Stranded With the Tycoon Page 16

  Or so she thought until her plane landed in Nice and there was no one there to meet her.

  This was why she took care of things herself. As hard as Dolly was trying, organisation and responsibility still didn’t come naturally to her. And now Luce was stuck in an airport with no idea where she was supposed to be going.

  Fishing her phone out of her bag, she called Dolly. ‘I thought you said there’d be a car here to meet me? With, you know, a driver? To take me to the hotel?’

  ‘He’s not there?’ Dolly’s incredulous voice screeched down the line. ‘Hang on. I’ll call you back.’

  Luce took her bags and sat down on a nearby bench to wait. The Arrivals lounge began to empty out a bit, waiting for the next influx of passengers from the following flight, and she glanced around her, trying to see if she’d missed a sign with her name on it or something. Dolly had been so sure it was all arranged...

  The doors in front of her opened with a bang, and Luce looked up to see Ben Hampton—paint on his face, jeans, shirt and in his hair—running towards her just as her phone rang.

  ‘Dolly.’

  ‘He’s on his way,’ Dolly said quickly. ‘There was a mix-up—’

  ‘He’s already here.’

  ‘Oh.’ Dolly paused. ‘Are you cross?’

  ‘Possibly. I’ll let you know later.’

  ‘Okay.’

  Luce hung up. ‘You and Dolly came up with a plan. You and Dolly. Together.’ The two people least likely to work together or to come up with a coherent, responsible plan.

  Wincing, Ben said, ‘Yeah. Guess it’s no surprise it didn’t quite work. I thought you weren’t due in for another hour.’

  ‘And you still dressed for the occasion?’

  Ben glanced down at his paint-splattered clothes. ‘I lost track of time. Come on—let me take your bags.’

  ‘Where are we going?’ Luce asked as she followed him out to where his car was parked at a wildly illegal angle on the kerb. ‘Another hotel?’

  Ben shook his head. ‘We’re going home.’

  * * *

  She looked incredible. Three months pregnant, straight off an aeroplane, annoyed with him—and she was still, by far, the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

  ‘Where is home, exactly?’ Luce asked as they pulled out of the airport.

  ‘I told you about my grandmother’s château?’

  ‘That’s where we’re going? So—what? You’re moving to France?’

  Ben sighed. ‘If you just wait—just a little bit—I promise I can do grand apologies and romantic gestures in style once we get there. And maybe once I’ve changed clothes.’

  ‘It’s not your clothes I’m worried about you changing. And I’m not interested in romantic gestures.’

  She had her arms crossed over her chest, her creamy breasts pushing against the silk of her top. Were they bigger? Not the time, Hampton.

  ‘Just the apology, then?’

  Luce nodded. ‘And I’d rather have that sooner than later.’

  Ben smiled despite himself. ‘No patience at all, have you?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. I think I’ve waited quite long enough.’

  She had a point. ‘I made a plan and everything, you know. There was a list.’

  ‘Dolly’s been telling me for weeks that plans need to be flexible. That’s why we’re painting the nursery yellow.’

  ‘You and Dolly?’

  ‘She’s moved in. She’s paying rent so we can fix up the house and make it baby-safe. And it means I won’t have to be alone when the baby comes.’

  Ben clenched his jaw. She wouldn’t be alone. She shouldn’t ever have thought she had to be alone. Never mind the plan.

  ‘I’m sorry, Luce. For reacting the way I did.’ Ben glanced across at her. She stared out of the window, intently focusing on something in the distance, or maybe on nothing at all. Either way, she wasn’t looking at him, which was all Ben cared about. ‘I was an idiot. I know that. Seb told me, and Dolly told me.’

  ‘She wrote a song about how much of an idiot you are, you know.’

  Ben laughed. He was starting to actually like Dolly, against the odds.

  ‘The thing is, I knew I was wrong. I knew losing you, and our baby, would be the worst decision I ever made. I just couldn’t see any way out of it.’

  Now Luce looked at him, eyebrows raised, and Ben looked away and concentrated on the road again, just to avoid the anger in her gaze.

  ‘You couldn’t just say, We’ll figure it out together?’

