‘It’s everything I need,’ she argued. ‘I should have known you wouldn’t rest until you found out what had happened in London. I think you and my brothers are throwbacks to some warrior race, where honour is a badge worth fighting to the death for.’
‘And where those warriors believe that little girls never grow up?’ he suggested gently.
‘You’re all guilty of that,’ she agreed. ‘But I can assure you this girl’s all grown up.’ She gave Luke’s chest a half-hearted thump as she pulled away.
‘Come back here.’
‘Let me go, Luke,’ she said, trying to be firm with him. ‘I’m warning you.’
‘No, you’re not,’ he argued gently. ‘You’re resting on me, because that’s what you’ve always done when you’re upset. You know you can tell me anything. You always could.’
‘In the absence of anyone else to confide in,’ she admitted ruefully.
‘You always did know how to make me feel valued,’ he teased her gently.
‘You are valued,’ she said, staring up into his eyes. ‘You have no idea.’
He was all out of words.
Her mind crashed as Luke’s mouth covered hers. She gave a whimper and, hearing his responding growl, shivered with the relief of a wounded animal being rescued by its mate. Luke cupped her head in one big hand as he moved his lips against hers, and kissing him back was like coming home. She had never been frightened of Luke. He might look like a barbarian—he might even act like one on the polo field—but Luke was her lodestone, her rock. She just hadn’t ever risked thinking of him as a man who might want her after what had happened. And if he’d leave it at kisses …
Luke sensed the change in her immediately and pulled back.
‘Why?’ she whispered.
‘Because you’re not ready,’ he said, staring deep into her eyes. ‘And this is not the time.’
He left her to go and get his jacket, which he’d hung on the coat stand in the hall. He was smiling as he brought a small package back with him. ‘I almost forgot this.’
‘What is it?’
‘I bought you something.’
&nbs
p; ‘Something else?’ she said wryly, her lips pressed in a questioning line.
‘I don’t like buying gifts from hotels,’ Luke explained. ‘It always feels like the easy option to me. And, okay, it was the easy option,’ he admitted. ‘Nacho asked me to buy you something. So this is from me. I found it in London. I hope you like it. Happy birthday, Lucia.’
She smiled when she saw what the elegantly packaged giftbox contained. ‘Are you telling me I need to brush my hair?’ she said as she examined the exquisitely crafted hairbrush.
‘I rather thought I might do it,’ he murmured.
‘Luke, it’s beautiful. I love it.’
The back of the brush was enamelled in turquoise lacquer decorated with intricate whorls in soft gold and rose-pink. The craftsmanship was so fine it took her breath away. That and the prospect of Luke brushing her hair, which was a fantasy yet to be explored and far more erotic than anything she might have dreamed up.
‘You shouldn’t do this,’ she said, shaking herself round. ‘It must have cost you a fortune.’
Luke shrugged. ‘I can always take it back.
She hugged it close. ‘Not a chance.’
‘Well, I’d better be going.’
Luke tugged on his jacket as if nothing unusual had happened between them, while she felt as if everything had changed. ‘Goodnight, Luke.’
His hand warmed her arm briefly as she opened the door, and then he walked past without another word.