Meg caught her bottom lip with her teeth. Apparently finding what he sought, Luke opened the door and pulled her with him into the darkened room, whispering, “Never let it be said that I didn’t utterly satisfy my wife.”
Meg woke in her husband’s bed, her head resting in the hollow of his shoulder, her arm draped over his chest, her legs entwined with his.
He’d kept his promise and given her so much more.
Slowly, carefully, she disentangled herself and eased from the bed. He didn’t so much as stir.
As she slipped back into her dress and gathered up her discarded stockings and shoes, she paused by the wide window. They’d slept with the curtains open and overnight a light snow had fallen, dusting the trees and boulders on the lake shore. The sight was so beautiful that it made her heart ache. Soon she’d be gone from here. She’d stepped onto a stage and played her part. But the time for her exit was drawing inexorably closer.
Feeling like an intruder, she slunk back through the still house. Bundling up against the cold, she took Caesar for his morning walk along the shore, tossing his stick repeatedly. Tempted by beauty’s promise of stillness and serenity, she walked out to the end of the jetty and looked over the lake. The mountains on the far side were still obscured by heavy cloud.
At the sound of footsteps, she turned, a leap in her pulse. Not Luke but Jason. Her heart sank and she realized she’d hoped, wanted, it to be Luke. Wanted to see the man she’d made love to last night. Wanted to see his face and at the same time was afraid to. In the light of day would there be any of last night’s tenderness and connection, or would it be regret and distance she saw there?
“I thought I saw someone down here.” Jason smiled, warmth in his voice. He looked a little like Luke. Similar build and coloring but his watery-blue eyes were always moving, scanning the surroundings.
Meg smiled back, but doubts gnawed at her. What had Jason done to cause Luke to dislike him so intensely? Intensely enough that he would rather marry her than have his half brother inherit from him.
“So are the rumors true? Has my brother come home?”
Half brother. Meg nearly said that out loud. Luke was always careful to draw the distinction. “Yes.”
Jason’s smile wavered and he glanced over his shoulder at the house. Was that anxiety in his question? Jason had always seemed eager for Luke’s return.
“I was just going back inside. Come in. He’s probably up by now.” Meg walked back along the jetty. Jason fell into step beside her.
“I’m on my way to meet someone and I want to go before there’s any more snow. I haven’t got time to stop. I’ll call in later.”
She shrugged. “I’ll let him know to expect you.”
“And let him know…”
She waited for him to finish.
“Nothing,” he finally said. “Just…put in a good word for me, will you?” She walked round to the front of the house with him. As he drove away, she climbed the stairs.
The front door swung open. Luke, in jeans and bare feet, pulled an olive-green T-shirt over his head. He tugged the hem of the shirt over the plane of his stomach and looked past Meg. Jason’s red Corvette disappeared around a bend in the road, leaving it empty and still. “Damn.” Luke’s gaze came back to her. “How long was he here and what did he want?”
“Not long and to know if you were home.” Meg stepped past Luke and into the house. The Christmas tree dominated the entranceway. They’d kissed here last night. Her face heated with the recollections of where that had led to.
Luke’s hand wrapped around her wrist, stopping her when she would have walked away, turning her back to face him. “What did you tell him?”
“I told him that yes, you were home.”
“What else?”
Meg tugged her hand free. “Ask him yourself. I don’t want to be a pawn in your petty squabbles.”
“They’re not petty.”
“No, I suppose not.” For all that she hadn’t known Luke long, she knew him well enough to be certain of that. “But I still don’t want to be caught in the middle of whatever it is. I think Jason really did try to help me while you were gone.”
“If he did, it was for his own reasons.” The creases in his brow deepened. “He blackmailed my mother.”
A woman who’d devoted her life to others. A year after her death, the villagers still spoke of her with love, talked about her compassion and understanding and her ability to get things done. They’d probably still be talking about her a decade from now. And Jason had blackmailed her? “No.” He wouldn’t have, would he?
“Right up until her death. I didn’t find out till I went through her papers in Indonesia.”
“I remember your saying you’d discovered something about him. You were so angry.”
“Still am.”
As Meg repositioned a gold bauble on the tree, she could just make out his distorted reflection in its surface. “What are you going to do about it?”
“I haven’t made a final decision. I want to talk to him first. Confront him with it.”
“Will you bring charges?” She turned back to him.
Grimness tightened his mouth. A mouth that could give such pleasure. “Most likely. After I strip him of the car, the house and the job I gave him.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t play the disappointed-in-me card, Meg. The man was blackmailing my mother. I owe it to her.”
“You’re right, and I’m not disappointed.”
“But?”
“I just wondered if that was your only option.”
“Unless you can suggest a better one, one that does justice to my mother?”
As Meg shook her head, he slid his phone from the pocket of his jeans, punched in a number. “Jason. You should have stuck around.” Did Jason hear the command in the quietly spoken sentence? Meg tuned out the short conversation as she walked away. Luke caught up with her in the kitchen as she was pouring two coffees. “He’ll be back later today.”
She passed him a mug. As she lifted hers to her nose to inhale the fragrance, the ring on her finger caught her eye. The dinner was over, there was no need for her to wear it any longer. Putting down her coffee, she twisted the simple gold band from her finger and held it out to him.
He looked at her hand but didn’t reach for the ring and a glimmer of a smile touched his lips. “You can’t give it back to me. I never gave it to you in the first place.”
Oh. Right. So much for that gesture. Feeling like a fool, she went to slip the ring into her pocket. He did reach for her then. He picked up her left hand and slid the ring back into place. “But leave it there for now. I didn’t want to make you a pawn, Meg. I wanted to give you something.”
“And to stop Jason getting anything.”
“Mainly that,” he agreed. “And you know what else?”
“What?”
“This isn’t how I planned on starting this morning.”
She didn’t want to think about what he might mean by that. There were a number of possibilities. All of the ones that sprang to her mind were unwise.
He tugged her closer, pressed a soft, beguiling kiss to her lips. Very unwise.
“Good morning,” he said with a smile once he’d pulled away, his gaze locking on to hers.
All of her tension had melted with just that one kiss. It was a masterful tactic, a potent secret weapon in his arsenal. “Good morning.” Kiss me again.
But he didn’t. “Have you had breakfast? Or is it lunchtime already again?”
“Breakfast, and no, I haven’t eaten. But Luke, I think I should go.”
She watched his face, his eyes, but couldn’t read his reaction. “Eat first,” he finally said. Not, No, don’t go, Meg, which she would have been foolish to expect. Sometimes, though, she was foolish. Last night being the most recent example. Making love to a man she had no future with. Letting herself love him, even just a little.