CHAPTER SEVEN

ELODIEWALKEDDOWNto the dining room with Lincoln a short time later. He was dressed in a casual suit with an open-necked white shirt that brought out the olive tan of his skin. She had briefly left their suite while he showered and changed, not sure she could trust herself not to melt at his feet if he came out dressed in only a towel slung around his lean hips.

Lincoln’s arm slipped around her waist as they entered the dining room.

Nina looked up from her seat with a warm smile. ‘You both look so good together—like movie stars or something. I love those earrings, Elodie. Did Lincoln give them to you?’

Elodie flicked one of her earrings with her finger. ‘No, I was given them by a lingerie designer a couple of years ago.’

‘It must be an exciting life...travelling the world and modelling lovely things,’ Nina said.

‘Yes, well...it’s kind of lost its appeal, to be honest,’ Elodie said, as Lincoln pulled out her chair for her. She flashed a smile of thanks to him and returned her gaze to Nina. ‘I’m pursuing a new career now.’

‘Lincoln told me you’re an aspiring dress designer. How wonderfully creative. Maybe you could design something for me...’ A flicker of something passed over her face and she continued in a subdued tone, ‘Not that I could give you much time to do so, given my diagnosis.’

Elodie reached for the older woman’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, her own eyes watering. So much for never showing her emotions, but something about Lincoln’s biological mum’s situation tore at her heartstrings.

‘I’m sorry to hear you’re so ill. Life can be unfair. Is there nothing that can be done? Nothing at all?’

Nina patted Elodie’s hand in a resigned manner. ‘There have been so many treatments and experiments and drugs, but I’m something of a mystery to my doctors. I get the feeling they don’t know what to do with me now. They’ve run out of options. I’ve come to terms with it, more or less. But it will be sad not living long enough to meet my grandchildren... I would have loved that more than anything...’ She gave a deep sigh and stretched her lips into a smile. ‘But let’s not be maudlin. I have much to be grateful for and I count each day as a bonus—especially now you two are back together.’

Elodie wasn’t game to look in Lincoln’s direction and kept her gaze focussed on Nina’s. ‘I’d love to design you a dress—in fact, a complete wardrobe of outfits. You might as well make the most of the time you have left. And there are such things as miracles. It’s good to have some hope, I guess. That’s better than giving up, right?’

Nina’s smile was so motherly and affectionate it made Elodie’s heart all but explode with emotion.

‘Sweet child. I can see why my son fell so hard for you. Design away, my dear. I will be proud to wear every item.’

Elodie was so inspired to get to work on some outfits for Nina that she barely touched the delicious food placed before her during the meal. Her mind was buzzing, and colours and fabric designs were swirling about in her head as she planned a bright and colourful collection.

Finally, the meal came to an end and Nina bade them goodnight and retired to her quarters.

Lincoln picked up his still half-full wine glass and gestured to Elodie to do the same. ‘Come out to the terrace for a while. It’s a little early to go to bed.’

Elodie raised her eyebrows. Was he prolonging the time before the moment they’d have to go upstairs to share the suite? Surely he wasn’t...nervous?

She curved her lips into a teasing smile. ‘Since when is it too early for us to go to bed? I seem to remember us having quite a number of early nights in the past.’

A glinting light appeared in his gaze. ‘That was never the problem between us, was it? The sex?’

She glanced over her shoulder to see Alita, the young housekeeper, hovering in the doorway, waiting to clear the room. ‘Thanks for a lovely meal, Alita.’

‘You’re most welcome, señora.’

Elodie turned back to Lincoln. ‘The terrace sounds like a good idea.’

And, picking up her own glass, she followed him out through the French doors to where a full moon was shining.

The shift of location gave her a moment to reflect on their past relationship. Making love with Lincoln had always been phenomenal. From their very first time it had showed her a world of sensuality and pleasure she hadn’t experienced with anyone else before. But while it had been wonderful in every way, it had also covered up the tiny cracks in their relationship that had been there right from the start. Fine cracks that had developed into the deep fissures she had ignored until the day of their wedding, when she hadn’t been able to ignore them any longer.

They hadn’t communicated other than through sex. And making love was not a good substitute for effective communication. Perfect strangers could have good sex. She had never been able to share her doubts and fears and insecurities with him and he had never shared his—if he’d had any, that was.

‘Actually, I think it was a big part of the problem.’

Lincoln leaned against the stone balustrade with his glass in one hand. ‘What do you mean?’ There was an edge of guardedness in his tone.

Elodie moved across the terrace to stand within half a metre of him and placed her glass of wine on the balustrade. The last thing she needed was more alcohol to loosen her tongue. ‘I think we used the chemistry we had together as a distraction from...other things.’

‘What other things?’

She half turned to look up at him, but the moonlight coming from behind him had cast his features into an unreadable shadow. ‘When we argued over something, we used sex to clear the air rather than sitting down and talking through stuff. Talking about why we had argued in the first place.’ She licked her lips and continued, ‘It was a pattern we drifted into from the start. Fight and have make-up sex. We never resolved the underlying issue.’

‘Which was?’

Tags: Melanie Milburne Billionaire Romance
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