  Ben winced. ‘Apparently not. I was jet-lagged, tired, not thinking straight. But mostly I just didn’t want to turn into my father.’

  ‘You can’t let your parents’ marriage define your life.’

  ‘I know. But Seb wanted me to take on this new work, travelling all the time, and I couldn’t drag you and a kid around with me—hell, you’d never let me. And even if you did you’d hate it so much you’d leave me eventually. But I couldn’t see myself staying in one place either. And I don’t want to be one of those dads who’s never around and then shows up for a couple of days in a whirlwind before disappearing again.’

  ‘So you made all these decisions for me and our child without talking to me about it?’

  Luce’s words were cold and hard, and Ben turned off the autoroute with relief. Nearly home. If he could just get her to the château...

  ‘I’m trying to make up for it now,’ he said. ‘Just give me the chance.’

  Luce shook her head. ‘I’m not sure that you can, Ben.’

  The pain in her voice made his heart clench. ‘Let me try.’

  They drove the rest of the way in silence, and by the time Ben pulled up in front of the château the sky was growing dark. Grabbing her bag from the boot, he opened the door to help her out, and watched her as she stared up at the building.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ she said.

  ‘It’s nothing compared to you.’ She turned to him in surprise, and he shrugged, moving away towards the front door.

  ‘You know flattery isn’t going to win this one for you?’

  ‘It’s not flattery if it’s true,’ Ben called back. And besides, he’d try every trick he could think of if it meant getting Luce to stay.

  * * *

  Inside, the château was cool and dark. The spring evening had turned chilly, and Luce wrapped her cardigan tighter around her as Ben flicked on the lights. Lamps around the walls flared into life, lighting the wide entrance hall and sweeping staircase.

  ‘You want the tour?’ Ben asked, and Luce nodded.

  She followed him through the first door on the left.

  ‘Drawing room,’ Ben said, waiting while Luce looked around.

  Everything looked dusty, unloved. Sheets lay over the chairs and sofas and the candlesticks and brassware were tarnished. There was none of the careful design of his hotel rooms, or even the cosy decoration of his cottage. This was somebody else’s home—not Ben’s. Not yet, anyway.

  ‘When did you get here?’ she asked as he led her back into the hall and through the next door.

  ‘A week ago,’ Ben said. He flipped on the light switch, revealing case after case of dusty leather books. ‘Library, obviously.’

  ‘You flew straight here the day after I told you?’

  ‘I had work to do.’

  Of course. For someone who said he didn’t want to turn into his father, Ben seemed to be doing his damnedest to become exactly the same sort of workaholic.

  He led her across the hallway to show her a front sitting room and a formal dining room. More antique furniture, more dustsheets. More floral wallpaper and heavy curtains.

  ‘This place doesn’t seem very you,’ she commented.

  ‘It isn’t yet. Lot of work to do.’

  ‘Is that why you came straight here as soon as you got back from your work trip? Or is there a hotel nearby you’re looking at acquiring?’

  ‘Always with the questions...’ Ben took her arm, tucking her ha
nd into the crook of his arm just as he had that night in Chester. ‘Come see the kitchen, then I’ll explain everything.’

  The kitchen stretched across the back of the house, with huge full-length windows leading out to the garden. The units were old and battered, but Luce could see what a fabulous space it could be, redone properly. The whole house had huge potential. Small for a château, she supposed, but plenty big enough for any modern family.

  Not that she would be moving to France, of course. Ben hadn’t even suggested it. In fact she had no idea at all what he wanted from her.

  ‘It’s a lovely kitchen,’ she said, rounding on him. ‘Now, talk.’

  Ben smiled, and the love in his eyes as he looked at her shocked her. He looked...open. Free.

  ‘I spoke to Seb,’ he started. ‘The morning after I saw you. Told him what an idiot I’d been. Told him I couldn’t see how I could fix it—having you and a family—with my job. But without the job I couldn’t support you, and being stuck in an office five days a week would drive me crazy.’

  ‘I know that. I’d never ask you to do that.’ Luce pulled away from him. ‘I told you—you don’t have to be involved if you don’t want to be. But why you dragged me out here to tell me this again—’

  ‘I didn’t,’ Ben said, grabbing her hands. ‘Just listen—please. Actually, come upstairs with me.’

