When she awoke, having long ago schooled herself to doze for just the right length of time, Robin felt refreshed and alert. She dressed for dinner in a soft peach-coloured dress that her father particularly liked and wore an emerald necklace that had belonged to her mother. It was a stunning foil for her eyes, and though a little dated for her taste, it pleased James when she wore it. And naturally it was all for his benefit.
All the same, she was feminine enough to feel a glow of pleasure at the way Luke’s eyes widened a little as she came downstairs. Luke came to meet her and she guessed at once that he must have showered or bathed too. Gone were the casual clothes; instead he wore a light-blue jacket and slacks and a shirt and tie. His dark hair was still a little damp, curling slightly against his nape and sending out a faint scent of pine, earthy and sensual. Knowing that James liked to dress for dinner at the manor, Robin felt absurdly pleased that Luke had remembered and taken the trouble.
He moved towards the bottom of the stairs as she came down. “You look beautiful,” he said softly. “But then, you always do.”
The compliment was so simple, so natural, that she hardly knew what to say. He held out his hand to her, and when she put her own in his strong, firm grasp, she felt his fingers curl around hers, warmly possessive. She had to fumble for words.
“Thank you, Luke.” She hesitated. “And just for tonight, can we be friends?”
His grip tightened. “For always, I hope, whatever else we are.”
She let the enigmatic comment pass. She wanted the evening to progress amicably, without the unbearable tension that inevitably grew between her and Luke. James already knew it existed, but Robin wanted to spare him this last evening.
James would only fret about her if he thought she was unhappy in Luke’s employ. The thought struck her oddly, because so far, happiness or unhappiness hadn’t really entered their relationship. She could apply plenty of other words — tension, passion, anger, suspicion, even lust, she thought, certainly on his side — but nothing more. And that was enough!
“Robin, my dear, you look lovely.” Her father’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and Luke released her hand as she went forward to kiss James’s cheek, seeing his gaze on the emerald necklace.
“Thanks, Dad.” She received the compliment from him far more easily and brought things down to a less emotional level by saying she was famished and that all that Cornish air was giving her an enormous appetite.
“You’re not used to it, darling.” James smiled at her. “You’ve lived in London for too long, and now you’re in Bristol. You may not know it, but you’re becoming more of a city girl than a country one!”
His words gave her a little shock. She denied them at once. “How can you say such a thing? Cornwall is my home, where my roots are.”
“But is it where your heart is?” James said quizzically.
“Well, of course it is. The two go together, don’t they?” She didn’t look at Luke, but from the corner of her eye she could see him watching her, a half-smile playing around his mouth at her defence of her home county.
As they went in to dinner she still felt a little disturbed by his comment. How could she be called a city girl! She loved Cornwall too much. Even as she thought it, Robin realised that for the past years, while she had been in Elaine Fowler’s employ, Cornwall had been no more than a well-loved, familiar place to come back to for short spells.
Had she been so vulnerable after the shock of Mrs. Fowler’s death that she had clung to Cornwall as a refuge while her mind healed, much as a child clings to a security blanket? And if Luke hadn’t been the catalyst that stirred her into defence of her home county, would she have come out of her depression so quickly? Maybe she owed him something after all. At least raw anger was preferable to plunging despair and the numbness she’d felt after finding her employer dead.
“I can’t blame Robin for feeling distressed in the first place when she heard about the development, James,” Luke was saying smoothly, just as if he could guess at her whirling thoughts. “The conservationists have a wonderful champion in her.”
“It’s a bit late to be saying that now, isn’t it?” The words were out before she could stop them, forgetting her decision to keep this evening calm and placid. Her eyes flashed at him across the table, a fire that matched that of the jewels around her neck.
“I was discussing the complex with your father before you came down, Robin,” he went on coolly, as if to prove that he wasn’t the one who had provoked the animosity.
“And you’re going to put all the earth back and replant the turf, are you?” she said sarcastically, knowing it was as unlikely as flying to the stars, though man was fast succeeding in even that impossible task now, she thought uneasily. And Luke would probably try that if he thought there was land to be developed.
He laughed, refusing to be goaded. “Hardly! No, what I think you need is to see one of my successful complexes, identical to the one we’re building here, to prove once and for all how well it blends in with the existing scenery. I’m not trying to disrupt the whole way of life here, nor am I playing God and thinking I can change the face of the earth.”
“Really?” she asked innocently, letting her eyes widen, and had the satisfaction of seeing his jawline tighten a little. Despite his efforts at keeping calm for her father’s sake and for the sake of good manners, she knew she was getting to him.
And almost at once she bit her lip a little. She had been the one to suggest that they act as friends — for the evening, at least — and she knew she was being bitchy instead.
“I’m sorry, Luke. Please go on,” she said hurriedly. “What do you have in mind?”
“Just what I said. I think you should see another complex before you condemn me completely.” His voice was terse, as if he’d had enough of the conversation.
“Well, that’s all right by me. How can I object? You’re the boss, after all. If you want to take me along to look at a row of buildings, then okay.” The statement was meant to be agreeable, but it came out as anything but that.
