The Hotel Magnate's Demand

by Jennifer Rae

  Amy nodded even while her heart pounded. She knew her friend. She knew that she was about to tell her some home truths and Amy wasn’t sure she wanted to hear them. She knew it was over with Luke, but to have someone else say it would be terrifying. She wasn’t sure she was ready for that.

  ‘I’ve known you a long time, Amy, and I know what you’re going to say and do before you even do it. I know that you sometimes act before you think. You speak without hearing. And I say this with love in my heart, Ames, but sometimes you’re so busy trying to stay busy that you miss the most important things. You’re a beautiful person, with a generous heart. You’re quick to love and you’re the most supportive and loyal friend anyone could ever have...but you never give anyone any time.

  ‘Luke is the type of man who needs time. You can’t rush him. He doesn’t do well with snap decisions. And if he feels rushed, or pressured, or backed into a corner, he’ll lash out. He says he’s not a wild animal, but he is. Inside he is. He’s spent most of his life being pressured into responsibility and doing the right thing. Then he meets you. And you do whatever the hell you want whenever the hell you want and he wants that. He wishes he could do that. And that’s what frightens him about you.’

  The tears were falling thick and fast now. Amy gripped Willa’s hands tightly. ‘He doesn’t love me, Wills. I love him. But he doesn’t love me.’

  Amy’s words were soft. She could barely get them out. She knew she was being pathetic, but she’d kept it all in for so long now. It hurt. She hurt. She needed to let it out.

  Willa took action. She pulled at Amy’s hands until they found themselves in the ladies’ room. Inside were two of Rob’s aunts, reapplying their lipstick, and Willa swiftly asked them to leave. They looked peeved, but they did as they were told. Amy wasn’t sure how she did it, but Willa managed to lock the door, and when she turned back she only said one word.

  ‘Cry.’

  But Amy couldn’t. The tears had stopped. Her friend was here, she’d let it out, and she had nothing left.

  ‘I’m okay...really.’

  ‘You’re not. You’re a mess and it’s my stupid brother’s fault. Here.’

  Willa opened her small bag and Amy peered inside. It was filled with make-up and tissues and Band-Aids and aspirins and everything else a girl could possibly need.

  ‘Fix yourself up. Calm down. I’ll be back in ten minutes. And then we’re going to have a drink and celebrate my engagement and you’re going to have fun and forget about my brother and the dastardly things he said and did. Got it?’

  Willa was reserved and shy, but at times she could be the strongest woman Amy had ever met. She nodded at her friend and they hugged the way only two girls in a bathroom could before Willa left her alone to fix herself up and prepare herself for a night of not thinking about stupid boys and their hurtful words.

  * * *

  Luke was angry. The man in front of him had had the hide to say New Zealand’s batsmen were superior to the Aussies. Which was outrageous. Everyone knew that the current Australian line-up was the best they’d had in years.

  ‘You’ve got no idea, mate.’

  ‘Ha-ha—it’s just a game, though, isn’t it?’

  Just a game? Who was this loser? ‘If you think it’s “just a game” maybe you shouldn’t even be watching it.’

  He stepped forward. This moron deserved a punch.

  ‘Settle down, mate.’

  ‘What did you say to me?’

  Now he really was going to punch him.

  ‘Okay, so everyone’s happy here, are they?’

  Willa had arrived.

  ‘I think I need a drink.’

  The moron left. Lucky. Because he’d been thirty seconds away from a piece of Luke Moore.

  ‘Okay, Luke, I think that might be enough.’

  ‘I’ve only had two beers, Willa, I’m not drunk.’ His sister raised her eyebrow. ‘Not enough alcohol, but enough unprovoked aggression. You’re going to drive all my guests away and then there’ll only be you and me left here to party.’

  ‘He was an idiot. Why do you always make friends with idiots?’

  ‘I don’t know, big brother. But I do know I’m related to the biggest idiot of all.’

  ‘What?’

