It Was Only a Kiss

SIX



The next day, Jess watched as Luke carelessly and confidently steered a hugely expensive superbike into the spot Sbu had designated and pulled off his helmet, sending a warm glance to the blonde giraffe sitting on the wall that separated the beach from the road. The sun was setting, the model had a bottle of St Sylve Merlot and two crystal glasses in her hand, and a sexy come-hither look on her very expensive face.

Jess ground her teeth. She knew she wasn’t acting...nobody was that good. Luke strode over to the model, cupped her neck and tipped her chin up with his thumb. Their kiss was way longer than necessary, and Jess was sure she’d have no molars left by the end of this shoot. Sbu eventually cut the scene and Luke lifted his head. He really could look as if he was enjoying this a lot less, Jess thought, glaring at him as he grinned down at the giraffe.

Jess shivered and wished she had a cup of coffee in her hands. She was cold, tired, and she wanted a hot bath and to curl up in her favourite pajamas. She wanted a chick-flick and popcorn, a romance novel and chocolate... She did not want to accompany Luke to a wine-tasting hosted by one of the most well-respected food critics in the country.

Maybe the giraffe could go with him?

Luke was not amused when she put the suggestion to him five minutes later.

‘I’d rather jump off Table Mountain than be forced to listen to her babydoll voice all night,’ Luke retorted. He tipped his head to one side. ‘What’s your problem? You’ve been like a bear with a sore head all day.’

‘I have not!’

‘Please—your expression could curdle milk,’ Luke said. ‘You haven’t been your normal bubbly self.’

You didn’t have to watch yourself kiss her, Jess told him silently, and wrinkled her nose. So this was what true jealousy felt like. Jess twisted her lips. She didn’t like it. It was so high school...

‘Are you—?’

‘I swear if you say it I’ll swat you,’ Jess warned him. ‘I am not jealous!’

Luke grinned and his eyes danced. ‘Really? Good to know. Except that wasn’t what I was about to say.’

Jess desperately wanted to curl up into a little ball and whimper with embarrassment. ‘What were you going to say?’ she asked, forcing the words out between clenched teeth.

Luke’s smile widened and Jess really wanted to slap it off his face.

‘Are you...interested in a cup of coffee? I was going across the road to order some from that bakery over there.’ Luke nodded to the bakery across the street.

Jess wanted to toss her head, blithely refuse, but she was chilled to the bone. ‘Thank you.’ She sent him a stiff smile.

Luke grinned, turned and walked across to the bakery. Jess wished there was a wall she could bang her head against. What was wrong with her? She didn’t get jealous or snarky or grumpy...she wasn’t the type. Why was she feeling possessive about Luke? They weren’t dating or sleeping together, and a couple of sun-hot kisses didn’t mean anything. Shouldn’t mean anything...

Jealousy suggested an emotional connection which was unacceptable on so many levels. She wasn’t ready or willing to get involved again, and neither was he. They were both rational adults, in charge of their choices and their feelings. Theoretically.

Jess sighed. Maybe it was because she was spending too much time with him: familiarity breeding fondness.

Her mobile rang in her coat pocket and Jess pulled it out to see ‘Mum’ on the display. She greeted her mother and listened to the weekly family update. It was more rambling than usual and Jess, who knew her mother really well, wondered what her mother was up to.

When Liza finally ran out of trivia and didn’t say goodbye Jess knew that she was about to be set up. Since her mother’s and grandmother’s choice of men was always dodgy, Jess rolled her eyes.

‘He’s a second cousin, spends his weekends in Franschoek. Lee. Darling, you have to remember him!’ Liza pleaded after telling her that Lee was in set design in Cape Town. ‘You spent a day on the beach together when you were about five!’

‘Mum, I can barely remember the people I spent the day with on the beaches of Thailand, and that was last year! And, no, I’m not interested in dating.’ Jess watched as Model Girl tottered across the road to help Luke carry the coffee and scowled at the warm smile he gave her. He might not like her voice, but he sure didn’t mind sharing his sexy smile with her. ‘Mum, just hold on.’

Jess thought for a moment. Maybe it would be a good idea to dilute Luke’s overwhelming presence by spending some time with another man—give herself some distance, some perspective.

