Harlequin Romance December 2020 Box Set

by Susan Meier, Sophie Pembroke, Jessica Gilmore

  Damir had asked her to accompany him to the opening ceremony of the Summer Festival, a six-week celebration of arts and culture that encompassed the whole area—Lokvar would be hosting a theatre company who would perform several times a week in the small but idyllic botanical gardens. The opening ceremony, a concert, was by invitation only, followed by a champagne reception.

  To be there with Damir felt like a huge jump from barbecuing at his villa or hanging out on Lokvar, where everyone knew them, and at the back of her mind she couldn’t help wondering what this very public stepping out meant. Probably nothing as a quick internet search had shown her photos of Damir at lots of high society occasions, always with a perfectly groomed companion, rarely the same one twice.

  Women who had agreed to the same caveat of short, sweet and finite as she had. But did they also find themselves forgetting those conditions, falling deeper with every conversation? Probably not, they seemed like the kind of women who didn’t just know the rules but made the rules, while Lily was figuring it all out as she went.

  It didn’t help that the evening would also be a huge test of Lily’s nerves. Big formal occasions always intimidated her, although she tried her best to hide it. Especially big formal occasions where she didn’t know anyone. She knew Damir was there to be seen, to circulate. The opening ceremony was an important night in the Dubrovnik social calendar.

  At least she had managed to find an appropriate outfit, a silver maxi dress and matching wrap that managed to look smart and feel comfortable. She’d left her hair loose but pulled back off her face and she wore the turquoise necklace and earrings Josip and her mother had given her for her twenty-first birthday.

  This time, rather than the long sea journey round to the old harbour, she found herself taken to the much closer, but much less picturesque City Port, where several mid-size cruise ships were moored, along with hundreds of boats ranging from small dinghies to luxury ocean-going yachts. A car was waiting to whisk her to Pile, the entrance to the Old Town where Damir waited for her.

  Lily’s stomach fluttered as she took him in, sharply smart in a suit that had obviously been made for him, every line enhancing his tall, lean strength. His hair was slicked back and he was freshly shaved, smarter than she had ever seen him. Almost like a stranger, a reminder that for all their lovemaking, the confidences they had shared, she barely knew him at all.

  ‘How was the journey?’ His mouth grazed her cheek, lingering just a second too long for a polite greeting. ‘Sorry I couldn’t pick you up. My meeting overran.’

  ‘That’s okay, but I could have quite easily taken the ferry, you know.’

  ‘I know.’ He began to escort her through the now familiar gate that led into the Old Town, his hand proprietorial on her arm. Several other people, equally smartly dressed, called out greetings, looking curiously at Lily as they did so. ‘But I promised to collect you and I always keep my word.’

  ‘Good to know.’

  The concert and ceremony were taking place in a square in the Old Town just outside St Blaise’s church, the ancient building star of several films and television programmes. Seats had been erected in a square around a central stage and Damir escorted her to seats close to the front. The artists were beginning to tune up, the seats to fill, the whole square humming with excitement and anticipation. This concert would be broadcast live so the whole city could hear it, and would be followed by what she had been assured were spectacular fireworks.

  ‘I’m sorry I didn’t answer your call earlier,’ Damir said once they were settled. ‘Is everything okay?’

  ‘Everything’s fine, I just had a couple of emails today that I wanted to talk to you about. The first one was from the bride’s family about the wedding later this month.’

  Damir groaned. The whole B&B had been booked out the week after next for a wedding party. The wedding itself was due to take place in Dubrovnik, but all the guests would be staying at the B&B for a long weekend, arriving on the Thursday evening and leaving on the Monday. As the bride and groom’s families were English, Lily had offered to deal with them, and as the wedding approached it seemed to take up a great deal of her time—and her conversation.

  By now she was sure that Damir was as sick of them as she was.

