The make-up girl giggled, clearly of the same opinion. Nessa forced a smile and desisted from saying that she’d be more than happy to swap places. But they wouldn’t understand.
She made her way downstairs, careful in the high-heels. When she got to the hallway the door was ajar and she went out. Luc was standing with his back to her on the steps, his hands in his pockets, the jacket material pulled taut across his back. It reminded her of the scar she’d seen and how he’d dismissed it so enigmatically.
For the brief moment before he turned around Nessa could almost imagine she was one of those beautiful women who populated his world, and that this was a date. But then he turned around, and those dark eyes raked her from head to toe without an ounce of emotion or expression on his face and Nessa didn’t feel beautiful any more. She was remembering how he’d told her that first night that even if she’d come via the front door and dressed to impress, she still wouldn’t be his type...
For a second Luc almost didn’t recognise Nessa. His chest tightened and his whole body went taut with the need to control his instantaneous response.
She looked beautiful. She surpassed anything he could have possibly imagined, and yet there was nothing showy about her. She oozed understated elegance in the long black dress. His body lit on fire when he registered the low-cut vee and saw how much of her skin was exposed, including the pale swells of her breasts.
He dragged his gaze back up, feeling a little dizzy. He saw her biting her lip, and looking anxious. ‘Is it okay?’ she asked.
Luc was a little incredulous. Did she really have no idea how gorgeous she was? His reaction to her, and his instincts urging him to believe this wasn’t an act, made his voice curt. ‘It’s fine. We should go.’
Nessa tried not to feel disappointed by Luc’s reaction as he turned away and went down the steps, towards where a sleek four-wheeled drive was parked. The other night was a mistake, not to be repeated, and this was not a date.
She made her way across the courtyard after him in the vertiginous heels, praying she wouldn’t sprain her ankle. He was holding a door open and she got in gingerly, holding the dress up so it wouldn’t get caught.
Luc walked around the bonnet. Nessa couldn’t help observing how good he looked in the tuxedo. When he was behind the wheel he drove them a few short miles to where a helipad was located, away from the racing stables and stud.
‘We’re going in a helicopter?’
He looked at her. ‘It’s an hour’s drive to Dublin. The event starts in half an hour.’
Nessa tried her best to look nonchalant and not shocked. When she stepped out of the car, though, she stopped. The grass was soft and damp after recent rain and she wasn’t sure how to navigate the terrain in her shoes from here to where the helicopter was waiting.
Luc came around the front of the car and saw her, obviously assessing her predicament. Nessa was about to bend down and take the shoes off, but before she could do so Luc had lifted her into his arms effortlessly and was striding towards the helicopter where a pilot was waiting by the open door.
Nessa clung to his neck breathlessly, burningly aware of his hard chest and strong arms. Luc however showed no such similar awareness when he deposited her into the seat with a grim expression and did up her seat belt before she could object. His hands glanced off her bare skin as he adjusted it and Nessa’s blood fizzed.
She was glad when he sat in the front beside the pilot because she didn’t want him to decipher what she was thinking. He couldn’t have made it more glaringly obvious that she was just someone he was tolerating, until such a time as she ceased to be a thorn in his side.
When they’d put on their headphones he turned around. ‘Okay?’
She nodded rapidly and forced a bright smile wanting to leave him under no illusion that she was anything other than okay and completely unmoved by what had happened between them.
They took off and, as much as she hated Luc Barbier right now, she couldn’t help feeling emotional when they swooped low over the River Liffey in Dublin’s city centre and she saw the capital city glittering like a jewel in the dusky evening light. It was magical.
They landed, and Nessa was saved the ignominy of being carried again as she was able to walk to the car waiting for them. Luc sat in the back with her, and the plush interior, which looked huge, felt tiny with him so close to her.
The journey to Dublin Castle took ten minutes and soon they were pulling up in the majestic forecourt. Lights shone out onto the cobbles as a glittering array of people were disgorged from sleek cars. And Nessa—who had just won her first prestigious race on a thoroughbred horse—had never felt more terrified in her life.
* * *
Luc got out and came around to help Nessa out. She looked at his hand for a moment, hesitating, and then took it, letting him help her. As soon as she was standing, though, she let go as if burned.
Luc figured that he couldn’t blame her after his less than gracious reaction to how she looked. He’d never been less charming. With other women he at least put on a show of being civilised. But with Nessa, he didn’t know where to put himself.
When he’d picked her up to carry her over the grass to the helicopter it had been purely for expediency, but it had been torture to feel her slender frame curling into his, her arms around his neck. He’d been as hard as a rock for the entire journey.
It irritated the hell out of him that he’d made it more than clear that what had happened between them was a one-off mistake, and she didn’t seem in the least inclined to try and change his mind.
Mind you, in a dress like the one she was wearing, she didn’t have to do much. He was already aware of men around them looking at her twice. He was also aware of the way he felt inclined to bundle her back into the car, and take her straight to some private place where he could lay her out on a bed and make love to her as he hadn’t done the first time.
Her first time. Surely, whispered a wicked little voice, she deserves to know what it can really be like?
Luc shut it down and put out his arm for Nessa to take. He had the feeling when she slipped her arm through his that she was only touching him to stay upright in those vertiginous heels. They added inches to her height and only made him more aware of how much closer her mouth would be to his.