Page 30 of The Wedding Proposal
‘There are worse gods. Especially when honesty is not a convenience but a principle.’
Elle knew that she’d never win any argument with Lucas that centred on honesty. It was bad enough to have to acknowledge to herself that, in a way, all his old suspicions of her truthfulness were justified.
For a mad second she almost gave in to the urge to confess, to explain, to blurt out the total truth. Ricky’s power to hurt had surely begun to wane. He was unlikely to find her here.
Then she thought of Lucas’s girlfriend and realised that confession would be pointless. He could believe every word and still say, ‘Good to know. But it’s so long ago and we’re over. Doesn’t really matter now, does it?’
Worse, what if he didn’t believe her? He’d hate her all over again. She wasn’t sure she could survive him thinking worse of her than he already did.
‘It’s not as if you were ever that easy to live with,’ she muttered crossly and inconsequentially.
Lucas said, ‘Ow!’ and clutched theatrically at his heart.
Elle tried not to laugh, taking a long, deep breath and consciously slowing her steps so that she could enjoy the Maltese night. Gzira Gardens was a study of moonlight and shadows. The road, for once, was quiet, the few passing cars all but drowned out by the drone of insects from the twisted and stunted pines.
‘Those buzzy things make a lot of noise.’ Elle peered into the shadowy trees.
Lucas had slowed his steps to match hers. ‘Cicadas. The males make that noise flexing their abs, according to Simon.’
‘Impressive.’ She couldn’t spot any ab-flexing cidadas in the trees. Maybe they were watching the moths dancing in the halos around the street lamps. With a yawn, she resumed her course for the Shady Lady.
Lucas positioned the gangplank, standing back in an invitation for her to precede him. ‘Loz kept looking at me tonight as if waiting for me to do something evil.’
‘Make me cry,’ Elle supplied, stepping aboard. For the first time since Elle had arrived, the Shady Lady was restless at her moorings. The other boats along the marina were the same, like huge dogs pulling on their leads. Elle paused to watch as Lucas checked the fenders and the lines. ‘She cornered me in the galley and asked if it was likely.’
Lucas put his hand on her arm. ‘That I’d make you cry?’
Shrugging his hand off, she unlocked the door, stepping in and switching on the light. ‘Loz has decided that our past relationship ending must’ve been down to you. Not that I told her any such thing,’ she added. It was stuffy in the cabin and she flicked on the air con. Airlessness and a rolling boat weren’t a great combination. The motion hadn’t been so noticeable on Seadancer, when she was busy. She hoped the sea would calm soon.
‘I told her you’re not a villain but—’ The boat’s motion made her sit down on one of the cabin sofas more suddenly than she’d meant to.
Lucas dropped down beside her. ‘When did I ever—?’ he began.
Elle so didn’t want to answer When did I ever make you cry? Because she’d cried endlessly, helplessly, when she’d left Northampton, having taken the first job offered to her by a new company in a place where she knew nobody. That it had turned out to be a great post had been largely luck. She’d taken it because it was in Coventry, a medium-sized city in the middle of England, where she could sink into anonymity and hope that Ricky wouldn’t bother to find her once she and Lucas were finished and Ricky’s hold over her was gone.
‘Loz was indignant that you’d turned up for the party and annoying or upsetting me was the only reason she came up with for you doing it. Then, you went round telling people that we lived together, so she was convinced.’
She turned on the seat, kicking off a flip-flop so that she could prop her foot on the sofa and brace herself against the rolling of the boat. ‘Why did you go to the party?’
He lifted an eyebrow. His eyes were mostly black in the light in the cabin.
‘I haven’t been on a great big gin palace before and I didn’t have anything better to do.’ His eyes crinkled suddenly. ‘And I knew you’d expect me to stay away.’
She sighed. ‘You can be the most awkward man I know.’
He’d been mega-awkward with bells on when she’d been trying to keep him and Ricky apart, on edge in case Ricky had made good his threats to turn up when she and Lucas were together. Lucas had been like a pitbull, poised to go for someone’s throat as soon as he knew whose throat to go for.
The memory made her smile waver. ‘I’d better get to bed. I’m not a seasoned sailor and I’m beginning to feel I might be better lying down.’
He cocked an eyebrow. ‘How about a nightcap? I overheard Davie saying the swell’s going to build. A brandy might settle your stomach.’
Elle paused. Maybe brandy did work magic, and considering what a pain in the arse Lucas had been tonight, she was strangely reluctant to quit his company. There didn’t seem any harm in relaxing with him, just for a short while. ‘Worth a try,’ she agreed. Just a nightcap, she reminded herself, watching him cross to the steps to the galley, compensating easily for the roll of the boat as he went. Don’t think that this changes anything. It’s just because he looks hot in black and every woman at the party checked him out that you’re feeling weird about him all over again.
He returned with two brandy balloons in the fingers of one hand and a bottle with a label that mentioned ‘reserva’, in the other. Uncapping the bottle, he poured, pausing as the boat gave a sudden wiggle.
Lifting his glass to her in silent toast, he sipped, and then sat back to swirl the liquid in the base of the balloon in the proscribed manner.
Elle had never been able to tell the difference between a swirled brandy and an unswirled one. She took a couple of sips, enjoying its heat at the back of her throat, then returned the glass to the table, fingertips on the base in case the Shady Lady’s slow waltz turned into something a little more rock ’n’ roll.
