‘These people are very, very good at what they do best. Charm. Persuasion. You’ll have to keep your guard up all the time.’ He paused. ‘If you want to, that is. You might find you agree with him after he’s finished.’
‘And hell will freeze over.’
He laughed, checked the time on his phone, then slipped it into his pocket. ‘Anyway, I’d best be going.’
‘Got people to charm?’ she said with a grin.
But he didn’t grin back. ‘No. I said I’d give Sam a hand at the cottage. His usual helper’s not available.’
‘Liam?’ asked Lucy.
‘Yep. They don’t make five-year-olds like they used to. He is a cute kid, though, isn’t he?’
‘Very cute.’
Lucy watched him leave. She loved all her family but had always felt closest to Dan. It was hard watching someone you loved change before your eyes. But as she turned back to her laptop, she couldn’t help thinking that, just maybe, this time the change might be for the best.
She steepled her fingers, stretched her arms and sat back down at the computer.
She had grovelling to do. But not yet. First, she needed ammunition. And Oliver Perry-Warnes had just made himself her target.
Chapter Eight
Oliver raised a hand, cutting his assistant off mid-sentence. A text from Lucy had come through. It had been a week — long enough to worry him. Lucy MacLeod didn’t do silence.
‘Er, Simon, we’ll leave this for now. Could you get back to my earlier request and push that background research on Lucy MacLeod to the top of the list?’
‘Certainly, sir.’
Once the door was closed, he reread the message.
He thought back to their evening together. He shouldn’t have invited her home. That was when he’d veered off-script — swayed by her charm, by the way she laughed, by the flash of vulnerability she hadn’t meant him to see. He’d underestimated her and overestimated his own ability to keep his distance.
From that moment, his intentions had scattered. The goal had shifted from using her to winning her. And that was dangerous.
Then she’d run, leaving a note that had told him in no uncertain terms where he could go. He hadn’t expected to hear from her again — at least not in any dignified fashion. If anything, he’d mentally prepared himself for a public showdown at a consultation meeting, her voice ringing out across a packed hall.
But this? He shook his head as he reread the text: an apology for her untimely exit and a suggestion they meet up. No, he hadn’t expected that at all.
When something unexpected happened, his alarm bells rang. He did what he always did — he analysed. What game was she playing? Because, for all her charm and vulnerability, her departure had snapped him back into the reality he was determined to stay in this time. On this next round, he’d be prepared.
He sat for a moment, going back over their conversations from the night they’d spent together. To his annoyance, he’d spent far too long talking about sailing — something almost no one knew about. Yet Lucy now knew where he went to breathe.
He’d let her past his guard once. He wouldn’t let it happen again.
His thoughts shifted to their exchange about business tactics and strategy. She’d gone to business school; her own thriving café proved she could not only run a commercial operation but protect and grow it. She’d made it very clear she cared about her community and knew her own power in it.
He was in no doubt that while she might have apologised for her note, she didn’t regret it. She still saw him as the enemy. So why invite him closer? He smiled as the answer came.
Keep your enemies close.
A tried and tested strategy. Pushing him away wouldn’t help her win; not yet, anyway. For now, she’d chosen to keep him within reach.
He jumped up and paced up and down in front of the picture windows. Outside, Wellington Harbour was ruffled by wind, the Eastbourne ferry punching through choppy whitecaps.
He certainly wasn’t averse to spending more time with the lovely Miss MacLeod. Especially not if he was going in with his eyes open this time. He’d never anticipated that a box-ticking consultation project would prove so entertaining — so long, a small voice at the back of his mind reminded him — as he kept his emotional distance.
He picked up his phone.
