Single Girl Abroad (Mills & Boon M&B) (Mills & Boon Special Releases) (12 page)

‘You want me to get that?’ she said.

‘No.’ Breathing deeply, Luke strode from the room and took the call. He headed for the window, looking out unseeingly over the now familiar streetscape as he went through the motions, and got the details he needed to get. Game on.

Maddy and Po stood together as a unit when, finally, he turned around.

‘That was work,’ he said, but by the looks on their faces they’d already figured that out. ‘They’ve found a World War Two sub in deep water west of Guam. It’s intact and it’s armed. They need divers.’ He looked to Madeline. ‘Like me.’

Madeline bit her lip and looked away. ‘When do you leave?’

‘A flight leaves for Guam in three hours.’

‘Handy,’ she said.

‘Don’t go,’ said Po. Small boy, fists clenched as he stood there, eyes burning. ‘Why do you have to go? Nobody needs saving this time. Everyone’s already dead.’

‘Po,’ said Maddy softly, before Luke could speak. A tiny shake of her head accompanied her words. ‘Don’t.’

The boy’s eyes filled with tears as he whirled around and hightailed it from the room and then the apartment. Back to Jake’s, Luke could only hope. Jake, who offered stability and structure and learning. All the things that Luke couldn’t.

Barricading his heart against the pain of Po’s desertion, Luke turned his attention back to Madeline. This was why a man in his position never messed with other people’s lives. This was why he should have stayed away from
Maddy and from Po. ‘Are you going to tell me I’m insane for doing what I do too?’

She smiled slightly, but her eyes remained sad. ‘No.’ And when he didn’t reply, ‘I know what you are, Luke Bennett. A warrior born, who will
never
ignore a call to arms. Honour demands it, the tiger wants it, and you told me what to expect. My memory’s not that bad.’ She whirled away, unable to hold his gaze. ‘Do you know how long you’ll be away?’

‘No,’ he admitted. ‘A week or two, maybe more. Depends how many torpedoes there are on board.’ Maddy shuddered and Luke shut his mouth fast. Too much information. He crossed to his laptop case and rummaged through the pockets for the piece of paper he was looking for. ‘I said I’d leave you a list of emergency contact names and numbers.’ He grabbed a pen and put an asterisk beside one particular name and number before handing the paper to her.

She looked at the numbers and her lips twisted briefly. ‘Thanks.’

‘I’ll be staying on board an American frigate. Chances are I will be able to get messages through to you. There’ll be down time between dives. A lot of it.’

‘Thanks again.’ Her shoulders squared as she took a deep breath and turned to face him. Her smile was bold, but her eyes destroyed him.

‘Maddy, I need my head in the game,’ he muttered desperately.

‘I know.’ Madeline set her coffee mug carefully on the bench and leaned against the doorframe because she knew her strength was fading and that if Luke didn’t leave soon
her words would echo Po’s. ‘Go,’ she said softly. ‘Be safe. Don’t think of me. And I won’t think of you.’

He took her lips in a kiss she would remember for ever. Ravenous and worshipping, he broke her in that moment.

‘I’m coming back,’ he whispered, and Madeline closed her eyes against the devastating impact of those words coming from this man.

‘You don’t know that.’

‘Pessimist.’

‘No, just a realist.’

‘Believe in me, Maddy. Please.’

‘I do.’ She opened her eyes, straightened her spine and headed for the door. Walk, she told herself. You’ve said goodbye and you’ve given him your blessing so keep walking, Madeline, and don’t you dare look back.

If she did she would beg him to stay.

Madeline found Jake in his office. Po wasn’t with him. ‘Have you seen Po?’ she said.

‘He just went by on his way out the back. I thought he’d forgotten something and had come back to grab it.’ Jake eyed her searchingly ‘Trouble?’

‘A job came in for Luke,’ she muttered.

‘Ah.’ Jake’s clear blue gaze turned oddly sympathetic. ‘How would you like to learn karate?’

‘Does it relieve stress, release aggression, and render the body exhausted?’ she said.

