Page 89 of The Wedding Proposal
She blinked. ‘Now?’
‘Now would be good.’
Curiously, she slid her feet into mules and followed him up to the deck. The heat hit her as she left the air conditioning and she squinted in the brightness, wishing she’d grabbed her sunglasses. Despite Lucas’s silence as he moved easily beside her along the quayside, and there being nothing to give her a clue to his mood or their destination, she felt her heart lift to once again feel the warm breeze in her hair and see the boats bobbing gently in the sunshine. This, more than the England she’d just left, felt like where she wanted to be.
When they reached the Shady Lady Lucas jumped across to the bathing platform without shoving the gangplank into place. Warily, Elle took the hand he extended, warm and strong, and jumped after him. Jogging lightly through the sliding doors, into the coolness of the saloon and down the galley steps, Lucas didn’t pause.
He opened the door to the master cabin. Stepped inside. Turned and waited.
Cautiously, Elle stepped into the small area behind him. The bed looked freshly made in the light streaming in from the skylights and there wasn’t a thing out of place.
Lucas pulled out the drawers under the bed, opened the lockers and the wardrobe. All empty.
‘What am I supposed to be looking at?’ Elle demanded, bewildered.
‘Space.’ Finally, he smiled. ‘I’m giving you space. All this space is yours. I’m in the guest cabin.’ Then he stepped closer to her, so close that she could smell his shampoo and feel the heat leaking from his skin. ‘Until you tell me you want me in here again.’
Elle looked from empty wardrobe to empty drawers to freshly made bed. ‘Got it.’
This time, it was Elle who turned and walked away.
Chapter Thirty
Lucas watched Elle as she moved between groups at the party. She looked coolly beautiful in her long black dress with golden flowers. Her hair was twisted up into a clasp, leaving the back of her neck looking soft and vulnerable as she fetched drinks and handed out canapés.
His parents were trying to engage him in conversation but he kept his focus on Elle. Beautiful Elle, fragile yet strong.
Gradually, his parents fell silent as Elle worked her way towards them, a bottle of white wine in one hand and red in the other, filling glasses, smiling, pausing to talk. Finally, she stood before them.
‘Good evening,’ she greeted them, formally. ‘More wine?’ She topped up Fiona’s glass without waiting for her reply, and then shifted her gaze to Fiona’s face. ‘I talked to the Bettsbrough police and made a statement. I got the feeling that they wanted to chat to Ricky about all kinds of skeevy stuff he’s been up to so I told them that I thought I could get him to a place where they could easily nab him for questioning. They agreed that such scenarios often work, gave me the support I required, and Ricky was arrested. The town centre CCTV caught his physically oppressive behaviour towards me, which should help.’
Fiona’s jaw dropped a notch. ‘I see.’
‘So they’ll probably be in touch with you when you get back.’ Challenge was written all over Elle’s face. ‘And I don’t think you’ll gain the impression that they’re investigating me. So then you’ll know that I’m not guilty of fraud or deception or anything else shady.’
‘Oh,’ said Fiona, uncertainly.
Elle was being so valiant, so brave, so visibly I-will-not-take-your-shit that Lucas wanted to gather her into his arms and hug her until she gasped. But he’d sworn to wait for her to invite him into her space. So far, that invitation was conspicuous by its absence. He contented himself by saying, ‘That’s fantastic!’
Elle switched her grave regard to him. ‘No it’s not. It’s a deeply embarrassing necessity, but I evidently couldn’t rely on anybody simply taking my word for what happened and cutting the oxygen to Ricky’s fires.’
Lucas winced.
Fiona cleared her throat. ‘Thank you for telling us.’
‘Yes, thank you,’ mumbled Geoffrey.
Elle nodded and went to move on.
Fiona continued to speak. ‘This is a wonderful motor yacht. You must enjoy living here.’
For several seconds Elle gazed at Lucas’s mother. Then, clearly, she said, ‘I’m the help. Loz and Davie are Simon’s friends. They’re lovely people and have been fantastically kind to me but I do their shopping and cleaning. I haven’t suddenly gone up in the world.’
Flushing, Fiona sidestepped the issue of social status. ‘I want to thank you for helping Charlie and apologise for not thanking you sooner. He’s safely back in England, now.’
‘Yes, Lucas told me. I like Charlie.’ Elle said it in the tone of one who didn’t like many people at the moment. ‘Excuse me.’ She moved onto the next group of people with a smile. ‘More wine?’
Lucas smothered a laugh.
