His Most Exquisite Conquest (3 page)

CHAPTER FOUR

W
HILE
LUCY
DIDN
’
T
believe in big dreams for herself, she saw no reason for Ellie not to have them. Her sister was brilliant at everything. No one could find fault with her. However, her personal life certainly needed brightening, and Harry Finn looked like the right man to do it if she’d simply fling the door open and let him in.

‘You’re always so sensible, Ellie,’ Lucy chided, wanting her to lighten up and take a few risks for once.

‘Which is something I value very highly in your sister,’ Michael said warmly, picking up on her words as he appeared beside them and seated himself next to her on the lounge.

‘Oh, I do, too,’ she quickly agreed, liking him all the more for appreciating this quality in his PA. She bestowed a brilliant smile of approval on him as she added, ‘But I also want Ellie to have fun.’

‘Which is where I come in,’ Harry said, also catching her words as he came back. His eyes danced with wicked mischief as he gazed at Ellie. ‘Starting with cocktails. The bartender will bring them over. Here are the peanuts and pretzels.’

He placed a bowl of them on the table and settled himself beside her, throwing her a challenging look that mocked any resistance to having fun with him. She flicked him a sizzling glance in return.

Definitely something hot going on between them, Lucy thought, and gave Harry an approving smile as she asked, ‘What cocktail did you order for Michael?’

‘A Manhattan. Mickey is highly civilised. He actually forgets about sunshine until it sparkles over him.’

Lucy laughed at the teasing reference to herself as the sunshine girl. ‘And for yourself?’

‘Ah, the open sea is my business. I’m a salty man, so I share Elizabeth’s taste for margaritas.’

‘The open sea?’ Lucy queried.

‘Harry looks after the tourist side of Finn’s Fisheries,’ Michael answered. ‘I take care of buying in the stock for all our franchises.’

‘Ah!’ She nodded, understanding why Harry was dressed the way he was.

She knew Finn’s Fisheries was a huge franchise with outlets all around Australia. They not only stocked every possible piece of fishing gear, a lot of it imported, but the kind of clothing that went with it: wetsuits, swimming costumes, shorts, T-shirts, hats. The range of merchandise was fantastic and Ellie had told her Michael dealt with all that.

She knew about the tourist side, too, having been a tour guide herself. There were Finn dive boats offering adventures around the Great Barrier Reef, Finn deep sea fishing yachts for hire, and for the really rich, the exclusive getaway resort of Finn Island, where she’d never been but would love to go.

Harry couldn’t be too much of a playboy if he was responsible for keeping these enterprises running successfully. She noticed that his white T-shirt with the tropical fish had the emblem of Finn Island printed below his left shoulder, and wondered if he’d come from there this morning. Maybe if she and Michael hit it off really well, he would take her to the glamorous getaway.

Lucy decided she could not have wished for a more exciting situation—Ellie and Harry, she and Michael. The conversation over cocktails zipped with good humour. Ellie drank a second margarita, definitely loosening up, hopefully throwing caution to the winds. A thirtieth birthday was not a time to be overly sensible.

Lucy wanted her sister to have the best possible day.

Which led to making
the mistake!

They were handed menus as soon as they were seated in the dining-room, and instead of waiting for the others to start talking about the dishes listed, as she usually did, the fact that they were at a top-line restaurant gave her the confidence to say, ‘I bet I know what you’re going to order, Ellie.’

Her sister raised her eyebrows. ‘What?’

Lucy grinned at her. ‘The chilli mud crab.’ It was her absolute favourite dish.

‘Actually, I can’t see that on the menu,’ Michael said, glancing quizzically at her.

‘Oh, I didn’t really look. I just assumed,’ she replied quickly, silently cursing herself for being an impulsive idiot.

Revealing her disability to a man she wanted to impress—a man as smart as Michael Finn—would make him lose interest in no time flat, and she would shrivel up inside if he got that look on his face—the look that saw her as defective. Hiding her dyslexia was always the best course. Now she had to cover up the stupid mistake.

Pretending to study the menu properly, she asked, ‘What have you decided on, Michael?’

‘The steak.’

