His Most Exquisite Conquest (12 page)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

L
UCY
WAS
IN
THE
habit of going straight from work to visit Michael. She did not stay long on Thursday evening because Harry was there, making arrangements about Michael’s release from hospital on Friday, and Ellie had returned from the island, satisfied that the new manager could handle everything. It had been almost three weeks since she’d seen her sister and was eager to hear all her news and share her own.

Ellie was in the kitchen making a salad when she arrived home. ‘Hi, Lucy!’ she greeted her with a smile. ‘Have you eaten?’

‘No. Is there enough for two?’

‘Sure! There wasn’t much food here so I shopped.’

‘I’ve been with Michael most of the time.’

‘How is he today?’

‘Still in considerable discomfort but he can manage with a walking stick so they’re letting him out tomorrow.’

She nodded. ‘Harry told me. I’ll be helping in the office until Michael’s ready to take over again. I’ll train my replacement, too, make sure there’s someone competent to assist him when I’m gone.’

‘That’s good of you, Ellie. Do you have some idea of what you want to do after that?’

‘Oh yes!’ She grinned. ‘There’s a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc in the fridge. How about you open it and we’ll drink to the future?’

Lucy was happy to see her sister in such high spirits. The month on the island had made a big difference to her. Or Harry had. She opened the bottle of wine, filled two glasses and handed one to her sister. ‘Is it a bright future with Harry?’ she asked hopefully.

‘He’s asked me to marry him. And I’m going to, Lucy.’

‘Oh, that’s great news!’ Lucy put down her glass to give Ellie a big hug. ‘I’m so happy for you!’

‘I’m happy, too. I really believe we’re right together.’

Her eyes sparkled. Her skin glowed. Love was beaming out of her. Lucy’s heart swelled with joy for her sister, who truly deserved a good man who would always care for her.

Ellie eased back from the hug to give her a searching look. ‘How’s it going with Michael?’

‘Hey! You’re not to worry about that. I want you and Harry to ride off into the sunset together without a care in the world. You promised not to let me get in the way, remember?’

‘Yes, and I won’t, but I’m not about to stop caring about you. I take it you’re still in love with him.’

‘Oh, I love him to bits and I think he cares about me, too. Though this accident has sort of interrupted things.’

‘Lucy, it needs to be more than great sex.’

‘I know.’ But he hadn’t yet remembered asking her about sex with other men, and that might raise its ugly head again.

‘When you phoned me last Sunday, you said he had no problem with your dyslexia. That’s good, isn’t it?’

‘It’s amazing! I hated having to reveal it but he was unbelievably nice to me about it. And it’s such a relief to have it out in the open, not having to hide it.’

‘Then it’s made no difference to how he treats you.’

‘None at all. I love being with him, Ellie.’

‘Well, from what Harry tells me, he loves being with you, too.’ Her face relaxed into a smile. ‘Who knows? We might all end up in one happy family.’

‘We might,’ Lucy agreed, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe it.

Having a lovely fantasy was one thing. Having it become reality was quite another. As much as she loved Michael, marriage was something else. Michael Finn was the kind of man who would want children, and although he admired how she had managed her life with dyslexia, she didn’t think he’d want his own children to be afflicted by the disability.

There was no guarantee she wouldn’t pass it on to any baby she had. She had kept pushing that unpalatable truth aside in the pleasure of having a wonderful relationship with an absolute prince but it was never going to go away. It was okay for Ellie to have a family. She didn’t have the faulty gene. And Lucy was delighted that this was now a solid prospect for her sister with Harry.

As for herself, she had decided long ago that having children was not a fair option so a marriage with family was not going to happen. She thought living together was fine as long as both people were content with the situation. So far none of her relationships had proceeded to that level of acceptance of each other. She would love to be with Michael all the time but the wish for an always future with him was probably a dream that wouldn’t come true.

However, she was not about to give up feeling happy with him as long as he felt happy with her. Live each day as it comes, she kept telling herself. One never knew how long a life would be. Michael’s accident was a sober reminder of that truth.

