The Secret Child

‘Well, I’ll try… Who is this mysterious investor? You know we have to be careful about bringing in another partner—’

‘I’ll talk to you about it later. Thanks, Alison.’ The phone went dead.

Now, what was that all about? Alison wondered as she put the receiver down. The hotel was in such dire straits that she couldn’t see any investor in their right minds wanting to bail them out. She hoped Garth wasn’t building himself up for a big disappointment.

But there wasn’t time to think about it because Jane arrived and with her usual efficient manner seemed to take over the cottage. Alison picked up her briefcase and kissed Nathan goodbye.

It didn’t take long to drive down the narrow country lanes to the hotel. As she pulled into her parking space the first thing she noticed was the bright red Mercedes sports car parked next to her.

It was such an attractive, head-turning car that she glanced at it again as she walked across the gravel towards the entrance of the hotel. That was when she noticed the personalised number plate. LUKE 1.

A frisson of apprehension shot through her. It couldn’t be Luke Davenport’s car…could it? What reason would he have to come up to the hotel? It was hardly the place he’d choose to drop in for morning coffee with his wife.

She continued on up the steps towards the revolving glass doors. Even Luke didn’t have that weird a sense of humour.

Or maybe he’d found out about Nathan and curiosity had brought him here? The very notion made her feel slightly queasy but she continued walking into the luxurious foyer of the Cliff House.

Luke couldn’t know about Nathan, she reassured herself. The only people who knew the truth were her brothers and her close friend Todd and none of them would break her trust. And anyhow even if Luke did find out about Nathan he wouldn’t care, just as he hadn’t cared about her.

He’d been back home to visit his father a year ago and she had gone through all these same anxieties then, but Luke hadn’t bothered to contact her. He’d returned to the States and married Bianca.

‘Morning, Alison.’ The head receptionist looked up with a smile.

‘Morning, Clare; how is everything today?’ It was her standard greeting and she sounded remarkably cool but that wasn’t how she was feeling; in truth, every nerve-ending seemed to be standing on edge.

‘Everything’s fine.’ The woman smiled back. ‘But you’ve got a visitor.’

‘Have I?’ Her heart was starting to pound heavily against her chest. ‘Who?’

‘I don’t know. He didn’t give his name.’

For a brief moment of giddy relief Alison thought she had got it wrong, that it wasn’t him at all. Everyone in the village knew Luke Davenport.

Clare lowered her voice. ‘But whoever he is, he’s drop-dead gorgeous,’ she whispered conspiratorially. ‘He’s waiting for you in the library.’

Drop-dead gorgeous…yes, that was an apt description of Luke Davenport, she thought bleakly, remembering that Clare was new to the village and wouldn’t know him.

‘OK…’ Alison’s brain was racing. ‘Give me five minutes, then come through and tell me I have an important phone call.’

If Clare was puzzled by the request she didn’t show it. ‘Sure,’ she said easily.

Just keep calm and you’ll get through this, Alison told herself warily as she walked away from the reception area. You’re a twenty-five-year-old woman and Luke Davenport doesn’t have any power over you any more.

But the calm, sensible words were forgotten as she walked into the library and saw Luke standing with his back to her looking out of the windows towards the sea.

She stopped just inside the doorway and stared at the tall, powerful figure. The very way he was standing, his feet slightly apart, the way he was dressed in black jeans and a dark T-shirt…it was all so familiar that she felt a lump rising from nowhere in her throat. For a horrifying moment she was scared to speak in case her voice gave away the fact that her senses were in total chaos.

She wished there was someone else in the room, but the vast library with its deep golden settees and bookshelf-lined walls was depressingly empty.

She cleared her throat and he turned.

‘Hello, Ali.’

She looked into his eyes, hardly able to believe that the man who had haunted her waking thoughts as well as her sleeping ones for two and a half years was actually here.

He was every bit as handsome as when she had last seen him. His thick dark hair held only a few strands of silver at the temples. His features were classically perfect, from piercing blue eyes and a strong, square jaw to lips that had a sensual curve. She remembered how those lips had once captured hers in a sweet torment of desire before wrenching her mind firmly away from that direction.

They were different people now, she reminded herself fiercely, and he was a married man.

‘Luke…this is a surprise.’ Her voice was surprisingly steady.

‘Is it?’ He smiled, that crooked smile that had always done strange things to her insides. ‘I thought that you would have been expecting me.’

She shrugged helplessly. ‘I heard about your father’s death. I was sorry. But why would I expect you to call here?’

He didn’t answer her immediately; instead his eyes flicked over her, studying her carefully, taking in the wide green eyes and the striking strawberry-blonde hair that was tied back in a French plait. She felt the intensity of his gaze almost as if he were touching her as he worked his way leisurely down over the slender lines of her figure in the white linen suit, before his eyes returned to her face, where they remained with a steely kind of force that was really unnerving. ‘How about for old times’ sake?’

Alison suddenly wished that her hair was loose and she had something to hide behind, she had never felt more exposed…more helplessly vulnerable.

‘Quite frankly, the last place I’d expect to see you is here in the Cliff House, on enemy territory.’

He smiled. ‘It was our fathers who were enemies, Alison, not us…as I recall we crossed those barriers a long time ago.’ He watched the flare of colour in her skin with a barely concealed wry amusement that made her temperature soar even higher.

‘So how long are you home for?’ She hadn’t meant to ask that question but curiosity forced it to her lips.

‘Long enough.’

Long enough for what? she wondered. Long enough to sort his father’s estate out and put it on the market? Long enough to cause havoc in her life?

‘I’m rather busy, Luke,’ she said, glancing at her wrist-watch. ‘So what can I do for you? I’m sure you’re not here just to relive the good old days.’ Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

He shook his head. ‘Dear me…after two and a half long years, I thought you might have managed to spare me at least…’ he looked at his own watch ‘…five minutes of your precious time before getting someone to come in here and rescue you with some excuse.’

If the reception area weren’t so far from where Luke was standing she’d have sworn he had overheard her conversation with Clare. ‘What do you want, Luke?’ she asked again, trying not to be disconcerted by how easily he was able to second guess her moves.

‘Well, I would have thought that was obvious… I want to see you, of course,’ he said quietly.

Luke had an incredibly sexy voice. It had always sent shivers of desire racing through her and she was appalled to find that nothing had changed, he could still turn her on with just a word…a smile…

‘I hear you have become a mother since I last saw you.’

The quietly spoken words reverberated through her consciousness as if they had been amplified a million times over. And his eyes seemed to burn now.

‘Yes…and I hear you’ve got married.’ She countered the question as deftly as she could. ‘Congratulations.’

Clare chose that moment to break in on them and Alison had never been so glad to see someone in all her life.

‘Sorry to disturb you, Alison, but you’re wanted urgently on the phone.’ The woman looked from one to the other and then smiled warmly at Luke.