‘How about sharing a seafood platter for two with me, Elizabeth?’ Harry said, leaning closer to point out the platter’s contents on the menu. ‘You get crab on it, as well as all the other goodies, and we can nibble away on everything as we please.’

Lucy instantly warmed to him even more—a sweet man, not only caring about her sister’s pleasure, but also taking the meal selection heat off herself.

‘Harry will eat the lion’s share,’ Michael warned.

Harry instantly raised a hand for solemn vowing. ‘I swear I’ll give you first choice of each titbit.’

‘Okay, that’s a done deal,’ she said, closing the menu and slanting him a smile.

‘Sealed with a kiss,’ he said, bright blue eyes twinkling wickedly as he leaned closer still and pecked her on the cheek.

‘You can keep that mouth of yours for eating, Harry,’ she snapped, probably on the principle of give him an inch and he’d take a mile.

He grinned. ‘Elizabeth, I live for the day when I’ll eat you all up.’

‘That’ll be doomsday.’

‘With the gates of heaven opening for me,’ Harry retorted, his grin widening.

Lucy couldn’t help laughing.

Ellie heaved a long-suffering sigh and shook her head at him. ‘You are incorrigible.’

‘A man has to do what a man has to do,’ he archly declared, sending Lucy off into more peals of laughter.

He
was
fun. And totally irrepressible. She suspected that Ellie was holding out against him because she got a kick out of the sparring, as well as not wanting him to think she was an easy catch.

However, their selection of a seafood platter for two didn’t help Lucy with choices. She would have to order the same as Michael, which was okay. The steak should be very good here.

* * *

Michael was amused by Harry’s determined assault on Elizabeth’s defences, amused by her determined resistance to his charm, too. Most women would be lapping it up. His brother was going to have to work hard to win this one over, but the battle served to keep them occupied with each other, leaving him free to pursue the connection with Lucy.

He’d been quite stunned when Elizabeth had turned up at work this morning wearing the gorgeous butterfly blouse—totally atypical of her usual style in clothes. A birthday gift from her sister, she’d said—a sister who was as different from her as chalk and cheese. She was so right about that. He could see Elizabeth as a schoolma’m. Lucy promised to be a delicious array of exotic cheeses, and tasting all of it had already become a must-do in his life.

And despite her choice of
white
clothes today—very sexy white clothes—she was definitely the butterfly, flitting from job to job as though they all had some sweet nectar for her, tasting and moving on, clearly enjoying everything that life could offer her, wanting a whole range of experiences.

Including him.

Saw him, liked him, wanted him.

His head was still spinning with the excitement of her uninhibited response to their meeting. No games, no pretence, no guard up—just lovely open Lucy letting him know she found him as sexy as he found her. It was a struggle not to be in a constant state of arousal.

He thought of Fiona Redman, his most recent ex, who’d definitely been into female power games. The convenience of having her as a sexual partner did not stack up against the annoyance of being expected to toe her lines. No woman was ever going to decide for him when he should work and when he shouldn’t. The success of Finn Franchises had been top priority in his life ever since his father’s untimely death, and that was not about to change any time soon.

However, he would certainly make time to satisfy this sizzling lust for Lucy. It probably wouldn’t last long. The sheer novelty of her would wear off and the usual boredom or irritation would set in. He had never come across the magic glue that could make a relationship stick. He always found fault somewhere and that was the end of it. Quite possibly the fault was in him. Whatever... he was going to enjoy this woman as long as she stayed enjoyable.

The waiter returned and took their orders. Lucy chose the steak, too. Wanting to share everything with him? It was absolutely exhilarating being with her, especially when she turned those big brown eyes on him, the golden specks in them glowing with warmth.

‘You said dancing lessons interfered with sport, Michael. What did you like playing?’ Dimples flashed in her cheeks as she spoke.

He smiled reminiscently. ‘Everything in those days—cricket, baseball, tennis, soccer, rugby.’

‘Not now?’

‘They were mostly schoolboy passions. I still play tennis, but only socially. I have a couple of games of squash during the week to loosen up from too much desk work, and usually a round of golf at the weekend.’ She looked sublimely fit, probably from dancing, but out of interest he asked, ‘What about you? Any sporting passions?’

‘I can play tennis, but like you, only socially. At school I mostly concentrated on athletics.’

