Harlequin Romance September 2013 Bundle: Bound by a BabyIn the Line of DutyPatchwork Family in the OutbackStranded with the Tycoon

by Kate Hardy

  Okay, it was almost five in the afternoon. Two hours until her guests arrived. Long enough to cook something fantastic if she had any food in the house—which, having missed her supermarket delivery, she didn’t. Long enough to clean and tidy the house if she didn’t have to do anything else—which she did. And long enough to make herself look presentable if she could bring herself to care what she looked like—which she couldn’t.

  Collapsing into her favourite armchair, Luce pulled out her organiser and started her list. The most important thing about the evening was that it go well for Tom. After his break-up with Hattie, and the misery and depression that had followed, he’d not introduced them to a new girlfriend in two years. This was big. This was a turning point. Luce needed to make it as successful as she could. And pray that the turkey she’d yanked out of the freezer the moment she walked in defrosted in time for tomorrow.

  Obviously at this stage a gourmet feast was out of the question. Instead Luce raided the corner shop for whatever was left at this point in the Christmas panic buying—mostly mismatched canapés and mince pies. Halfway to the till she remembered to grab vegetables for the next day. She’d just have to hope she had enough of everything else in to make do.

  The house itself wasn’t in too bad shape—after flinging everything that didn’t belong in the lounge, dining room or kitchen into the bedroom, Luce figured it would serve. Candles and cloth napkins on the table, lamps instead of overhead lights, and they were set to go.

  Of course by that point it was seven, and she was still wearing the skirt and jumper she’d travelled home from Brecon in. A shower was out of the question, she supposed, but she’d hoped to at least change and put some make-up on. The ringing doorbell suggested she was out of luck.

  ‘Are you running late?’ Dolly asked, looking her up and down as she answered the door.

  ‘However did you guess?’ Luce ushered her sister in. ‘I just got back a couple of hours ago. You’re lucky I’m here at all.’

  ‘Tom’s lucky, you mean. I had plans for tonight, you know. This new girl of his had better be worth the effort. Does this mean you didn’t have time to make the chocolate pots?’

  Luce glared, and Dolly held up her hands in self-defence. ‘Okay, okay. Next time. You go and get changed and I’ll get us something to drink. Is there wine in the fridge?’

  ‘As always,’ Luce called back as she went to try to excavate something from her wardrobe that didn’t need dry cleaning.

  In the end the best option she had turned out to be the purple dress she’d worn to dinner with Ben in Chester. Luce tugged it on, trying not to notice the way his scent still clung to the fabric. Shoving her feet into low heels and pulling a cardigan over it made it feel a little less dressy—more suitable for a family occasion. And it matches the culinary sophistication level better. Or maybe I should put on jeans...

  By the time she’d run a brush through her hair and thrown on the minimum amount of make-up her mother would let her get away with, the doorbell had rung twice and Luce could hear voices in the lounge, along with clinking glasses. ‘Showtime,’ she whispered to herself, and tried not to wish she was still at the cottage.

  * * *

  Five hours later, as Dolly watched her load the dishwasher while eating the leftovers she was supposed to be putting in the fridge, Luce had to admit it had been worth coming back for. Even with her mum’s pointed comments about the food.

  ‘Did you think she seemed nice?’ Dolly asked.

  Since the others had already left, Luce didn’t bother hiding the surprise in her voice. ‘I did.’

  Dolly laughed. ‘I know. I wasn’t sure whether to expect another monster, or what. But, no, she’s nice. A little bossy, maybe. It’ll be weird not having Tom here for Christmas Day, though.’

  ‘It will. But he seemed happy.’ That was by far the most important part. Tom hadn’t been remotely happy for a very long time.

  ‘He did.’

  Dolly paused, and Luce looked up at her, forehead creasing.

  ‘You don’t.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ Luce lied.

  Dolly boosted herself up onto the kitchen counter. ‘What happened this week?’

  ‘I went away. To a conference. And ended up taking a bit of a detour home, what with all the snow.’

  ‘And were you alone?’ Dolly pressed, eyebrows raised.

