by Miranda Lee
Derek immediately blotted his copybook by bursting into loud cries the moment his grandmother disappeared.
‘I can see where you get your sweet temperament,’ he told the bawling infant as he walked him round the yard, trying to get him to stop crying. But to no avail.
Sarah popped her head out of the back door. ‘Better bring him inside, Luke. The poor love’s tired and hungry and needs his nappy changed.’
The poor love created merry hell till Rachel took him off to bed. Luke had by then finished the last of the two huge sandwiches Sarah had made him, and he put down his mug of coffee with a relieved sigh at the sudden blessed silence. ‘My God, is he always as bad as that?’ he asked.
‘Heavens, no. He’s just overtired from our shopping expedition. He should have been in bed at ten for his morning nap. Any other child would have just dropped off in his stroller, but not Derek. He finds looking around in the mall far too interesting to go to sleep. Same thing in the car. Most babies drift off during a drive, but never Derek. He likes looking around too much.’
‘Mum says I was like that,’ Luke remarked. ‘I was a bad sleeper too. Never lasted longer than four hours at a time. Apparently my bedroom was filled with different coloured lamps, and the whole ceiling was covered in colourful mobiles because it was the only way Mum could get some rest. I used to lie there for hours just watching the shapes move and the light play on the various surfaces.’
‘Maybe that’s why you became a photographer?’ Sarah suggested.
‘You could be right. I never connected the two things before. How clever of you, Sarah. Speaking of photography, I’d like to take some shots of Derek later. I have a few frames left in a roll I have in a camera in the car, and I might as well use them up before I get the roll developed.’
‘Oh, that would be wonderful. We really haven’t got all that many photos of him. As I’m sure you’ve gathered, money’s a bit tight. Patrick’s illness used up all his savings, and then some more. After he died we found out he’d taken a second mortgage on the house. Naturally he hadn’t earned any salary for ages. He lost his position with the international drug company he’d been doing research for soon after he was diagnosed with cancer. They treated him shamefully. Quite shamefully.’
‘Do you own this place?’
‘Oh, no. There’s no money left at all. We rent. For a while after Patrick died we both got by, by pooling our social security cheques. But Rachel realised that wasn’t going to be enough when Derek got older so she decided to go back to work. She’s been doing quite well too, getting more and more work all the time.’
‘She’s a very good model.’
‘And very beautiful,’ Sarah added, managing to put a questioning note into the words and worry into her glance at Luke.
He smiled a reassuring smile. ‘I can see I’m not going to be able to put anything over on you, Sarah. Yes, my interest in Rachel is more than professional, but my intentions are honourable. The only trouble around here will be convincing Rachel of that.’
‘She...she did love Patrick very much,’ Sarah said hesitantly. ‘She’s been through a lot.’
‘Yes,’ was all he said.
Sarah sighed. ‘But life goes on, doesn’t it? I mean... she’s only a young woman, and it’s silly to think there won’t be another man for her one day. If...if that man turns out to be you, Luke, then I for one couldn’t be happier.’
Luke reached across the table to squeeze Sarah’s hand. ‘Thank you. I appreciate that. Do you think you might talk her into going out to dinner with me tonight?’
‘You mean she’s refused?’ Sarah’s surprise was both flattering and encouraging.
‘Uh-huh.’
‘Don’t take it personally, Luke. She probably just doesn’t want to ask me to mind Derek again. Which is so silly, really. I love minding him, and he’s usually quite good at night. The other night was an exception. Now that we have that stuff for his gums, it’ll be plain sailing.’
‘I’ll play with him when he wakes up later and tire him right out,’ Luke suggested enthusiastically.
Sarah laughed. ‘What a good idea! And you can take those photographs while you’re at it.’
‘What photographs?’ Rachel asked as she walked back into the room, casting a suspicious glare at Luke.
‘Of Derek,’ Sarah answered. ‘Luke’s going to take a few snapshots and give them to us. Isn’t that nice of him?’
‘Yes,’ came the taut reply. ‘Very nice.’
