‘And that made you start questioning yourself. Why?’
‘When the romance wore off they didn’t like the reality of living with me.’
‘And, being a woman, you automatically think it’s something you did wrong. They obviously weren’t strong enough for you. And then there’s male pride. None of them were as successful as you and they felt threatened by you. C’mon, Jess, that’s basic psych. You know this.’
‘But it doesn’t matter who brings in more money. It’s not important,’ Jess protested.
‘To you, maybe not, but to a man...? Yes, it’s important! You’re quite a package, Sherwood, and you need a man who is strong enough, secure enough, to allow you to fly.’
Jess wanted to ask him whether he was that man, whether he would hand her a pair of wings and watch her soar. Jess made herself meet his eyes and saw the regret in them.
‘I’m not that man, Jess,’ Luke stated quietly. ‘Not because I don’t think I could handle you, but because I don’t want the complication of handling any woman.’
Jess forced herself to smile. ‘That’s okay, because didn’t we decide that it was better to keep this—us—simple?’
‘Yeah. But I still want to sleep with you.’
‘And that is what makes it complicated.’
Luke’s chair scraped across the wooden floor as he pushed it back. He walked around and put his hands on the table and her chair, to cage her in. He bent his head and his lips brushed against hers.
Jess lifted her hand to the side of his face. ‘Thanks for looking after me last night.’
Luke kissed her again. ‘You scared me stupid, coming back late and injured.’ He pulled her up and into his arms, resting his chin on top of her head. ‘Don’t do it again, okay? I don’t know if my heart can take it.’
* * *
Her family, in typical fashion, arrived earlier than expected, and Jess found herself opening the first of what promised to be many, many bottles of red wine at shortly after four that afternoon. Her extensive family was crowded into the main lounge of the manor house and was already settling in. Nick had made a fire, Chris was opening a packet of crisps and her two other brothers were sprawled out over the two leather couches. Anne and Heather, two of her sisters-in-law, had taken the kids for a walk, and her mother, grandmother, Clem and Kate were standing by the huge bay window, looking at the wonderful view of the mountains. Her father, bless him, was exploring the house and probably cataloguing the paintings.
‘Good grief, how long before I get a glass of wine?’ Grandma demanded, and Jess rolled her eyes.
‘Well, if your lazy grandsons would get off their butts and help me it would be a lot quicker,’ Jess grumbled.
John sat up. ‘Hand over the bottle and the corkscrew, Shrimp.’
Jess wrinkled her nose at their old nickname for her and walked over to Nick, her favourite brother, who was standing next to the fire.
His grey eyes were sombre when he caught her eye. ‘So, how bad was it?’
‘How bad was what?’
‘Your fall. You brushed it off with the folks, but you’re limping and your eyes are slightly glassy.’
‘I’m fine. Luke patched me up.’
‘Who is Luke?’ John asked as he handed her a glass of wine.
‘The guy I’m doing the campaign for. He owns St Sylve.’ Jess couldn’t meet their eyes—especially Nick’s. He was too damn perceptive and he knew her really well.
‘Something cooking between you two?’ he asked.
‘What’s cooking between whom?’ Grandma demanded, and Jess groaned and glared at Nick.
‘She’s got ears like a bat,’ John commented.
‘I was just asking Jess what’s going on between—’ her elbow in his ribs didn’t stop Nick for one second ‘—her and Savage.’
‘Nothing is going on!’ Jess protested. Her brother and his big mouth.
‘Is he why you wouldn’t go on that date I set up for you?’ asked her mum.
‘No! I was just too busy!’ Jess replied, and held up her hands. ‘I want you guys to really listen to me. This is important.’
All the eyes in the room were suddenly focused on her and Jess knew that she had to choose her words carefully. ‘If you get to meet Luke—and I’m not saying you will, because really we’re just friends—I want you to go easy on him. He’s not used to big families so I don’t want you guys giving him a hard time...’
Her brothers looked at her, looked at each other, and burst out laughing. Talk about waving a red flag in front of a bull... Now Luke was firmly in their sights. She should have just played it cool. When was she going to learn?