‘Got it in one.’

‘I’ll think about it,’ she said. Right now her mind was far too awash with other chaotic emotions. ‘I think I may have a slight problem,’ she said.

‘Feel free
not
to share,’ said Jake.

‘I think I’ve fallen in love with your brother.’ Oh, yes. The words felt comfortable on her tongue. Love had finally arrived in Maddy’s universe and it was every bit as terrifying as she’d thought it would be. ‘Even if he is a clueless, thrill-seeking danger-loving imbecile.’

‘Please tell me you’re not confiding in me.’ Jacob looked desperate. Beyond desperate and heading straight for panic. ‘I don’t deserve this. I really don’t.’

‘Po is
very
upset,’ she continued acidly.

‘Uh-huh.’ Jake lit out of his chair and headed for the back rooms. Madeline followed.

‘He thinks Luke is going to get himself killed.’

‘Uh-huh.’ Jake hit the kitchen and headed for the shelf above the sink. The Scotch came down and two mismatched juice glasses appeared. Jake clearly paid the same attention to kitchenware as his brother. He had a very generous pouring hand, though.

‘Drink this,’ he said, and shoved an almost full glass in her hand.

Madeline drank, gasping at the liquid’s fiery burn. ‘I mean, what if he does die? What then? How are the people he left behind going to feel?’ Madeline downed another mouthful of Scotch. She knew exactly how they’d feel. She had all the experience in the world when it came to the death of loved ones. Her mother. Her father. Her brother. Then William. She was a veritable death
magnet
.

‘Try grateful,’ said Jake. ‘For having known him and loved him.’

‘So much for sympathy.’

‘You have my sympathy, Madeline. You do,’ he said
gruffly. ‘But I’m proud of my brother—of the man he is and the work he does. You want me to tell you what he got his last Victoria Cross for? A five-year-old Cambodian girl and her big brother had gone into a minefield looking for metal scrap. Luke and his operations team were working the next minefield along when they heard the explosion. The girl’s brother died instantly. The little girl sat down and waited for someone like Luke to come along.’

Maddy stood immobile, stuck in the scene Jake had painted for her—sitting right there next to that little girl.

‘Would you have had him say no?’ asked Jake. ‘Would you have had him say he couldn’t go and get her because there were people at home who he loved and who loved him and that he couldn’t risk his life for fear of hurting them?’

‘No,’ said Madeline and swallowed another belt of Scotch. ‘No, I’m glad he went and got her.’

‘This work of Luke’s that you so object to … it’s not just something he does for kicks,’ said Jake. ‘It’s what he is, and it runs soul deep, so if you can’t respect his decision to put himself on the line, again and again, and love him all the more for it, I suggest you get out of his life.’

Brutally blunt. A blazing blue-eyed warrior who guarded his departing brother’s back.

‘You going to hurt my brother, Maddy?’ said Jake. ‘Or do you love him enough to stay?’

Maddy clenched her fist and searched her heart for the courage required of a warrior’s woman. ‘What do the people who stay behind and wait usually do to pass the time?’ she asked.

Fifteen minutes later, three shadowy figures stood in a dojo practice hall and began to move slowly through the forms.

L
UKE
B
ENNETT
had never been one to lose focus while on the job. American patrol vessel, same old game—with Luke the on-call expert and the US Navy calling the shots. Dive-team rotations, twenty-four seven, until the last of the torpedoes had been disarmed and secured. On-deck demonstrations, showing dive teams how to pull those Japanese torpedoes apart without making big waves. Riding shotgun underwater as a young marine disarmed his first banger. He did his job and he did it well.

And in between all that he experienced something he’d only ever encountered once before, way back when his mother had died.

Emptiness, and with it an increasing uncertainty over what he might find upon his return.

Would Po, who didn’t understand why Luke did what he did, still want to work on the desk? Would Yun cook enough food for an army upon his return or would she too withdraw her support?