‘I assured him I don’t mind minding Derek while you two young ones go out to dinner tonight.’
Rachel’s smile was brittle. ‘That’s sweet of you, Sarah, but I really can’t accept.’
‘Nonsense. I insist.’
‘And so do I,’ Luke piped up. ‘I think it’s the least you can do to repay me for all the work I’ve done around here today. I haven’t finished either. I thought I’d slap some paint on the carport. The posts are beginning to weather badly.’
Rachel looked from one to the other, then sighed and smiled sweetly. ‘I can see I’ve been successfully outmanoeuvred. All right. Dinner tonight it is. Luke, can I see you outside for a minute? I’d like to see exactly what colour paint you’re going to use. The landlord might not appreciate a pink carport.’
Any air of sweet acquiescence disappeared the second she was alone with him. ‘Now, you listen here, Luke St Clair,’ she spat, poking him in the chest with a very angry finger. ‘I told you once and now I’m telling you again. I will not have you conning poor Sarah just to get to me. Neither will I have you blatantly using my son for the same reasons. I know exactly what you want, and it isn’t just an innocent dinner-date!’
‘True.’
‘Ahh, so you finally admit it!’ She folded her arms and glared up at him, looking incredibly beautiful with her cheeks all flushed and her green eyes flashing with anger.
‘That depends. Exactly what am I supposed to be admitting to?’
‘That the only reason you’re...hanging around, as you so delicately put it earlier... is because you think I’m a sure thing where you’re concerned.’
‘Which you are,’ he muttered, surprising her and himself by suddenly grabbing her shoulders and yanking her hard against him.
But, dear heaven, there was only so much pushing a man could take. Having gone this far, Luke didn’t give her enough time to do more than gasp with shock before his mouth covered hers and his tongue was driving deep between her startled lips.
She didn’t disappoint him.
God, no. She wouldn’t be so bloody merciful!
It was the same as it had always been, once she was in his arms and being thoroughly kissed, every muscle in her body freezing for a few tantalising seconds before melting against him in one deliciously submissive wave of surrender. The feeling of power it sent crashing through Luke’s veins was so intoxicating that he wondered momentarily if this was all he wanted of her. Hell, she made him feel more of a man than any woman he’d ever known.
Yet she was in no way a weak woman.
Till she was in his arms.
Then she was weak.
He broke from her mouth and she gazed up at him with anguished green eyes. ‘You bastard,’ she cried, even while she still clung to him. ‘Why can’t you leave me alone?’
‘Because you don’t want me to,’ he returned thickly, then kissed her again—kissed her till she was jelly-kneed and trembling. Luke himself wasn’t feeling too calm either, the state of his body routing all his earlier good intentions.
‘We must stop,’ she moaned, after the kissing had gone on for even more minutes, by which time Luke was in danger of spontaneous combustion.
It crossed his mind to push her round to the side of the house right now, or into the back of her car, and just do it, like two hormone-crazed teenagers. But it was stark daylight, and Sarah might come looking for them at any second.
Thinking of Sarah brought Luke back to earth with a jolt. Hell, what was he doing, lettin
g the heat of the moment reduce his feelings for Rachel to nothing but lust? Clearly she expected a little more of him, and it was up to him to prove otherwise to her.
Dammit, he wasn’t handling this encounter at all well!
‘You’re right,’ he said abruptly, after tearing his mouth away from hers again. ‘This isn’t at all what I want.’ His arms dropped back to his sides and he took a backward step, putting some distance between himself and the heat of her softly lush curves.
Her face remained flushed, but her mouth took on a cynical twist as her gaze swept down to where his tight jeans hid nothing of his stark arousal.
‘Oh, I don’t doubt that,’ she said caustically. ‘Men like you want it all, yet in reality you want nothing of value!’
‘You’re wrong, Rachel. Wrong about me and wrong about what I want.’
‘Am I?’ she jeered. ‘Well, we’ll see tonight, won’t we, who’s right and who’s wrong? I’m sure you won’t surprise me.’
Luke dragged in then let out a shuddering sigh. ‘Look, we could keep trading insults all afternoon, but it won’t prove anything. I’ll let my actions speak for me tonight.’
