CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE PRESS WERE waiting for them as they landed in Preitalle the following day but for once in her life Lottie didn’t shy away from the surge of people and the flash of cameras. Her body was still humming from Lucca’s passionate lovemaking the night before, not to mention a quick hot interlude in the shower before they left the hotel that morning. It was a new experience to be the darling of the press and she lapped it up while Lucca led her to the waiting car. He handled all the questions with his usual charm and good humour, even the question about a second royal wedding.
‘Let’s get the first one out of the way first,’ he said with an easy smile.
Madeleine, however, was not so happy about the way the press had taken to Lottie’s affair with Lucca, and took her aside once he had left for the hotel. ‘Do you realise what you’re doing?’ she said.
‘I’m going out and having a life just like you told me to.’
‘Your affair with Lucca Chatsfield is taking the attention off my wedding.’ Madeleine scowled. ‘Not one camera looked my way when we were out there just then. No one even spoke to me. They were all clicking away at you and him as if it were you two getting married and not me and Edward.’
‘It was your idea to bring him here,’ Lottie reminded her.
‘He’s supposed to be helping you with the wedding.’
‘He is helping me with the wedding. He’s in charge of the hens’ night. It’s going to be fun. Just you wait and see.’
Madeleine was still scowling as she followed Lottie to her office. ‘You’re not really in love with him, are you?’
Lottie put her mobile phone on the desk next to her computer. Lucca had been sending her smoulderingly hot texts to remind her of what he was going to do to her when he finally got her alone. Her body reacted to each one as if he had reached through the phone and touched her. She clicked off the screen so her sister couldn’t see his latest missive. ‘No, of course not, but I do like him. He’s fun to be around. He makes me laugh.’
Madeleine humphed. ‘He’s not in love with you even if he acts as if he is. He’s just using you to fill in the time before he collects his allowance.’
Lottie felt a sharp little pain near the bottom of her heart as if something was trying to tug it down below her rib cage. She knew Lucca’s motives were not entirely pure. She knew he was only here for his family’s money and that he would not let anything or anyone stop him from collecting what he felt he was entitled to, but she hated being reminded of it, especially by her sister, who had found a man who loved her so completely and unreservedly. ‘I know what I’m doing.’
‘I don’t want anything to spoil my wedding.’ Madeleine pressed her lips together for a moment. ‘You almost ruined my twenty-first birthday with your silly little fling with that diplomat’s son. I hope you’re not going to let history repeat itself.’
Lottie jolted as if her sister had slapped her. What about what had happened to her? What about her devastation at being exploited? At being exposed in such a degrading way? ‘If you’re so worried I’m going to stuff everything up for you, then why did you ask me to be your wedding planner?’
‘Because I felt sorry for you.’
The words fell into the room like a hand grenade.
Lottie swallowed a painful lump in her throat. Pity. The one thing she hated more than anything else. ‘Is that why you agreed to have Lucca Chatsfield come over here to spice up my woefully pathetic social life?’
A hard look came into her sister’s eyes. ‘Have a fling with him but try and keep it out of the headlines, okay? This is the most important day of my life. I don’t want anyone on centre stage but me.’
* * *
Lucca knew Lottie was upset as soon as she stepped into the Chatsfield bar where he had arranged to meet her. She didn’t show it on her face. It was the way she carried herself. Stiffly. As if she was carrying an invisible weight on her head that at any moment was going to topple off. He pulled out a chair for her. ‘You look like you need a couple of champagne cocktails to loosen up.’
Her eyes seemed to be having trouble meeting his. ‘Sorry I’m late.’
‘Two minutes isn’t late.’ He gently flicked her cheek with his finger. ‘I guess it is when you’re a control freak, huh?’
She gave him a tight smile before looking away again. ‘My sister’s upset with me.’
He brought her chin back round so she met his gaze. ‘What? She didn’t like the lingerie?’