As the days went by in the third week since the accident, far from feeling happy with them, Lucy began to panic about the non-arrival of her period. She was never late. The contraceptive pill she used kept her right on schedule with her monthly cycle. Except there was one night when she hadn’t taken it—the night of the ball when she’d been too sick to think of it. Then with the shock of Michael’s accident, she hadn’t thought of taking a morning-after pill, either.

After their splendid lunch at Thala Lodge, they’d made love for hours before parting to dress up for the ball. That long and late sexy afternoon now loomed as the big danger. Yet surely, surely, fate couldn’t be so unkind to punish her with an unplanned pregnancy because of one night’s unlucky illness. She’d always been so obsessively careful, mindful of her disability and also of the misery an unplanned pregnancy had caused her mother, leading her into an unhappy marriage. It wasn’t fair that this should happen to her.

By the fourth week, Lucy couldn’t keep pushing the issue aside, couldn’t keep desperately hoping this was simply some glitch in her system which would soon correct itself. She steeled herself to take a pregnancy test, needing to know if it was positive or negative. Living in this uncertainty was draining her of any joy in life. Michael had even queried if she was under stress at work. It was growing impossible to be her normal self.

She bought the test kit, rose early the next morning, shut herself in the bathroom and did what she had to do, fiercely willing the result to be negative. She held her breath as she watched the chemicals react. Her heart was a painful hammer in her chest. Her mind chanted
please, please, please
...

There was no kind fate.

As she stared at the positive result the blood drained from her face and the bottom fell out of her world. The shock of it was overwhelming. She fumbled the lid of the toilet down and sat on it, bending over to stop herself from fainting, sucking in deep breaths to clear the whirl of black dots.

Her mind kept railing against the terrible truth. It shouldn’t have happened to her. It wasn’t fair. The life she had managed so far was spinning completely out of control. She was adrift, more deeply than she had ever been. There was no way back, no way forward that wasn’t a frightening blur.

When she felt strong enough she picked up all evidence of the pregnancy kit, took it to her bedroom and hid it in her wardrobe. Her first instinct was always to hide problems. This one was too big to be faced yet. She climbed back into bed, pulled the bedclothes over her head and curled up in the foetal position, wishing she’d never been born.

Time passed in a fog of misery.

Ellie called out to her but she couldn’t bring herself to answer. She wanted everything to just go away. Her sister did not oblige, knocking on her door, coming in, asking what was wrong.

‘Sick. Not going to work,’ she mumbled. ‘Tell Michael I can’t visit him today.’

‘What kind of sick?’ Ellie asked worriedly. ‘Can I get you anything?’

‘No. Just go, Ellie. I want to sleep it off.’

‘Well, call me if you need me,’ Ellie pressed.

‘Mmmh...’

She couldn’t
need
Ellie with this. It would spoil what should be a happy time for her sister. It had to be kept hidden, at least until after Ellie’s wedding to Harry. Even then, she wouldn’t want to be a burden on their marriage.

This pregnancy made everything so difficult.

Especially with Michael being Harry’s brother.

Her mind shied away from thinking about Michael. If she told him about the pregnancy and he felt obliged to offer marriage she would hate it, hate it, hate it. It was impossible to see anything working well in these circumstances. Besides, he might doubt it was his child, and she would hate that, too.

Tomorrow she might be able to come to some decision about him. Until she could work it out sensibly it was better not to talk to him at all, so she reached out to her bedside table and switched off her mobile phone, needing to prevent him from calling to ask how she was. She needed time to come to grips with everything.

* * *

Michael hated being incapacitated. He could move around his apartment—slowly—and do quite a bit for himself—slowly—but until his right arm and ribs mended, he was useless in the office. He was trying to wean himself off pain-killers, too, which meant he was in fairly constant discomfort. At least he wasn’t so concerned about what was happening with his business now that Elizabeth was here helping Harry. She wouldn’t miss a thing, never had.

Though it did amaze him that Harry had decided to marry her. He’d had no idea that the attraction had gone so deep. On either side. He remembered Elizabeth being irritated by Harry’s flirting and Harry had definitely considered her a challenge he wanted to win, but it was still a surprise that they felt so much for each other. A good surprise. He had no problem with Elizabeth being his sister-in-law. She was a very admirable woman—Lucy’s anchor—responsible, trustworthy, caring, and very smart. Harry had made a fine choice for a lifelong partner.

