Postcards At Christmas

“Night, Luce.” Miraculously, he had regained command of his own voice. He sounded so calm, completely relaxed, in full command of himself, though he was none of those things at that moment.

He let her go and turned for the door, and he didn’t stop moving until he was on the other side of it and it was firmly shut behind him.

* * *

Alone in his apartment, Damien poured himself a last brandy.

His cell phone vibrated. He took it out of his pocket and saw it was V. He didn’t answer. There was no point in talking to her. She would only yammer at him as usual, saying all the things he’d heard a thousand times before. It was an endless loop with V, a train on a circular track going round and round. He refused to get back on that train. How clear could he make it? He was off the train and staying off.

But he did check his voice mail: three messages. All from V. He deleted each one before she got out more than a few annoyed, impatient words.

And then he set the phone on a side table and drank his brandy and told himself the weekend with Lucy needed to stop. He couldn’t afford to spend tomorrow and the next day with her. He would have to back out of the rest of their time together.

Somehow.

It had been a giant mistake, his clever plan to turn her down without hurting her tender feelings. It had become a trap for him, a trap of his own making. It was the problem of the bell that couldn’t be unrung, the cat out of the bag, the milk spilled on the ground.

She had started it, started the change in the way he thought of her. She’d done it when she’d asked him to make love to her. She’d put that impossible idea into his head and before he knew it, he was starting to see her in a whole different light. And now he couldn’t stop thinking of doing exactly what she’d asked him to do.

Now all of the things he liked best about her—the easy charm, the pleasure she took in every smallest thing, the complete lack of drama, her authenticity and straightforwardness, her kindness to old Dietrich—all those things worked as a snare for him.

She enchanted him.

Thoroughly.

He hadn’t missed the cold glances Noah kept giving him during dinner—and afterward. Noah did not approve of Damien spending so much time with his sweet baby sister.

Damien got that. And now that he’d started to see Lucy as a potential lover, he didn’t much approve of it, either. It wasn’t a good idea. If Dami and Lucy did end up in bed together, well, what then? Would a sweet, naive girl like Luce really be ready to simply enjoy the experience and then move on?

No. He couldn’t see it. And that meant that he had no right to keep on with this.

Somehow, tomorrow he had to find a way to let her know that their long weekend together was over after just one day.

* * *

Something wasn’t right with Damien, Lucy kept thinking after he left her room.

He’d acted so strangely. Jumping to his feet out of nowhere, telling her he had to go—and then stepping right up close and kissing her, a beautiful, sexy, romantic kiss. And then racing off as though he couldn’t get away from her fast enough.

Talk about mixed signals. Just when he started acting as if maybe he could see her in a man/woman way after all, he’d yanked open the door and left her standing there with her lips all tingly from his kiss and her yearning arms empty. Something had definitely spooked him.

And come on, wasn’t it obvious what?

Noah.

Had to be. Those dark looks Noah had been sending her? No doubt he’d been sending them to Dami, too. Those looks must have gotten to Dami.

It wasn’t right. And Lucy was not putting up with it. She needed to fix the problem. And the more she considered the situation, the more it seemed clear that she needed to fix it tonight.

So she changed into jeans, a slouchy sweater and her favorite Chuck Taylor high-tops, and off she went, along one corridor and then another, down a couple of flights of stairs and yet another hallway to a side entrance where a uniformed guard took her name and entered it into his handheld device. Then, with a brisk bow, he opened the door for her and out she went into the middle of the Montedoran night.

It wasn’t that far of a walk to Alice’s villa in the adjacent ward of Monagalla. And she was moving fast, wanting to get there and get the confrontation over with. It wasn’t fun having it out with Noah. He was a great guy, but he had that little problem of being so sure he knew it all—including what was good for Lucy—even when he didn’t. There could be shouting.

Too bad. She’d fought long and hard for her independence and her big brother could not take it back from her now.

She found Alice’s villa easily enough. Her high-tops made no noise on the cobbled street. Lucy ran up the stone steps and stood in the glow from the iron fixture above the door, ringing the bell.

Nobody answered at first. Probably because it was after two in the morning. But she knew they were in there. Where else would they be?

