to remarry have nothing to do with it, hmm?’ David frowned.
‘I’m saying ‘ She breathed heavily. ‘I’m saying that this is really none of your
business, David,’ she told him regretfully.
He nodded without rancour. ‘I suppose not. I just Are you sure this is what you really
want to do, Christi?’ he prompted gently.
She gave a choked groan. ‘I--------’
‘Kendrick.’ Lucas’s hard drawl cut in on the conversation as he moved to stand at Christi’s
side. ‘I didn’t see you here earlier.’ His eyes were narrowed on David as he handed Christi her
drink.
‘I only arrived a few minutes ago,’ David dismissed lightly. ‘I hear congratulations are in
order?’ He held out his hand.
Christi watched as the two men warily shook hands, eyeing each other critically, almost
as if they were sizing each other up for a fight.
Lucas touched her for the first time since driving to the restaurant earlier this evening, his
arm lightly about her waist. ‘To me, certainly,’ he rasped. ‘To Christi, I’m not so sure,’ he shrugged.
‘Hrn.’ David eyed him mockingly. ‘You certainly aren’t my type, but I believe women find you
fascinating,’ he derided.
Christi gave him a grateful smile for lightening the conversation, looking up at Lucas
with loving eyes. ‘I’m certainly happy with my choice.’ She put her hand possessively on his chest.
‘And that’s the important thing,’ David said lightly, before Lucas could make any
comment. ‘And now, if the two of you will excuse me, I’ve ignored my date long enough.’ He
smiled wolfishly at the beautiful blonde woman watching him across the room. ‘Are your
beautiful fiancée and I still allowed to have lunch together tomorrow as we’d arranged?’ he
paused to ask Lucas, as if in afterthought.
But Christi knew that it wasn’t an afterthought at all, that David was determined to
talk to her again about her plans to marry Lucas. And it wasn’t too difficult to guess why! In
truth, she had forgotten all about her agreement to have lunch with David tomorrow, but after
tonight she had no doubt what their main topic of conversation was going to be! Lucas was
standing stiffly at her side. ‘Christi is perfectly at liberty to spend time with whom she chooses,’ he
grated abruptly.
David quirked a mocking eyebrow. ‘You didn’t give that impression the other evening,’ he
mocked. ‘Still,’ he added lightly as Lucas’s expression darkened ominously. ‘I’m glad if my
intrusion on the situation made you realise you’re in love with Christi, after all. See you
tomorrow, Christi,’ he added firmly before strolling across the room to join the beautiful
blonde.
Christi chanced a glance at Lucas, instantly wishing she hadn’t; his face looked as if
it were carved from granite, his eyes narrowed to silver slits.
‘If you would rather I didn’t have lunch with David
‘I told you both, you can spend time with whom you want to,’ Lucas interrupted harshly.
‘Our marriage isn’t going to be a prison, Christi,’ he said firmly. ‘I don’t expect you to give up
your friends just because you’re married to me.’
As he wouldn’t give up his ‘friends’? She couldn’t survive a marriage like that! ‘Friends,
no,’ she conceded lightly. ‘But surely anything else?’ she tried to tease, although the subject
was much too important to her to take lightly. But wouldn’t Lucas, a man who had become used to
the freedom of bachelorhood, and the relationships that went along with that freedom, find it
difficult to suddenly find himself with just one woman in his life again? He looked at her steadily.
‘I thought you said nothing like that happened between you and Kendrick?’ he rasped.
Her cheeks coloured warmly. ‘You know that it didn’t. I meant—well, I meant you.’ She
frowned.
Lucas’s expression darkened even more. ‘Just what the hell are you implying?’
Christi glanced about them awkwardly, very conscious of the party going on
around them. ‘Perhaps it would be better if we left now,’ she suggested awkwardly. ‘It’s
late, and I start work on the commercials tomorrow.’
‘We’ll leave, Christi,’ he nodded tersely. ‘But this conversation is far from over,’ he warned
grimly.