  Surely Willa didn’t want to pick a fight now? Not now. Not when he felt like this.

  He hadn’t seen or heard from Amy since they’d got back. She hadn’t contacted him. She hadn’t made any attempt to call him. She’d just walked out of his life as if the last three weeks meant nothing. Which was what he’d wanted her to do, so why the hell did it bother him so much and why the hell couldn’t he stop thinking about her?

  Everything reminded him of her. Smells, sounds, sights. It didn’t matter what it was, he could come up with a story about how it was connected to Amy. He missed her so much. And it hurt. And he knew he couldn’t have her because she didn’t deserve someone like him. Someone who would let her down.

  He turned to face the dark sky that was streaked with lightning. He waited for the boom of thunder. Five seconds. Five kilometres away.

  ‘Luke. What’s going on? You’ve been so angry and distant since you got back from Singapore. What happened?’

  His whole life had been turned upside down—that was all. He’d let everything he wanted walk away—that was all.

  ‘Nothing. I’m just worried about the Singapore deal.’

  ‘Why? You said they approved it—what’s to worry about?’

  Nothing. She was right. Kel Huynh had finally approved everything. It was going ahead as planned, on budget and on time. That wasn’t what was bothering him but he didn’t want to tell Willa that. She didn’t need to worry about him or anything else.

  ‘You don’t understand, Willa.’

  He felt the punch on his arm and turned in surprise to see Willa staring at him, her eyes flashing.

  ‘I understand, brother. I understand that you are an A-grade idiot. You let the woman you love slip away—and why? Because of some ridiculous guilt you have about our mother or me or something else you didn’t do. There was nothing you could do about any of that. You couldn’t save Mum. Dad couldn’t save her. No one could. Then you took it upon yourself to become my keeper, which I didn’t need you to do. I was fine. I had Dad. I had friends. I was fine. I am fine.’

  ‘Real fine, Willa. You married an absolute loser and I did nothing about it. Don’t worry, I’ve checked Rob out and I’ve let him know that this time around he’ll have to answer to me if anything goes wrong.’

  ‘I don’t need you to do that! I’m not eighteen any more. I’m a grown woman. I can look after myself. I just need you to be my brother. To be there when I need you. The way you were there for Amy when she needed you.’

  Willa’s words felt like a punch to the guts. He hadn’t been there. He’d let her down. Then and now. That was why Amy had walked away. That was why she hadn’t come back.

  ‘As usual, Willa, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Why do you think that thing happened to Amy that night? I saw them together. I saw that sleaze talking to her. I knew he only wanted one thing. And what did I do? Nothing. I walked away. I let it happen because that’s what I do. I walked away from you, I walked away from Amy, and I walked away from Koko. And when I was lucky enough to get a chance to have Amy back in my life you know what I did? I walked away from that too.’

  ‘Why, Luke? Why did you walk away?’

  Luke stilled. Why had he walked away?

  ‘Because he didn’t love me.’

  Amy’s voice was like an elixir. His head moved towards the sound and he drank it in, and when he spotted her he drank her in too. She looked beautiful tonight. He’d spent the evening on the balcony, avoiding the chance of seeing her, knowing what it would do if he did see her. Knowing
it would kill him to see her and not be able to have her.

  ‘Amy.’ It was all he could say.

  ‘That’s why he walked away, Willa. Because he realised that I loved him and he didn’t love me back.’

  It took a second for Amy’s words to sink in. What had she just said?

  ‘Isn’t that right, Luke? You were okay with everything that happened between us until it came time to love me. You couldn’t bring yourself to do that. Not silly, wild Amy. Someone you can’t tame.’

  ‘I don’t want to tame you, Amy.’

  ‘Then what do you want? Because I’ve spent the last five days trying to figure that out.’

  He wanted her—that was what he wanted. But he was scared.

  ‘You’re just caught up, Amy. What we have—it isn’t reality. It’s fantasy. You know what would happen if we were together?’

  ‘What? We’d fall in love and live happily ever after?’

