His gaze caught hers for a second and he shook his head. ‘That’s one of the things I like about you, Lara—your idealism.’ He took another swig of his coffee. ‘So what are your plans now for the rest of this week?’
It was clear that part of the conversation was over. She couldn’t pry—she barely knew him—so she swallowed the remainder of her tart and said the first thing that came into her head. ‘I’ve decided to do some touristy stuff. I never really got the chance when I first moved to London, so it might be quite nice.’
He looked amused. He tilted his head to the side. ‘What kind of thing?’
‘I’m going to do the Buckingham Palace tour.’ Where had that come from? It was the first thing that had popped into her head and right now she didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of Reuben. She certainly didn’t want to act like a woman who’d been cheated on and mope about the place. This was the new improved version of herself.
A woman swept by their table in red-soled black patent stiletto heels and a long sweeping cream wool coat. Her long blonde hair was like a sheen from a TV advert and Lara sensed the cool blonde’s eyes sweeping over her and then Reuben.
‘Reuben Tyler?’
Perfect pouting pink lips appeared at the table, along with a waft of expensive perfume and a remortgage-your-house handbag. Lara shrank back in her chair.
Reuben froze for a few milliseconds then seemed to move into his default charm position. ‘Millicent. How nice to see you.’ He stood up for a second and let her do the kiss-on-both-cheeks move.
‘When did you get back?’ Millicent’s voice was a little sharp.
‘Last night.’
‘Really? I didn’t notice your car.’ Lara could feel the edges of her mouth start to turn upwards. Watching the body language here was a real treat. For a few seconds she’d felt intimidated by the gorgeous statuesque blonde. But while Reuben had his charm face in place it was clear the woman was about as welcome as a box of frogs.
She lifted her latte for a sip and prepared to attack her death by chocolate. Better settle in. This could be fun.
Reuben shook his head. ‘There’s work being done of the roof. Asbestos. So I can’t stay there right now.’
Millicent tilted her head to the side, the tone of her voice changing automatically. ‘Why didn’t you say? You’re more than welcome to come and bunk in with me.’ She let out a shrill little laugh.
‘I hardly think that would be appropriate,’ said Reuben. ‘Millicent, meet Lara, my girlfriend.’
The perfectly formed death by chocolate cake somersaulted out of her hand and landed upside down on the white and black tiled floor. She stared in disbelief at her little piece of heaven before shooting Reuben a laser glare.
Millicent was practically sneering as her eyes swept over Lara’s less-than-perfect hairstyle, minimal make-up and non-designer clothes.
Her recovery was swift. ‘Oh, how nice. Reuben...’ she glared at him ‘...was obviously keeping you a secret.’
She extended her expertly manicured hand towards Lara. Lara stared at her chocolate-smudged fingers and wiped them on a napkin, reaching over and shaking Millicent’s hand. ‘You too.’
‘Where do you live?’ asked Millicent quickly.
A thousand tempting answers flooded through her brain. Part of her wanted to give the world’s most exclusive address—to say Buckingham Palace—and the other part of her wanted to pretend to live in the most notorious part of London, just to see how Millicent would react.
She put on her best face as she nudged Reuben under the table with her boot. To his credit he didn’t even flinch.
‘Belgravia,’ she said. It wasn’t exactly a lie. She was living there—for the next two weeks at least.
‘Oh...’ Millicent gave an almost disbelieving nod of her head. ‘How lovely.’
‘Well, it was lovely to see you again, Millicent,’ Reuben said quickly. He might as well have put a sign above their heads saying, Go away. Now.
Instead, he did something much more unexpected. He leaned across the table and grabbed hold of the lapel of Lara’s jacket. It pulled her forward just a few inches and that was enough for Reuben to lock his lips onto hers.
For a second she couldn’t breathe. He’d stood up and leaned all the way across the table. She could taste coffee. She could taste apple. But what she didn’t get—not for a second—was how good his lips felt against hers.
This was no tender kiss. No tiny peck. His other hand reached across and fastened at the back of her head, almost holding her in position. She could have objected. She should have objected. But something else was happening. Her lips were starting to move against his. For some unknown reason her body was starting to waken and fire on all cylinders. He didn’t need his hand at the back of her head. She couldn’t have pulled away even if she’d wanted to.
The kiss deepened, his lips opened against hers, his tongue nudging along the edges of her lips. It was only natural to let her own lips open to his. Her brain was in a swirl. What on earth was she doing?
Then, almost as soon as it had begun, it was over. Reuben pulled away, sitting back with a cheeky gleam in his eyes and leaving her stunned.
After a few seconds she almost remembered to breathe.
Millicent gave an almost discernible sniff then swept away in her stilettos as if she had been born to wear them—and she probably had been. Lara watched in slight awe. If that had been her she would be sprawled on her back by now.
She turned her steely gaze to Reuben and arched her brows. She couldn’t have formed words if she’d tried.
He actually shifted a little in his seat. Apart from when she’d bashed him over the head this was the first time he’d actually looked a little uncomfortable. Good.
He gave a little gulp. ‘I think I might have just crossed the line there.’