She was conscious of David’s concerned gaze on her as she stood at Lucas’s side making
their farewells to their host and hostess. She deliberately refused to meet that gaze, aware that
things were tense enough between Lucas and herself without him finding her and David
relaying silent messages to each other across the room! Christi sat tensely at Lucas’s side on
the drive home, wondering just when he was going to resume that ‘conversation’ that had so
angered him. But could she be blamed for having her doubts? He had never once said he loved
her, and his manner hadn’t exactly been lover like towards her today!
‘This is ridiculous, Lucas,’ she attacked impatiently once they reached her apartment.
‘I couldn’t agree more,’ he said harshly, very dark and forbidding. And, when he had been
one of her best friends until yesterday, it was a little difficult to take! ‘I realise marriage to me
is a big step for you to take, but after Marsha ended our marriage because she decided it was too
restrictive, do you honestly think I would do the same thing to someone else?’
One of those statements stood out more than the others: marriage to him was a big step
for her to take. Because they both knew he was using that marriage in order to try and get
his children into his custody, and that once he had them back with him she would be
expected to become their stepmother.
‘I like being married, Christi,’ he added gruffly. ‘I like sharing breakfast with the same
woman every morning, rather than some woman I can hardly remember the name of, I like
coming home to that same woman in the evenings, having dinner with her, sleeping with
her. I even like the arguments, because making up makes it all worth while,’ he said
ruefully. ‘When I asked you to marry me, I wanted all of those things with you.’ His voice
hardened. ‘Maybe you had better take the time to think about whether those are the things
you want, too.’
Her already stricken gaze widened. ‘Oh, but
‘While you’re thinking about it, I don’t think there should be any repeats of last
night,’ he told her abruptly. ‘You have to be sure about this marriage, Christi
‘I am sure,’ she cried, her arms about his waist as she rested her head against his
chest. ‘I want to marry you, Lucas. I want that more than anything else in the world.’
‘I hope so.’ His arms moved slowly about her. ‘I really hope so, Christi,’ his arms
tightened convulsively, ‘because I don’t think I could survive another divorce.’
She trembled at the thought of anything so ugly happening between them, at the bitterness
and hate that was usually all that was left of such a re lationship. They had always liked each
other, surely that would never change.
‘Our marriage will last for ever, Lucas, I promise.’ She held him fiercely.
His mouth twisted wryly. ‘I wonder how many other couples have made the same
promise, and a couple of years later ended up hating each other across a courtroom? And
the fact that I’ve already been married once makes it so much worse,’ he frowned. ‘I have
two children, two children I love beyond mere words, and they will always be a part in my life,
often have to be put first, before other considerations, even a second wife. That isn’t going to be
easy for any woman to live with.’ He shook his head self-disgustedly. ‘I had no right to involve
you in the mess I’ve made of my life
‘I want to be involved,’ she assured him firmly.
He looked down at her with dark eyes. ‘I should never have taken advantage of you
‘I’ve been waiting four years for you to do so!’ she attempted to tease.
He gave a slight smile, but his eyes remained sad. ‘That doesn’t change the way I took
advantage of the fact that emotions were running high yesterday, that I made love to you
when I had no right to do so.’
‘I gave you that right.’ She smoothed away the frown from between his eyes. ‘And you
did offer to make an honest woman of me afterwards,’ she reminded teasingly.
Lucas shook his head. ‘I don’t believe I’m doing you any favours by marrying you
‘That’s for me to decide,’ she said, putting silencing fingertips over his lips. ‘You’ll
just have to accept that I’m all grown up now, Lucas, that I’m a woman who knows what
she wants. And I want you. And your children,’ she assured him softly. ‘You know I love
Daisy and Robin.’
He rested his cheek against the top of her head. ‘I wonder what I ever did to deserve you,’
he sighed shakily.
‘Ate all your vegetables as a child?’ she teased. She could feel him smile against her
hair. ‘No,’ he drawled.
‘Did well in your exams at school?’