Jess could think of at least ten reasons why Luke shouldn’t even blip on her radar: she was a city girl, he was a farmer. Being open and sunny herself—today, admittedly was the exception—she wasn’t mad about brooding, private types. While he occasionally mentioned his grandfather and great-grandfathers, he refused to discuss the immediate past history of St Sylve, or explain why he and his father had been at such odds. He refused to discuss his father at all.

But there was still something about him that called to her. Jess knew that she was intrigued and curious, which was more dangerous than the sexual heat she experienced around him. She could shrug off the heat but it wasn’t so easy to ignore what was underneath the sexy package. His intellect, his dry humour, the well-hidden vulnerability in the tough, hard-nosed, reclusive man.

She wasn’t going to be stupid enough to fall for him because, really, she wasn’t a stupid girl.

The distraction of dating another man might give her some of that much-needed distance and perspective.

‘Set it up, Mum.’

Jess had to grin at the shocked silence. It was the last reaction her mother had expected and it took her a minute to take it in. ‘Are you pulling my leg?’

‘Not this time,’ Jess replied, taking the cup of coffee Luke held out. ‘Give him my mobile number and get him to give me a call.’

Jess saw Luke’s frown and ducked her head. Impulsive behaviour again, Sherwood? She didn’t want to date anyone else. She wanted to date Luke. But in her mind he was undateable, and she did need distance.

Jess tucked her mobile back into her pocket and blew across the surface of the hot coffee. She stared out to sea, knowing that Luke was staring at her.

‘You’re going on a date?’

His voice was silky-smooth and she winced internally. He didn’t sound happy...

Jess hedged. ‘Not a date date. Dinner with a second cousin...it was my mother’s idea.’

‘You allow your mother to set you up with men?’ Luke continued, in that cool, concise voice which hinted at the calm before a very big storm.

‘No—yes! Look, it’s just dinner with someone I used to play with!’

‘Then why can’t you look at me?’ Luke asked, moving to stand in front of her.

He grasped her chin in his hand and forced her eyes upward. Jess’s eyes slammed into his and she gasped at the emotion she saw churning within them. Need, power, annoyance...

‘No.’

Jess wasn’t sure whether her ears were working properly. She thought she’d heard him telling her what to do. Nobody told her what to do...

‘Excuse me?’

‘If you want to date anyone, it’s going to be me. Because we both know where you and I are heading and I don’t share. Ever. So, if you want to do the dinner-and-dating thing before we sleep together, I’m it.’

Jess, having lived with men bossing her around her entire life, didn’t appreciate Luke going all Head Boy on her. ‘You’re delusional if you think you can tell me what I can or can’t do.’

Luke’s eyes were thin, very green slits. ‘Try me. Don’t test me on this, Jess.’

Jess tossed her head. ‘And how do you think you can stop me?’

Luke grabbed the lapels on her coat with one hand and yanked her towards him. Jess held her ground and briefly wondered if she hadn’t miscalculated by challenging him. She could see that he was grinding his teeth. His lips had thinned and his jaw was set.

Luke cursed and slanted his lips over hers in a kiss that was as powerful as it was sexy. She didn’t go for the dominating, take-me-now type of embrace, but this was wild and crazy and more than hinted at the depths of Luke’s passion. He wanted her, and he’d leave her and everybody else in the Southern Hemisphere in no doubt about that.

His arm slipped around her back and she felt the power in it as he pulled her closer up to him as his kiss deepened. Thoughts, feelings, emotions pummelled her as he took exactly what he wanted from her mouth, her kiss. Then Luke did something to her mouth that short-circuited her brain. Maybe it was the scrape of his teeth against her lip, the long slide of his tongue that had her womb melting.

Jess was thoroughly into the kiss when Luke dropped his hand and took a step back. She licked her top lip and blinked hard, trying to get her eyes to focus, felt Luke grasp her chin and eventually found the courage to meet his stormy eyes.

‘Do not test me on this, Jessica,’ Luke said again in a hard voice before dropping his hand and heading towards his vehicle parked on the opposite side of the road.

Jess closed her eyes and staggered over to the wall, ignoring the smirking looks of Sbu and the crew. They could think what they wanted...she just needed to get her breath back.

