Page 96 of The Wedding Proposal
And now she was going to deal with Lucas.
‘Any plans, this evening?’ she asked, making sure that her voice came out evenly.
He shook his head.
‘Join me for dinner?’
He nodded.
‘It’s all prepared.’
‘I’ll shower and change. Flybridge?’
She tried to sound nonchalant. ‘My cabin. At seven.’
For several seconds he just looked. Then he smiled, a knowing, anticipatory smile. ‘I’ll bring the wine.’
Exactly on seven o’clock, a knock fell on Elle’s cabin door. She’d showered, put on a short strappy dress and dried her hair into a smooth fall down her back. She waited four beats before answering the door, and found Lucas with wine in one hand and two glasses in the other. She stepped back to allow him into the small space. The last of the golden light filtered in through the skylights.
There was no room for a table in the cabin so she’d set a couple of trays in the middle of the bed. It was an odd place to choose to eat dinner but it was symbolic. An invitation into her space.
Her mind had been flirting with the scenario, buzzing with possibilities. She half expected him to make an early move, to kiss her or hold her, to assure himself that she was on the menu.
But Lucas just went to one side of the bed and waited politely while she climbed on and got comfortable against the headboard before settling himself, cross-legged, at right angles to her.
They ate, chatting desultorily about Dive Meddi and Nicholas Centre. Elle told him about Oscar. ‘Could you give Polly a heads-up?’
He looked grim. ‘I’ll see her tomorrow.’
When the meal was finished, they carried the trays out to the galley.
This time when they returned to the master cabin, Lucas propped himself against the headboard and stretched his legs out alongside Elle’s as he topped up their wine glasses.
‘I’ve been thinking about the owning up thing,’ he said.
‘Oh?’ Elle put her glass down beside the bed.
Slowly, he nodded. ‘I need to own up about something.’
A curly, whirly unpleasantness took possession of Elle’s stomach. ‘W-what?’
‘Two things, in fact.’ He took a long draught from his wine glass and reached out to lodge it on the niche that stood in place of a bedside table. ‘I was — am — too inclined to see things as either right or wrong.’
She licked her lips. They were as dry as if she’d been out in the wind all day. ‘S-some people would see having strong convictions as a good thing.’
‘Not when it means the girl I love can’t tell me about things that aren’t even her fault because she thinks I’ll judge her. Not when we’re being threatened and she protects me by letting me drive her away.’
Tears started at the back of her eyes. ‘What’s the other thing?’
He reached out and touched her face. ‘I never fell out of love with you. Never stopped wanting you. When Simon set this whole thing up, I went through the motions of being furious but it was to hide the fact that I could have shouted with joy. He’d given me a second chance.’
Her heart gave an enormous thump. ‘We could — we could thank him later.’ She turned her face and kissed his palm.
His breath came out in a rush. He half-dragged her onto his lap and, when her head threatened to brush the ceiling, scooted down the bed, clasping her against him until they were lying full length, her on top, and her dress somewhere near her waist.
He groaned as his searching hands found her bare legs. ‘I did own up about the wanting you bit?’
She kissed his jawline and then his neck, rubbing herself against him. ‘I would have worked it out.’
