Barbara Hannay - Claiming His Family

And then Luke gave in suddenly. He threw her bags into the back of the vehicle and they landed with a heavy thump-thump. Completely bewildered, Nails shrugged, then depressed the accelerator and they left.

She would never forget the harrowing sound of Luke’s angry voice shouting after them…

‘Mommy, what’s the matter?’

Joey was leaning forward, staring at her, and she realised that tears were streaming down her face. She forced a smile. ‘It’s nothing, Joey. I’m okay.’

‘Don’t you like Dad’s car?’

‘Yes, yes, it’s fine. Your dad’s a very good driver. I’m just a little tired.’ She dug in her pocket for a tissue and wiped her eyes.

If only she could fast-forward the next twenty-four hours. She wanted to get this meeting and all that it involved behind her, and then she would be free to go off on her own holiday down under, and she would have nothing more to do with Luke Manning till August.

THE hotel Luke had booked for them was the height of luxury, much more upmarket than the hotels he’d been able to afford when he and Erin had been married. Overlooking one of the most scenic bays in Sydney Harbour, it was reminiscent of a grand nineteenth century home and furnished with beautiful antiques, oil paintings and fine tapestries.

Erin and Joey had a whole suite, with a sitting room, two separate bedrooms, glamorous bathrooms and French windows opening on to balconies with views across the water.

Joey was round-eyed with delight. ‘Wow!’ he shouted, running to the balcony to admire the busy spectacle of ships and ferries and sailing boats. ‘This place is awesome, Dad.’

‘Where are you staying?’ Erin couldn’t help asking Luke.

‘Across the hall.’

There was a sharp edge to the way he said that and she wondered if his mind had followed the same direction as hers—recalling times in the past when they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other, when they couldn’t have borne to be separated by anything as vast as a hallway.

Don’t be pathetic. Don’t think about that.

‘I’m sure you must be tired,’ Luke added.

‘Yes, I am a bit. A bath would be wonderful.’

‘I’ll leave you to settle in.’ He glanced at his wristwatch. ‘You won’t want the ordeal of going to a restaurant this evening. I can organise room service if you like.’ He spoke politely, but without warmth.

Erin found this emotionless, distanced Luke disturbing, almost formidable. She lifted her chin. ‘Thank you, but you don’t have to order for us. I’ll take care of our meals.’

Luke frowned and his jaw clenched momentarily, but then he seemed to deliberately switch his attention to the open doorway of Joey’s room. The little boy had suddenly run out of steam and he lay spread-eagled across the bed with his feet dangling over the edge, showing the soles of his trainers, criss-crossed with deep purple and black treads.

‘Looks like Joey won’t last much longer,’ he said.

‘He’s fading fast. He’s never flown before, so I’m not sure how he’ll handle the jet lag.’

Without warning, Luke looked directly at her again, his grey eyes piercing cold. ‘You said in your email that you had ground rules you wanted to discuss with me.’

‘Oh…’ To her annoyance she felt her cheeks grow hot. ‘Yes, yes I do.’

‘When would suit you?’

‘I—er—I suppose it would be best to talk about them soon.’

‘I could come back this evening perhaps—if Joey goes to sleep early?’

The thought of being alone with Luke, without Joey as a buffer, caused a hitch in her breathing, but it was best to get this over and done with. ‘Okay. Give me an hour or so to get settled. Can you come around seven?’

‘Right.’

As soon as Luke left Erin walked into Joey’s room and he rolled on to his back and smiled up at her, his smoky blue eyes shining from beneath sleep-heavy lids. ‘My dad’s the best, isn’t he, Mom?’

Was she strong enough to face Joey’s rampant enthusiasm? ‘Your dad thinks you’re wonderful,’ she said and she kissed him and sat very still on the edge of his bed, stroking his short, soft hair, aware as she’d been so many times before of the astonishing strength of her love for him.

Joey was the most important person, the most important anything in her life. Securing his happiness was her primary goal—for that she was risking this trip.

But letting him go was so scary. Once he got to know his father, he might never love her as completely or as perfectly as he did now. And she had no idea how Luke was going to react. Her one terror was that he might assume he had a right to reclaim his son.

But she couldn’t allow herself to dwell on that or she would lose the plot completely. She had to take this one step at a time. Most importantly, she had to try to stay calm.

Forty-five minutes.

Erin had been back in Luke’s life for less than an hour and he was a wreck.

In his hotel room he tossed his keys with such force they skimmed across the glassy surface of the bedside table and fell to the floor. He didn’t bother to retrieve them.

He felt like hell.

His plan hadn’t worked.

The plan had been to remain unmoved by the meeting with Erin and Joey. It should have been a cinch.

For the past five years he’d kept his feelings for his wife—his ex-wife—and her son safely locked away, buried deep, impenetrable, behind a walled fortress. He’d known there was no hope of saving his marriage, so he’d sentenced himself to five years’ hard labour with no time off for good behaviour. He’d thrown himself into making Warrapinya the best cattle property in the north-west.

By the time Erin’s letter had arrived, suggesting that he should meet his son, he had been sure he’d conquered his inner demons. He could handle a reunion without raising a sweat.

But at the airport just now, all it had taken was the first glimpse of Erin’s bright autumn hair and her blue-as-heaven eyes and longing had ripped through him like a bullet.

Damn.

Luke marched to the window and stared grimly out without seeing the view. He had to get a grip. Surely he’d learned his lesson? How hard did a guy have to be slugged before he remembered that his marriage had been the biggest mistake of his life?

His shoulders rose and fell as he released a sigh of frustration. Okay, maybe he was never going to stop desiring Erin Reilly, but he was never going to do anything about it either. Erin was a no-go zone. No way was he going to make the same mistakes as last time.

As for the boy…

Luke was less certain about Joey. He had no idea what Erin had told their son about his father, about their marriage, but he’d been expecting the kid to see him as the bad guy. Joey’s eagerness and excitement had knocked Luke for six. He didn’t deserve his son’s adoration, but it was there, shining in the boy’s eyes.

Another very good reason to pull himself together.

Luke turned and caught his reflection in the mirror. He looked a shocker—face like dropped meat pie.

He forced a half-hearted smile. ‘Cheer up, mate. Your ex might find you as appealing as a black snake in a sleeping bag, but your son thinks you’re the duck’s pyjamas.’

Erin should have been well prepared and calm when Luke strode back through her doorway an hour later, but she wasn’t any kind of calm, and she had no one but herself to blame.

Too late, she’d realised that she’d spent far too long in the bath, and then she’d had to rush the business of blow-drying her hair and selecting something to wear.

When she heard Luke’s knock, precisely on time, calmness wasn’t even in the ballpark. Her short dark red hair was still damp and spiky and she’d had no time for make-up. Damn. She hadn’t wanted to look dolled up, as if she was trying to impress the man, but she’d wanted, at the very least, to use some concealer to hide the traveller’s puffy shadows under her eyes.