Breath, brain, composure... What the hell was that? She’d never been kissed like that before—an explosive mixture of furious and frustrated. Jess blew her breath into her cheeks and waited for her heart to stop galloping.

Thank goodness she was leaving for home on the red-eye flight tonight...some time away would be a good thing, she thought. That distance-and-perspective thing again.

Jess watched as Luke climbed into his car, his mobile at his ear, looking cool and collected and seemingly unaffected by their kiss. The man didn’t stop working. She knew that filming took a lot of time away from St Sylve and his other business interests, but instead of whining or moaning he just made the best of the situation. He followed instructions, did what he needed to do, and in between shoots and set-ups, he jumped on his laptop or mobile to do what else needed to be done.

She knew that he was under enormous pressure, but nobody would suspect it. Luke just put one foot in front of the other and kept moving forward without fanfare and without drama. He did what he needed to do and she respected that—respected him.

D.I.S.T.A.N.C.E.

Pers...pec...tive.

She now had two mantras: No acting on the attraction—ha, ha! As if that was working—and Keep your distance, find your perspective.

She didn’t think saying mantras was working. Stupid New Age thinking.

* * *

Three hours, a shower and a smart suit later and Luke was still annoyed. And his annoyance concealed a healthy layer of panic. Where had his caveman response to her dating someone else come from? It had been basic, automatic, primal...a reflex rather than a chosen thought...and he didn’t like it. Hell, he hated it.

He’d never felt so jealous, so out of control, so plainly ticked as he had...did...at the thought of Jess with another man. He hadn’t enjoyed the illogical reaction he’d had to the idea—hadn’t appreciated the instinctive roaring in his head that had said this was his woman, his mate. Millions of years of evolution and he was still dragging his knuckles on the ground.

Maybe it was life jabbing him in the ribs? He’d been amused at the thought of Jess being a little green-eyed over the model—it had certainly stroked his ego. He hadn’t once thought that he might be equally...okay, a thousand times more jealous.

Dammit to flipping hell and back.

But date someone else? He didn’t think so.

Luke scowled and took a sip from his glass of ’87 Merlot. Jess, dressed in a short, ruffled black dress and do-me shoes, was across the room, talking to Piers Hanson the food critic. Flirting with Piers Hanson the food critic... It was, Luke decided with a scowl, as natural to her as breathing.

And enough to make him go all caveman again.

There was no way he was going to watch her flirt with anyone else, he decided, even if the man was old enough to be her grandfather. Luke took a last sip of his wine, placed it on the table next to him and excused himself from the group of men around him—friends of his father who were recounting stories that he didn’t want hear. He was a great vintner, an excellent raconteur, the life and soul of the party...

Yeah, you didn’t have to live with him, dude.

Luke walked between the guests, exchanged comments but didn’t get drawn into conversation. He approached Jess from behind and put a hand on her lower back, loving the feminine dip where her back met her buttocks. She knew his touch, Luke decided with satisfaction, because she instinctively stepped closer to him before remembering that they weren’t talking to each other.

‘Luke—Piers was just telling me that he’d love a tour of St Sylve,’ Jess told him, and he saw the warning in her eyes. Be nice, agree. He’s important.

Luke nodded. ‘You’re welcome at any time, of course, but it’s winter and the vines are resting. St Sylve is beautiful in spring and summer.’

‘I think it’s stunning year-round,’ Jess said fervently.

Luke heard the truth in her voice and felt warmth in his gut. He knew it had nothing to do with him. He’d often caught her looking at the buildings, touching the doorframes, staring at the mountains.

Piers tipped his bald head and his bright blue eyes were shrewd. ‘You don’t look like your father.’

Here it comes, Luke thought. Another worshipper at the altar of Jed Savage.

Be polite, Luke reminded himself.

‘It’s said that I look more like my mother.’

‘You do. Your mother was a beautiful woman,’ Piers replied and Luke felt his heart clench.

It took a lot to keep his face impassive. ‘You knew my mother?’

‘I did. I have two of her paintings,’ Piers said. ‘Such an amazing artist—and a lovely person. Threw herself away when she married your father.’