Finally, after five rings, the door was drawn back. Michelle Thierry, Alice’s assistant and housekeeper, stood on the other side clutching her plain blue robe at the neck, her pale hair flattened on one side, looking half asleep.

Lucy almost felt guilty. Yeah, okay. She probably should have had it out with Noah earlier—like the first time he’d shot her one of those disapproving looks. Maybe she shouldn’t have spent the previous evening evading him. Two-thirty in the morning wasn’t exactly the best time for a family chat.

“Miss Lucy,” Michelle said, her voice brisk even though her eyelids drooped sleepily. “What a complete surprise. Is there an emergency?”

Too late to back down now. Lucy drew herself up. “Sort of—I mean, there is to me. I need to talk to my brother.”

Michelle blinked away the last cobwebs of sleep and stepped back. “Well, I’ll just go and wake him, why don’t I?”

“Thank you. That would be excellent.”

Michelle ushered her into the living area, with its fat, inviting sofas, comfortable chairs and beautiful antiques. “Do make yourself at home. I’ll tell him you’re here.”

“We already know. Thank you, Michelle,” said Alice from the doorway. She also wore a robe, a gorgeous red silk one painted with flowers and vines. Her brown hair was loose, tangled on her shoulders. Noah, in sweats, his hair looking blenderized and a scowl on his face, stood directly behind her. “Go back to bed,” Alice added softly to Michelle.

With a nod, the housekeeper left them.

“What the hell, Lucy?” Noah grumbled as soon as the three of them were alone.

Alice pulled him down onto the sofa beside her and asked Lucy, “Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

Lucy perched on a chair. “No. I just need to get a few things clear with my brother, that’s all. Then I’ll let you both go back to bed.”

Noah raked his hair with both hands and grumbled, “Is there some reason this couldn’t wait until morning?”

She ignored the question and demanded, “Did we or did we not have an agreement about who runs my life?”

He shook his head and muttered something unpleasant under his breath. Alice sent him a warning look, one he pretended not to catch.

Lucy let out a hard breath. “Well, since you’re not going to answer me, I’ll answer for you. We do have an agreement. I run my life and you don’t interfere.”

“Interfere? What? I didn’t—”

“Don’t say you didn’t, Noah. You know you did. You were giving me dirty looks all night long.”

He did more grumbling under his breath. Alice took his hand and twined her fingers with his, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t jump in to ease the tension, didn’t take his side just to please him. That Noah’s fiancée didn’t rush to appease him made Lucy love her all the more. Finally, he came out with it. “What’s going on with you and Damien?”

“Is that in any way your business?”

“Of course it’s my business. You’re my sister and I love you. And you said that you and Damien were just friends. He’s said that the two of you are just friends. But you weren’t acting like just friends tonight.”

She reminded herself that she had absolutely nothing to hide. “We are friends and we always will be and we’re spending the weekend together in a, er, dating kind of way.”

“A...dating kind of way?” Noah looked at her as though she’d lost her mind and stood in grave danger of never finding it again.

She hitched her chin higher. “That’s right. Dami and I are dating. For the weekend. We’re...finding out if we might want to, um, take it to the next level.” Okay, she had nothing to hide, but still. She wasn’t quite willing to admit that she’d asked Dami to be her first lover. No matter how she phrased that, she didn’t think it was the kind of thing her big brother needed to know.

“Dating,” he repeated in a low, angry growl. “Dating for the weekend.”

“Isn’t that what I just said?”

Noah yanked his hand free of Alice’s and shot to his feet. “No! Uh-uh. Absolutely not.”

Lucy stood, too. No way she was letting him tower above her. “You have nothing to say about it, Noah. Nothing. At. All. And that’s why I’m here tonight. To remind you that you are not in any way the boss of me and you need to get that through your thick—”

“Lucy, come on. Damien? Are you insane?”

“Wonderful. Now I’m crazy. Great, Noah. Fabulous.”

He speared his fingers through his hair again—and dialed it back a notch. “All right. Sorry. I meant that you’re...not thinking clearly.”

“Whatever you meant, it was crappy. And you’re wrong.”