She was half surprised that her father hadn’t made any comments of his own, but glancing at him, Robin could see he was actually enjoying this little battle of words. She had always let her tongue run away with her. It was one of her failings, and she guessed that James was enjoying the fact that at last she had met her match. Luke wasn’t the type of man to let her get away with anything.
Men she had known in the past had fallen by the wayside, either because her sometimes caustic tongue had put them off, despite her vivacious personality and physical loveliness, or because they simply hadn’t been male enough for her, with the strong characteristics her own nature demanded. They simply hadn’t measured up. There was no doubt that Luke Burgess was a man in every sense of the word. She saw him smile at her put-down of his work, as if it mattered little to him what she thought, which in itself should have made her suspicious.
“It’s agreed, then. We’ll go early next week. I’ve a few pressing matters to attend to in Bristol before then, but Monday should be all right.” He was businesslike and brusque.
“Fine,” Robin said distantly, the secretary agreeing to the Great One’s wishes without demur. “Am I allowed to ask where this other complex is situated?”
“No, you’re not.” He smiled again. “I don’t want you to form any ideas until we get there. We’ll stay a couple of days, though, and you can discover firsthand what the accommodations are like from the tourists’ viewpoint.”
She was about to say that she didn’t think that was a good idea at all, when his next words stopped her.
“Oh, and you’d better pack a few lightweight clothes, including a swimsuit, or that delicious bikini I first saw you wearing. And don’t forget your passport.”
Chapter Eight
It was easy to see that James thought it a marvellous idea. He could see nothing wrong in Luke, Robin thought, to her amazement. And no matter how hard she tried to pin Luke down to tel
ling her where they were going, Luke refused, saying that he didn’t want her to have any biased thoughts before they arrived — saying, too, that she needn’t go back to the office before they set off on Monday morning.
He was brisk and businesslike, and if she had suspicions about his motives, she decided to ignore them. She was determined to see the complex he referred to and know just how spoiled her own patch of earth was going to be. It was devastated already, as far as she was concerned, but maybe seeing the holiday complex that was already flourishing would prove to her finally that Luke had no soul and that all he was interested in was the pound in his pocket.
He called for her around ten-thirty on Monday morning and put her small suitcase alongside his in the back of the car. Trickles of alarm ran through her, just seeing the two suitcases together, but it was too late to back out now, ridiculous to even think of it. She wasn’t so feeble that she couldn’t hold off his amorous advances, if that was what he had in mind.
“Which airline are we flying with?” she asked casually, with a fleeting hope that she might glean some idea of their destination. Luke merely smiled.
“We’re flying from Lulsgate. Don’t worry, if you suffer from airsickness, there are some pills in the car.”
“I don’t,” she snapped. “I’m just getting tired of all this cloak-and-dagger stuff. You’re not abducting me, by any chance?”
Luke laughed, a rich, warm sound that made the blood flow faster in her veins. “It’s an attractive idea, but I’ve no wish to sell you off in some Arab slave market, and I think my partnership with your father would be badly strained if I didn’t bring you safely back to England.”
And didn’t that just confirm that business was more important to him than anything else! Robin’s mouth tightened, not sure whether to be relieved or annoyed.
“We’re not going to be away very long, then?” Her tone said that too many days alone with him would be odious, and the smile curving his mouth faded.
“Just one night, I think,” he said curtly. “I’ll get you back in time to watch your favourite TV programme tomorrow night. I got you all wrong, Robin. That first day I saw you at the beach I took you for a real outdoor girl, with a fascinating touch of sophistication. Certainly not the sort of girl who would prefer to curl up with the television instead of a real-life man ...”
“At least you know where you are with TV men,” she whipped back. “You can turn them off with the flick of a switch.”
“Oh, there are other ways of turning a man off, darling,” he said coolly, putting a different meaning on the words, and she felt her face flame with colour. Well, so what? She hadn’t asked for any involvement with him apart from a business one, and although she intended sticking it out until the Cornish holiday complex was complete, just to keep her eye on things, Robin knew it would be less of a strain on her emotions once she was well away from him.
She didn’t rise to his taunt and sat in silence as the car covered the relatively short distance to Lulsgate and the airport that served Bristol and the district. He couldn’t keep it from her now, Robin thought. Once she saw the desk in the departure lounge, she’d know where they were heading.
“Let me have your passport to hurry up the formalities,” Luke said once they had parked the car and were nearing the building. She handed it over. It made no difference. He couldn’t keep it secret much longer, and privately she thought it was a silly game he was playing to try to do so.
The airport was full of people taking late holidays in the sun, and Robin had to keep her eyes on Luke’s tall figure as he moved purposefully through them. She experienced a little shock as she realised he wasn’t making for any of the airline desks. Minutes later, the formalities completed, she was walking beside him to a small private plane that was waiting on the tarmac, away from the main airline runways.
Robin’s heart jolted. She didn’t mind flying, but she had always flown in big jets, smoothly and comfortably. She felt her mouth go dry as several airport employees appeared to tell Luke that the plane was fuelled and cleared for takeoff as soon as he was at the controls.