Luke’s eyebrows rose at Piers’s frank statement. He felt Jess’s hand on his arm and was grateful for the contact. ‘Uh—’

What was he supposed to say to that?

‘Sorry, but unlike a lot of people in the industry I didn’t like your father.’ Piers shrugged thin shoulders in a dark grey suit.

Well, this was interesting. ‘Why not?’

Piers looked around to check who was listening before continuing. ‘I thought he was arrogant, condescending and generally a conceited ass.’ He looked up at Luke and pulled a face. ‘Sorry. I knew him for a long time.’

Luke’s mouth kicked up. Finally, here was a man who saw Jed clearly. He wouldn’t verbally agree with him—that would be disloyal—but inside he was cheering him on.

Piers sighed and shook his head. ‘My late wife would be jamming her elbow into my side now, telling me to keep my mouth shut. God, I miss her.’

‘How long were you married?’ Jess asked, changing the subject.

‘Forty-five years. Five kids.’

Wow. The mind boggled. That was what he’d wanted...one woman, one life, one marriage. Lots of kids. Now he knew that some dreams weren’t supposed to come true. He didn’t know how to do marriage and family—after all, he hadn’t any experience of one and his father had been an anti role model.

Piers looked over Jess’s shoulder and smiled. ‘And here comes one of my favourite shopkeepers, purveyor of some very fine wines.’

And Luke’s some-time, part-time lover.

Oh, crap on a cracker. Since Jess’s arrival he hadn’t given Kelly much thought—okay, any thought—and the notion that she might be at this wine-tasting hadn’t even crossed his mind. They’d had an easygoing, no-hassle...thing...going for many months; Kelly was his go-to person when he needed a date, or sex—or even on occasion an ear. He’d meant to contact her and explain things, but with one thing and another—mainly Jess—he’d forgotten. And the thought of introducing a woman he’d recently slept with to a woman he wanted to sleep with made his skin prickle.

It was so Jed.

Luke, thinking that this day couldn’t get any worse, quickly excused himself and stepped up to Kelly. Gripping her elbow, he steered her away from Jess.

‘Kel, I—’

Kelly laid a hand on his arm and sent him a warm smile. ‘Luke, sweetie, take a breath. It’s all good.’

‘You don’t understand. I need to—’

‘Call it quits?’ Kelly’s warm blue eyes crinkled up at him. ‘Luke, when I heard via the grapevine that you had a blonde staying with you I kind of caught a clue. Honey, I’m ten years older than you. I’ve been expecting this for a long time. Besides, didn’t we agree that we’re just friends who occasionally sleep together?’

Luke shoved his hands into the pockets of his suit pants. ‘Uh...okay, then. Well...’

Kelly laughed. ‘You are looking very flustered. Tough day or tough girl?’

‘Both. She drives me nuts.’

Kelly stepped forward and dropped a kiss on his jaw, holding her cheek against his to talk into his ear. ‘Good. You deserve a girl who will drive you nuts. It makes for very interesting sex.’

If we ever get anywhere near the bedroom, Luke thought darkly as Kelly drifted back to Piers and Jess.

Piers took Kelly’s hand and pulled it into the crook of his arm. ‘It’s so nice to see you, Kelly, and if these two lovely people don’t mind, I’m going to steal you away to taste a rather nice Cab from Chile. Not as good as yours, dear boy, but palatable.’

When they’d left, Jess tipped her chin up to look at him and Luke felt like a bug under a microscope. She sipped her wine and just went on looking at him, her brown eyes wary.

‘So, that was interesting.’

Jess’s voice was so bland and so even that Luke knew she was seriously ticked. Joys of joys. Would this day never end?

He resisted the urge to tug at his collar. ‘Uh...’

‘How long have you been sleeping with her?’

Luke took a deep breath as he prepared to explain that he wasn’t sleeping with her any more, that they were just friends, that he had no intention of resuming their arrangement.

Smart girls. Dammit, you just couldn’t get anything past them.

* * *

Jess, with Ally asleep in the passenger seat, turned into the gates of St Sylve and steered her SUV down the long driveway. She’d deliberately not thought about Luke while she was away, and being insanely busy had helped. There’d been decisions to be made at work, projects to give input on, meetings to take. She’d had drinks with a potential client and dinner with another, and had returned to the office around ten to put in another couple of hours’ work.