“I’m only trying to make you see that you need to get real here. Damien’s not a guy who’s ever in it for the long haul. He’ll hurt you, break your heart. Why do you want to do that to yourself? Where’s the win for you in that?”

“I think you’re wrong about Dami, too. But that’s not the point.”

“Of course it’s the point.”

“No. The point is that it’s my decision what happens between me and Dami—well, mine and Dami’s. You have no say in what goes on between him and me. And I want you to admit that, to keep your word and get your nose out of my life like you promised me a month and a half ago that you would.”

“But you can’t—”

“Noah. Yes, I can.” She took the few steps that brought her right up in his furious face and then she planted her feet wide, folded her arms across her middle and said, “Stay out of it. Leave it alone. Leave Dami alone. He doesn’t deserve to have you all over his case just because he’s willing to show me around Montedoro and treat me like a queen.”

“She’s right, Noah,” said Alice, surprising them both by speaking up quietly from her seat on the sofa after staying out of it so completely until then. “You’ve said what you wanted to say and Lucy’s heard every word. Now you need to back off and remember that she’s all grown up and fully in charge of her own life and affairs.”

Oh, yeah, Lucy thought. Alice was so the best thing that had ever happened to Noah—not to mention a true friend to Lucy in the bargain.

At that moment, Noah thought otherwise. He whirled on Alice and opened his mouth to light into her. She stared straight back at him, her body perfectly relaxed but fire in her eyes. And he shut his mouth without speaking, turned on his heel and went to the French doors that looked out on the night.

For several fairly awful seconds, nobody said a word.

Alice caught Lucy’s eye and gave her a tiny nod, one that seemed to say it would all work out. Lucy nodded back, hoping against hope that Alice had it right.

And then, at last, Noah turned to face the room again. “I don’t like it.”

Lucy straightened her shoulders. “Got that. Loud and clear. Will you stay out of it?”

He shut his eyes, winced—and then he muttered wearily, “Just...try not to get your heart broken. Please.”

Her eyes felt kind of misty suddenly. “I will be fine. I promise you—and will you stay out of it? I need you to say it. I need your word that you’ll leave it alone.”

He rubbed at his jaw and looked away again, toward the night beyond the glass doors.

She asked a third time. “Noah. Will you?”

And finally, he faced her once more. He let out a low sound, raised both arms to the sides—and then dropped them hard. “Yeah. Fine. I’ll stay out of it.”

Like pulling teeth sometimes, getting him to say what she needed to hear. But at least he had said it. And she actually did believe him. “Oh, Noah....” She went to him.

He opened his arms and gathered her close. She teared up all over again when he whispered, “Damn. This should be easier....”

“I love you, big brother.”

He hugged her even tighter. And then, as he’d promised to, he let her go. “Stay here tonight. It’s way too late to wander around Montedoro by yourself.”

She shook her head. “It’s not far back to the palace and I’ll go straight there. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“But you—”

“Noah.” Alice got up and went to him. She took his hands and put them at her waist and lifted her arms to link them around his neck. “Darling...”

He scowled down at her. “What?”

“Lucy will be perfectly safe.”

“But I don’t think—”

“Her choice. Her life. Remember?”

He muttered something Lucy couldn’t quite make out. Alice laughed. And Noah bent and whispered something in her ear. She laughed again. Finally, he spoke to Lucy. “Good night,” he said resignedly.

She escaped quickly before he could think of more reasons why she should stay.

At the palace, she went back in through the side door she’d used when she left. The same guard was there. He ushered her inside and then punched at his handheld device again, probably checking her off as safely returned.

By then it was after three. Past bedtime and then some. She went up to her room and flopped down on the bed and pressed her fingertips to the ridge of scar tissue between her breasts and thought about how she ought to be tired.

But she wasn’t. It was a miracle, really, to be so strong. To stay up half the night, to run down the hill called Cap Royale on which the Prince’s Palace stood, have a big fight with her brother and then run back up again—and still have energy to spare.

She was wide-awake. In fact, she just knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep yet.

Not until she’d talked to Dami.

Yes. Absolutely. She needed to talk to Dami right away.

