Playboy Boss, Pregnancy of Passion

‘No, that’ll be fine. I’d love to try the crayfish.’

Half an hour later, after they’d picked up their lunch, she ushered him towards the tube station.

‘I thought you said we were going for a walk?’

‘We are. Not here.’

‘We’re going to the Tower of London?’ he asked when they left the train at Tower Gateway and headed towards Tower Hill.

‘Not quite. Trust me,’ she said, leading him down a narrow path and surreptitiously glancing at his face to see his reaction when they arrived at their destination.

‘A church?’ Covered in ivy.

‘Not quite.’ And then she led him inside, gratified by the utter surprise on his face, followed quickly by an expression of disbelief and…was that delight?

‘Wow. I had no idea this place was here.’

‘St Dunstan in the East. It was bombed in the Blitz, but instead of knocking it down the authorities turned it into a garden.’

Instead of pews there were park benches, instead of a font there was a fountain, and instead of glass fronds climbing shrubs filled the arched window frames.

‘Refilling the well,’ she said softly, sitting on one of the empty benches and patting the seat next to her. ‘If I’m working in the city, this is where I come for lunch. Outside the lunch rush hour, that is.’

‘It’s beautiful,’ he said. ‘And so quiet. You’d never believe you were in the middle of the city.’

‘Exactly. It reminds me a bit of home,’ she said.

‘You miss the country?’

She nodded. ‘But I love the buzz of the city, too. So I suppose I have the best of both worlds—I live here in London, but I can go home to Kent whenever I want.’

‘The garden of England.’

‘Absolutely. We’re spoiled with castles and stately homes and gardens on our doorstep.’

‘I’ve always lived in London,’ he said reflectively.

‘So you’ve never spent any time in the country?’

‘The occasional weekend. Nothing much.’

She smiled at him. ‘You’ll have to come back with me some time. I’ll show you some of my favourite places.’

‘Are you asking me on a date, Sara?’

For a second, she couldn’t breathe. The air felt as if it were crackling with electricity—even though the sky was a clear blue and there wasn’t so much as a single wispy white cloud, let alone purple-grey storm clouds.

A date.

She’d meant it as a throwaway but genuine offer. To share some of her favourite places and spread a little sunshine into his life.

But it could be construed a different way. That she’d just asked him out.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Would he accept?

Another missed beat.

Did she want him to accept?

The world suddenly felt precarious, and she backtracked. Fast. ‘Not a date date. An offer to a friend—because I like you, and I think we could be friends.’

‘What, even though you boss me about?’

She was relieved that he’d slipped back into teasing banter. That, she could cope with. ‘Hey, I’ll have to be bossy if I’m navigating.’

‘What about sat nav?’ he countered.

‘You can’t beat local knowledge.’

‘True. Point to you.’ He regarded her seriously. ‘The way you see life…everyone’s a potential friend until proven otherwise, aren’t they?’

She thought about it. ‘I suppose so,’ she admitted. It was the way she’d been brought up—around people who loved her and always showed their affection.

‘Don’t you get disappointed?’ he asked.

‘Not often.’ She had with Hugh, but he was the exception that proved the rule. ‘Are you saying that you see everyone as a potential enemy, then?’

‘Hardly. I’m not the paranoid type.’

‘But you don’t let people close.’

He shrugged. ‘It makes life much less complicated.’

It also made life lonely, she thought. Not that there was any point in saying so. She had a feeling that Luke would claim he didn’t need anyone and that his life was just fine as it was. ‘You see the glass as half empty, then?’

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. ‘It’s obvious you see it as half full. I’d say it’s simply half a glass. Telling it as it is, no flowery description.’

His words were light, but she could hear the warning signal: she might want to be friends, but he’d keep her at a distance. She kept the conversation completely impersonal for the rest of their lunch break, telling him what she knew about the history of the church, and he seemed to relax again with her. And, although Luke spent most of the afternoon either on the phone or in meetings, he was back at his desk just before she left the office for the evening.

‘Sara?’

‘Uh-huh?’ She glanced up from her computer and was rewarded with a smile that did actually reach his eyes. A smile that did seriously odd things to her insides.

‘I just wanted to say thanks. For sharing that garden with me today.’

‘Pleasure.’ And it warmed her that he’d enjoyed it. ‘See you tomorrow.’