‘You paint.’
‘Stick men, I’m afraid.’
‘You… you make jigsaw puzzles.’
With a laugh, he shook his head. ‘Where did that come from?’
She shrugged. ‘You’re a potter,’ and she kept guessing with each shake of his head. ‘You press flowers.’ ‘You make lederhosen.’ That got another bark of laughter. ‘You carve things.’ ‘You make jewellery.’ By the time they reached the top floor, she’d run out of ideas and Luke was laughing so hard that he could barely open his door.
‘Here you go.’ He ushered her into the room, which was a little bigger than hers with a large work table in front of one of the big balcony doors. Her mouth curved instantly and she darted forward to examine the rolls of mod rock, tins of paint, paintbrushes, bottles of track magic, and a scattering of little trees strewn around the perimeter of the work surface.
She turned around and beamed.
‘You’re a modeller,’ she said with delighted surprise, pleased to see she’d taken him unawares.
The items were as familiar to her as cooking ingredients, although the vintage suitcase in the middle of it all intrigued her. She picked up one of the tiny trees and twirled it between her fingers.
‘How did you know? I was going to make you keep guessing.’
‘Sorry,’ she grinned at him unapologetically. ‘My Uncle D spends hours making landscapes for his model railway. He has all this stuff.’
‘Ah, but there’s more.’
‘Yes,’ she said, turning back to the table. ‘The suitcase. I remember seeing that on the train and wondering about it. Vintage. Cute. But and an odd choice for a man going skiing with a rucksack in the other hand.’
‘Very good. You could give Sherlock a run for his money.’
He moved forward so that he was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her and then leaned down to plug something into the mains and pulled the suitcase to the edge of the table.
With a touch of showmanship, he waited for a couple of seconds, heightening the anticipation. It was almost like waiting for a kiss, thought Mina, and immediately sneaked a glance at his mouth.
He caught her and his expression softened, as his eyes roved over her face. She swallowed and wished he would kiss her, despite telling him otherwise only a few hours ago. He made a tiny move towards her.
‘So,’ she said, over-bright, deliberately breaking eye-contact. ‘What’s in the case?’
With a knowing smile, as if he knew exactly what sort of a big fat coward she was, he lifted the lid.
Mina clapped her hands in delight. ‘That is gorgeous. Oh Luke, it’s beautiful.’
Inside the case was a miniature model village, every detail minutely captured, with a tiny train track wending its way around green fields, past thatched cottages and through a little station.
‘It’s not quite finished. I’ve got a couple of hours more work on it.’
‘Oh my goodness, I’ve never seen anything so cute in my life. What a brilliant idea.’
He pressed a switch and she watched as a tiny train made its way along the track which ran around the very English village, drinking in all the details, from the little duck pond on the central green, the miniature bride and groom outside the church, the old-fashioned fire engine beside a singed haystack, through to the row of cottages beside the railway station.
‘What gauge is it?’ she asked in wonderment.
‘Er…’ Luke seemed surprised and gratified at the same time. ‘It’s an N gauge, nine millimetre. How did you…?’
‘Uncle Derek. I told you. He used to go this big model railway show at the NEC every year, and when I was younger, I used to go with him. Someone had to make sure he’d get there in one piece, and the whole train thing bored Hannah rigid, and I didn’t mind. It’s amazing what you pick up.’
Luke laughed and hugged her. ‘Mina, you are one in a million.’
‘You’re pretty special yourself.’ She slipped her arms around his waist. ‘This is just the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen. Absolutely gorgeous.’
‘Yes,’ he said, looking down at her with that direct, uncompromising look that she’d come to know just a little too well, and she knew he wasn’t talking about the train in the suitcase. Unlike her, Luke had no intention of hiding or fighting his attraction to her and unfortunately it made him all the more attractive.
