Needed some time, and space, in order to get her thoughts together. She felt as if she had been completely railroaded these last few hours.
It certainly didn’t help that she was so aware of Sin that she could think of nothing else, be aware of nothing else, that memories of their lovemaking kept intruding into her thoughts, inciting a longing, a yearning, to repeat the experience…
Sin was seducing her just by being there, Luccy realised self-disgustedly. ‘Don’t you have something else you should be doing other than sitting out here with me?’ she asked suddenly.
Sin found Luccy’s thoughts easy to read as he saw the self-disgust in her eyes and the return of those lines of strain beside her mouth and eyes. ‘I should go back to the office for a couple of hours, yes,’ he acknowledged ruefully.
‘Then please do so,’ she said tautly.
Yes, Luccy most definitely wanted him out of the way for a while. So that she could regather her crumbling defences? Well, he would go along with that for the moment…
He nodded. ‘You could just relax here, read a book or take a swim perhaps, and we’ll get together again later.’
‘At which time it will be too late for me to get any flight back to England today?’ she asked.
Sin bit back his impatience. ‘Would that really be so bad, Luccy?’ he reasoned. ‘All I’m asking for at the moment is a little of your time, the chance for us to get to know each other before we decide what to do for the best.’
‘Nothing is going to change, Sin.’ She sighed. ‘No amount of us spending time together is going to alter the fact that you believe I deliberately set out to seduce you two months ago, and for reasons that were far from innocent.’
‘I was Sin that night.’ His mouth had tightened. ‘You seduced Jacob Sinclair the Third.’
‘Sin. Jacob Sinclair the Third.’ She shrugged. ‘They’re one and the same person.’
‘Actually, they’re not,’ Sin bit out.
‘I see no distinction.’
She didn’t want to see a distinction, Sin recognised wryly. Only time would show her that there most definitely was one.
He stood up. ‘You’ll find plenty of books to read in the sitting-room. The pool and hot tub are at the back of the house—although I’m not sure you should go in the hot tub,’ he added with a frown. ‘I seem to remember reading on the instructions that pregnant women shouldn’t go in.’
Her mouth twisted derisively. ‘That’s only if you put the jets on.’
‘Right. But maybe you should stay out of there, anyway—’
‘I think I’m old enough to make my own mind up, Sin!’
He sighed, already knowing from the way Luccy refused to drink any alcohol that she was being conscientious about what she should and shouldn’t be doing during her pregnancy. He needed to back off a little.
‘Just ring for Wallace if you want anything, hmm?’
‘But stay out of his kitchen?’ Luccy offered.
‘That only applies to me,’ Sin retorted. ‘I’m sure he won’t object in the least if you go in there. I assure you that Wallace is as susceptible as the next man to the charms of a beautiful woman,’ he added dryly. ‘My mother has him wrapped about her elegant little finger!’ He paused beside Luccy’s chair to bend down and place a light kiss on her lips.
Luccy was completely unprepared for the caress, her response instinctive as her lips parted beneath his, deepening and lengthening the kiss as one of Sin’s hands moved to curve lightly about the nape of her neck.
Sin straightened reluctantly several minutes later to look down at the flushed confusion on Luccy’s face. ‘I’ll only be a couple of hours,’ he promised huskily. ‘Just tell Wallace if there’s anything you particularly feel like eating for dinner this evening.’
He found himself strangely reluctant to leave. Strangely, because Sin had never allowed a woman, any woman, to interfere with his work before, and yet unbidden thoughts of Luccy these last few months had done so constantly. This reluctance to leave her now was completely out of character, too.
Get a grip, Sinclair, he instantly instructed himself; Luccy had already shown him quite clearly that she didn’t feel the same reluctance to be parted from him!
Even so he found himself lingering unnecessarily. ‘You’ll be okay here on your own?’
Luccy’s eyes widened. ‘Of course. Besides, I won’t be alone, will I?’ she added pointedly as Wallace came quietly out onto the terrace to clear away the tea things.
Sin gave the elderly man an affectionate glance. ‘I suppose not. Wallace knows where to reach me if you should—’
‘Sin, I’m not going to leave without first telling you, if that’s what’s worrying you.’ She arched mocking ebony brows. ‘After all, you know where I work, remember?’
Had Sin felt that reluctance to go back into the city because he was worried Luccy might take advantage of his absence to leave?
No, he trusted Luccy enough to at least believe that if she said she would stay here tonight, then she would do it. Besides, he did know where she worked!
His hesitation was for quite another reason, he recognised with an inward frown. In spite of everything he was still totally physically aware of Luccy. At the same time, he felt protective because she was carrying his child. Even if it was a protectiveness that Luccy obviously resented.
‘Sin, will you just go to work?’ Luccy said with a little laugh as he remained beside her. ‘I really don’t need a nursemaid.’
‘I’m well aware of the fact that you’re a grown woman.’
‘Then try treating me like one!’
He looked down at her silently for several more seconds before giving an abrupt nod of his head. ‘I should be back in plenty of time for dinner,’ he rasped harshly before turning sharply on his heel and walking back inside the house.
Luccy stared after him. What on earth had all that been about?
Maybe Sin was just feeling the strain of them being together here? After all, he was no more used to sharing his home with anyone—the devoted Wallace apart—than she was.
Well, Sin needn’t worry too much about that; Luccy had no intention of staying on here any longer than she absolutely had to in order to convince Sin that she was quite capable of taking care of herself—and anyone else who came along!
‘What the—? Sin, you scared the hell out of me!’ The water swirled wildly about Luccy as she surged up in the hot tub—minus the jets—to turn and glare at him, at the same time dislodging his hands from where they had been cupping her breasts beneath the water.
Sin looked down at her unrepentantly, his shirt sleeves dripping with water from being submerged in the hot tub.
He