  ‘You’d be reminded every day of how I let you down.’

  ‘How exactly did you let me down, Luke?’

  ‘I let it happen. I let that bad thing happen to you. Then I hurt you in Singapore. I left you alone and then I hurt you.’

  ‘You did hurt me. But you didn’t let me down on Weeping Reef. That would have happened no matter what. If you had come over and tried to stop it I would have just been more determined. You know what I was like. And I was only with that loser to make you jealous. If you had reacted I probably would have done something even more unsafe.’

  A beating started in Luke’s heart. A steady thump that meant he was coming back to life.

  ‘I should have stopped him. I should have beaten that loser before he had a chance to do that to you, not after. I should have kicked him off the island when he first arrived, not after he’d hurt you.’

  Amy was silent and another crack of lightning lit the sky. One...two...three...Only three kilometres away.

  ‘So Willa was right. You punched him?’

  ‘Of course I punched him. I tracked him down and made sure he was sorry for what he did. And then I kicked him off the island. I watched him go. But I didn’t stop it from happening.’

  The lightning lit Amy’s face as she came toward him. ‘Thank you, Luke,’ she said quietly. ‘That was my only regret, you know—that I didn’t say something to him. At the time, I thought he’d got away with it. I thought he’d stayed when I left and that made me feel like a victim. I didn’t want to feel like that but I did—for so long.’

  Luke watched her eyes. She was sad...he could see that. And he’d done that to her. He didn’t want to make her sad. All he wanted to do was make her happy.

  His chest filled with something that wasn’t air. He wanted her close, holding on to him. Needing him. Not tamed, but still.

  ‘Amy, I’m sorry.’ He stepped closer to her, wanting to touch her. Wanting to reach out and pull her into his arms. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t stop that. I’m sorry you got hurt. I’m sorry for the things I said on the yacht. I’m sorry.’

  When she lifted her face the lightning caught it again. The boom of thunder came only a second after.

  ‘I’m sorry I never told you that you were my hero that night. You saved me. You made me feel safe when I didn’t think I ever would again. And now you’re back. And you’re saving me all over again.’

  Lightning. Thunder. Then another crack and the rain sheeted down. But Amy didn’t move. She stood still and solid. His wild animal, looking up at him with her wild eyes. Soothed. Safe. All because of him.

  ‘No, Lollipop—you’ve got it wrong. You’re the one who’s saved me.’

  He reached for her then—he couldn’t wait any longer. Willa had disappeared and everyone else had rushed inside as the rain started to fall. It was just the two of them and he needed to hold her close. He wanted to protect her from the rain and from anyone hurting her ever again. She was his. She was the most amazing, wonderful woman he’d ever known and he’d be damned if he was going to let her go. Not now that he had her back.

  Slowly, but with confidence, he lifted a palm to her chin. ‘Looks like I’m the damsel in distress and you’re the knight in shining armour.’ He smiled, and to his relief she smiled back. That slow smile he loved to watch creep over her face.

  The lightning and the thunder cracked and boomed and the rain fell around them and over them. And all he wanted to do was kiss her. To feel her pressed against him. To feel her lips against his so that he knew where she was and she knew how he felt. He loved her and she loved him and they had each other and that was all they’d ever need.

  ‘I guess we’ll just have to save each other,’ she said, and he knew it was time.

  He leaned down and tasted the rain on her lips before she let him in. They kissed long and hard and deep, with the kind of desperation you only felt when you thought you’d lost something for ever only to find it again.

  ‘I think we’ve wasted enough time, Amy.’ He kissed her neck and her cheeks and then her mouth again as he murmured his words into her ears. ‘I adore you. I love you. I need you.’

  She broke away from the kiss for long enough to look into his eyes. ‘Then this is the deal, Mr Moore. First you take me home and we make crazy love like the wild animals that we are.’

  She smiled that gorgeous smile he couldn’t get enough of.

  ‘Then you marry me, forget about going back to Singapore, and we live happily ever after.’