  ‘Only if you talk as we go,’ Luce said, hating the burning tears she could feel forming in her eyes. Damn hormones. They confused everything. She just wanted answers. No need to get upset.

  ‘Okay,’ Ben said with a laugh. ‘You’ve been very patient with me.’

  Holding her hand, he walked them back into the hallway and up the staircase.

  ‘Seb asked me what I really wanted,’ he said. ‘And I realised it was the same question I’d kept asking you. You hadn’t been able to answer it. But suddenly I could. The only thing in the world I wanted that morning, and every morning since, was you in my life. You and our child. No one-night rules. No running away. Just you. Always. However you’ll have me.’

  Luce looked up in surprise and the stair carpet slipped under her foot. Ben wrapped a strong arm around her waist and she grabbed at his shoulders as she found her balance and tried to get her heartbeat back under control.

  Ben smiled at her, carrying on as if nothing had happened. ‘So Seb ordered coffee, and we worked out a plan to make it all work. A long-term, lasting plan. You’d have been so proud of us.’

  ‘I already am,’ Luce murmured. He’d made the right choice. It had taken him a couple of days, maybe, but he’d chosen to stay, to fight. Chosen responsibility and grown-up life over running away like a teenager. ‘So, what was the plan?’

  ‘We tackled work first, because I was so worried about making the same mistakes Dad did. I offered to quit, but Seb had a better plan. I’m going to keep developing our new hotel line—family-friendly, boutique business hotels—but I’m going to get help to do it. You can come with me, whenever you want, and we’ll structure it so I’m not away more than two weeks in every month.’

  Luce blinked. ‘So—wait. You want to be with me—with us—when you’re in the country?’

  Ben grinned and pulled her up the rest of the stairs. ‘I love you, Luce. I want to be with you all the time. Did I miss that part out?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well, I do. I want to be a real family with you. And I know now what a real family needs.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘A home. Or, in our case, several.’ He threw open a door off the landing and Luce looked in to see sunny yellow walls and boxes of nursery furniture piled in the centre of the room. ‘I’d hoped to get at least the crib put together before you arrived. Painting took longer than I remembered.’

  Luce bit her lip. ‘You want us to live here?’ That would mean leaving Dolly—and Tom and Mum. Leaving Cardiff. Leaving her job. Giving up everything she loved. Would he really ask her to do that?

  ‘Sometimes.’ Ben wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. ‘I figure we’ll fix up your Cardiff house and live there most of the time. I mean, I don’t imagine you’re going to want to suddenly give up your home and your work or anything, but we can spend summers here at the château.’

  Hope flared up inside her. Maybe he did understand after all. ‘And any time we need a weekend to get away from it all we can go to the cottage?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  Ben smiled down at her and Luce tried to remember if she’d ever seen him looking so happy. She didn’t think so. Not even after making love.

  It all sounded perfect. More than she’d ever hoped or dreamed for. To be with him, just their little family, all the time. Except... ‘I told you Dolly moved in, right?’

  ‘I don’t care. As long as I get to be with you. Besides, we might need a babysitter.’

  Luce laughed. ‘Very true.’

  ‘So you’ll do it?’ Ben asked. ‘You’ll take the chance that I’ve changed? Grown up?’

  Luce smiled up at him. ‘I love you, you idiot. Of course I will.’

  Ben lowered his lips to hers and kissed her softly. ‘That’s okay, then.’

  ‘Well, seeing the château did make a bit of a difference. And I like the idea of homes in two countries...’

  Ben shook his head. ‘That’s what I realised. These buildings aren’t home. You are. You and our baby. That’s home to me.’

  Luce’s shoulders relaxed as she tucked her head against his chest. That was what she’d needed to hear.

  Things weren’t just going to be okay any more, she knew. Their life together would be magnificent.

  * * * * *

  ISBN: 9781472005502

  STRANDED WITH THE TYCOON

  © Sophie Pembroke 2013

  First Published in Great Britain in 2013

  Harlequin (UK) Limited

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