by Jessica Hart
Lucy pulled her phone out of her bag and made a pretence of checking it for messages while she tried not to think about Guy persuading her to marry him. It was nonsense of course, but…what would it be like?
‘I’m sure she can be difficult,’ she said, wondering if she could tell Guy that she thought his mother knew him much better than he imagined, and that she loved him much more than she showed, but it seemed presumptuous under the circumstances. If she really were going to marry Guy, it would be different, of course. She could say it if she were his fiancée.
Which she wasn’t.
‘You’re lucky to have her,’ she said instead, dropping the mobile back into the bag at her feet. ‘I wish I had a mother, even a difficult one!’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Guy. ‘When did she die?’
‘I was only three,’ Lucy told him. ‘I don’t really remember her at all, but I wish I’d known her. In the photos we’ve got, she always looks like fun.’
‘You lost your mother when you were three?’ Guy was horrified. ‘You poor little kid. What about your father?’
‘He remarried a couple of years later. Our stepmother is perfectly nice, but it’s Meredith who brought me up really, even though she’s only a couple of years older. She was the one constant presence in my life. Dad was posted overseas when I was only seven and we had to go to boarding school but Meredith was always there if I needed her.’
Guy glanced at her. ‘And Meredith is the reason you’re still visiting Richard so faithfully. You’re doing it for her.’
‘Yes.’ Lucy nodded even though it wasn’t a question. ‘He’s getting better, thank goodness, so at least I’ve had some good news to email her. He can’t talk for long, but he’s definitely on the mend.
‘The thing is,’ she went on slowly, ‘I think Meredith is wrong. Richard always seems happy to see me, but if he did love me before the accident, I think he’s forgotten about it now. I mean, you know when someone loves you, don’t you?’
‘Do you?’ Guy’s voice was very level. ‘You usually know when they don’t, certainly.’
‘Well, I don’t think Richard does,’ said Lucy. ‘It’s a bit of a relief, to be honest. I don’t think he’s going to be hurt when he finds out I’m leaving again.’ She sighed. ‘I just wish he’d get well enough to tell his parents that. They’ve been making a few comments recently about how elusive my boyfriend is, and I suspect they’re hoping the relationship has fallen through, which will leave me free to make Richard happy.’
‘You’ll have to tell them you and Guy are still madly in love,’ said Guy, pulling up right outside the hospital entrance.
‘I’ve tried, believe me.’ Lucy unclipped her seat belt and turned to him. ‘Thanks for the lift,’ she said with a smile, desperate not to let him guess how much all this talk of love unsettled her. ‘I’ll tell them Guy dropped me off tonight. Maybe that will seem more convincing.’
‘You know what would be much more convincing, don’t you, Lucy?’
And then she made a big mistake. She looked directly at Guy. Now her eyes were all tangled up with his, and her heart had braked until it was no more than a sluggish beat, each stroke a slow, painful slam in her chest.
Lucy struggled to stay calm, but it was hard when her body only seemed to be able to manage one function at a time. If she jerked her eyes away, her heart stopped. If she concentrated on keeping her heart beating, her lungs forgot how to work and she found herself struggling for breath. It was hopeless.
‘What?’ she asked, but it came out as a whisper.
‘I think it would be much more convincing if you went in looking as if you had been thoroughly kissed by your lover,’ said Guy, his voice reverberating deep and quiet, and he reached out and traced the outline of her mouth with his thumb, a touch so tantalising that Lucy closed her eyes instinctively against the sharp twist of response inside her. ‘What do you think?’ His voice dropped even further.
‘I…I’m not…’ How was she expected to think when his other hand was sliding beneath her hair, tugging gently at the back of her neck to bring her towards him? When every nerve in her body was sighing, Yes, say yes! Say you think it’s the best idea you’ve ever heard. When her blood was singing and her lips were tingling with anticipation and she wanted, more than anything, to close the gap between them and kiss him again.
And then the gap was closed anyway, and his mouth was on hers and hers was on his and the sensations exploded inside her, shattering the last feeble attempt to be sensible and releasing deep-honeyed delight that made her murmur with pleasure and curl her palm around his jaw. She could feel the faint prickle of golden stubble beneath her fingers and his smile curving against her lips and, deep down, the simmer of a lurking excitement that would erupt if they weren’t careful.
