Читать книгу The Platinum Collection - Эбби Грин, Maisey Yates - Страница 58

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

A WOMAN I care about...

Those words spoken last night kept running through Elizabeth’s mind all morning, keeping any anxiety over coming face to face with Michael and Lucy again at bay. She added up all the caring from Harry and realised no other man in her life had done as much for her—helping, comforting, pleasuring, answering her needs.

It couldn’t be just about having sex with her.

There had been genuine concern in his eyes when he’d asked, ‘Are you going to be okay today?’ before leaving her at the office door after their night at the pavilion villa.

She’d assured him that she would be and he’d added, ‘I’ll be on hand.’

Ready to run interference if she needed it, as he had last Monday.

It felt really good to have him caring about her—someone she could depend on to get her through this weekend without too much heartache. Oddly enough, she wasn’t feeling any heartache at all over Michael wanting Lucy, although seeing them together again might strain her current sense of being able to set them at an emotional distance.

Harry was to meet them at the jetty and transport them to the administration centre. Elizabeth felt reasonably confident about handling their queries about how well she was coping with management responsibilities. Lucy, of course, would angle for a private conversation with her, but she didn’t think that would trouble her too much. She no longer felt so shattered over her lost dreams.

A few guests dropped into the office to check on arrangements they’d made for diving expeditions. There were inquiries about bookings to be answered. A couple of beach picnics had to be sorted out with the chef. Sarah Pickard came by, ostensibly to put in an order for new towels, but her eyes shone with lively curiosity about this new development between Harry and his stand-in manager.

Probably all the staff on the island knew about it by now since the villa had to be cleaned this morning, ready for Michael and Lucy. Elizabeth had decided it didn’t matter but she certainly wasn’t going to talk about her private life to anyone.

‘Harry said it’s your sister coming with Mickey today,’ Sarah remarked.

‘Yes,’ Elizabeth answered briefly.

‘That’s nice.’

Elizabeth smiled. ‘Yes, it is.’

‘When did they meet?’

‘Lucy came into the Cairns office to see me and they clicked. Simple as that,’ she said airily.

‘And Harry, of course, met you when he went to see Mickey.’

‘Yes.’

Realising that Elizabeth was not about to be chatty, Sarah backed off, only tossing out the comment, ‘Well, it’s all very interesting,’ as she left the office.

It wasn’t interesting so much as complicated, Elizabeth thought. She didn’t know if these connections were likely to lead anywhere good for either Lucy or herself. Two brothers who were close, two sisters who were close, the work situation—if things started going wrong, there could be a nasty ripple effect.

She remembered Lucy’s blithe comment when Harry had been ordering their cocktails last Monday—wouldn’t it be great if we ended up together...all happy families! Possibly it could be great if it worked out like that but Elizabeth wasn’t counting on it. It was far too early to think the possibility was high.

Lucy slid out of relationships almost as fast as she started them.

As for herself and Harry, she couldn’t even call it a relationship yet. All she could really say for certain was that her stance against him had been substantially shifted. And he was fantastic in bed!

It was almost midday when he called from the jetty to say Mickey’s motor-launch was about to dock. Her nerves instantly started jangling, mocking any idea that she could breeze through this meeting with no angst at all. She fiercely told herself the important thing was to keep her composure, regardless of what she was feeling.

Lucy was hugging Michael’s arm when Harry led them into the office—the woman in possession and obviously loving having this man in tow. Her skin was glowing, her eyes were shining and the smile on her face beamed brilliant happiness. Elizabeth’s heart contracted at this evidence that her sister was over-the-moon in love.

‘This island is fabulous, Ellie,’ she cried. ‘What a great place to work!’

‘Tropical paradise,’ Elizabeth responded, pasting a smile on her face and moving from behind the desk to greet them appropriately.

Lucy released Michael’s arm to rush forward and give her a hug. ‘Are you loving it?’ she asked, her eyes bright with curiosity about the situation, which, of course, included Harry.

‘Not too much, I hope,’ Michael semigrowled in the background.

‘It’s been quite a change,’ she said dryly, flicking him a sharply assessing look.

Somehow he was more handsome than ever, his face relaxed in a friendly way, his very male physique shown off in casual clothes—smartly tailored shorts in a blue-and-grey check teamed with a royal blue sports shirt. He still had the impact of an alpha man scoring ten out of ten, but she wasn’t feeling it so personally anymore. He belonged to her sister now.

‘A good one, I hope,’ Harry slid in, drawing her attention to him.

Another alpha man—no doubt about it now—and the memory of last night’s intimacy caused a wave of warm pleasure to roll through her. The piercing blue eyes were digging at her again, but she didn’t resent it this time. He cared about what she was feeling.