‘You’re so far over the line, you can’t even see it any more. It’s just a speck on the landscape. Is that how you roll? You just grab unsuspecting women for a kiss?’
He had the decency to look a little sheepish. He pointed towards the food. ‘I try to soften the blow first with coffee and cake.’
She stared hard at him. Her mind was still tumbling over and over that kiss. The kiss that had made her heart race erratically, her mind go numb and woken up parts of her she’d thought were dead. Kisses weren’t meant to do that. Or certainly not a kiss with no preamble, no flirting, and in a public place.
‘I know. I’m sorry.’ He leaned across the table towards her. ‘Desperate times call for desperate measures. Want to know what my friends and I actually call Millicent?’
Her curiosity spiked immediately. She just hoped it wasn’t some crude boy thing. She was trying not to focus on the logical part of her brain that had recognised he’d just said he’d had to be desperate to kiss her. ‘Okay,’ she said cautiously.
He glanced around, almost as if he expected Millicent to spring out again from behind the nearest pillar. ‘The barracuda.’
Lara choked. ‘What?’
He nodded. ‘Honestly. She’s a nightmare. So I’m sorry about the girlfriend thing and the kiss thing, but it was the quickest way to get rid of her without being rude.’
‘So ignoring her and kissing me wasn’t rude, then?’
Reuben’s eyes twinkled as he leaned back in his chair. ‘You can’t say it was all bad, was it?’
She ignored the cheeky comment. The guy was a player. And she was feeling a little wicked. It seemed like kissing a bad boy brought out the worst in her.
Lara fiddled with her last tiny cake—the strawberry and vanilla pastry. ‘I have a price, you know,’ she said carefully.
Reuben sat back. He looked a tiny bit worried. ‘What do you mean?’
She pointed behind him to the glass cabinet. ‘It will take at least a
nother four deaths by chocolate since you killed my last one.’
He breathed a sigh of relief and grinned. ‘Absolutely.’ He stood up and walked back over to the counter, coming back moments later with a pile of tiny chocolate cakes all topped with cream. He pushed them across the table towards her. ‘Go on. Do your worst.’
She pulled the plate towards her and picked up a fork. ‘If you keep feeding me like this I won’t be able to fit into my bikinis and summer dresses.’
Something flickered across his face. She’d no idea what. He looked as if he’d just swallowed something unpleasant but he recovered quickly.
She wasn’t entirely sure what she thought of Reuben Tyler, but it might be fun finding out.
* * *
His insides coiled up. He was going to have to tell her soon. Lara wasn’t a designer shopper, but any woman’s high street summer wardrobe would still cost a lot to replace. He got the distinct impression that while she managed, Lara wasn’t exactly flush with money and given that she’d now have to scrape together the deposit to rent a new flat, the last thing he wanted to do was let her know she needed to buy a whole new summer wardrobe.
‘I’ve been thinking about the cruise,’ she said, gazing across the café. ‘I think I’ll need to get a few more things. A new pair of sandals and maybe another skirt. But I won’t know for sure until I can go through the rest of my summer clothes.’
Reuben shifted uncomfortably in his chair. It was now or never. He really needed to be honest with her. He licked his dry lips. ‘About your summer clothes...’ he started.
‘What?’ All of a sudden her voice and eyes were razor sharp. He could almost feel her gaze penetrate his skin. What was it with women and their senses? They could practically smell when something was wrong.
For the first time in his life words stuck in his throat. What was wrong with him? He’d never been a stranger to the truth—in fact, he’d often been criticised for his direct approach.
‘Maybe you should get some new things,’ he said slowly, trying to pick his words carefully. ‘Cruises are quite glamorous, aren’t they?’
‘You don’t think I’m glamorous enough?’ The words shot out and he cringed.
‘No. No, that’s not what I meant at all.’
‘Then what did you mean?’ Women didn’t usually make him squirm. This was a first for Reuben Tyler.
Her gaze was fixed on him. Like some kind of female superhero with laser vision. Who could have guessed the girl that had been the giant pink teddy bear could do a complete turnaround?
She was doing her best to appear direct. To have a little edge. Trouble was, he already knew her a little better than that. He’d seen the vulnerability in her eyes. He’d seen the hurt. And he didn’t want to be the person responsible for that.
He leaned his elbow on the table and rested his head on his hand. ‘There might have been a bit of an issue with Josh.’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘What kind of issue?’
‘He might have disposed of the rest of your clothes.’
‘He what?’
Heads all over shot round. A few of the counter staff stood up on their toes, trying to see who’d yelled, but since Lara was on her feet it was pretty obvious.
Reuben could feel all the gazes turn to him. Yeah, right. This was all his fault.
He gave the slightest shrug. ‘Sorry. The guy’s obviously an idiot. He said he’d dumped all your stuff when I asked.’
She leaned across the table towards him. ‘And you knew this? You knew this a few hours ago and you didn’t tell me?’
There was a loud tut behind them. Reuben shook his head and turned, giving a smile to the elderly woman behind him who was looking at him as if he’d just run over her cat.