Tonight.

Chapter Four

Damien woke when the knocking started.

He squinted at the digital clock by the bed. Three thirty-six on Friday morning. And he knew instantly who it would be.

Lucy, of course, with some issue she just had to settle now.

He wasn’t annoyed, though he absolutely ought to have been. And it never even occurred to him not to get up and answer. He did, however, take a moment to pull on a soft pair of trousers and a black sweater.

When he reached the outer door of his apartment, he hesitated, aware of a rising sensation in his midsection, of the too-rapid beating of his heart: anticipation.

Yes.

Excitement.

Definitely.

He smiled to himself. He was being absurd. How could he just know it would be Lucy? And why was he rushing to the door when he fully intended to call an early end to their time together?

Ridiculous. Laughable.

It was probably only some random palace guest lost on the wrong floor, knocking on the nearest door in hopes of being pointed in the right direction.

The knock came again. He opened the door.

And there she was just as he’d known she would be, in a big floppy sweater and skinny little jeans and the cutest pair of pink high-top canvas shoes.

Something disconcerting happened inside his chest. He rigorously ignored it. “Luce. My darling.” He lounged against the door frame and tried to look exhausted and thoroughly put out. “Did you notice? It’s past three in the morning and once again you’ve dragged me from my comfortable bed.”

She glowed at him. “It’s really late, I know. I’m being unbelievably rude. I hope you’ll forgive me, but I have to talk to you.”

Just as he’d expected. She had to talk to him.

No. Absolutely not. He needed to gently but firmly send her away. And then tomorrow at a decent hour, he could take her aside and explain to her that he’d seen the light as to their holiday weekend together. He hated to back out on her, but the whole thing was off.

Yes. That was exactly what he should do.

He peeled himself off the door frame, stepped back and pulled the door wider. “Do you want coffee?”

“No, nothing. Just to talk.” She chose the first door off the entry, which led to his sitting room. He gestured toward the two sofas facing each other on either side of the fireplace with its carved Louis Quinze red-marble mantel. She took one sofa and he took the other.

He felt way too excited and also on edge. So he made a show of getting comfortable, resting one arm along the sofa back, hitching one ankle across his knee. “What brings you from bed at this time of the night?”

She leaned toward him and braced her forearms on her thighs, folding her hands in front of her knees. “Oh, I haven’t been to bed yet. I went to see Noah.”

The back of his neck went tight. He lifted his hand from the sofa and rubbed at it. “You dragged him from bed, too?”

“I’m afraid I did, yeah.”

“And how did that go?”

“It was pretty rocky.” Her expression belied her words. She was grinning, pleased with herself.

“Luce. What are you telling me?”

She sighed and sagged back against the cushions. “The weekend. That’s what we’ve got, you and me, to maybe make something happen. I’ve got no time to fool around here. I realized I needed to deal with Noah right away. He was giving me dirty looks all night. And I know he was looking at you the same way.”

He tried a lazy shrug—though he didn’t feel the least lazy. “It’s hardly a surprise that he wouldn’t be happy seeing the two of us together. Your brother’s my friend. But he doesn’t want me paying too much attention to his sister. He sees that there’s no future in that for either of us and he doesn’t want you hurt.”

She sat forward again. “That’s pretty much what he said. But we both know he was wrong. You won’t do anything to hurt me. You would never hurt me, Dami. It’s not how you are.”

“Luce. That’s exactly how I am. Don’t you know about me? I grow bored too easily. And when I do, I move on.”

She raised her hands, spread them wide and then waved them in circles. “Oh, don’t be silly. You know what I mean. We have an understanding. You’re, er, helping me, or you might help me. I mean, we’re being together in a dating sort of way, and then maybe, if the feeling is right, we’ll get down to the part where we take off our clothes and have great sex... Well, I mean, I would hope that it would be great. But even if it isn’t, that’s okay, too. I mean, I’ve heard that it’s often pretty awkward the first time and I...” She let the words trail off as color flooded upward over her sweet round cheeks. “Ugh. I seriously hope to become more smooth and sophisticated by hanging with you. So far it’s not happening.”

