To Love Again

bring the children over until Saturday morning,’ he revealed bitterly. ‘Claimed Daisy had a

temperature the day before.’

Christi gave him a sympathetic grimace. Lucas and his ex-wife didn’t get on, and after

she had met the brittly shallow woman a couple of times it wasn’t too difficult to

understand why a man as warm and charming as Lucas should find his ex-wife’s grasping

and manipulative nature highly distasteful.

Oh, Marsha hadn’t always been that way, he had assured Christi. In fact, the two of them

had been quite happy together when they had first married and produced first Robin and then

Daisy. But, with the progression of their marriage, so had Lucas’s success increased, and

also Marsha’s wants and ambitions. For the sake of their children, Lucas had given Marsha

everything she asked for; he could afford it, so why not? Their marriage seemed to have

survived only by Lucas giving and Marsha taking during the years. Until the day Marsha

realised she could go on taking without having to remain married to Lucas.

Lucas had skimmed over the rocky years of his marriage to Marsha, playing down the

difficult parts, enthusing over what a joy the children had been to him and Marsha both. It

had been Marsha who had told Christi, in her brittle way, just how ‘hellish’ she had

considered her marriage to Lucas to be, initially completely misunderstanding the friendship that

existed between Christi and Lucas, warning her sharply of the dull life she could expect to lead if

she became seriously involved with Lucas. Marsha’s life as Lucas’s wife had sounded far from dull

to Christi, and her words more the fretful complaints of a spoilt woman.

As far as Christi could tell, Lucas’s real regret at the breakdown five years ago of his

four-year marriage was that his children had been left in Marsha’s care, that he was only able to

have seven-year-old Robin and six-year-old Daisy on the weekends and holidays Marsha agreed to

let him have them.

It didn’t seem right to Christi that such a woman should have the care of Lucas’s children but,

as he himself admitted, he had never been able to criticise Marsha’s ability to be a mother to

their two children.

But that caring didn’t extend to the inclusions of bothering herself unduly about the

feelings of the man she had dismissed so easily from her life once his wealth made it possible for

her to still live lavishly without the restrictions of a husband, and so she didn’t hesitate to

callously let him down when he was expecting to see the children, always having a perfectly

valid excuse for doing so, of course, so that there should be no legal repercussions.

Christie’s heart ached for how much Lucas missed having his children with him all

the time, how each time he saw them they seemed to have grown up a little more, achieved

new things he had no sharing in. It was only the fact that Robin and Daisy seemed so well

adjusted to the situation that prevented him being more bitter about things than he was.

But by the sound of it Marsha had been up to her usual tricks this weekend, seeming

to take a fiendish delight in upsetting Lucas’s plans for spending time with his children.

Christi felt like shaking the other woman but, knowing the beautiful redhead, she would only

laugh at accusations that she was being cruel to Lucas. She had claimed he didn’t have a

heart to be hurt on the one occasion Christi had tentatively mentioned how upsetting it

must be for him to be parted from his children in this way.

Needless to say, there was no love lost between her and the other woman, although

none of that showed as she smiled at Lucas. ‘How did Daisy seem over the weekend?’ she

prompted lightly.

His expression softened. ‘They were both fine. Having the cats and dog about the place

helped,’ he added soberly, unconsciously revealing the strain of only being allowed to be a part-time

parent.

‘I’m glad.’ Christi gave a bright smile. ‘Did Daisy lose her other front tooth? You said it

was a bit wobbly the last time she stayed.’

The harshness of his face was completely softened with love for the two mischievous imps

that looked so much like him, with their thick dark hair and silver-grey eyes. ‘Lost it and started to

grow the replacement,’ he answered ruefully.

‘And did Robin like the Transformer you sent for his birthday?’ she smiled.

Lucas’s mouth tightened, his eyes a fierce silver. ‘His mother decided it wasn’t suitable for

him and exchanged it for something else,’ he rasped.