  The bride’s demands had become increasingly onerous over the last few weeks, along with an ever-changing list of guest allergies and needs. Her demands had culminated in a sudden desire for separate dinners and entertainment for both the bride’s and the groom’s families and friends the evening before the wedding itself, both to be held at the B&B but not within sight of each other.

  ‘Why can’t one of them go over to the mainland?’ Ana had grumbled when that particular request had come through, and although Lily had been too busy trying to work out just how they were going to accommodate it given the size of the villa to join in the grumbling, secretly she couldn’t help but agree with her friend.

  ‘No, what does she want now? For you to decorate the beach in her theme colours? An entire change of menu? Or does she want you to whip up several wedding dresses for her to choose from when she gets here?’

  ‘No.’ Lily laughed, though none of those suggestions would have surprised her. ‘Much worse. They’ve split up, the wedding is off.’

  ‘One of them has had a lucky escape, I can’t help suspecting it’s the groom.’

  ‘I agree, but obviously they’ve cancelled completely and the bride’s family are insisting on getting their deposit back. So that’s been fun.’

  ‘I take it you have told them just what they can do with that suggestion.’

  ‘Several times. It hasn’t stopped them trying, though. I’ve had the bride’s mother and father and even her aunt on the phone all telling me just how they’ll ruin me with bad reviews.’ She sighed. ‘The annoying thing is that Marija wouldn’t usually allow the villa to be booked out for one event at the height of summer, but the groom’s family are regulars so we agreed as a favour.’

  ‘Does that mean there was no contract?’

  ‘You forget who you’re talking to. I wrote that contract and they agreed to a completely non-refundable fifty per cent deposit. So they can huff and puff all they want but they won’t get a penny. But this means we’re going to be empty at the height of summer, to say nothing of all the orders we are now going to have to cancel, and the boxes of favours and decorations we’ll have to send back to the UK. I’ve ten boxes of champagne arriving tomorrow, the rest of the wine later in the week, and Antun’s food order needed its own delivery boat.’

  ‘You won’t be empty for long,’ Damir said. ‘At this time of year there are always last-minute bookings and walk-ins.’

  ‘That’s what Ana said.’ Lily looked down at her hands. ‘But, you see, that Thursday is Izzy’s birthday. I was relieved we were going to be so busy that it meant I wouldn’t have time to brood. I need to make sure I stay busy. Or celebrate her in some way. Because I had a second email today. One that is much bigger in the grand scheme of things, much more unexpected. I could really do with your thoughts on it, because I am all over the place.’

  ‘What is it?’ His voice was low, reassuring, and she leaned in gratefully.

  ‘Izzy’s lawyer, the one dealing with her estate, got in touch. I knew that Izzy had left everything to me, but I didn’t realise just what that meant.’ She could hear the pitch of her voice rising and took a deep breath. ‘What am I supposed to do with it all? What was she thinking?’

  ‘It was more than you expected?’

  She nodded, biting her lip to keep back the threatened tears. ‘So much more. You see, she was a computer genius, worked for a couple of the really big firms. More than once she was headhunted for roles in Silicon Valley but she always turned them down. She liked to be rooted, she said. I guess that’s what happens when you grow up with no roots at all.

  ‘Anyway, I knew she was well paid,
but it turns out that she had well over a million saved up. A million pounds! She could have bought her own house rather than sharing with me, begun the start-up she was planning, done anything. Instead she just kept saving.’ She stared unseeingly at the stage and the musicians still warming up. ‘I wonder what she meant to do with it. All the things she could have done and never did…’ Her voice trailed off.

  ‘And now it’s yours?’

  ‘I suppose so. Legally, yes. But, Damir, it doesn’t feel right. Her books, the couple of paintings she acquired, her clothes even, they are different. I can accept them and remember her every time I see them or wear them. But a sum of money like this? I can’t take it! It doesn’t seem right.’