Perhaps Guy felt it, too. Reluctantly, he lifted his head and smiled down into Lucy’s face. Her cheeks were flushed, her blue eyes dazed and dreamy, her lips curved voluptuously, and he risked one more kiss as he smoothed some golden strands of hair behind her ears.
‘That’s better,’ he said. ‘You look like a girl in love now.’
This was just a game to Guy. The truth struck Lucy like a blow and she jerked back. That lovely kiss, the warmth and the sweetness, meant nothing to him. He had just been teasing her, playing with her. Look at his eyes, dancing with laughter. He thought it was funny.
‘Let’s hope it does the trick, then,’ she said. She longed to sound cool, but her voice wasn’t that steady. She fumbled for the door handle. ‘It would be a shame if all that was for nothing, wouldn’t it?’
‘Lucy-’ Guy began, but she was already grabbing her bag and clambering out of the car, slamming the door shut behind her when she finally managed to disentangle herself. Bridget was right. It was a stupid design.
And then Lucy was stalking away towards the hospital entrance, so blind with a mixture of fury and disappointment and frustration that she didn’t notice the man tucking a mobile phone into his jacket pocket until she had walked right into him. ‘I am so sorry…’ she apologised breathlessly, and then broke off. ‘Frank?’
‘Lucy!’ said Richard’s father, sounding equally surprised.
‘What are you doing out here? Is everything OK?’
‘Yes, I just came out to make a couple of calls. You know they won’t let us use mobiles in the hospital.’ He looked more closely at her flushed face and stormy eyes. ‘Are you all right, Lucy?’
Lucy opened her mouth to tell him that no, she was not all right. She had just been kissed by someone so insufferably smug, conceited, patronising and infuriating that he actually thought it was funny to turn her inside out and upside down and then laugh at her.
But they were interrupted before she could get started. ‘Lucy! You forgot your-’ Guy was getting out of the car with her mobile in his hand, calling to catch her attention before he registered that she was talking to someone she knew ‘-phone,’ he finished. ‘It must have fallen out of your bag.’
‘Oh.’ It would have been nice to have been able to tell him exactly where he could stuff the phone but, unfortunately, she needed it. ‘Thank you,’ she said stiffly, holding out her hand for it as Guy came up.
To her surprise, she saw Frank looking from Guy to her and then back again with a very odd expression on his face. There didn’t seem much choice but to introduce the two men and, since Guy was here, he might as well make himself useful. Surely meeting him in the flesh would convince Frank and Ellen that he was real at last-and a lot more effectively than a kiss!
‘Frank, this is Guy Dangerfield,’ she said, a little puzzled by the astonishment in Frank’s face.
‘Guy?’ he echoed. ‘Your Guy?’
‘Er…yes,’ said Lucy with a glance at Guy, whose face was carefully expressionless. What was going on? ‘Guy, as you’ve probably gathered, this is Richard’s father, Frank Pollard.’
Guy offered Frank his hand. ‘I was very sorry to hear about your son’s accident,’ he said,
‘but I gather that he’s on the road to recovery now.’
‘He is, thank you…yes…’ Frank stammered. ‘My goodness,’ he said, positively overwhelmed. ‘What a pleasure to meet you! This is a bit of a surprise, I must say. No wonder Lucy has been so secretive about you.’
Frank turned to Lucy and wagged a jovial finger at her. ‘You never told us you were involved with Guy Dangerfield!’
‘I did!’ Lucy was completely mystified by his reaction. ‘I was always talking about him!’
‘You just said Guy. We didn’t realise you meant Guy Dangerfield.’
Guy’s slightly wooden expression relaxed as he watched Lucy, who clearly didn’t have a clue what Frank was talking about. ‘You’re not ashamed of me, are you, darling?’ he said, and she glared at him, not trusting him an inch when he had that glint in his eye.
‘Of course not, darling,’ she replied, baring her teeth at him. ‘How could I possibly be ashamed of you?’ She turned back to Frank. ‘Have you met before?’
‘Me? No! I’ve just read about Guy here,’ said Frank hastily. ‘He’s a very well-respected figure in the business community-famous, in fact. But you must know that, Lucy.’