‘Like your actions spoke for you a few moments ago?’ she scorned. ‘Well, they do say actions speak louder than words.’
Luke’s teeth clenched down hard in his jaw. Geez, but she would try the patience of a saint. It was no wonder he’d ended up kissing her. It was the only way to shut that smart mouth of hers.
‘If you’re so sure of my shallow character and intentions,’ he pointed out testily, ‘then why are you going out with me tonight at all?’
‘Why, indeed?’ she said in a self-mocking tone. ‘Maybe I’m a masochist. Or maybe I just like to live dangerously.’
‘Or maybe you like me a whole lot more than you care to admit!’
Her reaction to his ground out remark was a familiar one.
Fear.
It totally exasperated Luke.
‘For pity’s sake, Rachel, why do you have to look like that?’ he groaned. ‘How many times do I have to tell that I won’t hurt you?’
‘And how many times do I have to tell you that you will—by just being you!’ she countered, any fear quickly changing to a heart-wrenching sadness. ‘As for pity... why don’t you take pity on me and just go away? Can’t you see that’s what I really want? What do I have to do to make you go away and stay away?’
‘A while back you said actions spoke louder than words, Rachel. Well, you’re right!’ Quite ruthlessly, he scooped an arm around her waist and drew her hard against him, cupping her chin with his other hand while he took her mouth in a brief but hungry kiss.
It was enough for her lips to quiver and her eyes to dilate wildly. ‘When you stop responding to my kisses the way you do,’ he rasped, ‘then and only then will I go away and stay away. Now I want you to go away. Temporarily. I think I need a break from your hating me so much.’
She looked up at him with hurt eyes, but he felt no mercy at that point in time. He suspected that he would have little mercy for her tonight either, if things turned bad. Her fierce desire for him was the only weapon he had left, and if needs be he would use it.
She knew it too. Which was perhaps why she was looking at him the way she was. With real hatred this time.
‘Men like you should be drowned at birth,’ she snapped, and, whirling, sailed off towards the back door.
But the message her bejeaned bottom sent back to Luke as it swayed seductively from side to side was totally at odds with what she’d just said. Luke smiled a devilish smile, then set about painting the carport, whistling as he worked.
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘SO How did it go?’ Grace asked Luke the moment he walked in the door. She’d been on tenterhooks all day, wondering and worrying about him.
He waved his hand in a so-so gesture. ‘I’ll know more after tonight. I’m taking her out to dinner.’
‘Where?’
‘Just a small seafood restaurant. Nowhere extra fancy. She wouldn’t like that. She’d only think I was trying to impress her. Or seduce her.’
The bitter tone in that last remark bothered Grace, till she put two and two together and came up with a very obvious four. ‘She thinks you only want an affair, doesn’t she?’
‘Something like that.’
Looking at Luke, Grace could appreciate that. Did he have any idea how handsome and sexy a man he was? She was his mother, and she could see it. How much more would a young attractive woman?
‘What did she think of your mowing her lawns?’
‘She thought it was all a ploy to get her into bed. She even thinks the same about my being nice to the boy.’
‘You’ll just have to hang in there, Luke, and prove her wrong. Time should do that. Meanwhile, try to keep your hands off.’
‘Would it were that simple,’ he muttered. ‘Mum, could you iron me a shirt while I have a shower? I have to hurry.’
‘But it’s only five past five. When do you have to pick her up?’
‘Seven. But I’ve a bit of shopping I’d like to do first. And I have to drop by at Theo’s on the way. I left some rolls of film with him to be developed, and he’s doing them for me straight away.’
‘Are they the photos you took of Rachel in bikinis?’
‘Yes, but it’s not them that the hurry’s for. I took a few snaps of Derek this afternoon, playing in his sandpit, which I thought might turn out rather well, and I wanted to give them to Rachel tonight.’
‘Oh, I’d love to see them too. Have Theo run off an extra copy of them for me, will you? Actually, I wouldn’t mind having a peek at the ones of Rachel too.’