  His chest filled and his mouth smiled bigger and wider than it ever had. He’d never been more sure of anything in his life. He loved her. That was it. They’d met for a reason back on Weeping Reef, and that was so they could get to this point in time.

  For the first time ever Luke believed in soul mates—because he’d found his.

  ‘Deal.’

  Then they sealed the deal with a long, deep, passionate kiss.

  * * * * *

  SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM

  This Christmas, Cole Barrett isn’t expecting

  a miracle. He’s just trying to help his children

  grieve the loss of their mother. But when beautiful

  Devin Shaw bursts into their world, will Cole find

  a second-chance family under the mistletoe?

  Read on for a sneak preview of

  EVERGREEN SPRINGS,

  the latest book in New York Times bestselling author

  RaeAnne Thayne’s stunning series

  HAVEN POINT.

  http://www.harlequin.com/harlequinexperience

  Evergreen Springs

  by RaeAnne Thyne

  CHAPTER ONE

  DEVIN CONCENTRATED, NIBBLING on her bottom lip as she tried to work the needles that seemed unwieldy and awkward, no matter how she tried.

  After her third time tangling the yarn into a total mess, Devin sighed and admitted defeat. Again. Every time they happened to be assigned to work together, Greta took a moment to try teaching her to knit. And every time, she came up short.

  “People who find knitting at all relaxing have to be crazy. I think I must have some kind of mental block. It’s just not coming.”

  “You’re not trying hard enough,” Greta insisted.

  “I am! I swear I am.”

  “Even my eight-year-old granddaughter can do it,” she said sternly. “Once you get past the initial learning curve, this is something you’ll love the rest of your life.”

  “I think it’s funny.” Callie Bennett, one of the other nurses and also one of Devin’s good friends, smirked as she observed her pitiful attempts over the top of her magazine.

  “Oh, yes. Hilarious,” Devin said drily.

  “It is! You’re a physician who can set a fractured radius, suture a screaming six-year-old’s finger and deliver a baby, all with your eyes closed.”

 
“Not quite,” Devin assured her. “I open my eyes at the end of childbirth so I can see to cut the umbilical cord.”

  Callie chuckled. “Seriously, you’re one of the best doctors at this hospital. I love working with you and wish you worked here permanently. You’re cool under pressure and always seem to know just how to deal with every situation. But I hate to break it to you, hon, you’re all thumbs when it comes to knitting, no matter how hard you try.”

  “I’m going to get the hang of this tonight,” she insisted. “If Greta’s eight-year-old granddaughter can do it, so can I.”

  She picked up the needles again and concentrated under the watchful eye of the charge nurse until she’d successfully finished the first row of what she hoped would eventually be a scarf.

  “Not bad,” Greta said. “Now, just do that about four hundred more times and you might have enough for a decent-sized scarf.”

  Devin groaned. Already, she was wishing she had stuck to reading the latest medical journals to pass the time instead of trying to knit yet again.

  “I’ve got to go back to my office and finish the schedule for next month,” Greta said. “Keep going and remember—ten rows a day keeps the psychiatrist away.”

  Devin laughed but didn’t look up from the stitches.

  “How do you always pick the slowest nights to fill in?” Callie asked after Greta left the nurses’ station.

  “I have no idea. Just lucky, I guess.”

  It wasn’t exactly true. Her nights weren’t always quiet. The past few times she had substituted for the regular emergency department doctors at Lake Haven Hospital had been low-key like this one, but that definitely wasn’t always the case. A month earlier, she worked the night of the first snowfall and had been on her feet all night, between car accidents, snow shovel injuries and a couple of teenagers who had taken a snowmobile through a barbed-wire fence.

  Like so much of medicine, emergency medicine was all a roll of the dice.

  Devin loved her regular practice as a family physician in partnership with Russell Warrick, who had been her own doctor when she was a kid. She loved having a day-to-day relationship with her patients and the idea that she could treat an entire family from cradle to grave.