He watched her shake her head wearily, a sign she wasn’t planning to argue. Quickly they began to make their way along the remaining stretch of sand. As they reached the place where beach and pathway joined, unexpectedly the second heavy shower hit, even more ferocious than the first. Luke cursed under his breath; the rain had arrived earlier than he’d anticipated. More violent than the first, they were both completely soaked within a couple of minutes. Cat scrambled up the pathway and darted off, heading along the narrow street towards the lane that led to Luke’s cottage. Her hair was plastered to her head and his saturated jacket flapped around her as she ran. By the time they reached the door of the cottage, water ran off them, making them look as if they were melting.
Once indoors Luke kicked off his sodden shoes and took the stairs two at a time.
‘You’d better come up,’ he called over his shoulder. ‘You can change in the bathroom.’
‘Change? Into what?’
‘Good question.’ Reaching the top of the stairs he turned to look at her amused expression. ‘Sorry, as I’ve no sister here that’s about your size,’ he joked, ‘guess while your clothes are in the tumble dryer it will have to be my dressing gown.’ He marched into his bedroom and pulled it from the back of the door. ‘Here.’ He handed it to her, along with some towels.
Leaving Cat in the bathroom he gave his hair a quick rub through then shot down stairs to light the wood burner. With the fire bed already laid it didn’t take long for the kindling to catch,enabling him to feed it with larger pieces of wood. Leaving the doors open, he soon had the room warming nicely.
‘A fire. Oh, Luke, you angel.’
At the sound of her voice he pushed himself to his feet. Seeing her standing in the doorway dressed in his robe, he smiled; even after rolling up the sleeves it was far too big, making her look small and vulnerable. She unwound the towel she had made into a turban and finished rubbing her golden shoulder length hair before moving to where he stood by the fire.
‘Here, your hair’s still wet,’ she said, offering him the towel.
Luke took it, turned his back and began to rub his scalp vigorously. When he’d finished he turned to find her looking at him.
‘What?’ He frowned, not sure why he was suddenly the subject of such close scrutiny.
‘It may have escaped your attention but you’re still in your wet clothes.’
He had to smile at the slight reprimand. She sounded just as she had on the night of the wedding reception. That firm rebuke as if he was some youngster who needed an adult’s guidance.
‘I thought I’d get a fire going first,’ he explained, bunching the towel in his hand. ‘Right then, I’ll leave you to enjoy the warmth while I sort myself out.’
Cat shivered despite the heat from the wood burner. A hot coffee would do them both good, warm them from the inside. Using the poker that lay in the hearth, she closed the burner door and went into the kitchen. The kettle was half full and she set it to boil. Minutes later she carried two mugs of steaming coffee back into the lounge and placed them on the hearth. Then, walking out into the hall, she called out to him. When there was no response she climbed halfway up the stairs and noticed the bathroom door was closed. Heavens, he was taking an age to sorthimself out. Returning to the lounge she decided to take his mug upstairs telling herself the last thing he’d want was cold coffee.
Reaching the landing she found his room – the largest of the two, decorated in neutral colours and fitted out with solid oak furniture. Locating a coaster on the small bedside cabinet she set the coffee down and turned to leave, only to collide with hard muscle and soft towelling.
She stepped back with a muffled shriek, and stood there, her hands covering her mouth as she stared at the vision in front of her.
‘What are you doing in my room?’ From his tone and the way he looked at her it was clear he wasn’t happy finding her there.
‘I brought you a coffee. I didn’t know how long you would be up here,’ she replied breathlessly, her eyes fixed on his smooth, tanned chest. Perfect pecs, perfect abs. Her eyes travelled lower to the towel riding low on his hips and she sucked in a shaky breath. ‘I’ll leave you to it then. Don’t let the coffee get cold,’ she said, indicating the mug before attempting to slip past him.
‘Cat.’ He grabbed her gently by the arm and pulled her round to face him. ‘I’m sorry. It’s just …’
‘I wasn’t snooping if that’s what you were thinking,’ she insisted as she pulled from his grasp.
‘Honestly, I wasn’t thinking that at all.’
‘Really? What then?’
‘You here with me like this …’ he gave a weary shrug ‘… it’s so damn difficult.’
‘What do you mean?’
He hung his head and sighed. ‘I want so much more but …’ His voice trailed away. ‘Ah hell,’ he pushed his hair back off his face, ‘it’s impossible.’
‘Impossible? Luke, has some woman hurt you so badly you feel you can’t trust anyone again? Is that the reason?’
‘No, no.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s Jordan.’
‘Jordan?’ She frowned. ‘What has he got to do with us?’
‘I overheard him having a conversation with Tony a few weeks back. We’d only just started seeing each other. He said your father wouldn’t want someone like me involved with you. That I’d just about be tolerated as a friend.’