He wanted to tell her she didn’t need to be sophisticated. She was far too enchanting already. But extolling her charms was not the goal here. “And did you explain to Noah that you plan to end up in my bed?”

Her slim back snapped straight. “Are you kidding me? Please. Some things are none of his business—including what’s really going on between you and me.”

Dami reminded himself again that he needed to tell her this had to stop. But he kept forgetting what he needed to do because of what he wanted to do—which was to touch her. He ached to get up and sit on the other sofa with her, and the ache made a very distracting prickly feeling beneath his skin. He said flatly, “Your brother only wants you to be happy.”

“Oh, Dami, come on. What he wants is for me to be safe. And to him that means under his control. If he had it his way, I would be back in California sitting around in my room. He wants me to be where he can check on me at regular intervals just to make certain I don’t need medical attention, stat, even though I’ve been well and strong for two years now. He still has issues because our parents died, because of all the times I almost died. He’s getting better at letting me make my own decisions about things, but he’s not all the way there yet.”

As always, she was thoroughly out-talking him—which on the one hand, he found frustrating. On the other hand, he only wanted her to go on talking. He only wanted to get up and sit on the other sofa with her and hear her lovely, breathless voice in his ear as he brushed his hand against her cheek and breathed in the scent of her skin and pressed his lips to her hair.

He stayed where he was and soldiered on. “I’m trying to tell you that Noah’s right to be annoyed with you and to be angry at me.”

“No. No, he is not right. He’s out of line. Which is why I went to the villa and woke him up and told him so.”

“Luce, I—”

She barreled right over him. “And I know that it bothered you, him giving you those angry looks. He’s your friend and he’s been acting like such a jerk to you. That wasn’t right. But it’s okay now. Really. You don’t have to worry about it anymore. It took some doing—and Alice’s help—but I finally got through to Noah.”

“Tonight? You’re saying you worked it all out with him tonight?” It was the last thing he’d expected.

She nodded eagerly. “I did, yes. Tonight. He’s promised to stop with the deadly glances. And to totally get off my case. Honestly, he won’t be embarrassing either of us with any big-brother scenes, I can promise you that.”

Did he believe her? “You’re certain about this?”

“Yes. Of course I’m certain. We argued. Alice backed me. And at the end, I asked Noah to stay out of it and he promised that he would. Then he hugged me and he let me go. It was another big step for him. Really. Like I said, he’s getting better.” She was waving her arms about as usual, hands swooping and diving like soaring doves. “He’s learning to accept that I’m an adult with my own life, a life that is completely independent from him.”

Dami realized he did believe her. If there was any doubt that Noah had surrendered this particular field, he would have been able to see it in her adorable open face by now.

Not that it really mattered whether Noah was leaving it alone or not. Noah had never been the problem, not really. Dami’s plan to show Lucy a beautiful holiday weekend in lieu of seducing her—that was the problem.

It wasn’t working. It had been a bad plan from its very inception. Less than twenty-four hours ago he’d been so sure he could never find her physically attractive. She’d shot down that certainty in the space of an afternoon.

After that chaste kiss at the harbor, he’d known he had a problem.

And how had he dealt with that problem? Why, by kissing her again that night, at which time his body had actively responded to the taste of her mouth and the feel of her pressed against him, filling his arms. He was as bad as old Dietrich VonDelft, sniffing around after an innocent who had a right to learn about love from someone as sweet and untried as she was.

“Luce,” he began severely, despising the stiff, stuffy sound of his own voice, “I have something I really must say to you.”

Instantly, her face changed. Her mouth went soft and her brown eyes went stormy. “Oh, no. What is it? What’s the matter now?”

“I’ve been, er, reconsidering this situation, meaning this weekend, you and me, together.”

She made a small unhappy sound. “Reconsidering? Why?”

“We have to be realistic.”

“What? But I am realistic. I promise you, I am.”

“I’m only saying that on second thought, it’s a bad idea.”

She gulped. “A bad idea...?”

“Think about it. Where can it go, really? Have you sat down and honestly considered how you’ll feel if we spend a night together? Have you given any thought to what would happen next?”