  ‘Not entirely.’ The memory of Ben kissing her against the castle wall invaded her mind and she bit her lip and tried to concentrate on her little sister, in the here and now.

  ‘I knew it! Who did you go with? Oh, no—it wasn’t Dennis, was it? That would explain why you’re so miserable.’

  ‘It was not Dennis,’ Luce said, with feeling. ‘Wait—I thought you liked Dennis?’

  Dolly rolled her eyes. ‘Mum liked Dennis. And only because she thought he was what you wanted. Boring, staid and uneventful. But if you weren’t with Dennis...’

  ‘My train got cancelled and an old university friend offered me a lift home. We got stuck in the snow and holed up at a cottage in the hills for a couple of days.’ She shrugged. ‘That’s all.’

  But Dolly wasn’t content to leave it at that. The same curiosity that drove Luce to discover the past had made her sister incurably nosy about the present. ‘And was this friend male or female?’

  ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘Yes!’ Dolly bounced down from the counter, her eyes bright and intense. ‘If you’re finally getting a life I want to know all about it. Hell, I want to throw a party in celebration.’

  ‘It’s not... There’s nothing to celebrate.’ Because she was probably never going to see Ben again.

  Dolly’s mouth turned down at the corners, her eyes full of sympathy. ‘Do you want to—? Ooh, I bet that’s him!’ she interrupted herself as Luce’s phone rang.

  ‘I doubt it— Oh.’ Ben’s name flashed across the screen. Of course he’d have programmed his number in on one of the many occasions when he’d stolen her phone. No respect for personal boundaries, that man.

  Dolly had already swept up her coat and bag and was halfway out through the door. ‘I’ll be along tomorrow for my Christmas dinner,’ she said with a wave.

  Luce stared at the phone again. And then she pressed ‘answer’.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  IT WENT AGAINST all his usual rules about women and relationships, but Ben needed to talk to someone. And for some reason the only person he wanted to talk to was Luce.

  He sprawled across his bed, waiting for her to answer, wondering if she would just ignore it. It was late, after all. Gone midnight. She might be asleep. Or maybe her dinner party was still going on. Maybe Dennis of the annoying e-mails was there. Maybe—

  ‘Hello?’

  Maybe she would answer after all.

  ‘Hey. Merry Christmas. You okay?’

  ‘Happy Christmas to you, too.’ There was a rustle of fabric on the other end of the phone. Was she in bed? ‘I’m okay. Tired.’

  ‘How did dinner go?’ That was what you did, wasn’t it? When you wanted someone to stay in your life even if just as a friend? You asked about stupid things you didn’t care about.

  ‘You can’t tell me that you’re suddenly interested in my family gatherings after all the time you’ve spent maligning them this week.’

  Luce’s voice was amused, but Ben could hear a sharper edge under it. He’d hurt her, even though he’d tried so hard not to.

  ‘No, not really.’ Ben sighed. ‘I just don’t understand why it was so much more important to you than...everything else.’

  ‘Because you never asked,’ Luce responded promptly.

  She had a point. Unfortunately, he’d found, she usually did. ‘Okay, then, I’m asking. What was so important about this dinner?’

  ‘Hang on,’ she
said.

  Ben heard the click of her phone being put down somewhere. There was more rustling, then she picked up the phone again.

  ‘Were you just getting undressed?’ Ben asked, the image waking up his exhausted body instantly.

  Luce gave a low laugh. ‘It’s gone midnight and I am more than ready to be out of this dress. Besides, if we’re going to have this conversation I want to be comfortable while we’re doing it.’

  ‘What conversation?’ The word made Ben nervous. He usually tried to avoid being in any situation with a woman that required him to have a serious conversation.

  ‘The one about my family and why you’re so offended by my taking care of them. And don’t think I didn’t notice that we managed to not have this conversation at any point where we couldn’t just hang up on each other.’

  ‘Well, we were a little preoccupied at certain points.’

  ‘Ben?’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘We are not having phone sex.’