He wondered if Madeline would work late and catch up on work she’d been neglecting. The apartment-block build and the thousand other tasks and decisions that came of running a business empire. He wondered if their relationship was solid enough to withstand his time away or whether upon his return Madeline would finally tell him she’d had enough.

He tried reading books.

He tried kicking round the gym.

He tried killing time with his fellow divers. Hand-reel fishing and cracking golf balls off the stern, along with bad jokes and tall stories of twenty-foot white sharks and sirens both real and imaginary. Those things that would usually go some way towards entertaining him.

He tried calling her. A communications officer at his side, dialling him out and telling him he had three minutes.

She picked up on the third ring.

‘Maddy.’

‘Where are you?’ she said.

‘Still working,’ he told her. ‘Still shipside.’

‘So, the job’s going well?’ she asked warily. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Fine,’ he said. ‘I’m fine. The job’s fairly routine. I just had a window in which to call you, that was all, so I did.’ He was no good at this. He had no practice at long-distance small talk. ‘How are things with you?’

‘Good,’ she said. ‘Good.’ And lapsed into a silence he didn’t know how to fill.

‘Po’s been making something for you out of the table offcuts,’ she said finally. ‘I don’t want to spoil the surprise
but it’s beautiful. I think it’s an apology of sorts for lashing out about your work.’

‘He doesn’t need to apologise,’ muttered Luke.

‘Yes,’ said Madeline. ‘He does.’

More awkward silence, while his three minutes ticked away.

‘How’s Jake?’ he said. Small talk, because any other kind of talk would undo him.

‘Jake’s well.’

‘And you?’ He’d already asked her that. Fool.

‘I’m well too. Working hard. Keeping busy. Coping.’

‘Good,’ he said. ‘Good.’ While a small part of him wished that she didn’t sound quite so together and that his absence had left a gap she couldn’t fill. ‘There’s another week or so’s worth of work here. I’ll call when we’re done.’

‘Luke, I—’ The call cut out abruptly. She
what
?

‘Three minutes,’ said the comm.

Pity strangling a Naval officer was a court-martial offence. Luke muttered his thanks and left the room no less conflicted than he’d entered it. He was rostered to dive again in less than an hour and once underwater the work would claim him and with it would come focus and clarity.

Meanwhile, there was far too much time available to obsess about all the things he’d wanted to say to Madeline.

And hadn’t.

Six days later with the torpedo clean-up behind him, Luke put down on Guam and set about making arrangements to fly back to Singapore. He had forty-eight hours to kill
before he could board a plane. Rec diving was out—never mind the bounty of shallow sunken World War Two wrecks on offer—or he’d have an even longer wait before flying, but snorkelling was in, and fishing, and waiting impatiently for time to pass, that was most definitely in.

He called Maddy again. Yun answered.

‘Evening, Yun, it’s Luke.’

‘Greetings, tiger.’

‘Maddy there?’

‘No, she’s at orchestra concert with new friend. Gentle rabbit good focus for snake without tiger. Gentle rabbit swift and wily, but also serene. Gentle rabbit
already
knows t’ai chi.’

‘Lucky rabbit.’ Luke wasn’t entirely sure which world Yun inhabited sometimes. Not this one. But the gist of her words was that Madeline was out with a friend. She probably had all sorts of friends he hadn’t met, both male and female, new and old. He wasn’t the jealous type. Never had been. But right now he had the sinking suspicion that when it came to Madeline he might be, whether he wanted to be or not. He wanted to ask Yun for more details on the rabbit. The fact that he
didn’t
pretty much made him a saint. ‘Can you tell Madeline that I’m back on land in Guam, and that the job’s done and I’ll be back in a couple of days?’

‘I can,’ said Yun. ‘And I might. Why more days away? Are you injured?’

‘No, I just can’t fly too soon after diving.’

‘Good,’ said Yun. ‘Use time to rest, relax, and rebalance. Could also use time to acquire peace offerings for weary housekeeper and hard-pressed dojo sensei.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘People here not balanced when you leave. Someone have to guide them back to equilibrium while you worked. Someone doubtless have to guide them through unsettling euphoria when you return. Your fault, you fix.’