Her forehead was puckered with a frown. ‘She doesn’t like the fact that our fling is taking the attention off her.’
Lucca felt his stomach stumble like a foot misjudging a step. Did she want to end their relationship ahead of schedule? The thought was disturbingly uncomfortable. Unfamiliar. What did he care if she ended it? There were plenty of women who would willingly take her place in his bed. He could replace her in a heartbeat. ‘Aren’t you entitled to your share of the limelight?’
She let out a breath that made her shoulders slump. ‘I can’t seem to please her. For years she’s been at me to get out more. Now I’m finally out having a bit of fun and she wants me to tone it down.’
‘Ever thought of telling her to mind her own business?’
She gave him a fleeting smile. ‘I’d have to have a vodka chaser or two first.’
‘Why are you afraid of standing up to her?’
She slowly traced the C on the Chatsfield coaster on the bar in front of her. ‘I don’t know...I guess it’s because she’s never put a foot wrong. She never makes a blunder.’ She pushed the coaster away as if it had suddenly annoyed her and looked at him. ‘Is must be wonderful to go through life without ever making a mistake.’
Lucca didn’t like to think too closely about some of the mistakes he’d made. There were too many of them to think about. They were backed up behind him like a row of wrecked and abandoned cars, going all the way back to his childhood. He brushed his knuckles beneath her chin. ‘Want to go somewhere a little more private?’
Her eyes got that sparkle in them that always made his groin tighten. ‘Where did you have in mind?’
He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. ‘I have an etching to show you.’
* * *
Lottie held the painting Lucca had done of her in her hands. It was no bigger than a postcard even with the frame he’d organised for it. ‘It’s beautiful....’ She traced the gilt edge of the frame with her fingertip. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been given anything more beautiful.’ She swivelled to look at him. ‘Thank you.’
He gave one of his indifferent shrugs. ‘Count yourself lucky. You’re the first lover I’ve ever given a gift to.’
She put the painting down on the dressing table, watching him covertly in the mirror. ‘What will you do with the one of me in the palace gardens?’
‘File it away somewhere, I suppose.’
‘I think you should show it to a top gallery owner in London or New York. Set up a solo exhibition. It would be a way to launch your career as an artist. Painting a royal portrait is every artist’s—’
‘No.’
She wrinkled her brow. ‘But why? What’s the point of doing such delicate and exquisite work and hiding it in the bottom drawer as if you’re ashamed of it?’
His expression tightened. ‘My artwork is private. I want to keep it that way.’
‘But why?’
‘Because there’s nothing else in my life that is private.’
Lottie looked at him oddly. ‘But I thought you liked drawing all that attention to yourself. You seem to deliberately court scandal. You said it’s your brand.’
He pushed a hand through his hair. ‘Leave it, cara. I’m not after a big career in the arts.’
‘What do you want, Lucca?’
His eyes moved away from hers. ‘You know what I want. I want my share of the family trust fund.’
She rose from the dressing-table stool and came over to him. ‘You’ve had money all your life and it hasn’t made you happy.’
‘What makes you think I’m not happy?’
Lottie looked into his masked gaze. ‘Happy people don’t create negative drama, even if it’s mostly directed at themselves.’
A mocking smile tilted his mouth. ‘You should ask for a refund on that psychoanalyst degree you’re brandishing about. It’s rubbish.’
‘That’s a defence mechanism of yours. You make a joke of everything but inside you’re not laughing. You’re hurting.’
A line of tension rippled through his jaw but his smile was all easy laid-back charm. ‘Listen, sweetheart, we have two weeks to get through before your sister’s wedding. The world is kind of hooked on us getting it on so calling it quits right now would upset a lot of people and take the shine off your sister’s big day. Not to mention ruin my chances of claiming my trust fund. But hey, I’ll give you the choice. I’m cool either way.’
Lottie rolled her lips together. Did he really not give a damn whether their relationship continued or not? How could he be so easy going about it? Had she made no impression on him at all? Did he care nothing for her other than as just another lover he had taken to his bed?