Luke and St Sylve had been put on the back burner, but now she was back and she had to deal with them. Luke had told her he wasn’t sleeping with Snow White... The woman looked exactly like the popular children’s character: black hair, white skin, blue eyes. Curvy. He had been, but he wasn’t any more. That was all the explanation he’d given her and she admitted that it was all she was entitled to. But she wanted to know more. How long had they been together? How had they met? Had he ever loved her?

Why did she even care? It wasn’t as if she had any claim on the man—she wasn’t in love with him. She liked him—a lot—but she liked a lot of men... She just didn’t want to have hot sex with any of them but Luke. She couldn’t possibly be thinking about him as being something more, someone important...could she?

If she was, then she didn’t have an IQ higher than a tree stump. She didn’t want a relationship, and he certainly didn’t want anything more. Did she have to draw herself a picture to explain the concept of going nowhere? Honestly...

Jess parked her car in the empty garage and switched the ignition off. Ally woke up, stretched and yawned. ‘Are we here?’

‘Mmm-hmm.’ Jess tossed her sunglasses onto the flat surface of the dash and rubbed her eyes. ‘Luke’s not back yet. His car isn’t here.’

Ally released her seat belt and opened the door, greeting Luke’s two dogs as she hopped out. ‘So where does Owen live?’

Jess rolled her eyes and pointed to the stable block. ‘Luke converted the stable block into a two-bedroom apartment for him.’

Ally squinted at the building and then back at the manor house.

Jess rolled her eyes before laughing at her friend. ‘Yeah, the walk of shame won’t be that long,’ she teased.

Ally looked completely unabashed. She’d come to St Sylve to sleep with Owen, and the poor guy didn’t stand a chance. Jess opened the back door and pulled out her suitcase and then Ally’s. Ally had a very masculine way of looking at sex and men: bag ’em, tag ’em and toss them back.

Love and feelings didn’t form part of the equation.

Jess still couldn’t work out whether she found that sad or smart.

* * *

Jess hummed softly as she padded her way to the kitchen door. She was exhausted, and it felt as if every muscle in her body was protesting against Ally’s idea of heading to a pub this evening and ‘par-tay-ing’. Jess draped her shoulder bag over the back of the chair and headed straight for the kettle, suddenly desperate for a cup of tea.

‘Head up the stairs. Second room on the left. I’ve put you in the room next to mine,’ Jess told Ally.

‘How old did you say this place was?’ Ally asked.

‘Early eighteen hundreds.’

‘Encountered any ghosts yet?’

Jess knew that Ally was pulling her leg about the fact that she believed in ghosts and wanted to see one. Like Luke, Ally was a firm non-believer.

She wrinkled her nose. ‘Nothing. A house like this should have a ghost or two.’

‘And it probably would, if ghosts existed,’ Ally responded. ‘Up and left?’

‘Tea?’ Jess asked.

‘God, no,’ Ally responded. ‘Wine. Got any?’

‘I’m currently living on a wine estate...’ Jess looked around. ‘Actually, I don’t. Nor do I have any food. We might have to raid Luke’s kitchen.’

Ally leaned against the doorframe. ‘Do you do that often?’

‘More than I should,’ Jess admitted.

‘Oh, baby girl, you have it bad,’ Ally said before disappearing upstairs.

Jess poured water into a cup and poked at the teabag with her teaspoon, thinking of Luke and wondering how today’s filming had gone.

She splashed a little milk into her tea and wrapped her hands around her cup, blew across the surface of the hot liquid. Hearing Luke’s car pull into his spot outside the kitchen door, she put down her tea and walked to the door. Luke’s smile widened as he saw her standing in the doorway and Jess felt her breath hitch.

It was frightening to realise how good it felt to be back.

Luke jumped down from his seat and, leaving the door open, took two strides to reach her. He cupped the back of her head in his large palm. His mouth covered hers in a long, slow, deep kiss that melted her organs from the inside out. Jess responded without thought, draping her arms around his neck and pressing up close to his body.

