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‘It doesn’t take hours, and it’s fun. We make them together. Jamie makes the mixture, I cook them.’
‘He makes a mess when he cooks. It doubles the work. And talking of work, I’d better go and break the news that the good sister isn’t coming home.’
‘I’m not the good sister.’ Emma thought that if Angela had seen what she’d been up to on the rug the night before, she definitely wouldn’t have used that term. ‘You’re good too. It’s just that you’re tired and disappointed that I won’t be able to take up the reins for a few days and that’s understandable.’
‘Stop being so bloody reasonable.’
Emma bit her lip. ‘I’ll be back on Tuesday. Have fun at the party tonight.’
There was a long pause and then Angela sighed. ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘I’m a horrible bitch.’
Yes, Emma thought, you sometimes are. ‘It’s the end of term and you’re just tired. And I promise that once I’m home you can just put your feet up and have some time to yourself.’
‘So what are you wearing to this fancy party?’
‘I’ve no idea. I suppose I’ll have to buy something.’
‘Just tell me you’re not having dreams of being Cinderella.’
Emma looked around the turret bedroom, with its four-poster bed and velvet drapes. Then she looked at the rug in front of the log fire where, for a few special hours, she’d felt like the most irresistible, desirable woman on the planet. No one’s sister, no one’s PA and no one’s stand-in mother. A woman. She closed her eyes and pushed the thought away. ‘Can I speak to Jamie?’
‘He’s in the shower. He’s going to Sam’s to play this morning. I guessed it would take you a while to get home and I didn’t want him standing by the window watching for you all morning and nagging me. From the sound of it it’s just as well I made that decision.’
Emma felt a stab of guilt but at the same time she was relieved Jamie wasn’t there to hear Angela’s tirade. ‘Tell him I love him and I’ll call him again later.’
‘If you’re not too distracted by partying. Do I need to remind you that office romances never cause anything but trouble?’
‘No, you don’t need to remind me of that.’
‘If you lose your job—’
‘I won’t lose my job.’ Emma ended the call, depressed by the encounter. She knew what was behind it. She understood why Angela behaved the way she did and she didn’t blame her for that, given everything that had happened in their family, but it was still hard to deal with.
She couldn’t think of anything worse than losing the job she had with Lucas but nor could she imagine anything more uncomfortable than spending the next few days in his company after what had happened.
What she really needed was space to sort her head out.
She needed to persuade him to let her go. How was she going to do that? What was the one thing that would make Lucas Jackson send a woman as far away from him as possible? The answer came to her almost immediately and Emma gave a tiny smile. Yes, she thought. That.
CHAPTER SIX
EMMA went in search of Lucas, trying to shake off the guilt that shadowed almost every conversation with her sister. She found him downstairs in a kitchen that looked like something that would have featured in a magazine shoot for a perfect country home. In fact the whole place would make the most incredible family home, she thought, as she looked around her. It should have been filled with happy children and noisy dogs.
Had he originally bought it for that purpose?
Her mind buzzed with questions but they were all too personal and she was trying to make their relationship less personal, so she didn’t voice them. And anyway, she knew he wouldn’t have answered them. That one devastating revelation of the night before had been dragged from him purely because she’d held precious evidence in her hand.
As she walked into the room he glanced towards her and she saw in an instant that everything about his body language was guarded.
Exploiting that, she leaned against the doorframe and gave him a soppy look. ‘While I was upstairs I was thinking a lot about last night.’ Watching, she saw the tension ripple through him like a current ready to repel intruders.
‘What about last night?’
‘I know you don’t want to hear this but—I think I love you, Lucas.’ She blurted the words out, wondering if she’d injected just a little too much Scarlet O’Hara into her tone. ‘Completely, totally, with my whole heart. For ever. I was saving myself for my perfect man and now I realise that man is you.’ Intercepting his appalled glance she almost laughed. ‘I know you don’t want to hear it. It’s awful that I feel this way and the truth is that I feel more strongly about you with every minute that passes. I don’t know what to do! The longer I stay here, the more in love with you I am. Goodness knows what I’ll be like by Tuesday. I suspect I won’t be able to get through an hour without hugging and kissing you at every opportunity. I may even have to burst into a really important meeting just to get my Lucas fix. I’m so glad you’re taking me with you.’