It would serve him right if she did end it.
But of course she wouldn’t. Couldn’t.
Madeleine had already cautioned her about overshadowing her big day. Ending her affair with Lucca would draw a lot of unnecessary attention.
Besides, she didn’t want it to end.
Her heart gave a painfully tight squeeze. Admitting her feelings was dangerous. It made her want to think about things she had no business thinking about...Lucca and her together, not just for a couple of weeks but for a lifetime. Getting married. Having babies. Building a life of happiness and security for their family that he had missed out on in his lonely and traumatic childhood. Pipe dreams...all of them. That was the trouble with falling in love with a man who didn’t believe in love lasting. How many women thought they were the one to unlock a closed heart only to have theirs broken for their effort? Thousands. Millions.
‘I don’t want anything to spoil Madeleine and Edward’s wedding,’ she said.
He gave a slow nod. ‘Fine.’
There was a moment of silence.
‘You wouldn’t really forfeit your trust fund...would you?’
‘Not for the sake of two weeks.’
What about for the sake of me? Lottie pushed the thought aside before it could get a foothold. ‘Is it a lot of money?’
He picked up her royal-crested silver hairbrush and turned it over in his hands. ‘Not by some people’s standards.’
‘But it’s what it represents, right?’
He stood behind her and started brushing her hair. Long, deliciously sensual strokes that made each hair on her head shiver in ecstasy. ‘I know you think I’m a blood-sucking parasite but—’
‘Please don’t remind me of how outspoken I was that day.’
He smiled at her crookedly in the mirror but it was another one of those sad smiles that made her heart constrict at the thought of the pain and loneliness he had experienced as a child. ‘Has anyone ever told you what beautiful hair you have?’
He was changing the subject, another defence mechanism he had perfected. But this time she didn’t call him on it. He had his reasons for wanting to claim his family’s money. It was no business of hers to criticise him for it or to try and dissuade him from following through on it. ‘You did...last night.’
‘So I did.’ He turned her so she was facing him. He tilted up her face and looked into her gaze for endless seconds, his thumb moving back and forth over her cheek like a slow-beating arm of a metronome. ‘It’s true, little princess. You are beautiful.’
Lottie put her hand over his. ‘I’ve never felt it until I met you.’
He slid his hand out from under hers and used it to tuck her hair back behind her ear as if she was six years old. ‘I have to get back to the hotel. There’s a staff issue my father’s CEO wants me to look into.’ Was it her imagination or had his voice sounded deeper and huskier than normal?
He was at the door before she could find her own voice and it too came out husky. ‘Lucca?’
He glanced at her over his shoulder. ‘Yes?’
‘Thank you...’
‘For?’
‘Just...thank you.’
His hand fell away from the doorknob as a frown settled on his forehead. ‘Lottie...you do realise this thing we’ve got going is not going to continue once I leave here, don’t you?’
Lottie fought hard to keep her expression serenely composed. ‘But of course. How could it? I live here. You live in England. Long-distance relationships never work. And I hate flying, remember?’
He gave another slow nod. ‘Good. Glad we got that sorted.’
‘You’re not having second thoughts, are you?’
‘Good God, no.’ His laugh was like a punch to her heart. ‘I’m surprised I’ve lasted this long.’
‘Not bored out of your brain yet?’
There was something about his smile that wasn’t quite right. It looked tight. Fixed. ‘Surprisingly, no. You?’
She rocked her hand back and forth. ‘So-so.’
His frown deepened and then it suddenly relaxed as he laughed again. ‘Little minx.’ He came back over and scooped her up in his arms and carried her towards the bed.
‘What about the terribly important staff issue at the hotel?’ Lottie asked.
He dropped her on the mattress and came down over her, pinning her with his weight, his eyes glinting at her darkly. ‘There’s something far more urgent I have to see to here first.’