  Damn. ‘I know that. So—go on. Tell me about this dinner.’

  Luce sighed. ‘It wasn’t just a dinner. It was for my brother Tom. He’s had a rough time of it the last few years. Longer, really. But when his marriage broke down a couple of years ago he totally fell apart. And because he was in such a state my mother was beside herself, too. It was just when Dolly was applying to drama schools and, well...’

  ‘You got stuck trying to hold everyone together?’

  ‘Yeah. Anyway, this was the first time since then that Tom’s met someone he’s wanted to introduce us to. First time he’s seemed interested in anything, let alone anyone, since Hattie left him.’

  ‘And you didn’t want to risk it not happening?’

  ‘I just... It was a big deal for my family. And he’ll be with her tomorrow. This was our only chance to be all together.’

  ‘I get that.’ Ben thought about Luce, alone in that big house, trying to make her family happy so that she could finally relax enough to find some happiness herself. ‘I guess I just don’t get why they’re all your responsibility.’

  ‘Who else would look after them?’

  It was a throwaway comment, Ben knew. Self-deprecating, accepting the inevitable. But could he hear a real question under it? Was she ready to cast off some responsibility?

  ‘Maybe it’s time they learned to look after themselves.’

  ‘Maybe.’ She didn’t sound entirely convinced, but it was a start. ‘Did you make your meeting with your brother in the end?’

  ‘I did.’ It was the reason he’d called, actually. ‘He has some new ideas for the business. A new role he wants me to take on.’

  ‘Sounds interesting.’

  ‘It is.’

  ‘You don’t sound sure.’

  ‘It’s a lot to take on.’

  ‘A big responsibility.’ To her credit, she didn’t mock him for that. ‘Tell me about it.’

  How to explain? ‘Well, you have to understand when my dad ran the business it was all about turnover. He bought up a hotel, made it a functional and decent place for businessmen, then moved on to the next one. Over time they became higher and higher end, with more amenities and luxurious surroundings, but the basis was the same. It was somewhere to work.’

  ‘And that’s where you grew up?’ Luce said, surprising him with the sympathy in her voice. ‘That must have been—’

  ‘It was fine,’ Ben interrupted. ‘I got to travel the country before I was ten and the world before I was twenty. Not many kids had that chance.’

  ‘No, but most kids had a home instead of a hotel.’

  She sounded as if she wanted to ask more questions, and Ben really wasn’t in the mood to be psychoanalysed, so he moved on quickly.

  ‘Anyway, Seb wants to change the model. He wants us to look at adding more boutique hotels to our chain. Maybe even some family-friendly ones.’

  ‘That sounds great. He wants you to run this?’

  She sounded surprised, but Ben was too tired to be offended. ‘Starting with the Royal Court in Chester.’ Ben closed his eyes, remembering Seb saying, ‘Just because you’re good at doing what Dad did, it doesn’t mean it’s what you have to do. It doesn’t always have to be about the quick fix and moving on. I think you’ll enjoy the challenge of long-term development more.’

  Was he right? Ben supposed he’d find out soon enough.

  ‘So you’re heading back to Chester?’ Luce asked.

  ‘Not yet. Got to visit some of our hotels on the continent first. But I should be able to get there in a few weeks.’

  ‘So you’ll be away a while?’

  ‘About a month.’ Normally the idea of getting away, of waking up in a different city every few days, would be appealing. Especially after an interlude with a woman who was getting too close for comfort. But today...it seemed too long.

  There was a lengthy pause, and Ben cast around for something else to say to keep her on the phone. It had been so much easier when they were in the cottage, shut away from the rest of the world. Where he’d had her all to himself without having to share her.

  ‘Should I...?’ He took a deep breath and started again. ‘Can I call you when I get back?’

  Luce’s voice was soft as she replied, ‘Yes, please.’

  * * *

  Luce was surprised, in a way, at how easily she slipped back into her old life. Her pre-Ben life. There was no reason to be, she supposed. After all, she’d lived without Ben in her life for a lot longer than when he’d been there. But still, those few days at the cottage had been transformative, somehow. She wasn’t the same person she’d been before she went. Even if it wasn’t obvious in her everyday life.

