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‘Wallace is my—ah, here’s the man himself.’ He turned as a door opened further down the hallway to admit an elderly gentleman dressed in black trousers and a black waistcoat worn over a snowy white shirt, a grey tie tied meticulously at his throat.
‘You have been in the kitchen again, Master Sin,’ the elderly man—as English as Luccy was, surprisingly—tutted reprovingly.
A rebuke Sin seemed completely unconcerned by. ‘Wallace, come and say hello to Luccy Harper-O’Neill,’ he invited warmly.
‘Luccy, this is Wallace,’ he introduced once the older man had joined them.
‘Mr Wallace.’ She shook his hand, instinctively liking the kind blue eyes in the elderly man’s lined face.
‘He insists on just Wallace,’ Sin told her ruefully. ‘Apparently it isn’t the done thing in an English household to call a butler by the title of Mr,’ he confided with a gently mocking glance at the older man.
Luccy raised surprised brows. ‘You’re a butler?’
‘I consider myself more in the nature of a nursemaid, Miss Harper-O’Neill,’ the elderly man confided dryly. ‘Master Sin may be able to run a business empire with aplomb, but without my presence here I doubt that he would even be able to find a clean shirt to put on to go to work in the morning, let alone feed himself.’
‘You see what happens when someone has known you since you were two years old—you get absolutely no respect!’ Sin said good-humouredly.
Luccy found herself smiling at the obvious affection that existed between the two men.
Sin enjoyed seeing Luccy’s obvious bemusement at the addition of Wallace to his household. Maybe persuading her to stay awhile wasn’t going to be quite as difficult as he had thought it was going to be…?
He turned to Wallace. ‘I was only in your precious kitchen earlier because I was about to make some tea for Miss Harper-O’Neill.’
‘Really?’ the elderly man said. ‘Believe me, Miss Harper-O’Neill, you will be much safer if I make it. Master Sin has been known to give even boiled water a strange taste!’
‘There was something wrong with the water supply that particular day,’ Sin protested.
‘Of course there was, Master Sin,’ the manservant murmured. ‘If you would care to take Miss Harper-O’Neill out onto the terrace I will serve tea to you both directly.’
‘Luccy?’ Sin prompted as he saw she was still rather bemused by Wallace’s complete irreverence towards him. But having known the elderly butler for thirty-three of his thirty-five years, Sin considered Wallace as part of his family rather than a servant, and he knew that the affection was returned; the Sinclairs were Wallace’s family.
‘Sorry.’ Luccy grimaced at her own distraction before smiling at the elderly manservant. ‘Tea on the terrace would be lovely, thank you,’ she accepted.
‘Semi-skimmed milk would be healthier than full-fat, Wallace,’ Sin put in decisively. ‘And perhaps you could add some of your wholesome home-made biscuits, too. Anything else you would like, Luccy?’ he asked lightly.
As an afterthought, Luccy felt sure! ‘No, you seem to have it pretty well covered,’ she answered tartly.
‘What did I do this time?’ Sin asked once the two of them were outside seated at the green marble table on the terrace, the view incredible, the air warm and clear.
Her eyes flashed as she looked across at him. ‘You are going to be one of those overprotective prospective fathers!’
He gave an unapologetic shrug. ‘I just thought you should eat healthily.’
‘I know what I have to do, Sin!’
‘Then why are we arguing about it?’ he pointed out mildly.
Luccy almost growled in frustration. ‘I thought I had already made it plain that I don’t like being told what to do.’
‘Even when it’s in your own best interests?’
‘Even then!’
Sin relaxed back in his chair as he looked across at her between narrowed lids. ‘I think you’re just trying to provoke another argument…’
Maybe she was. But Luccy had seen another side of him since coming to the house, especially since meeting Wallace, and she didn’t want to actually start liking Sin. She could even fall in love with him if she allowed herself to do that!
She was only here at all because she was expecting his baby, Luccy reminded herself firmly. Sin only wanted the baby, not her.
And she would do well not to forget that!
‘Never mind,’ she dismissed. ‘I’m sure that Wallace’s tea will be wonderful.’ It was also obvious that Wallace was the reason the house looked so neat and tidy. ‘Have you lived here very long?’
Sin continued to look at her through those narrowed lids, his expression unreadable. ‘A couple of years,’ he said. ‘I got tired of living in the city.’
Luccy nodded. ‘It’s very peaceful here.’ She had often thought she might like to move out of the noise and bustle of London, but as her studio was in London it just hadn’t seemed practical.