‘Sticky-beak. No worry. He’s doing two of everything as a matter of course. Now, how about ironing that shirt? I’d do it, but you do it so much better.’
‘Flatterer. Which one?’
‘The black silk.’
Grace gave him a sharp look. ‘Don’t you think another shirt would be a wiser choice? Why not your cream one? Or that lovely blue lawn one with the stitched down pocket?’
‘The black silk,’ he repeated stubbornly.
Grace heaved a resigned sigh. ‘You’re still trying to get to her through sex, Luke, and it’s not the right way.’
‘Agreed. But it might end up being the only way. And if it is, I’m going to take it.’
Grace shook her head, her heart full of real fear for Luke’s future. But she knew there was no arguing with him. He would simply clean up, then iron his own damned shirt.
She cluck-clucked her tongue in utter exasperation as she walked out to the laundry and drew the aforementioned garment out of the clothes basket, glaring at it as she spread it out on the ironing-board. He looked as handsome as the devil in that shirt, and wickedly sexy.
Poor Rachel, she thought.
And poor Luke.
The man simply had no idea. Women with babies didn’t want just sex. Not without security in tow. And Luke in that shirt represented only the former.
But he would have to learn the bitter lessons of life for himself, wouldn’t he? Maybe next time he’d listen to his mother!
‘Wow, wow, and triple wow!’ was Theo’s greeting to Luke when he dropped by to pick up the photos. ‘Now I understand. I’d fall in love with her myself if you hadn’t got there first.’
‘Thanks, Theo,’ Luke returned, with a wry smile as he took the large brown envelopes. ‘I take it your little beauties performed well?’
‘You’d take great pictures with a box Brownie, Luke. If you weren’t such a good mate I’d be filthy jealous. I take it you’re off to see the gorgeous blonde in the bikini?’ he said, casting a rueful eye over Luke’s appearance.
‘Yes, and I’m running late.’ Luke had taken simply ages in the baby shop, selecting mobiles for Derek’s room.
‘Off you go, then. Far be it from me to stand in the way of true love. Oh, by the way, who’s the kid? The one with eyes you could drown in.’
‘That’s D
erek. He belongs to the gorgeous blonde in the bikini.’
‘Really? Would I be out of line asking if you’re the father?’
Luke’s chest contracted. He wished.
‘No, I’m not,’ he said brusquely.
‘Then, who is?’
‘Her husband.’
‘Oh, hell.’
‘Not quite. She’s a widow.’
Theo still wrinkled his nose at the situation. ‘Not good, man. I wouldn’t raise another man’s kid. Not even if the mother was a golden goddess. Give it ten years or so, man, and the kid’ll be telling you to get lost, and not to tell him what to do ’cause you’re not his real father.’
‘But I will be his real father, Theo. I’m going to adopt him. Now, I must go. We’ll go out for drinks some time shortly, right?’
‘Only if I can be best man at the wedding.’
‘You’re on!’
Theo’s words stayed with Luke during the drive down to Rachel’s place. He could see the sense in his friend’s warning, but somehow it didn’t seem to apply to his relationship with Derek. When Luke looked at that kid, and held him and played with him, he felt a bonding which transcended biological fatherhood. It was an emotional thing which could not be analysed. He loved the child as surely as he loved the mother.
He even loved the grandmother too, in a way. They were a grand trio, and he wanted quite desperately to make life good for them again, to buy them all a beautiful big house, to lavish some luxuries on them to make up for the hard times they’d had before and since Patrick Cleary’s death.
Luke thought of the mobiles he’d bought Derek and smiled. He’d love the dancing elephant one. Kids always liked elephants. The butterfly one was cute too. Then there was the racing car one, and last but not least the fairies. God, he hoped buying a boy a fairy mobile wouldn’t be looked askance upon by Sarah or Rachel. It had been the most colourful—the fairies having luminescent wings which glowed in the dark.
When Luke stopped at the next set of red lights, he snatched up the brown envelope lying on the passenger seat, ripped open the flap and slid out the thick bundle of coloured prints.