surprised. ‘Not at first,’ she said.
‘Nor me.’
‘It’s a nice room,’ Scarlet said, and even if it wasn’t the room she would prefer to be in, she looked around the little spare room, pulled open the curtain by the bed and peered into the dark outside and saw a lamppost and beneath it someone walking a dog.
‘I’d love to go for a walk.’
‘Then go,’ Luke said.
‘I haven’t got any clothes.’
‘I’ll sort that out today. I know it’s probably a bit boring, being cooped up.’
‘Oh, I’m far from bored,’ Scarlet said. ‘I love your home.’
‘Thank you,’ Luke said. ‘So do I.’
He sat down on the bed and she felt relief that he wasn’t dashing off.
‘How long have you lived here?’
‘Nine months,’ Luke said. ‘It’s a bit far out but I like it.’
‘I can see why. It was a nice drive, even if I was terrified I was being followed at first.’ She pulled a little face. ‘I think I scratched your car. I didn’t see the wall on your driveway.’
‘That’s okay.’
‘It’s quite a scratch actually,’ Scarlet said.
‘Yeah, and I’m missing a few bricks from my wall,’ Luke said. ‘I saw.’
‘Sorry.’
‘It’s not a big deal. I did the same when I first moved in.’
And then, when he should have gotten up and left, Luke did what he had to—as she went to reach for her coffee he halted her.
Not her arm. Instead, his hands went to her face.
Scarlet felt the heat of his palms caress her cheeks and then his mouth soft on hers and he kissed her. Oh, how their mouths needed each other’s. It was a soft morning kiss and for it, Scarlet knew, she would float better through the day.
She kissed him back, feeling again the lips she’d missed, and so gentle and unexpected was he that Scarlet felt tears sting in her eyes.
It was just a kiss and neither pushed for more.
‘Look at me,’ Luke said, still holding her face, yet she still would not meet his eyes.
‘I can’t.’
‘You can.’
But she couldn’t.
‘Have your coffee,’ Luke said, and he let her go and handed her mug to her. ‘I’ll call once I get into work and I know how she’s doing.’
Scarlet nodded and he got up off the bed and walked to the door.
‘You’ll never be able to forgive me, will you?’ Scarlet said, and she waited for his terse response, for angry words, for reproach and to be shamed, but instead he turned around.
‘Or you me,’ Luke said.
He was Dr Responsible.
Boring, some said, not that he cared what others thought—only what she thought of him and his actions.
In something so basic he had let her down.
‘That morning...’ He watched the colour rise on her cheeks.
It hadn’t been the night.
He had kissed her all over and made love to her with his mouth through the night and Scarlet had done the same to him but it wasn’t the night they now remembered.
No, it had been just as dawn had arrived that things had changed and moved in ways he had never thought they would...
Luke couldn’t think of that now so he turned and walked off.
She heard him go down the stairs and the closing of the front door, and Scarlet got out of bed and ran onto the landing, still holding her mug. She wanted to call out for him to come back.
But then came the sound of his car starting up and as he drove down the street Scarlet heard the automatic door to the garage close.
She looked down the hall to his bedroom and stood there, and despite the fact the house was cold, she felt warm as she headed into his bedroom.
Luke had left her alone with the memory of them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘THANK YOU FOR a wonderful night...’ Scarlet sat on Luke’s stomach and looked down.
That shadow on his jaw was darker now, and his hair was messed up in a way that she liked.
She circled the bruise her mouth had made on his neck and then her fingers moved to the hairs on his chest and she toyed with them. ‘It was the best night.’
‘It’s been great,’ Luke agreed.
The lack of condoms hadn’t been an issue. They’d found plenty to do without them and now he lay looking up at her as they chatted. ‘You don’t live in London?’ she checked.
‘No, I’m just here for an interview.’
‘So where do you live?’
‘Oxford.’
‘With your family?’
‘No.’ He rolled his eyes at the very thought. ‘I was out of there at eighteen.’
‘Don’t you get on?’
‘We do.’ He was dismissive and Scarlet frowned.
‘Are your parents together?’
Luke nodded.
‘How long have they been married?’
‘They just had their thirtieth anniversary.’
‘Wow!’
He saw her wide eyes as she pictured his perfect life.
‘It’s not all roses, Scarlet.’
‘It sounds it to me.’
And so he let her think that.
Luke let everyone think that.
It wasn’t his place to tell.
‘So it was your brother’s birthday last night?’ Scarlet checked.
‘Marcus.’ Luke nodded. ‘He just turned twenty-one.’
‘Do you have any other brothers?’ Scarlet asked. She wanted to know everything that she could about him.
Luke shook his head. ‘I have a younger sister—’ Luke started, but Scarlet jumped in.
‘I’d love that,’ Scarlet admitted. ‘I’d give anything to have a sister.’
‘It’s just you?’ Luke checked.
‘My mom says we’re like sisters.’ Now it was she who rolled her eyes.
‘Well...’ He tried but he couldn’t really grasp it. ‘I could never see my mum in a nightclub with me.’
‘It’s embarrassing,’ Scarlet admitted, and went a bi
t pink. ‘She gets wasted and the guys chat her up...’ She pulled a face that showed her distaste.
Luke thought about his own mother and her love affair with gin. It was bad enough seeing her that way at home—heaven forbid if he had to witness it when out.
‘Then she sings,’ Scarlet said, and it was the way she said it that had Luke smile.
‘Can you sing?’
‘Do you really think I’d even try?’
He looked up into shrewd eyes and he wasn’t smiling now. This was a young woman who had learnt to never attempt to outshine her mother.
He looked right into her eyes and wondered about all she could be.
‘Would you like to sing?’ Luke asked.
‘No.’
‘What would you like to be?’
‘To be?’ Scarlet frowned. ‘Without her, you mean?’
Luke nodded and he watched as the little pink blush that had receded now darkened.
‘I’ve never thought about it,’ Scarlet said.
He knew that she was lying and he didn’t mind a bit. In fact, he was inordinately pleased that, given her circumstances, Scarlet had thought about it, even if she preferred not to reveal her thoughts. And who could blame her? There were secrets in that pretty head, Luke was sure, and no doubt the press would love to know them.
He glimpsed her life again—Scarlet could trust no one, not even the man she was in bed with.
She could trust him, Luke thought, even if she didn’t know it.
‘Do the two of you get on?’
He watched as her eyes narrowed, and he knew she was about to shoot him down, say that of course they did.
‘This is just between us,’ Luke clarified.
‘Of course it is.’ Her response was sarcastic and then she met those deep brown eyes and tempered her thoughts. Something about Luke had drawn her to him at the club—his calm disposition at first and then that he’d had no idea who she was had at first been refreshing. Now that he knew, and only wanted her, he made her feel safe.
It would be foolish to let her guard down, Scarlet warned herself. She’d been the victim of pillow talk in the past and yet she could no more imagine Luke selling his story than she could him suddenly sprouting horns.
She might live to regret this, Scarlet thought, but she took a tentative breath and spoke on.
The Socialite's Secret Page 7