That might have to change after the baby was born, of course…
‘I like it,’ Sin said in answer to her comment. ‘But I’m quite willing to sell up and move to a different house, either here or in England, if that’s what you decide you would like to do.’
She drew in a sharp breath. ‘Sin—’
‘Luccy?’ He quirked dark brows.
This was all going too fast for her!
Way too fast. She was barely used to the fact that she was expecting this man’s child, let alone being able to deal with the obvious repercussions of Sin knowing about it too.
‘I’m not going to be rushed into making any decisions I might regret, Sin,’ she told him firmly.
‘Of course not. Obviously we still have at least six months or so before we need to make any definite decision about where we’re going to live. But one thing I’m pretty definite on, Luccy…’ He sat forward, those grey eyes once again seeming like shimmering mercury. ‘I fully intend for you to have my wedding ring safely on your finger before they wheel you into that delivery-room, as you so daintily put it!’
As Luccy looked into those glittering grey eyes she was left in absolutely no doubt that Sin meant every word he said…
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘YOU completely took advantage of the fact that you knew I wouldn’t argue with you with Wallace present!’ Luccy protested indignantly.
Sin arched dark brows as he took in her flushed cheeks and the sparkle in her blue eyes. ‘If Wallace hadn’t been present I could hardly have asked him to make up the spare bedroom for you, now could I?’ he pointed out.
He had waited until they had eaten the tea Wallace had prepared for them—including tempting cakes as well as the delicious home-made biscuits—before mentioning the spare bedroom to the elderly man, wanting to ensure that Luccy had eaten before he introduced any more points of contention into their conversation. As making the practical arrangements for her to stay on here had been guaranteed to do!
She had seemed to relax as they had enjoyed their tea together, by tacit agreement the two of them keeping to non-controversial topics of conversation. Obviously that delicate truce had now come to an end!
‘You could at least give me credit for asking Wallace to make up the spare bedroom, rather than simply assuming you would be sharing mine,’ Sin pointed out mockingly.
‘You can make all the assumptions you like, Sin, but that won’t make them fact!’ Even that beautiful blue-black hair seemed to crackle with her indignation.
Sin gave a slow, lazy smile. ‘You look very beautiful when you’re angry.’
‘Oh, please!’ she groaned disgustedly. ‘That line is so hackneyed I can’t believe you even said it!’
His smile widened to an appreciative grin. ‘Neither can I,’ he said, sobering as he looked at her intently. ‘But I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that you really are very beautiful,’ he added with husky sincerity. ‘Even more so now you’re pregnant.’
Luccy was very aware of the lurching sensation in her chest at his compliment, a fluttering feeling in her stomach too as she became tinglingly aware of him.
Of the dark thickness of his hair, the intensity of that silver gaze, the sensual curve of his mouth, the powerful width of his chest, and the way the sunlight glittered on the dark hair on his arms as they rested on the table top.
God, she had to get away from this man for a while. Needed some time, and space, in order to get her thoughts together. She felt as if she had been completely railroaded these last few hours.
It certainly didn’t help that she was so aware of Sin that she could think of nothing else, be aware of nothing else, that memories of their lovemaking kept intruding into her thoughts, inciting a longing, a yearning, to repeat the experience…
Sin was seducing her just by being there, Luccy realised self-disgustedly. ‘Don’t you have something else you should be doing other than sitting out here with me?’ she asked suddenly.
Sin found Luccy’s thoughts easy to read as he saw the self-disgust in her eyes and the return of those lines of strain beside her mouth and eyes. ‘I should go back to the office for a couple of hours, yes,’ he acknowledged ruefully.
‘Then please do so,’ she said tautly.
Yes, Luccy most definitely wanted him out of the way for a while. So that she could regather her crumbling defences? Well, he would go along with that for the moment…
He nodded. ‘You could just relax here, read a book or take a swim perhaps, and we’ll get together again later.’
‘At which time it will be too late for me to get any flight back to England today?’ she asked.
Sin bit back his impatience. ‘Would that really be so bad, Luccy?’ he reasoned. ‘All I’m asking for at the moment is a little of your time, the chance for us to get to know each other before we decide what to do for the best.’
‘Nothing is going to change, Sin.’ She sighed. ‘No amount of us spending time together is going to alter the fact that you believe I deliberately set out to seduce you two months ago, and for reasons that were far from innocent.’
‘I was Sin that night.’ His mouth had tightened. ‘You seduced Jacob Sinclair the Third.’
‘Sin. Jacob Sinclair the Third.’ She shrugged. ‘They’re one and the same person.’
