‘In my defence, I make sure every woman that comes into my life knows how little I think of commitment and marriage and all that junk.’
‘And if she had any argument?’ She knew from experience how clever he was at arguing his point. It was all she could do to keep track of the original dispute and her stance when she’d locked horns with him on one issue or another.
‘You didn’t.’
Skye shook her head. ‘I was young and foolish.’
‘You were beautiful. Are beautiful,’ he said softly.
‘Save your sweet talk for someone who cares.’
‘You don’t?’ He raised his eyebrows, his eyes wide and deep, almost giving him a touch of vulnerability. ‘You don’t think very highly of me, do you?’
She shook her head, not trusting herself to say anything to that. What could she say? He’d been her world…
‘We were good together, Skye.’ Nick’s voice was deep and husky. ‘Remember?’
She swallowed the lump in her throat and shrugged. ‘But some things aren’t meant to be,’ she said as calmly as she could. She opened the car door and slipped inside.
He put a hand on the car roof and leant over her. ‘Some things could be worth another shot.’
She froze, her heart skipping a beat, looking up into his eyes, their brilliant blue colour shining in the light from the car. ‘What are you saying?’
He shrugged. ‘Come out to dinner with me.’
She shook her head. She was dreaming. Her wish could never come true. Nick Coburn was driven by his career—nothing else mattered. ‘I told you, I can’t.’
‘Tomorrow night, then?’
She shook her head, fighting every nerve in her body and every dream in her silly head. There was no future with Nick Coburn.
He pulled back, straightening tall. ‘I’m not going to give up on you easily.’
‘Then I’ll make it hard.’ Skye slammed the door of her car and shoved the key in the ignition. She twisted it and the engine roared to life.
She flicked on the headlights and pulled out of the car park, vividly aware of the dark form standing rigid, watching her.
She had too much to lose to make anything easy for Nick, way too much. And she knew him too well to let him anywhere near her defences, because when she was with him, she didn’t have any.
Nick was a disaster waiting to happen.
CHAPTER FIVE
SKYE pushed open the front door to Camelot, her mind a jumble of clients, times and Nick.
She looked down at her watch. She was late this morning, but she’d had to make up for coming home so late last night.
She hoped her mother would recover quickly so she didn’t have to keep working to this extent, especially anywhere near Nick.
She froze in the doorway. The foyer was filled with flowers—yellow roses, red roses, pink roses, white roses, carnations, daffodils and bunches of mixed blooms, all vibrant with colour. She breathed in the sweet scent, as if she’d stepped into a flower shop or a much-loved garden on a warm spring day. ‘What’s all this?’
Riana stuck her head out from behind a grove of carnations. ‘It’s what it looks like—a lot of flowers,’ she said, a cheeky grin across her face.
‘Nice to see you.’ Her younger sister was an amazing designer, specialising in wedding gowns, with an artistic temperament and a total disregard for office hours. She flitted in and out as she pleased, doing her gowns, and that was about all.
Riana picked up a rose and put it to her nose. ‘And nice to see you. Mum being sick must be a bummer for you.’
Skye nodded. ‘Rick’s being romantic with Tara again, is he?’ Skye’s chest filled with a beautiful warmth as she looked around the foyer. She was so glad her sister had found someone to love, and someone who loved her so much. It made her think that happy-ever-afters weren’t so impossible after all.
She pressed her lips tightly together, fighting the sting behind her eyes. Tara was so lucky.
Skye pulled one of the closest yellow roses towards her and dragged in the warm, rich scent. It was her favourite flower. She remembered all the times that Nick had brought home yellow roses for her.
He’d been an amazing lover. Romantic and caring—in the hours they had together, just brief snatches in time. The rest was work. All work. His driving need to be all he could be his primary focus.
She’d accepted that, and loved that passion for his work in him. She was busy too, and it was only later, when life had thrown her a curve-ball, that she had discovered there would be no future for her with Nick Coburn.
‘No.’ Riana rearranged the flowers in one of the bouquets. ‘The flowers are not for Tara.’
‘You?’ Skye could imagine her younger sister having a string of boyfriends willing to make such a grand gesture for her. She was pretty, young and full of energy.
Riana smiled. ‘They’re for you.’
‘Me?’ Skye’s breath caught in her throat, her heart pounding against her chest. She stepped forward tentatively, touching the small card that lay nestled in the nearest bunch.
Say Yes.
Nick! She’d thought yesterday that he was bluffing. Today…She looked around her and cringed. He had to have bought the entire florist’s stock!
She bit her bottom lip. She knew what he was like with challenges in his life—tenacious, stubborn and devious, not to mention dogged. She’d seen him go after cases, seen his determined study at night, seen how his mind worked.
She was in trouble!
‘So, are you going to say yes to the mystery guy? It isn’t John, is it?’
She shook her head. John. She hadn’t thought of him at all. She slapped her forehead. ‘I forgot to call him back.’ He was the latest in a series of dates set up by her mother, okay company but nothing like Nick.
‘I didn’t think so. John doesn’t strike me as the romantic type and especially not the type to splurge a heap of his hard-earned money on this—’ Riana drew in a deep breath ‘—amazingly romantic gesture.’
Skye wished he had. John would have been easier to handle than Nick Coburn, and she suspected that romance wasn’t exactly what Nick had on his mind…
‘So what should I tell him?’ Riana looked at her expectantly, brushing her dark hair off her face, looking as much like a manic matchmaker as their mother.
‘Nothing.’
Riana raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at her.
‘Where’s Maggie?’ She was usually in at this time of day. And, of all people, Riana would know—the two of them hung out together a lot of the time.
‘She called in to say she felt sick.’ Riana perched herself on the small corner of the reception desk that didn’t have flowers on it. ‘She figured a day of rest, chicken soup and watching a soap or three would fix her up. And I decided that I could man her desk for her while I design the Macdonald gown, and Tara’s, too.’
‘That’s great. Thanks.’ Skye bit her lip. The last thing they needed was Maggie out sick for any length of time.
‘So—’ Riana clapped