‘You can’t keep a man like Mr Marcelos waiting,’ the housekeeper insisted, with more smiles and simpering directed at Luc.
Oh, can’t I? Emma’s gaze clearly stated, when Luc raised an amused brow.
‘Where are you taking me?’ she demanded, as he shooed her up the back stairs to the lobby.
‘To my suite, where you’ll rest and then we’ll talk.’
‘Your suite?’ She held back. ‘I don’t think so,’ she protested as he called the lift. ‘I’m not getting off on your floor,’ she warned as the lift doors slid to, enclosing them inside the restricted space.
It was her lucky day. The elevator was crowded. At least she didn’t have to face an argument with Luc when she was exhausted and at her lowest ebb, though she did feel awkward dressed in her maid’s uniform, red-faced and work-worn, amongst such expensively clad guests. She smelled of carbolic, while everyone else smelled of money. French cologne for the men and expensive blends for the women; even the children emitted a strong smell of soap, but none of them stank like she did. No wonder everyone was carefully avoiding looking at her.
Except for Luc, she noticed, who was leaning back against the wall, studying her with a steady gaze. She turned her head away. She didn’t want to look at him. He was one more polished reminder of the yawning gap between herself and everyone else in the elevator.
When the lift stopped and everyone got out, she told herself that she only had a couple more floors to go. Luc didn’t move as they soared upwards again, but when the doors slid open he did more than stop her, he pinned her to the wall with his arm resting above her head and his body pressed up hard against hers. She wasn’t going anywhere, his smiling eyes told her, and though she should hate him, be angry with him, at least, for trying to control her, his dark, amused stare was hypnotising.
‘Don’t fight me, Emma,’ he growled in a way that reverberated through her. ‘I’ve only got your best interests at heart. You need to rest, and if I let you out of here unescorted, how can I be sure you won’t go straight back to work? To summarise, if I have to lasso you and tie you to a chair in my room, that’s what I’m going to do, because you are going to take a rest before you collapse.’
He allowed the doors to slide to at that point, and when they reached the next floor, his floor, Luc ushered her out onto the corridor. ‘First you take a bath and then you sleep. You missed lunch, so I’m going to order supper to be served in the room when you wake up.’
‘I’d rather just talk and then go up to my own room, if you don’t mind,’ she said stiffly. Yet again she was exhausted, and didn’t want this to be the time when she told him. Her body was screaming for sleep. Her mind wasn’t sharp. Her emotions were in tatters. This was the worst time possible to drop a bombshell like a baby into Luc’s lap.
‘I do mind,’ he said. ‘You promised me you’d rest last time, yet I found you back at work. I can’t trust you to stay in your room, Emma, and I won’t be responsible for you collapsing with exhaustion. I can’t pretend I know why you’re punishing yourself, but as a previous employer I can’t stand by and allow it to carry on.’
And when she’d slept and was refreshed, she could speak to him, Emma reasoned as Luc opened the door to his room. Closing it behind them, he stood with his back to it. ‘Where would you go if not here with me?’
She rolled her tired eyes. ‘To my room.’
‘To a cold cell in the attic,’ Luc said with an impatient gesture. ‘Why would you want to do that, when you’ve got everything here that you could possibly need? And you’ll have the place to yourself.’
‘To myself?’ Her head shot up with surprise.
‘I have some business to attend to in town.’
So when would she speak to him?
‘Stop frowning, Emma. You won’t be disturbed. I thought that would please you.’ A genuine smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. ‘And I’m willing to bet my bed is a lot more comfortable than yours.’
She couldn’t deny that. The thought of trying to find a comfortable spot on her old, lumpy mattress held no appeal.
‘There’s a spa bath through there,’ Luc went on, indicating the bathroom as if she hadn’t cleaned it umpteen times.
‘This I know,’ she wryly.
‘It’s a fantastically clean bathroom,’ he stressed, mocking her with his eyes. ‘I’ll have you know I have the best chambermaid in the area.’