She felt her enthusiasm firing up a notch and it buzzed in her veins. She paused to look out across the vista, at the fabulous hillside view across the emerald-green landscape down to the azure sea. How beautiful it was! The whole world was beautiful—her world was beautiful. Her existence was blissful.
Because of Luke.
Luke had lit up her life and set her heart glowing with a fire that she could never quench—never wanted to quench. She sang his name in her head—more than just his name.
I’m in love with him.
As she gazed out over the vista before her she felt her breath catch as the realisation hit her. The truth of what she felt for him vibrated in her head as gloriously as his name! A rush of emotion fused through her. Of course she was in love with him! How could she not be? How could she not be in love with the man whose every touch thrilled her? Her expression softened with tenderness and recollection. The man with whom she felt so at ease.
That time of painful conflict between them had vanished. How had it ever existed, she wondered, when now the glow of warmth in his eyes never faded? How wonderful he was! How he made her smile, and laugh, made her feel carefree when he caught her to him and held her close, so close that she could feel the beat of his heart against hers!
Of course I’m in love with him! How could I not be?
She felt the rush of emotion come again, filling her being, and with it came another emotion, searing through her.
Hope.
Hope that if she was in love with him, then he might be in love with her.
Surely his passion for her, his ardour, cried out how much he felt—and not just in bed but all the time. The way he looked at her, took her hand, wound his arm around her, poured his gaze into hers, smiled at her, laughed with her... It was as if he could not get enough of her. And the way he nestled her against him, held her hand, meshed his fingers with hers, as if he would never let her go... Surely he felt the same?
She felt her breath catch again. A sigh of hope, of happiness, of sheer delight, escaped her as she breathed his name again.
In a dreamy-eyed reverie she reached for her colours again, more determined than ever to do her very best work for Luke.
A couple of hours later, a discreet cough behind her broke her concentration. It was Fernando, bringing a tray of tea for her, and she took a grateful break as the sun lowered to the horizon. Later she would ready herself for the evening. Luke was taking her out, and she wanted to dazzle him.
* * *
Julie had skilfully altered her evening gown for her, ridding it of all the frills and flounces. Its simple style had a sensual impact which she knew Luke would prefer.
Talia studied her appearance in the long mirror before heading downstairs for the evening, looking at her dramatic eye make-up and the long, loosened tresses of her hair tumbling over her shoulders.
She wished she could add some jewellery, but she had none. She’d never really had any, according to the lawyers who had brutally informed her that both her and her mother’s jewellery were classed as a corporate asset, since her father had bought it with company funds and claimed it against tax.
Not, she thought with sudden bitterness, that it had been given to her by her father out of affection, but only because his daughter, like his wife, needed to be draped in expensive baubles to reflect his own success in life. They had been tokens of his wealth, not of his love.
She shook the memory from her, and forgot it completely in the glow of appreciation in Luke’s eyes as she walked down the wide sweep of the staircase.
He closed in on her. ‘Maybe we should postpone dinner,’ he murmured, and the familiar husk in his voice sent a little thrill of arousal through Talia. Then he released her. ‘No, I want to enjoy looking at you all evening and delay my gratification. The reward will come later.’ His dark eyes glinted with open desire. ‘And will be all t
he sweeter for it.’
He handed her into the waiting limo.
‘Where are we going?’ Talia asked.
He laughed. ‘We’re going to try the place you flounced out of and see if we can have a better time there tonight.’
Talia smiled. It was a certainty that they would enjoy the evening a million times more than the disastrous first time.
And so it proved.
This time Talia was as relaxed as she had been tense before. Now, as they took their places at their table, she gazed about the room with equanimity.
Luke followed her gaze. He frowned inwardly, remembering that first evening. when he had discovered how completely unqualified and inexperienced Talia was to undertake what he’d so rashly invited her here to do.
His expression softened. Well, he would come up with some tactful way of hiring a designer who was up to the task, and in the meantime, if it brought Talia pleasure to dabble with her colours and paints, imagining she was doing something useful with the time she was spending on dreaming up her designs, then he was happy to indulge her.