‘Yes,’ she answered with a smile, wanting to allay his concern for her.

‘Now, Harry, poaching my PA is not on,’ Michael shot at him.

‘Like I said before, Mickey—her choice,’ he replied with an affable shrug.

‘Okay, while you two guys argue over my brilliant sister, I want her to show me her living quarters,’ Lucy put in quickly. ‘You can mind the office, can’t you, Harry?’

‘Go right ahead,’ he said agreeably.

‘Come on, Ellie,’ she urged, nodding to the door at the back of the office. ‘Michael said your apartment was right here. I want to see everything. And while I’m at it, may I say you look great in the island uniform?’

Elizabeth laughed. ‘Not as spectacular as you this morning.’

Lucy wore cheeky little navy denim shorts with a red-and-purple halter top, big red hoop earrings, red trainers on her feet and a purple scrunchie holding up her long blond hair in a ponytail.

‘Am I over-the-top?’ she asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. ‘You can carry off anything, Lucy.’

‘I wish...’ she replied with a wry grimace as Elizabeth ushered her into the apartment and closed the door on the two men in the office.

Elizabeth eyed her quizzically, sensing something was weighing on her sister’s mind. ‘Is that a general wish or...?’

‘Oh, nothing really,’ came the airy reply, her hands gesturing dismissively as her gaze swung around the living room. ‘This is lovely, Ellie. Show me the bedroom and bathroom.’

She stopped at the queen-size bed, her sherry-brown eyes twinkling mischief at Elizabeth. ‘Have you shared this with Harry yet?’

‘Actually, no.’ Wanting to divert any further personal probing, she retaliated with, ‘Do you want to tell me what’s going on with Michael?’

She threw up her hands. ‘Everything is happening! I swear to you, Ellie, I’ve never been this mad about a guy. I’m in love like you wouldn’t believe, and while it’s incredibly wonderful, it’s also scary, you know?’

‘In what way scary?’

She flopped onto the bed, put her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling. ‘Michael is smart. I mean really smart, isn’t he?’

‘Yes.’

‘So what happens when he finds out that my brain wasn’t wired right and I’m a dummy when it comes to reading and writing? So far I’ve been winging it as I usually do, but this is far more intense than it’s been with other guys, and he’s bound to start noticing I’m a bit weird about some things.’ She rolled her head to look straight at Elizabeth, a yearning appeal in her eyes. ‘You’ve worked for him for two years. Will it put him off me if I tell him I’m dyslexic?’

Having experienced how exacting he was about everything to do with work, Elizabeth could only answer, ‘I honestly don’t know, Lucy. Does it feel as though he’s in love with you?’

‘Well, definitely in lust.’ Her forehead puckered. ‘I can’t be sure that’s love, but I really want it to be, Ellie. More than I’ve wanted anything. I want him to care so much about having me, it won’t matter that I’m flawed.’

Elizabeth sat on the bed beside her and smoothed the worried furrows from her brow. ‘It shouldn’t matter if he loves you. And stop thinking of yourself as a dummy, Lucy. You’re very smart, and you have so many talents...any man would be lucky to have you in his life.’

She heaved a rueful sigh. ‘Well, I don’t want him to know yet. I couldn’t bear it if...’ Her eyes shot a pleading look at Elizabeth. ‘You haven’t told Harry, have you?’

‘No. And I won’t.’

‘I need more time. To give it a chance, you know?’

‘Yes, I know.’

‘I’ve been running off at the mouth about me. What about you and Harry?’

Elizabeth shrugged. ‘Same thing. More time needed.’

‘But you do like him.’

‘Yes.’ The hostility towards him had completely dissipated last night, as had the steaming vexation and resentment he had so frequently stirred. As it was now, there was nothing not to like.

Lucy propped herself on her elbow, an earnest expression on her face. ‘Promise me you won’t go off him if things don’t work out between me and Michael.’

She hadn’t expected Lucy, who had always seemed to be a live-in-the-moment person, to look ahead and see complications arising from the situation. It took her by surprise. Before she could consider the promise, Lucy rattled on.

‘Harry could be the right guy for you. Let’s face it...he’s gorgeous and sexy and wealthy and obviously keen to have you in his corner. You could be great together and I don’t want me to be the reason for you not having a future with him. I’d be happy to see you happy with him, Ellie, regardless of what happens between me and Michael.’

Deeply touched by her sister’s caring, she couldn’t help replying, ‘But being so madly in love with Michael, you’ll be hurt if he walks away from you.’ Just as she had been on Monday—totally shattered and never wanting to see him again.

‘Oh, I’ll muddle along like I always do,’ Lucy retorted with a wry grimace. ‘I’m good at putting things behind me. I’ve had a lot of practice at it.’ She reached out, took Elizabeth’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. ‘You mustn’t worry about me. Go for what you want. You deserve a good life, Ellie.’