‘How?’

‘Do I look like a prophet to you? Rest well, tiger,’ said Yun, and hung up.

Luke stepped off the jet and onto Singapore cement two days later and none the wiser as to how he was going to bring balance to the force that was Maddy and Po and Yun and Jake.

Maybe he needed to be more particular about the jobs he took on in future. Maybe if there was someone else equally qualified and available to do the work, he could let it pass him by.

Maybe
sometimes
he could do that.

But not every time.

He collected his gear and worked his way through customs—special customs conditions for him on account of his tools, but eventually the paperwork caught up with his arrival and he got the stamp he needed.

The rest of the passengers had disappeared by the time he walked through the arrival gates but a few people still stood waiting. Madeline was one of them.

She sent him an uncertain smile and fiddled with the strap of her glossy red handbag. Nervous, he thought. He could see it in her eyes as he approached.

‘I thought you might need a lift,’ she said when he reached her.

He dropped his bag, enfolded her in his arms and found peace the likes of which he’d never known. Not the euphoria that came of defeating death. It was quieter than that and ran deeper. He brushed his lips against her temple, not daring to take her lips. Not here. He needed privacy for what he had in mind. He needed to know that he wouldn’t have to stop.

‘You didn’t need to come and get me,’ he murmured, ridiculously glad that she had.

‘See, there’s where you’re wrong,’ she said. ‘I have approximately eight hours before I hop on a plane to Shanghai, four of them in the office, and I wanted to spend as much of the other four as I could with you.’

‘Eight hours, you said?’ He’d worry about the why of her trip to Shanghai later.

‘Four of which are yours,’ she said, and stepped out of his embrace. ‘How was Guam?’

He picked up his duffel and started towards the exit, preferably by way of a cash machine. ‘Micronesia’s lovely,’ he said. ‘Good diving. Even at depth. Reminded me why I went Navy in the first place.’

‘You needed the reminder?’ asked Maddy.

‘Sometimes I do.’ Damn sure he’d needed something to lift him, because putting himself on the line and waiting for the adrenalin rush to kick in certainly hadn’t worked. Somewhere along the line the thrill of high stakes had been replaced by cold, hard determination to get the job done and get home. ‘I need to get some money before we leave.’

‘Madeline,’ said an elderly voice from behind them and Madeline stopped and turned. Luke turned too. A stooped
and elderly woman was walking towards them, the hand she’d extended towards Madeline dripping with jewellery and manicured to perfection. The jewellery matched the woman’s clothes and the assurance with which she wore both indicated that, as far as this dame was concerned, women were never too old to showcase Cartier’s finest.

‘Sarah!’ said Madeline with a surprisingly genuine smile as she took the outstretched hand. ‘You’re back in the country!’

‘Just in,’ said the older woman, stepping back to examine Madeline thoroughly. ‘You’re looking well, darling girl.’ Sarah’s bright blue gaze cut to Luke. ‘Are you the cause?’

‘Sarah, this is Luke Bennett. Luke’s fresh in from disarming torpedoes in Guam, and it’s possible he’s part of the cause. Luke, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Lady Sarah Southcott. Sarah chairs quite a few of the charity organisations I’m involved with.’

‘Lady Sarah,’ said Luke.

‘Just Sarah,’ ordered the lady. ‘Guam, eh? I did some nursing in Guam years ago.’

‘Sarah spent most of World War Two nursing here in Singapore,’ murmured Madeline.

‘An experience I’ve spent a great many years trying to forget,’ said the lady. ‘Some of the choices we were forced to make … Terrible, terrible choices.’ Her eyes took on a faraway expression and when they returned to the present they were focused on Luke. Whatever she saw there made a sad smile touch her lips. ‘You look like a man who knows a thing or two about impossible choices.’

Luke said nothing. He knew of death and choices, yes,
but nothing on the scale of what those in Singapore in World War Two had encountered. His respect for the bent old woman soared.