‘Actually, they’re not,’ Sin bit out.
‘I see no distinction.’
She didn’t want to see a distinction, Sin recognised wryly. Only time would show her that there most definitely was one.
He stood up. ‘You’ll find plenty of books to read in the sitting-room. The pool and hot tub are at the back of the house—although I’m not sure you should go in the hot tub,’ he added with a frown. ‘I seem to remember reading on the instructions that pregnant women shouldn’t go in.’
Her mouth twisted derisively. ‘That’s only if you put the jets on.’
‘Right. But maybe you should stay out of there, anyway—’
‘I think I’m old enough to make my own mind up, Sin!’
He sighed, already knowing from the way Luccy refused to drink any alcohol that she was being conscientious about what she should and shouldn’t be doing during her pregnancy. He needed to back off a little.
‘Just ring for Wallace if you want anything, hmm?’
‘But stay out of his kitchen?’ Luccy offered.
‘That only applies to me,’ Sin retorted. ‘I’m sure he won’t object in the least if you go in there. I assure you that Wallace is as susceptible as the next man to the charms of a beautiful woman,’ he added dryly. ‘My mother has him wrapped about her elegant little finger!’ He paused beside Luccy’s chair to bend down and place a light kiss on her lips.
Luccy was completely unprepared for the caress, her response instinctive as her lips parted beneath his, deepening and lengthening the kiss as one of Sin’s hands moved to curve lightly about the nape of her neck.
Sin straightened reluctantly several minutes later to look down at the flushed confusion on Luccy’s face. ‘I’ll only be a couple of hours,’ he promised huskily. ‘Just tell Wallace if there’s anything you particularly feel like eating for dinner this evening.’
He found himself strangely reluctant to leave. Strangely, because Sin had never allowed a woman, any woman, to interfere with his work before, and yet unbidden thoughts of Luccy these last few months had done so constantly. This reluctance to leave her now was completely out of character, too.
Get a grip, Sinclair, he instantly instructed himself; Luccy had already shown him quite clearly that she didn’t feel the same reluctance to be parted from him!
Even so he found himself lingering unnecessarily. ‘You’ll be okay here on your own?’
Luccy’s eyes widened. ‘Of course. Besides, I won’t be alone, will I?’ she added pointedly as Wallace came quietly out onto the terrace to clear away the tea things.
Sin gave the elderly man an affectionate glance. ‘I suppose not. Wallace knows where to reach me if you should—’
‘Sin, I’m not going to leave without first telling you, if that’s what’s worrying you.’ She arched mocking ebony brows. ‘After all, you know where I work, remember?’
Had Sin felt that reluctance to go back into the city because he was worried Luccy might take advantage of his absence to leave?
No, he trusted Luccy enough to at least believe that if she said she would stay here tonight, then she would do it. Besides, he did know where she worked!
His hesitation was for quite another reason, he recognised with an inward frown. In spite of everything he was still totally physically aware of Luccy. At the same time, he felt protective because she was carrying his child. Even if it was a protectiveness that Luccy obviously resented.
‘Sin, will you just go to work?’ Luccy said with a little laugh as he remained beside her. ‘I really don’t need a nursemaid.’
‘I’m well aware of the fact that you’re a grown woman.’
‘Then try treating me like one!’
He looked down at her silently for several more seconds before giving an abrupt nod of his head. ‘I should be back in plenty of time for dinner,’ he rasped harshly before turning sharply on his heel and walking back inside the house.
Luccy stared after him. What on earth had all that been about?
Maybe Sin was just feeling the strain of them being together here? After all, he was no more used to sharing his home with anyone—the devoted Wallace apart—than she was.
Well, Sin needn’t worry too much about that; Luccy had no intention of staying on here any longer than she absolutely had to in order to convince Sin that she was quite capable of taking care of herself—and anyone else who came along!
‘What the—? Sin, you scared the hell out of me!’ The water swirled wildly about Luccy as she surged up in the hot tub—minus the jets—to turn and glare at him, at the same time dislodging his hands from where they had been cupping her breasts beneath the water.
Sin looked down at her unrepentantly, his shirt sleeves dripping with water from being submerged in the hot tub.
He had returned to the house only a few minutes ago and learnt from Wallace that Luccy was outside on the deck relaxing in the hot tub, sparing only a few seconds to discard the jacket to his suit before going outside to join her.
Sin had watched her unobserved for several minutes. Luccy was obviously completely relaxed as she lay back in the warm water with her eyes closed, the slight smile that curved her lips telling him that her thoughts were at least pleasant ones.