‘So do you.’

‘Well, maybe we’ll both achieve it. Who knows? I just want to clear the deck for you and Harry. Now tell me you’re okay with that.’

Elizabeth heaved a sigh to relieve the heavy emotional fullness in her chest and finally said, ‘I’m okay if you’re okay.’ She squeezed her sister’s hand back. ‘Whatever happens with either of us, we’ll always have each other, Lucy.’

‘Absolutely!’ she agreed, the earnestness breaking into a wide grin. ‘Now let’s go get our men!’ She bounced off the bed and twirled around in a happy dance. ‘Let’s have a fabulous weekend, following our hearts’ desire and not thinking about tomorrow.’ She paused in the doorway to the living room to give Elizabeth a wise look. ‘You never know when something might strike us dead so we do what we want to do. Right?’

‘Right!’ Elizabeth echoed, suddenly wondering how much of Lucy’s attitudes and behaviour stemmed from their mother’s early death and the suffering that had preceded it. She’d only been seventeen. Would Michael wrap her in the loving security blanket she needed? It was simply impossible to know at this point.

When she and Lucy emerged from the apartment, the two men were still standing where they’d left them in the office. Michael’s attention instantly swivelled away from Harry, his face lighting up with pleasure at seeing her sister again. He held out his arms in a welcome-back gesture and Lucy waltzed straight into them, laughing up at him as she curled her arms around his neck.

‘All done here?’ he asked indulgently.

‘Yes. But I want all four of us to lunch together in the restaurant.’

He threw a quick appeal to his brother. ‘That can be arranged?’

‘Leave it with me,’ Harry said, not exactly committing to the idea. ‘Why don’t you take Lucy across to the restaurant, order a bottle of wine, and we’ll join you when we’ve cleared the way?’

‘See you soon,’ Lucy tossed at Elizabeth as Michael scooped her away with him.

Which left her alone with Harry.

She’d been watching Michael very intently, wishing she could see into his mind and heart, knowing now that he could hurt Lucy very badly if lust didn’t turn into love. This wasn’t another flash-in-the-pan attraction for her—easy come, easy go.

Was he the right man for her sister?

A little while ago she had believed he was the perfect match for herself. It was hard to get her head around transferring that sense of rightness to the connection between Michael and Lucy, but at least it didn’t hurt anymore. She felt no jealousy. No envy. Just a rather horrid sense that fate was playing a capricious trick in seeding attractions with the potential to mess up their lives.

* * *

Harry clenched his hands in instinctive fighting mode. Throughout the whole encounter with Mickey and Lucy, Elizabeth’s attention had been trained on them. She hadn’t looked to him for any help. Even now with them gone, her focus was inward, probably measuring her feelings and unwilling to reveal them.

Was she still obsessed with Mickey?

He needed to know.

‘Elizabeth...’ he said more tersely than he’d meant to.

Her gaze flicked up to his. He saw no pain in her eyes. It was more a look of curious assessment. Of him. Was she comparing what she’d felt for Mickey with how she now felt about him? Last night’s intimacy had to have had some impact on her. She’d responded to him very positively.

‘If you’d rather not have lunch with them...’ he started, willing to make up some excuse for her to avoid spending more time in their company if she found it intolerable.

‘No, it’s fine,’ she cut in. ‘If it’s okay with you for me to vacate the office for the lunch hour.’

‘You’re sure?’ he asked, wanting absolute confirmation that she was free of any angst over her sister’s connection with his brother.

A whimsical smile softened her expression as she walked towards him. To his surprise and delight, when she reached him she slid her hands up his chest and linked them around the back of his neck. ‘Lucy said to go get our men and right now you’re my man, Harry. I hope you’re happy about that,’ she said in a soft seductive lilt.

Was it true?

He fiercely didn’t want it to be on the rebound.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into full body contact with him. No resistance. In fact, she rubbed herself teasingly against him, stirring an instant erection. Her eyes blazed with a boldness he’d never seen in them and he sensed a determination in her to take life by the scruff of the neck and give it a good shake.

Whatever... Her dream about Mickey was gone and she was choosing to have him. He kissed her and she kissed him right back, no hesitation, no inhibitions—a full-blooded response that made it extremely difficult to rein in the desire she’d fired up. It was the wrong time to race her off to bed. Mickey and Lucy were waiting for them in the restaurant and he wouldn’t put it past Lucy to come looking for them if they didn’t appear within a reasonable time.

Besides, the promise was certainly there that last night was not going to be the one-night stand Elizabeth had dictated.

He could wait.

He was satisfied that he’d won.

Elizabeth Flippence was now his woman.