It had actually spurred him into considering Lucy in the same light for himself. She was very different to her older sister, more endearing in lots of ways. He admired the core of strength underneath her vulnerabilities and she was certainly very caring. Smart, too. Dyslexia didn’t limit her intelligence. He knew he wanted her in his life, but his life was abnormal at the moment. This was not the time to be considering a future with anyone.

He spent an hour browsing through some brochures on new fishing gear, having spread them out on the dining-table for easy access. At ten o’clock Elizabeth entered the apartment, bringing his coffee and chocolate muffin from the cafe on the ground floor, as she’d done every day when she’d been working for him.

‘How are you doing this morning?’ she asked brightly.

‘Well enough,’ he answered, smiling over their old routine. He’d resigned himself to finding a replacement for her but he doubted anyone could be as good.

‘Lucy’s not so well,’ she remarked, setting the coffee and muffin on the table next to his left hand. ‘Must have caught some bug or other. I left her in bed, too sick to go to work, so she won’t be coming around to visit you today.’

He frowned over this news. ‘I thought she wasn’t quite herself the last couple of days. No joy bubbling over. I’ll give her a call.’

‘Leave it for a while, Michael. She said she wanted to sleep it off.’

‘Okay. Thanks for the coffee.’

He waited until lunch time to call Lucy but couldn’t get through to her. Her phone was dead. It stayed dead well into the afternoon. It concerned him that she felt too sick to want any communication with anyone. He remembered the yellow rose she had brought him in hospital to make him feel better and on impulse, made a call to Jack Pickard.

‘It’s Michael Finn, Jack. I have a favour to ask.’

‘Ask away, Mickey,’ he invited cheerily.

‘You know the Pal Joey rose Lucy admired when we were over on the island. Do you happen to have one in bloom?’

‘Several. Sarah was commenting on them this morning.’

‘Would you cut one for Lucy? I’ll send a helicopter over to have it collected. If you’d have it ready to go...?’

‘I’ll meet the helicopter with it myself,’ he promised. ‘Lovely girl, Lucy.’

‘Yes, she is. Thanks, Jack. It should arrive within the hour.’

He immediately set about making the arrangements required to have the rose delivered to his office before five o’clock, then called Elizabeth to let her know to expect it.

‘I want you to take it home to Lucy. Tell her it’s from me to make her feel better and ask her to call me. Okay?’

‘Will do,’ she promised. ‘Nice gesture, Michael. I’m sure Lucy will appreciate it.’

It left him smiling. Hopefully Lucy would be well enough to chat to him tonight. She made him forget about pain. He badly missed having sex with her and frequently cursed his broken bones for making him inactive on that front. Four weeks down and probably another four to go, he told himself, determined on making the fastest possible recovery. He just had to be patient. Lucy was still there for him, despite his blunder at the ball.

* * *

Lucy remained hiding in bed when her sister came home. Earlier in the day she’d cried herself to sleep and although that merciful oblivion was no longer her friend she was trying to hang onto it, dozing on and off, not ready to face what had to be faced. She heard her door open and Ellie coming into the bedroom, moving quietly so as not to disturb her. She kept her eyes closed, not wanting to be questioned.

‘Are you awake?’ Ellie asked softly. ‘I’ve brought you a cup of tea and a rose from Michael.’

A rose?

Lucy’s mind was in such a mess, it clutched wildly at the hope that Michael truly loved her and would love her no matter what! She hitched herself up, eyes opened wide, heart thumping, only to see Ellie setting down a yellow rose in the same glass vase she had used to take her gift to Michael in the hospital.

Yellow, not red.

Not red for love.

Tears welled into her eyes so fast they overflowed and trickled down her cheeks. Her sister saw them before she could hide the emotional eruption. There was no escape from her immediate concern. Even as she flopped back down on the pillow and closed her eyes Ellie was sitting on the bed beside her, stroking her forehead, asking, ‘What’s wrong, Lucy?’