Guy put an arm around Lucy. ‘Lucy isn’t interested in the business pages, are you, sweetheart?’
‘Still, you must have realised that we’d have heard about Guy,’ said Frank, fortunately not noticing that Lucy was looking daggers at Guy at the time. ‘Well, well, well! And all the time you were here, you were going home to Guy Dangerfield and you never said a thing!’
‘That’s because he’s just Guy to me.’ Lucy even managed a simper as she snuggled into Guy and fluttered her lashes up at him, but only Guy could see that behind the sweet pose her blue eyes were bright with challenge.
Obviously he was a lot more famous than she had realised. Lucy was not, in fact, a great reader of the papers, but she didn’t need Guy pointing that out. She had recognised the respect in which he was held at Dangerfield & Dunn, but she hadn’t understood that he had a wider influence. Frank was carrying on as if he were Bill Gates! Meg hadn’t recognised him, but then Meg’s knowledge of the business world wasn’t much greater than her own. She would know if a chain of shoe shops had been the subject of a hostile takeover, perhaps, but that would be it.
‘It didn’t seem right to talk about how happy we were when Richard was so ill,’ she went on, feeling that she had a score to settle with Guy. He had claimed that kiss had been all about convincing Frank and Ellen that she really did have a lover. Well, she would make things even more convincing, and see how he liked that! ‘But of course, now he’s getting better, we don’t need to keep it secret any longer.’
Guy’s arm was like iron around her and she felt it stiffen, as if he could sense where she was leading. Lucy smiled adoringly up at him, rather enjoying herself now. ‘I can tell Frank, can’t I, darling? We’ve just come from Guy’s mother,’ she went on without waiting for his reply. ‘We wanted her to be the first to know.’
‘You mean…?’ Frank looked from one to the other, his evident incredulity scarcely flattering, she couldn’t help thinking crossly. What did he think-that she wasn’t good enough for the great Guy Dangerfield?
‘Yes.’ Her downcast lashes and demure smile were perfect. ‘We’re going to get married!’
CHAPTER SEVEN
LUCY HEARD GUY suck in his breath, but she deliberately ignored him. ‘We were going to keep it within the family for now,’ she told Frank, ‘but since it’s you…You don’t mind if the Pollards know, do you, Guy?’
‘Of course not,’ said Guy after the tiniest of pauses. ‘But, as Lucy says, we don’t want to make this public yet. I’m sure you understand,’ he added smoothly.
‘Oh, yes, yes, of course. Mum’s the word.’ Frank was clearly unsure how to take this unexpected development. Flabbergasted wouldn’t be too strong a word to describe his demeanour. ‘This is all a bit of a surprise.’
‘Isn’t it?’ agreed Guy, a certain rigidity in his smile as Lucy snuggled closer, pleased with his reaction. Let him be on the receiving end of a joke for once!
‘I can’t say we hadn’t hoped that Lucy and Richard would…but of course we’re happy for you, Lucy,’ said Frank, kissing her gallantly on the cheek. ‘I know Ellen will be too. Richard may be a bit more disappointed but…well…as long as you’re happy.’
Privately, Lucy was convinced that Richard wouldn’t care nearly as much as his parents seemed to think, but there was no point in saying that to Frank.
‘Thank you, Frank. That’s sweet of you,’ she said, kissing him back.
Frank turned to Guy and wrung his hand. ‘Congratulations! You’re a lucky man!’
‘I know. I can hardly believe it myself,’ said Guy, his voice laden with irony that only Lucy seemed able to hear. ‘It hardly seems real yet!’
‘Come up and meet Richard and Ellen,’ Frank was urging, but fortunately Guy managed a graceful refusal. ‘I can’t leave the car where it is. I’m liable to get towed away as it is, I’m afraid,’ he said. ‘I really just came to drop Lucy off.’
‘Oh, that’s a shame. Another time, maybe. You’re coming in, though, Lucy?’
‘Of course.’ Deciding that she had probably pushed Guy far enough, Lucy opted for a tactical retreat. ‘I’ll come with you.’ She kissed the corner of Guy’s mouth. ‘Bye, darling!’ she said gaily and waggled her fingers at him in farewell. ‘See you tomorrow!’
