Absent in the Spring (The Shakespeare Sisters 3)

‘The sexy laird. Are you combining business with pleasure? Jeez, Lucy, that’s not like you.’ Cesca sounded way too happy. ‘You need to tell me all. How did this happen? Oh, this is fabulous.’

‘Stop it.’ She regretted even opening her mouth.

‘Come on, give me something to work with. I’ll put it in my next play.’

‘So when are you planning to arrive in London?’ Lucy asked.

‘Stop trying to change the subject. Tell me about this guy.’

‘Is that the time?’ Lucy was determined to shut this down before Cesca got any closer to the truth. ‘I’ve got a teleconference in five minutes. I’ll speak to you when I’m back from New York, okay?’

‘You can run but you can’t hide, big sister.’ Cesca was laughing now. ‘And when you get back I expect to hear all the gory details.’

24

Affection is a coal that must be cool’d; else,

suffer’d, it will set the heart on fire

– Venus and Adonis

The moment Lucy stepped through the sliding doors and into the arrivals hall, she took his breath away. He was leaning on a pillar, trying to answer some emails as he scanned the crowd with half an eye, not giving either his full attention. But then she was there, her blonde hair curling around her shoulders, the New York sun streaming in through the glass wall of the airport, lighting her up like there was nobody else in the room.

And there wasn’t. At least, not for him, and not right then. He wasn’t sure what to do with that feeling, so he pushed it down the same way he pushed himself off the pillar, covering the distance between them in long strides, unable to get that smile off his face. When she spotted him fighting his way through the crowd, her eyes lit up, and the biggest, craziest grin formed on her lips.

He hadn’t realised how tense he’d been until his muscles loosened, the tightness in his shoulders melting away. Hadn’t realised he’d been holding his breath, either, until the air rushed out in one go.

‘You’re a sight for sore eyes,’ he said when he was only a few feet away from her. She opened her mouth to reply, but then someone barged into the back of her, knocking her for six. She tumbled forward, loosening her hold on her suitcase just as it fell to the floor, and Lachlan reached out, catching her a second before her face joined her suitcase on the tiles. He scooped her up into his arms, frowning as he looked around to find the culprit, but there were way too many people, and they were swarming around them like ants.

‘You okay?’ he asked, staring down at her, taking her in. So much prettier than he remembered – if that was even possible.

‘I’m fine.’ She righted herself and grabbed hold of her case, staring up at him with those big, wide eyes. In the melee, her hair had fallen over her brow, and he gently brushed it off with his fingers, tucking the thick

golden strands behind her ears. Once he’d touched her, he couldn’t take his hand away. Instead, he ran his thumb across her cheek, her jaw, her full bottom lip. But that wasn’t enough. He wanted to kiss her, taste her, to slide his tongue into her warm, velvet mouth. To do everything he’d thought about in the past two weeks.

As he brushed his lips against hers, she closed her eyes, letting go of her suitcase once again and looping her arms around his neck. Her body was pressed closely into his, enough that it was sending his senses crazy, at the feel of her, her soft fragrance, the way every time their lips parted she took a sharp mouthful of air.

‘Christ, I’ve missed you.’

She opened her eyes, smiling up at him. ‘I’ve missed you, too.’ Her expression matched his – desire tinged with something deeper. Something he wasn’t sure he could name even if he wanted to. Instead, he pressed his lips against hers again, the need for her pulsing through his body.

When they finally stopped kissing, he grabbed her case in one hand and put his other arm around her, not willing to have her pushed over again. They let themselves be carried along by the tide of people, spilling out onto the sidewalk, where the crowd finally dispersed. His car pulled up alongside them within a minute, and the driver climbed out and took her case, Lachlan opening the back door so that Lucy could sit inside.

‘You have a driver?’ she asked him, that cute grin on her face again. ‘I always imagined you zipping around New York in a Ferrari.’

He laughed. ‘It’s impossible to zip around New York at all, whether you’re in a Ferrari or an old wreck. And yeah, I have a driver during the week. It means I can work on my laptop while I’m travelling.’

The driver slowly eased the car into the middle lane, and Lucy looked around the interior of the Lincoln, taking in the cream leather upholstery, the spacious back seats, the monitor fixed to the back of the driver’s seat. She glanced back at Lachlan. ‘It’s like an office away from the office.’

Damn if he didn’t want to kiss her again. But this wasn’t a limo, and the driver was only a breath away from them. And if he was being honest, he didn’t want to embarrass her, knowing her the way he did. She was intensely private – even the kiss in the airport was out of character. He wasn’t planning on pushing his luck.

He’d stretched it far enough already. He couldn’t believe she was actually here with him, even less that she’d removed herself from his case. Her career was everything to her, and the fact she’d told her boss about their relationship had pretty much blown him away.

This thing between them may have started as a fling – or even worse, an itch he’d been desperate to scratch – but now it was so much more than that. Though the thought of something serious developing between him and Lucy scared him, the thought of it not happening scared him more. Just breathing the same air as her made his life so much better.

‘Are you tired?’ he asked, looking at her with soft eyes. ‘Or hungry? We can stop off and get some food on the way back to the apartment if you like.’

‘Don’t you need to get back to work?’ she asked, checking her watch. ‘It’s only the afternoon, I assumed you’d want to go straight to the office.’