The Real Romero(34)

                Lucas shook his head and briefly closed his eyes. ‘Demanding,’ he drawled. ‘And bloody stubborn.’

                ‘Would that be because I disapproved of you making an idiot out of me in a public place?’ She opened her mouth to fume a little bit more but his phone beeped with a series of incoming text messages, voicemails and emails.

                Exasperated, she walked off towards the window where the furious snowfall was already showing signs of abating. Blue sky was doing its best to break through. By tomorrow, if not later in the day, the skiing would be good.

                And who knew? Lucas might be gone.

                She told herself that that would be the best possible outcome. She needed her time out, undiluted time to mourn the passing of a significant relationship. Under normal circumstances, if the Ramos family had showed up, she would have been busy but her busyness would not have distracted her from her thoughts. Lucas distracted her from her thoughts. Robbie had barely registered on her radar! In fact, when she tried to think of him, a darker, leaner image instantly superimposed itself.

                Behind her, she was aware of Lucas talking rapidly on his phone. He seemed to be very well known in these parts. A man with connections. He was probably doing all sorts of networking right now, getting things lined up now that his stint here had fallen through.

                ‘You were asking me,’ a dark, sexy drawl said from behind her, ‘how long I intended staying here and I told you that I was keeping my options open...’

                Milly spun around, tensing up. ‘I’m fine to stay here by myself,’ she told him without hesitation.

                ‘But would that require you to curb your keen sense of adventure?’ Lucas couldn’t help asking. He thought of her here, on her own, deciding to explore the slopes at midnight just for the fun of it. ‘Tell me what your plans are when you leave this place. Do you intend to stay here for the full fortnight? Or will you return to London and start looking for another flatmate? What happens if you don’t find one? ‘

                Milly frowned, taken aback at his change of subject. ‘I’m keeping my options open,’ she mimicked, and Lucas smiled.

                ‘Come and sit down. I want to have a talk with you.’

                ‘What about?’

                Lucas didn’t answer. Instead, he strolled towards the sofa, his face revealing nothing of what was going through his head.

                Was there anything more annoying than an actively functioning grapevine? He had been in the town no longer than an hour and the world at large seemed to know.

                His window of freedom appeared to have shut and now he had a problem on his hands.

                Of course, there was no problem that did not carry a solution, but he could definitely have done without this particular thorn in his side. His mouth tightened as he thought of the series of texts he had received, texts that had been in a toxic holding bay until service resumed and he could pick them up.

                ‘What are the chances of you finding a job the second you return to London?’ he asked, relaxing back on the sofa, his face revealing nothing of what was going through his head or of the vague plan slowly beginning to cohere into shape. ‘In the catering arena? I’m guessing that there are a lot of jobs to work at burger joints but I’m also guessing that those jobs won’t be top of your list.’

                ‘I honestly don’t see what my future job hunting has to do with you!’

                ‘And then there’s the little technicality of paying rent when you don’t have a job. Difficult. Unless you have a stash of money saved...’ He steamrollered over her interruption as though she hadn’t spoken. ‘Have you a stash of money saved?’