  There was a lot she could do with such a huge sum of money. Pay off her mortgage, go travelling and have a huge nest egg for when she returned. Start her own business or put it aside, as Izzy had done, for her own rainy day and hope hers would actually arrive. This money gave her freedom, but it also weighed her down. It didn’t seem right to squander it, it didn’t seem right to use it at all. She too was well paid, she had savings of her own. She turned to Damir.

  ‘What do you think I should do?’

  * * *

  Before Damir could answer the audience hushed and a few moments later the strains of a violin filled the air. Usually music had the power to transport him, no matter if it was classical, rock or something in between, but tonight he barely heard a note. Instead he was all too aware of Lily, straight-backed next to him, absorbed in the music, her last words echoing round and round.

  ‘What do you think I should do?’

  Why did his opinion matter? They weren’t friends or confidants, they were lovers, enjoying a brief amount of time together before going their separate ways. Lily’s future was nothing to do with him. Spend the money, give it away, what did he care?

  Only he did care. He wanted to help her make sense of this new development, just as he wanted to help her deal with the bridal party’s cancellation. He wanted to take all her cares and concerns and shield her from them.

  And that wasn’t in their agreement at all.

  He clapped politely, a second after the rest of the audience, relieved when a second piece started up, leaving him to his thoughts. There was no rhyme or reason to the way he felt. Their arrangement was, like all his arrangements, temporary. She was leaving at the end of the summer. And even if she wasn’t, there would be an expiry date on their time together. She wasn’t Croatian, she didn’t come from an influential family, and although she shared his work ethic, she didn’t have the background to help him expand, to move his business up to the next level. He sensed that Lily would never be happy with a role as hostess and facilitator. And that was the kind of wife he needed.

  Hang on a second. Wife? Where on earth had that come from? True, he was in his early thirties, true, he’d always meant to remarry one day—he had to, had to father some heirs if the family business was to continue. But not yet. Not to a woman he had known for less than two months and slept with a handful of times. His marriage to Kata had been a failure, and he’d known her all his life. If and when he married again, guaranteeing the success of that marriage was one of his paramount considerations. And the only way to do that was through a mutual understanding of shared goals and benefits. A contract, not an emotional journey.

  He knew all this, yet somehow, during the last few weeks, he had relaxed his vigilance and this was the result, his mind wandering to forbidden places. Which meant he needed to take some action now. He could still see Lily while she was around, but maybe he’d better guard against getting any closer. Guard against saying too much, guard against showing too much, guard against feeling too much. Enjoyable dates and satisfactory lovemaking and no emotion. They were his established rules. It would be best not to deviate again.

  Mind made up, he did his best to concentrate on the rest of the concert and to enjoy the fireworks that lit up the Old Town. He exerted himself, ensuring he was at his most charming and flirtatious, making Lily laugh and blush in equal measure, but he also made sure they didn’t resume their earlier conversation. No more heartfelt confidences, no advice. Seduction and fun only. He’d been in danger of losing sight of the end game. Of the villa, of his plans for it. He needed to dazzle Lily, make her understand his vision, advocate for him, not allow her into his heart.

  He refused to consider that maybe it was a little too late for that.

  The following reception was an even more exclusive gathering in the Sponza Palace, just a short walk through the Old Town. Lily gasped as he ushered her into the candlelit room, with its stone arches and high ceiling. ‘I just can’t get over how old and beautiful everything is,’ she said, turning slowly while Damir procured two glasses of champagne from a hovering waiter. ‘Just look at those archways. It’s so strange to be somewhere still so intact that makes you feel like you could be living any time in the last thousand years. London has a lot of history, but everything is being rebuilt at such a great rate it’s impossible to imagine it in the nineteenth century, let alone the sixteenth.’

  ‘Come on, I’ll show you around.’ He took her arm and started along the hallway, only to stop as an elegant woman in a fitted black cocktail dress turned to look at them speculatively, a flicker of disdain in her hooded gaze. His chest tightened as he took in the familiar eyes, so like his own, the immaculately coiled hair, the perfect make-up.

  She nodded. ‘Damir.’