Christi gave a pained frown, sure that the toy had been perfectly suitable for Robin. She

had gone with Lucas to shop for the sturdy toy, Lucas having taken care not to buy anything

with guns, respecting, and agreeing with, Marsha’s decision that Robin had plenty of time before

he needed to be introduced to the violence in life. The Transformer they had finally chosen did

no more than change from a robust truck into a robot. What possible harm could Marsha

have found in that? The obvious thing seemed to be that his father had bought it for him. The

other woman wasn’t averse to taking what she could from Lucas —the monthly allowance

she received from him was enough to keep most families for a year!—but she wasn’t about to let

Lucas take the praise for anything. Christi didn’t know how Lucas managed to control the anger

he must feel towards his ex-wife!

‘I’m sure he liked what he had instead,’ she bit out tautly.

‘He didn’t say,’ Lucas said grimly, glancing at his wristwatch as he stood up. ‘I

have an appointment at ten, so I have to go now,’ he told her lightly, bringing back the smiling

Lucas with effort. ‘Good luck with the audition this afternoon.’ He nudged her gently under

the chin with his fist. ‘Break a leg,’ he teased.

She returned his smile. ‘Thanks for looking after the pets for me.’ She walked him to the

door.

‘My pleasure.’ He moved with leashed vitality, grinning at her as they reached the door.

‘And I shall expect a full report on your dates this week,’ he derided. ‘And remember, as

an honorary brother, I expect an invitation to the wedding,’ came his parting shot.

Christi watched him stride off down the corridor to the lift, returning his brief salute before

the doors closed behind him.

Oh, she would honour the dates she had made with the three men while they were

in the Lake District, but she knew with certainty that a wedding wouldn’t result from seeing any of

them again.

How could she marry anyone when it was Lucas she loved, that she had always loved?

CHAPTER TWO

PERHAPS always was putting it a little strongly, but Christi had certainly loved Lucas from

the time he had first introduced himself as her neighbour almost four years ago.

Her parents had only recently died, the full impact of that not hitting her until weeks

later, and her move from her parents’ house to a smaller, more manageable apartment had been

made with something like detachment. Certainly, it hadn’t been until some of the suitable

furniture from her parents’ home was being moved into the apartment that she suddenly

realised her mother would never be coming back to sit behind the delicate writing-table as

she answered all her overdue correspondence, that her father—her dear, absent-minded father—

wouldn’t ever again have a need for the display cabinet that had housed his most precious

objects, those artefacts now given to museums, as he had requested they should be in his will.

But seeing all that furniture moved into these strange surroundings had been the end

for her. She had run from the apartment with a choked cry, coming to an abrupt halt as she

crashed into a hard, but somehow soft, wall. Lucas’s chest...

She had been eighteen years old, sheltered and cosseted all her life by over-indulgent

parents, the men she had so far had in her life only a passing amusement at best. But, as she

looked up into the harshly beautiful face of the man that held her so tightly against his chest,

she had felt her heart leave her body and join with his. Not even a word had passed between

them, but Christi knew she was looking into the face of the man she loved.

And when he had spoken it had been with gentle kindness, introducing himself as Lucas

Kingsley, her new neighbour, insisting she join him in his apartment for a drink of some kind

while the removal men finished bringing up her furniture.

Christi had felt wrapped in a protective glow, huskily explaining her recent loss, held

tightly in his arms as she cried on his broad shoulder, her senses wallowing in the clean smell

of him that was mingled with another smell that was all Lucas, a completely masculine aura

that seduced and tempted, drawing her more fully into his spell.

He had left her only briefly, and that was to tip the removal men when they knocked

on the door to say they had finished, returning instantly to take her in his arms once again.

But, during that time, or the many times afterwards when he had offered her the

same comfort, it had never been the sort of embrace she wanted from him. He treated her

more like the little sister he had never had, taking her firmly under his wing until she felt able

to stand on her own two shaky feet, even then continuing to be the shoulder she could

always cry on if she felt the need.