Hot, randy, slow, sexy, tender... How many ways could this man kiss? Jess held the back of his neck and thought that she could read his mood in his kisses almost as well as she could in his eyes. In this one she tasted fatigue...and a layer of stress. Happiness that she was back, relief that she was in his arms and, as always, the pulsing heat of desire. Kissing him in return, she rubbed her hand up and down his back, instinctively trying to ease the stress from his muscles, arching her own back to tell him silently that she wanted him as much as he seemed to want her, trying to tell him that she was thrilled to be back at St Sylve, with him, in the strong circle of his arms.

God, this was getting far too deep, too quickly. She should pull away, take a breath...

Luke read her mind and yanked his mouth off hers.

Jess licked her lips and tasted him there. ‘What?’

Luke stepped away and put an inch of air between his thumb and index finger. ‘I’m this close to yanking you into the back seat of my car and whipping your clothes off.’

Jess thought that she could go for that. It was crazy, it was wild, it was... Luke slammed the car door closed and she came back to her senses. Impossible.

She hauled in a breath and found her voice. ‘Hi.’

‘Hi, back. Good to see you.’ Luke ran his thumb across her lips before placing his hand on her lower back and ushering her into the kitchen.

Jess wrinkled her nose when she heard her mobile ringing in her pocket. It was Lee, the five-hundredth cousin once removed, the man her mother had set her up with. They exchanged pleasantries and Jess was deeply conscious of the sardonic look in Luke’s eyes. His eyes narrowed and his eyebrow lifted.

This was stupid, Jess decided. He knew and she knew that she wasn’t interested in anyone else but him, so she quickly ended the conversation with Lee, declining his invitation to dinner as politely as she could. Trying to use him as a distraction was so high school and, frankly, beneath her.

She raised her brows at Luke. ‘Satisfied?’ she asked.

‘Marginally. Take me to bed and I will be.’

Heat arced between them. She could so easily sleep with him and damn the consequences...

Owen rapped on the frame of the kitchen door and ambled inside. ‘Hey, Jess, good to have you back.’

Jess returned his greeting and was amused when his eyes didn’t connect with hers. He was too busy looking for Ally.

‘Ally around?’

Jess grinned. ‘Up the stairs and to your left.’

Owen didn’t need to be told twice. His long legs took him across the kitchen in a couple of strides and then he was running up the stairs. They heard a feminine squeal, a large thump, the slam of a bedroom door...

Jess shook her head. ‘You do realise that she’s going to gobble him up and spit him out?’

‘He won’t have a problem with that.’ Luke sent her a direct look. ‘You ready to gobble me up and spit me out yet?’

He said it with such a mixture of humour and hope that Jess had to smile. ‘Nope. Sorry.’

‘Ah, well.’

Jess leaned back against the counter and cocked her head. ‘So, how was filming today?’

‘Long and tiring. I walked up and cycled down the mountain most of the morning,’ Luke replied. Gloria, one of his dogs, whined at the door, and Luke looked from her to Jess. ‘The dogs want their walk. Want to join us?’

Jess lifted one shoulder before nodding. ‘Yes, let’s do that.’

Luke lifted the heavy jacket of his she’d taken to wearing at St Sylve off the hook at the door and helped her into it. Opening the door for her, he waited for her to walk out before closing it behind them and whistling for the dogs. Two huge canine bodies shot down the driveway like bullets, tails thumping.

Luke jammed his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, idly noticing that they had a day, maybe two more, of pruning.

Jess picked up his train of thought. ‘Pruning’s nearly over?’

‘Yep. Time for the vines to rest and rejuvenate.’

Jess looked around her, smiled and pulled in a big breath. ‘The air tastes different here.’

Luke squinted at her. ‘What do you mean?’

Jess scratched her jaw. ‘Back home you can taste the soot, the pollution in the air. Here I can taste fruit: the peaches and the plums, the grapes.’ She turned around and walked backwards, looking at the houses in the setting sun. ‘It’s so beautiful, Luke. You are so lucky to own this place, to be this place.’ When he didn’t answer, Jess placed a hand on his arm and made him stop. ‘You don’t believe that, do you?’

Luke looked at St Sylve and then he looked away. ‘No, not really.’

‘Why not?’

He felt his shoulders lift towards his ears and made a conscious effort to drop them. ‘I guess it’s because I was never made to feel welcome here.’