  ‘What are these files?’ Dolly asked, poking at a stack of folders on the dining room table a few weeks later, when she came over to indulge in Luce’s tea—and her biscuit tin.

  Luce glanced over. ‘Just some stuff Dennis wants me to sort through for him.’

  Dolly raised her eyebrows. ‘And this is more important than your own work because...?’

  ‘It isn’t.’ Luce swept the files into a box on the nearby dining chair. ‘That’s why I haven’t done them yet.’ Besides, Dennis was still sulking about her missing the lecture in Chester. Given the way she’d snapped at him when he whined, he probably wouldn’t be asking her to do anything else for him any time soon.

  ‘Good.’ Dolly settled herself onto one of the other chairs, tipping it back to rest against the wall behind her. ‘You’ve changed, you know. In a good way,’ she added hurriedly. ‘But you definitely seem different since you went away last month.’

  Luce stopped tidying. ‘Do I?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Dolly slanted her head to the side and looked her up and down for long enough to make Luce blush. ‘Maybe more self-assured, I guess. Which is good.’

  ‘More self-aware, I think.’ Luce bit her lip as she considered her sister.

  She needed to tell someone her news, and Ben was still away. She’d thought about calling a few times, always late at night when she was tucked up in bed, but she couldn’t tell him this over the phone. It wasn’t fair. But Dolly... She seemed more of an ally than she ever had before lately. She’d always been the baby, the one who needed the most looking after, but recently she’d been more of a friend than an obligation. Someone who cared about Luce rather than just needing things from her. She could tell Dolly.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Dolly let her chair tip onto four legs again, leaning forward to rest her wrists on her knees. ‘Come on—tell me. It’s obviously something big. You’re actually blushing.’

  Luce’s face grew immediately hotter in response. ‘Okay. But you can’t tell Mum. Or Tom. Or anybody just yet.’

  Dolly’s eyes widened. ‘Now I’m really intrigued.’

  Gripping t
he edge of the table, Luce summoned her courage and said it out loud for the first time. ‘I’m pregnant.’

  For a long moment Dolly just stared at her in silence. Then she clapped her hand over her mouth, not quite muffling the squeak that came out.

  Luce sank into a chair. ‘I know. I know. It’s absurd.’

  ‘It’s wonderful!’ Jumping up, Dolly wrapped her arms around her, and Luce relaxed into the hug. ‘I’m going to be an aunt!’

  ‘You are,’ Luce said firmly. She’d considered the other options—of course she had. But this was her baby—hers and Ben’s—and it might be her only chance. She was financially capable of looking after it, she had her family around her...

  ‘God, how the hell are you going to baby-proof this place?’ Dolly asked, looking around.

  ...and she lived in a death trap.

  ‘That’s on my list of things to figure out,’ Luce said. ‘To be honest, given the length of the list, it might take me a while to get around to it.’

  Dolly perched on the table beside her, looking down through her long dark hair. ‘Okay, I’m not asking the obvious question, because I figure you’ll tell me when it’s right. But just promise me it’s not Dennis’s.’

  Luce laughed. ‘Trust me. The father is about as far from Dennis as you can imagine.’

  ‘In that case, I really want to meet him,’ Dolly said. ‘I take it it’s the old university friend, then? The one you got snowed in with?’

  Luce nodded. ‘That’s him.’

  ‘Funny...I didn’t even know you were still in touch with any of your friends from then.’

  ‘You mean, you didn’t know I had any in the first place.’ She hadn’t, really. Mandy had been her housemate, but had only been friendly when it suited her.

  ‘That, too.’

  ‘We weren’t...close then.’ Understatement of the year.

  Dolly nudged her with her shoulder. ‘You obviously are now. Have you told him?’

  God, how had things changed so that Dolly was the one asking sensible questions? Luce had imagined this conversation the other way round all through Dolly’s teenage years. ‘Not yet. He’s away on business. I don’t want to tell him over the phone.’