He lifted his hand towards Lara. ‘I thought you might be upset.’
The colour in her cheeks was building. If he’d thought her eyes had been lasers before, now they were definitely shooting sparks.
He was surprised by how cute she was when she was angry.
‘I guess I was right,’ he said, as he picked up his coffee and drained his cup.
Lara’s fists were clenched on the tabletop. It took a few seconds for the blanched knuckles to be gently released and Lara sagged down into her chair.
‘All my things...gone?’ she asked.
He nodded his head. This was what he’d wanted to avoid. Her shoulders slumped and the high colour in her cheeks started to disperse, replaced with a white pallor.
She blinked. Oh, no. Her eyes were getting that sheeny way—the way they did before a woman burst into tears.
She started murmuring. ‘But what am I going to do? That was my entire summer wardrobe.’ She shook her head. ‘I have nothing—not a single thing to take with me on the cruise.’ One fat, hot tear spilled down her cheek. ‘And I certainly didn’t budget for this.’
She took a deep, ragged kind of breath. She was twisting a napkin between her fingers. ‘It’s not just the clothes. I had other things in that case. Things that meant a lot to me. Things I can’t replace.’ Her voice was getting shakier as she spoke.
‘What kind of things?’ He could feel the march of a thousand cold feet down his spine. What else had Josh flung out to the trash?
‘There...there was something special.’ A tear rolled down her cheek.
‘What was it?’
She shook her head and brushed away the tear. ‘It was nothing. It wasn’t valuable. Just a keepsake. Something I’ve had since childhood.’
He was curious now. It must have been something special for her to be reacting this way. He reached over and touched her hand.
She gulped. ‘It’s silly, really. It was a book. A copy of Alice in Wonderland. My gran bought it for me when I was little. We used to read it all the time. And it doesn’t matter that I could walk into any bookshop and buy another copy. It wouldn’t be this one. The one we read for hours.’
Reuben spoke quietly. ‘And it was in the case with the summer clothes?’
He shouldn’t just have held Josh against the wall. He should have done much, much worse.
She gave a little nod. ‘I just can’t bear the thought I won’t see it again.’ She pressed her hand against her heart. ‘It was full of memories for me. Every time I opened the pages again I thought about my gran. She died just after I’d been accepted for university.’
Something clicked in his brain. ‘And you didn’t go?’
Lara bit her lip. It was obvious she was thinking about how to reply. He didn’t do this. He didn’t form emotional attachments with women. He didn’t like tears and sniffles. It was his first cue to walk away.
Or his first cue to do his natural alternative—throw money at a situation.
He reached across the table and grabbed Lara’s hand. ‘Come on.’ He pulled her to her feet and started walking.
He could sense she could barely keep with his long strides but he didn’t want to think about that too much.
‘Reuben, where are we going?’ she sniffed.
For some reason he couldn’t even bear to look at her. Here was a woman he barely knew—but he couldn’t stand to see her upset. It did strange things to his brain. Strange things to his equilibrium. And he couldn’t quite fathom why.
This wasn’t his fault. None of it was his fault, but that wasn’t helping.
There was one thing he could do here—one thing that he had. The thing that seemed the quickest fix for most people in the world. Money.
CHAPTER FIVE
LARA COULD FEEL panic begin to set in. Where on earth could she get some money? She had a tiny bit of spending money for the cruise, put away every month and hidden in an account that Josh had known nothing about. She’d hoped it would cover the gratuity charge for the trip and whatever drinks package she want
ed to buy. She’d prepaid a few excursions when she’d booked the trip and had thought she wouldn’t need much more money.
If only she’d known.
She cringed, putting her head between her hands. Five weeks ago she’d bought a pink dress with tiny glittery beads. More money than she’d ever spent on one item. But it had practically called out to her from the shop window. And it was perfect for a cruise. And she’d had the rest of her wardrobe—or so she’d thought.
She started to think frantically. Borrow. She could borrow clothes. But who from? One of her best friends was in Australia and the other in the US. She had a couple of acquaintances in London but none of them were the same size as her.
She started fingering the edge of her jacket. There was a whole wardrobe full of clothes upstairs in the house. She’d already borrowed a nightdress from Addison—but that had been an emergency situation. There was no way she could let herself borrow any of Addison’s clothes. They were way out of her league. And what if she damaged something? How on earth would she replace it?
She swallowed. Her mouth was dry. She could do with some water. She could feel herself starting to panic. Control. It was slipping away from her just when she’d thought she could capture it back. Josh had been quite controlling. Comments about her hair, her make-up and her clothes. She’d tried to ignore them, but after more than a year together he’d chipped away at her self-confidence. Now, just when she thought she could shake him off, he’d done something else to control her. This wasn’t just about the clothes. It was about taking back charge of her life.
Reuben had ushered her into a lift. She hadn’t been paying attention but the doors swished open right in the heart of the designer womenswear section. Right now she couldn’t even afford to buy a pair of sunglasses—not when her finances were in such dire straits.
Reuben was still muttering into his phone. It was obvious from the expression on his face and his tone that he wasn’t the slightest bit happy.
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