Images of crawling on the bed next to him and lying in his arms sent her pulse rate off the charts.
“When we reach the boat, I’ll need my leg muscle massaged, but we’ll give it a pass for tonight. Do you have an alarm clock?”
She could hardly breathe thinking about touching him and having the right to do it. “I never travel without one.”
“Then I’ll need to be wakened at six. A limo will be here to take us to the hospital at quarter past the hour.”
“I’ll be happy to do that.”
“If you’re hungry, make yourself at home in the kitchen.”
“Thank you, but I ate on the plane. Would you like something to eat?”
“I was just finishing my meal when you arrived at the door.”
Uh-oh. “Since I interrupted you, I’ll go downstairs and clean up.”
“That’s what I employ a housekeeper for. You’re being suspiciously meek and humble all of a sudden.”
“It’s my true nature coming out.”
A burst of mocking laughter escaped his throat. “I have to wonder if you lied to me, and Cesar is on his way over as we speak.”
That stung. “While you wonder all you want, I’m going to pick out a bedroom to sleep in.”
“Bonne nuit, Mademoiselle Olivier. If you would be so kind as to turn off the light and shut the door on your way out. Note that I said shut, not slam.”
She could still hear his low evil chuckle after she’d left the room carrying her suitcase. Once she’d peeked in the various bedrooms, each one more elegant and inviting than the last, she chose the room next to Luc’s with the same view.
The warm yellow and cream decor delighted her. Substitute the dark furniture for a baby crib and dresser, and it would make a heavenly nursery. All you would have to do is create a connecting door between it and the master bedroom.
Filled with thoughts of what Luc’s baby would look like with her as the mother, she got ready for bed in the en suite bathroom.
After setting her travel alarm, she slipped between the sheets of the queen-sized bed, still pinching herself that her plan had worked to the point she was sleeping beneath Luc’s roof, next to his own room.
But there was one more thing she had to do, or she wouldn’t be able to relax. Turning on her side she picked up the receiver on the nightstand to make a credit card call to Piper. After giving the hotel operator her sister’s room number, she waited, then was told Piper had checked out.
While the operator was speaking, Olivia heard a click, like the kind when someone else picks up the phone from another extension.
Luc had his own cell phone to make calls. He was probably spying on her to see if she was trying to reach Cesar. The man in the next room had serious trust issues.
Olivia frowned before thanking the operator and hanging up. Apparently Piper had decided to take a night flight to New York instead of waiting until morning.
Unless Olivia tried to get a number through Greer’s new in-laws to reach her in Greece, it looked like she would have to wait until tomorrow for Piper to enlighten her about Luc. While he was in surgery, she would make the call.
Unable to do anything else for the moment, she sank back against the pillows, afraid she would never get to sleep. Luc lay on the other side of the wall. The knowledge that he was awake and might be thinking about her, even if they were negative thoughts, left her breathless.
Visions of him sprawled on top of his mattress were the last images in her mind before her alarm went off seven hours later.
The ground came rushing up to meet the helicopter. Olivia felt slightly unsteady during the rapid descent. This was Luc’s normal mode of travel, but it was the first time she’d ridden in one. Way back in Monaco she’d lost her stomach as it took off from the roof of the hospital.
But for most of the flight she forgot to be frightened or sick when her eyes beheld the glorious French and Italian Riviera from the air. People actually lived here, were born here in this paradise!
Olivia couldn’t imagine what it would be like to wake up to such beauty every day of her life. To be able to work here, to play, to eat, to go bed and start the whole process all over again the next day in surroundings captured on canvas by the great Impres
sionists—
Her mind could scarcely comprehend what kind of joy that would bring. But of course Luc would have to be part of that picture, or the magic wouldn’t be there no matter how captivating the ambience.