his grasp and simply raised her other hand in a blithe greeting, tossing a ‘Hi, Harry!’ at his brother in a kind of bubbly dismissal.
‘Charmed,’ Harry purred at her.
The flirtatious tone didn’t raise so much as a flicker of response. Her gaze instantly connected to Michael’s again, the warm brown eyes appealing for understanding and, to his mind, much more than that to come from him. He felt her reaching out, wondering, wanting....
‘I don’t know if you know, but it’s Ellie’s birthday today,’ she said, ‘and I thought I’d treat her to a really nice lunch somewhere. You won’t mind if I take her off and she’s a bit late back, will you, Michael?’
Lunch...yes, he thought exultantly. He couldn’t wait to have more of this enchanting woman.
‘Actually, I’d decided to do the same myself,’ he quickly informed her. ‘Lunch at the Mariners Bar.’
‘Oh, wow! The Mariners Bar!’ Her eyes sparkled with golden lights. ‘What a lovely boss you are to take Ellie there!’
‘Why don’t you join us? It will be a better celebration of her birthday if you do.’
‘I’ll come, as well. Make a party of it,’ Harry put in, instantly supporting the idea.
Four was better than three, Michael decided. Harry had to know now that Lucy wasn’t interested in him, and he could entertain Elizabeth, which took the onus of doing that off him.
‘I only booked a table for two,’ his PA inserted, pulling them back to arrangements already made.
‘No problem. I’m sure the maître d’ will make room for us,’ he stated, oozing confidence as he smiled at Lucy. ‘We’d be delighted to have the pleasure of your company.’
Her smile of delight was turned to her sister. ‘Well, a foursome should be more fun, don’t you think, Ellie?’
There was a touch of irony in Elizabeth’s reply. ‘Certainly no awkward silences with you, Lucy.’
She laughed, seeming to sprinkle sunshine at everyone as she happily declared, ‘That’s settled then. Thank you for asking me, Michael. And it’s good of you to join in the party, too, Harry.’
Michael wasn’t interested in having a party.
What Harry called his tunnel vision—usually applied only to his work on the franchises—had kicked in with a vengeance on Lucy Flippence. He saw no one but her. His entire focus, physical and mental, was on her. He wanted her completely to himself.
It didn’t occur to him that it might not be a good idea to bed his PA’s sister.
All he could think of was how to get her there as fast as he could.
LUCY COULDN’T BELIEVE her luck. The prince liked her, wanted to be with her. And what a prince he was, not only drop-dead gorgeous, but a billionaire to boot! Ellie had said enough about the Finn Franchises for her to know this guy was seriously wealthy, but had never mentioned he was also seriously sexy.
Which gave Lucy pause for thought as they made their way out of the building and across the Esplanade to the boardwalk that ran along the water’s edge of the park leading to the marina. Was there something wrong with Michael Finn, something that had put Ellie off being attracted to him? Was he a terribly demanding boss? Lucy wasn’t keen on demanding men. If he had struck himself off Ellie’s possibility list, Lucy needed to know why before jumping in the deep end with Michael Finn.
Though it was a beautiful day and her heart was singing. There was no reason not to enjoy this exciting attraction while it was still lovely and shiny. As soon as they paired off on the boardwalk, the two of them in front, Ellie and Harry behind, Michael gave Lucy a smile that tingled right down to her toes.
‘Tell me about yourself, Lucy,’ he invited. ‘How did you come to be in cemetery administration? You look as though you should be a model.’
He had silver-grey eyes—very distinctive, like the rest of him—and she was thrilled that he was interested in her, if only for a little while. Words bubbled out in an effervescent stream. She told him about her experience of modelling—its advantages and disadvantages—then tour guide jobs she’d had, and he laughed at the amusing stories about people who’d made guiding both difficult and hilarious at times. Moving on to her stint in the dance studio, she was prompted to ask, ‘Do you dance, Michael? I mean, do you like dancing?’
It was a strike against him if he didn’t.
He grinned at her, half singing, ‘I’ve got rhythm...you’ve got rhythm....
She laughed in delight.
‘Our mother insisted that Harry and I have dancing lessons when we were kids,’ he went on. ‘Said it was a mandatory social skill and we would enjoy it in the end. We grumbled and groaned at having to miss sport for girlie dancing, but she was right. You could get the same adrenaline rush out of dancing as you can out of sport.’
‘A case of mother knows best,’ Lucy remarked.
He winced ruefully. ‘She always did.’
Seeing the change of expression, Lucy softly asked, ‘Does that mean your mother is not still with you?’
It drew a quizzical look. ‘Don’t you recall the plane crash that took both my parents?’
‘No. I’m sorry, but...’
‘It was all over the newspapers, the media....’
She wasn’t about to admit that her dyslexia made reading newspapers too difficult. ‘How long ago was this?’
‘Close to ten years.’ His frown lifted. ‘Maybe you were too young to take much notice. How old are you, Lucy?’
‘Twenty-eight. And just over ten years ago my mother died of cancer. I didn’t take much notice of anything for a while, Michael.’
‘Ah...understandable.’
His face relaxed into a smile again and Lucy was highly relieved that a sympathetic bond had been established. She pushed it further, saying, ‘I don’t have a father, either. He deserted us before Mum died. It’s just me and Ellie now.’
‘Do you live together?’
‘Yes. We share an apartment. Ellie is a wonderful sister.’
The voice of her wonderful sister shattered the lovely build-up of understanding. It was raised in extreme vexation, crying out, ‘That’s because you’re so annoying!’
Startled, Lucy instantly swung around, anxious that nothing go wrong today. Michael turned, too. Seeing that she’d drawn their attention, Ellie rolled her eyes at her companion and huffed in obvious exasperation before saying, ‘It’s okay. Harry was just being Harry.’
Guilt swirled around Lucy’s mind. Had she inadvertently lumped Ellie on her birthday with a man she didn’t like, spoiling