He grinned. ‘High-jump champion?’

His instant assumption surprised her. ‘How did you guess?’

‘Long legs. Great shape, too.’

And he couldn’t wait to have them wound around him in an intimate lock.

‘You’re obviously in great shape yourself,’ she retorted, her eyes simmering with the same kind of thoughts, driving his excitement metre higher. Then, as though taking a mental back step, she added, ‘I also play netball with a group of friends once a week. I always keep up with my girlfriends. Men can come and go, but real friends stay in your life.’

‘You don’t count any men as real friends?’

‘A few gay guys. They’re lovely people. Lots of empathy and caring.’

‘No straight ones?’

Her dimples deepened as her luscious lips twitched into a provocative little smile. ‘Well, sooner or later most straight men turn into frogs.’

‘Frogs?’ he repeated, needing enlightenment. He’d heard ‘empathy and caring’ loud and clear but ‘frogs’?

Her eyes danced teasingly at him. ‘You suddenly turn up in my life and everything about you shouts that you’re a prince amongst men.’

A prince. That was a surprisingly sweet stroke to his ego.

Her hands lifted in a helpless gesture. ‘But how do I know you won’t turn into a frog tomorrow?’

‘Ah!’ he said, understanding. ‘You’ve been with guys who haven’t lived up to their promise.’

She shrugged prettily, the off-the-shoulder sleeve of her peasant blouse sliding lower on her upper arm. ‘It happens,’ she said in airy dismissal. ‘I’m hoping not to be disappointed with you, Michael.’

The seductive challenge sizzled straight to his groin. He was up for it, all right. He wished he could whizz her straight off to bed. How long would this birthday luncheon go on—main course, sweets, coffee? At least another hour and a half. He’d give Elizabeth the rest of the afternoon off, take Lucy to his penthouse apartment. Although...

‘Do you have to get back to work this afternoon?’ he asked.

‘Yes, I do,’ she answered ruefully. ‘I have to deliver the angels’ heads to the stonemason, take the van back to the office, then visit the people who own the burial plot that’s been mistakenly used, and hopefully persuade them that one burial plot is as good as another.’

‘Tricky job,’ he said with a sympathetic wince.

‘Not really. It’s a matter of getting them to empathise with the bereaved parents who have just laid their daughter to rest—how terrible it would be for them to have her dug up again,’ Lucy explained. The caring in her voice moved something in his heart, reminding him of laying his parents to rest, the final closure.

Caring, empathy...he sensed something quite special in this woman. She wasn’t just fantastically sexy. There was much more to her. So far it was all good.

‘Are you free tonight?’ he asked, not wanting to wait any longer to have her to himself.

‘Yes.’

Her smile promised an eagerness that matched his for a more intimate encounter. Which made his hard-on even harder.

Fortunately, the waiter showed good timing in arriving with their main course. Their conversation moved to food as they ate their steaks, which were perfectly cooked, asparagus on the side with a touch of Béarnaise sauce, and crunchy roasted potatoes.

Lucy was into cooking, loved experimenting with different combinations of ingredients. Better and better, Michael thought, looking forward to enjoying many meals with her. She had an infectious enthusiasm for life that made her company an absolute delight. He was wondering if she’d ever cooked frogs legs after bidding a frog goodbye when Harry claimed his attention, leaning an elbow on the table and pointing a finger at him.

‘Mickey, I have the solution to my problem with the resort.’

The problem that had brought him to the office this morning—the discovery that the resort manager was feathering his own nest at their expense. Michael frowned over the interruption. He didn’t want to talk family business with his brother when he had plans to make with Lucy.

‘You have to clear that guy out, Harry,’ he said tersely—the same advice he’d given earlier. ‘Once you confront him you can’t leave him there. The potential for damage...’

‘I know, I know. But it’s best to confront him with his replacement. We walk in and turf him out. No argument. A done deal.’

Why was he persisting with this discussion here? ‘Agreed,’ he said impatiently. ‘But you don’t have a ready replacement yet and the longer he stays—’

‘Elizabeth. She’s the perfect person for the management job, completely trustworthy, meticulous at checking everything, capable of handling everything you’ve thrown at her, Mickey.’