It was a bit like dreamland, Robin thought faintly. She hadn’t bargained on this, but she’d die rather than let him see how nervous she was or how bizarre she was finding the whole situation. What was she doing there? And yet, what was more logical, under normal circumstances, than a boss taking his secretary on a brief business trip? As long as it stayed strictly business.
“Surprised?” Luke asked as he held her elbow while she mounted the steps to the plane. She managed a nonchalant shrug.
“Nothing about you surprises me, Luke,” she replied scathingly, knowing it to be a gross understatement.
“Really?” He grinned. “I’ll have to try harder, then, won’t I? I’d hate for our relationship to become boring.”
“We don’t have a relationship,” she said, sitting in the seat he pointed to, praying he wouldn’t notice how her hands shook as she fastened the seat belt or guess at the butterflies in her stomach.
“Oh, yes we do,” he said aggressively as he took up his position in the pilot’s seat. “Whether it’s the one either of us wants, Robin, is something else again. But you can’t deny that there’s a chemical reaction between us.”
“Just as there is one between oil and water, and you know what happens there,” she retorted.
“I hope you and I are not destined to repel each other that way. It’s certainly not the way I feel about you.”
She couldn’t tell whether he was being sincere or fatuous. She didn’t want to think about it at that moment. All she cared to think about was the fact that the engine was revving up. Her nails were digging little half-moons in her palms as she heard Luke switch on the airport-monitoring system, give concise details as to his course and receive the okay for takeoff. The destination wasn’t mentioned, and Robin could only be thankful that she had no time to think about the fragility of the little plane before they were cruising along the tarmac and suddenly soaring skywards. It felt as if she had left her stomach somewhere in midair.
“It’ll be all right once we level out,” Luke’s voice came back to her, kindly and half amused. “I did suggest taking a pill, Robin.”
“I don’t need one, thanks.” She crossed her fingers as she spoke. “How long are we going to be up in this toy?”
“A couple of hours or so,” he said, giving nothing away. “Relax and enjoy it — and stop pretending! You’re as tense as a spring. This toy, as you call it, is as safe as an automobile. I’ve used it hundreds of times.”
She tried to draw confidence from his words, and gradually some of the anxiety left her. They didn’t fly as high as the jets, and that in itself was comforting. Robin could clearly make out the coastlines of England and France, and then the great mass of the latter country, its cities and mountains. Then Spain. She had come this way before, on a Spanish holiday. They were crossing water again, and by now she realised that she was so intrigued by the guessing game about their destination that she forgot to worry about the fragility of the small plane. She had to admit that Luke’s handling of it was excellent.
Below them the sea glittered sapphire blue, with none of the pre-winter greyness of English seas. The terrain was a dusty brown, dotted with white buildings and greenery. The unmistakable name of the island suddenly appearing on the airport terminal as they came in to land made Robin catch her breath.
“Ibiza!”
“Have you been here before? Your father didn’t think so.”
So her father was in on the little conspiracy! Male chauvinism at its worst, Robin thought in annoyance, when Luke could involve her father in his little schemes. But she was too excited at the prospect of seeing the island to waste very much thinking time about it.
“No, I haven’t, but I’ve always wanted to come. It’s less spoiled than Majorca, isn’t it?”
In her haste to cover her annoyance, Robin knew she had played right into Luke’s hands as the plane circle
d to a stop and he turned to face her.
“So why do you think my complex is so acceptable here? The authorities don’t let any old tin-pot firm in to spoil their island. I think you’ll be agreeably surprised, and when you see my development, remember it’s exactly the way the appalling building site you saw in Cornwall will look in a few months’ time. Don’t condemn me before then, Robin. Let’s call a truce for now, all right?”
“All right,” she said slowly. It seemed ungrateful to do otherwise, when he’d brought her there to that idyllic place, and she smothered her suspicions for the moment.
Stepping out into the sunlight was like suddenly finding an extension of summer. The air was pleasantly hot, without the baking heat of high season. The sky was cloudless, and a heat haze hung over the hills. Robin knew a stab of excitement. She was there, and she might as well enjoy it. She gave Luke the most unforced smile he’d received from her since their meeting.
“Thanks for the chance to come here, anyway, Luke.”
“It’s my pleasure,” he said crisply, not letting her see how that smile affected him. Luke Burgess, who had had his share of women, was still quite unsure how this one had managed to make herself so special to him. He resorted to the old tricks.
“And if you feel like staying on after tomorrow, I’m sure it can be arranged.”
He caressed her arm as they walked to the terminal, making no secret of his desire, and Robin knew she had only to say the word and this trip would turn into something very different from a mere business arrangement. She froze at once.
“I think you’ll have had enough of me by tomorrow, Luke, because I’ve no intention of turning this into a holiday for lovers. If that’s what you had in mind, forget it.”
Her green eyes sparkled as she spoke, her golden hair caught the sunlight like fire and he pretended to back off in mock horror.
“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t get entangled in those spikes of yours for a king’s ransom! There’s no shortage of agreeable female company in Ibiza.” He said it casually, as if it didn’t matter to him that Robin was going to be standoffish. It was already clear to her that Luke was as well known there as in Bristol. He was greeted at the airport as an old friend, and again the formalities were minimal.
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