‘Do you need a lift anywhere?’ asked Madeline.

‘No, darling girl, I have a driver here somewhere. Apparently he’s gone to collect the car and I really must go through to the pickup zone or he’ll have to go around again.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ said Madeline. ‘Luke was just heading over to get some cash out. Shall I meet you back here in five?’ she asked him.

Maybe Madeline wanted to talk to Sarah alone or maybe she wanted to afford him some extra privacy while he checked his finances, but whatever the reason Luke went with her suggestion and offered up a polite farewell to the formidable Sarah.

‘Get Madeline to bring you over for afternoon tea sometime,’ said Sarah. ‘I make a mean iced tea.’

‘She certainly does,’ murmured Madeline. ‘Long Island based with seven white spirits. Three of them gin.’

The cash machine stood near a row of car-hire places and an information service area. Luke accessed his accounts, saw that payment on this last job had come in. The balance was healthy. Enough that he could maybe think about buying himself some wheels for getting around Singapore without touching his investments. Two wheels rather than four. Far more practical in this city. And maybe he could convince Maddy to come along for the ride every now and then.

The words he heard next, while he stood there waiting
for the cash and the card, came to his ears on a wind full of malice. He couldn’t see the speakers. He didn’t need to. He knew the type. Wealthy. Indulged. Spiteful.

‘Did you see the Delacourte whore?’

‘How could you not?’ Another voice this time. Same toffee-nosed expat accent. ‘I wonder who the pretty was? I thought she must’ve been meeting him but then she left with La Southcott.’

‘What’s the bet she comes back for him?’ said the first voice. ‘I would.’

‘Yeah, well, I hope he likes them well used. I heard old man Delacourte scraped her up off a street corner in Jakarta.’

‘I heard that too. My father swears it’s true. I also heard that, at last count, she was worth over two hundred and fifty million,’ the first voice replied. ‘You really think he’s going to care?’

The women laughed. Luke’s mind went blank as temper, molten and dangerous, threatened to erupt. Only years of rigorous military discipline stayed his hand.

‘Are you ready to go?’ said a voice from behind him.

Madeline, looking cool, collected and impossibly aloof.

‘How much did you hear?’

‘Enough.’ She shot him a look he couldn’t fathom. ‘It’s okay, I’m used to it. I’m not about to let it spoil my day.’

‘Fine. Mind if I spoil theirs?’ He didn’t wait for an answer, just strode around the counter until he could see them. He made sure that they could see him as he committed their faces to memory. Idle malice wrapped in beauty. Madeline was worth a thousand of them.

One woman’s face reddened. The other woman blanched.

Madeline came up beside him. ‘Now we can go,’ he muttered.

They headed from the terminal and over to the car park in silence. Luke still seething for lots of reasons, some of which he wasn’t even ready to acknowledge.

It had to be the Mercedes.

Hell, he should be thankful for small mercies. She probably had a Lamborghini, a Bugatti Veyron, and an Aston Martin tucked away somewhere too.

‘Would you like to drive?’ she offered diffidently.

‘No.’ He hated to sound so curt. He hated the flinch in her eyes. He hated the thought of giving any credence whatsoever to the conversation he’d overheard, and, dammit, given time he’d sort it and stow it in the garbage where it belonged. But right now he could not.

He stowed his gear in the boot and headed for the passenger seat. He tried to rip the conversation from his mind as Madeline paid for the parking and they headed for the city. He slid a fifty-dollar note from his wallet and tucked it in her handbag. ‘I pay my own way,’ he said and knew his words for a mistake the minute he uttered them. He did not take them back.

‘You shouldn’t let what you overheard bother you,’ she said eventually. ‘Delacourte
is
worth hundreds of millions, yes, but I only hold a sixty-per-cent stake in the company and even at that the money stays within Delacourte. I draw down an annual director’s wage of five hundred thousand—that’s modest compared to what some company directors earn. I use part of that money to run
my household. I have Yun, and a part-time gardener. But there’s always plenty left at the end of each financial year and that money goes straight to charity.’