Luke heard Jess’s swift intake of breath and carried on walking, looking for the dogs, who’d disappeared down a bank. Jess’s shoulder bumped his as she fell into step with him.

‘I really hate it when you toss out statements like that and leave me hanging.’

Her grumpy tone made him smile.

‘I’m a girl, and answers like that make me want to ask more questions.’

Of course they did. Luke sighed when he saw the determined glint in her eye and knew that he’d opened the door to a barrage of questions.

He’d expected a question about his father, so he was surprised by what she did ask.

‘Do you love St Sylve?’

He remembered his thoughts the other day, standing in her bedroom. ‘Love it, hate it, resent it... I suppose you want me to explain that too?’ Luke took her hand, threaded his fingers through hers and tugged her along. ‘Let’s keep walking.’

Jess remained quiet, and when he’d thought about what he wanted to say he spoke. ‘My father always told me that I wasn’t worthy of St Sylve for a whole lot of reasons. I didn’t want to be a winemaker. I couldn’t wait to leave the farm—him—this valley. I didn’t like my father very much and he liked me even less. But I was his only son so I inherited.’

‘And?’

‘And instead of inheriting an estate with normal death duties attached to it I inherited an operation that was so deeply, catastrophically in debt that I nearly lost my shirt, my skin and a couple of essential organs trying to save it.’ He glanced down at her. ‘Your warning eight years ago was slightly...ill-timed.’

‘Now you’re just being kind. I was a brat.’

‘You were a brat.’ Luke pulled her hair and wrapped his arm around her shoulder to give her a brief hug.

‘So, when you say “in debt”...?’

‘About-to-be-foreclosed in debt.’ Luke’s lips twisted. ‘My father managed to rack up a debt that was three times bigger than what the estate was worth.’

Jess looked astonished. ‘But...why? How...? The bank...? Why did they lend him so much money?’

Luke shrugged. ‘The power of the family name—and do not underestimate the power of Jed’s charm.’

‘So what happened when he died?’

Luke removed his arm, stepped away from her and rammed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. ‘It took every cent I’d ever made—every bit of credit I had access to—to keep the bank from taking it.’ His eyes hardened. ‘I don’t have my father’s charm. Since then, most of the money I’ve made on other deals has been poured into servicing the debt.’

‘So there hasn’t been the money to launch new marketing campaigns until now?’

‘New marketing campaigns? I didn’t have the money to employ a vintner. I had to learn to make wine—to do everything, really. We have a bit more breathing space now...so you don’t need to worry about getting paid.’

Jess hunkered down into her coat and looked at him from beneath her long lashes. ‘Can I ask you another question?’ She didn’t expect an answer because she carried on speaking before waiting for his reply. ‘Why didn’t you let it go?’

Luke looked at her, confused. ‘Let what go?’

‘St Sylve. When you inherited it, why didn’t you just sell it and walk away? Why did you save it?’

He’d considered it. On more than one occasion he’d decided to do that...to say he wanted no part of St Sylve. But despite thinking that, feeling that, he’d never managed to take that final step to walk away from his responsibility, his heritage, his name. He couldn’t allow the hard work of all his grandfathers and their grandfathers to be wasted, couldn’t pass the land they’d loved into someone else’s hands.

Jess remained quiet for a while after he’d explained that to her. Eventually she tucked her hand under his arm and rested her cheek against it. ‘So, basically, you’re telling me that a part of you loves it?’

‘Sometimes,’ Luke acknowledged with a faint smile.

‘Well, I do. Love it,’ Jess said fervently.

Luke whistled for the dogs. ‘It’s getting late. We should head back.’

Jess turned around with him. ‘Ally is talking about getting some dinner, going to a pub later. Do you want to come with us?’

Luke thought a moment. ‘Is Owen included in the invitation?’

‘They’ll have to come up for air and food some time.’ Jess smiled. ‘So I presume so. If you don’t come I’ll just stay here, catch up on my own work. I don’t feel like being a third wheel.’

Luke rubbed his jaw. ‘Maybe we both need a break. We’ll take my car. What if we leave at about half-seven?’

‘That sounds good.’

‘So, tell me about your trip...’ Luke said as they headed back home.