And tucking her hand into Frank’s arm, she sashayed off with him, leaving Guy looking after her with a twisted smile on his face.
‘I can’t believe it!’ cried Richard’s mother when Frank broke the news. ‘You and Guy Dangerfield?’
Lucy accepted Ellen’s hug, uneasily aware of the petite blonde nurse called Mairi who was at Richard’s bedside, taking his pulse. Mairi seemed to take her pulse-taking duties very seriously. She was always there, holding his wrist and pursing her lips as she checked the watch pinned to her uniform. Lucy felt frivolous next to her, and she could never shake the feeling that Mairi disapproved of her, but she couldn’t see why the nurse should be interested in her supposed engagement.
‘Yes, it’s true, but we want to keep it a secret for now,’ she said firmly. It occurred to her that they might want some reason why she and Guy weren’t shouting their love from their rooftops. ‘We’re waiting until Meredith comes back from Australia.’
‘Let’s hope that’s soon,’ said Richard as Mairi gave him back his arm. ‘I miss her, and you’ll want to get married as soon as you can, I expect.’ He smiled weakly up at Lucy. ‘I’m really happy for you, Lucy.’
In spite of their evident disappointment that she and Richard weren’t going to get back together, Ellen and Frank insisted on celebrating her supposed engagement, and took her out for a meal after they had said goodnight to Richard. Their kindness made Lucy feel awful. She shouldn’t be lying to them.
It was all Guy’s fault, she thought darkly. If he hadn’t kissed her, she wouldn’t have been provoked into telling Frank that they were engaged. Now she had the sinking feeling that things were getting out of control. The Pollards were alarmingly impressed by the idea of her knowing Guy Dangerfield, let alone marrying him, and the more they talked excitedly about his business reputation, his celebrity status and his fortune, the more Lucy’s heart sank. Why had no one told her how famous Guy was?
Why hadn’t she listened more closely to Imogen? Or bothered to read a newspaper?
Because you always rely on someone else to sort things out for you.
It wasn’t a comfortable thought. Lucy lay awake that night and thought about the times she had blundered into situations without really thinking them through and, although she had never consciously relied on someone else to clear up the mess, maybe that was what had happened. The jobs she had drifted in and out of…had she ever given a thought to the way someone else had to take over from her? She had wild enthusiasms that didn’t last. How often did she finish anything she
had started, in fact? Lucy wriggled uneasily beneath the duvet.
And what about relationships? Since she was squirming under the lash of self-awareness, she might as well face up to the fact that she had a pattern there, too. Time and again, she had fallen madly in love, only to find that the relationship turned out to be a lot less romantic than she had hoped. It was always fine at first, but when Lucy looked back she realised that she had always been the one to make all the running. She was full of dreams and romance, and the men in question weren’t going to turn down a girl with her looks, but how many of them had loved her for herself? she wondered now.
And how much, really, had she loved them? Lucy asked herself with sudden insight. Hadn’t she just fallen for an image as much as they had done? Look at Kevin. She had been so taken up with the romance of the outback and falling for a man who fitted the part so perfectly that she hadn’t paid much attention to what he was really like. No wonder Kevin hadn’t seemed bothered when she had had to leave so suddenly. He had understood, better than she had done, that what they had was no more than the romance of a moment.
And now Meredith was stuck in the outback because she, Lucy, had insisted that romance was real. Meredith would be hating every moment, but she had stayed for her sister. Lucy bit her lip at her own selfishness. She would have to go back as soon as she could and rescue Meredith for once.
But first she would have to sort out this latest mess she had got herself into. Lucy wasn’t quite sure how to do that, other than by apologising to Guy, and once she had decided on that she managed to convince herself that the situation wasn’t that bad. Yes, it had been a stupid thing to say that they were engaged, but there was no reason to believe that it would go any further. Only the Pollards knew about their supposed engagement, and she hoped that she had impressed on them the need for secrecy.
Still, the thought of facing Guy the next day made her feel more than a little nervous and she made a point of getting in to work early. Guy, though, was in even earlier. Lucy had only just hung up her coat and settled down behind the desk when the phone rang.