  ‘Majka,’ he replied, then switched to English. ‘May I introduce you to Lily Woodhouse. Marija’s granddaughter,’ he added meaningfully, and his mother’s eyes widened. Was that an actual gleam of approval he saw in them? ‘Lily, this is my mother.’

  ‘How lovely to meet you,’ his mother said in her careful English. ‘How is Marija?’

  ‘Very well, thank you.’

  ‘Is she enjoying her travels?’ So his mother knew all the island news, although she hadn’t set foot there in eight years.

  ‘Very much. She’s now back in London with Mum and Josip.’

  ‘Is she?’ Damir asked. Did that mean her travels were over and she would return this season after all?

  Lily turned to him with a smile. ‘Didn’t I tell you? She’s never seen England in summer so they are planning a few weeks away to show her some of the country and to try and prove to her that it isn’t always grey.’

  ‘That sounds delightful,’ his mother said in a voice that suggested it was anything but, and he could feel Lily stiffen beside him.

  ‘I think so. It’s nice to meet you,’ she added. There was a dignity in her bearing, a cool politeness in tone that he had never seen or heard in Lily before. A memory flashed of just a few weeks ago, sitting eating pizza, telling Lily about his father’s death. ‘She blames me,’ he had said.

  Did Lily remember? Looking at the suddenly glacial woman beside him, he knew she did. She remembered and she cared. The tightness in his chest eased as she slipped her hand through his arm, tilting her chin a little more.

  ‘Do pass on my best wishes to your family,’ his mother said, her bearing as regal as Lily’s, and Lily inclined her head.

  ‘Of course. Thank you.’

  ‘It was nice to see you, Damir. You and—Lily, is it?—must come over for dinner one night. Ask your PA to call mine and arrange it. Have a good evening.’ And she was gone. Damir released a breath he hadn’t even known he was holding.

  ‘Get your PA to call hers? Seriously?’ Lily was almost squeaking in indignation and to his surprise the last of his tension left him as he took in her reaction.

  ‘She remarried into old money. Now she lives the kind of life she always wanted—charity committees, city functions. She keeps herself very busy. Those three homes don’t run themselves, you know.’ In fact, he realised, his mother lived exactly the kind of life he envisioned for his wife.

  ‘Even so. I bet even the Q
ueen doesn’t expect her children to organise a family dinner through their PAs. Will you do it?’

  ‘No,’ he said slowly. ‘There’s no point. She has a new life, one that doesn’t include me. She’s only interested to hear what new deals I’ve made, where I’m expanding. To see if I can be of use.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Don’t be. She’s never been that family focussed. She married my father because she knew he was going places but she always felt she married beneath her—and never let him forget it. Life on Lokvar, as the wife of a man who liked to get stuck in and get his hands dirty, working behind his own bar or on the building sites, never really suited her. I think she’s glad to have put it all behind her.’

  ‘Well, she’s the one missing out,’ Lily said. ‘She should be bursting with pride to have a son like you, she should be hounding you to be at every dinner so she can show you off, not fobbing you off without even an air kiss. Come on, you promised me a guided tour before we were interrupted.’

  ‘Yes, I did. Come on, this way.’ But as he showed Lily around the famous old building her words kept echoing through his mind, and he kept replaying the moment Lily had drawn herself up in coldly polite outrage. He didn’t need defending, he was more than capable of looking after himself, but to know that someone else cared, someone thought him worthy of defending was something he hadn’t felt in a very, very long time. One thing was becoming clear: he could tell himself to emotionally distance himself from Lily, he could tell himself that this was just an affair, but the truth was he was falling for her. Worst of all, he didn’t want to change a thing.

  CHAPTER TEN

  DAMIR LOOKED UP from his laptop and grinned. ‘Good morning,’ he said appreciatively, looking Lily up and down, lingering on every curve and dimple. If there was anything sexier than a pretty girl, tousled with sleep and wearing a man’s shirt, he had yet to see it.