But Luke shook his head. Damn, he’d been a fool. He had no chance with this, and he should have known it. He should never have let Shanni talk him into it.
‘That’s not what I mean. Give me a moment. Wendy, wait-please.’ He left Wendy standing by their allotted table, and signalled the man to move back to the reception desk. ‘You’re quiet tonight, aren’t you?’
‘Yes, sir.’ The man glanced around the restaurant which was only half full.
‘Then if we were to eat on the beach below…’
‘Pardon?’
Luke lifted a menu and studied it briefly. ‘Let me order for both of us right now,’ he said. ‘Then, if you can arrange it, I’d like our dinner served to us on the beach below-just around the cliff face where the river joins the sea so we’re out of sight of the restaurant. I’d like full service, but after sweets and coffee then I’d like us undisturbed. You can clear the debris in the morning.’
‘But sir!’ The man’s face had stiffened at this extraordinary request. ‘I don’t think…’
But Luke had opened his wallet. With a quick look back at Wendy to make sure she couldn’t see, he laid down enough money to make the man stare. ‘That’s for the meal-so you know we won’t abscond without paying-for the extra service, and there’s a little more for the personal trouble you need to go to yourself. Can you arrange it?’
The man looked down at the desk where the money lay, and the corners of his mouth quirked upward in the beginnings of a smile. His mind was obviously working overtime. ‘Of course I can, sir,’ he said at last. ‘Nothing would give me greater pleasure and, if I may say so, it’s quite the most romantic notion I’ve ever heard of. Maybe we could start a new service…’
So, instead of being guided into one of the plush crimson seats and being handed a menu, Wendy was led back out into the night.
‘This is better,’ Luke said, his hand holding hers again whether she liked it or not. ‘Down these stairs, Wendy. We’re going to the beach.’
‘Luke-’
‘Don’t argue,’ he said, and grinned. ‘Our dinner is still being served, but served below.’ He held up a lantern which had been set romantically on the reception desk but donated now to a greater cause. ‘Behold our light. Lead on, my lady. Our meal awaits us.’
This was better.
The atmosphere was still strained, but it was much, much lighter than the formality of the restaurant. Wendy seemed bemused more than anything, but her sense of humour was surfacing despite her misgivings. She’d been forced into this, but it was starting to be fun.
The waiters, formally attired in black and white and not letting on by a twitch of their eyebrows that this was anything unusual, followed them down to the still sun-warmed beach which curved around the low cliffs to the river mouth fifty yards farther on. They waited patiently while Luke chose a secluded nook in the sandhills, and then they set down what they’d been carrying-a picnic rug, a candelabra, complete with candles which they proceeded to light, beautifully polished silverware, a basket of hot rolls, butter-pats, champagne glasses, champagne…
‘It’s like something out of a movie,’ Wendy said, looking down at the magnificent spread in astonishment, and she couldn’t suppress her laughter. ‘For heaven’s sake, of all the ostentatious…’
‘It is
Wendy glanced back along the beach toward the track leading up to the restaurant. A waiter was approached bearing two silver platters. He trod solemnly across the sand to their improvised table-and she choked on her champagne as he set down the gorgeous platters before them with all the ceremony in the world. ‘A picnic?’
‘It sure beats sandwiches,’ Luke said sagely. ‘I do hope you like lobster, my dear, because this is the very best lobster that Bay Beach can produce.’
She did like lobster. She loved lobster and, despite her misgivings, she loved everything about that crazy meal. It was the dinner of dinners!-A meal to remember for ever. For the first short while she tried desperately to stay stiff and formal, but she couldn’t-not while Luke kept up a patter of ridiculous banter, and the waiters came time after time, serious and steady as they trod over the sand to this amazing dining place, and carrying one magnificent dish after another.
‘They think we’re nuts,’ she said, and Luke grinned.
‘We are nuts,’ he told her. ‘I like it that way.’ He poured more coffee from a silver jug, and offered her a plate of homemade chocolates. ‘These appear to have cherries inside. Yum! Try one.’
‘If I have one more thing I’ll burst,’ she said inelegantly. She shook her head. ‘No. It’s enough, Luke.’ She looked back along the beach, expecting more waiters to come and clear their meal, but courtesy of Luke’s forethought there was no one coming. The meal was at an end and they were alone.
Silence.
Luke’s banter had died away. He was drinking his coffee and watching her in the candlelight. The soft breeze was stirring her curls around her face. The shadows made by the candlelight were dancing across her face. She looked very, very lovely.
‘It’s time to go home,’ she said awkwardly and started to rise.
‘No.’ Luke set down his cup and took her hand, pulling her up beside him, like it or not. ‘After a meal like that, we need exercise.’
‘Oh, yeah, maybe a run along the beach,’ she said a trifle breathlessly. ‘You have to be kidding. I’d waddle.’ She gave her hand a tug but it wasn’t released. ‘Luke, it’s been lovely, but-’
‘But the night’s still young,’ he told her. ‘And it’s warm and the beach is wonderful and our responsibilities are being taken care of. So what shall we do? I know. Let’s see if we can find some prawns.’
‘Prawns?’
‘In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s a crescent moon,’ he told her. ‘It’s the very best time for seeing prawns. Or for catching them if we had a net-or if we were hungry-but maybe we’ll be content ourselves just with seeing them.’
‘Where?’ Despite her qualms, he had her fascinated.
‘In the river,’ he told her and lifted the lantern. ‘We have everything we need to spot a prawn or two. Come on, Wendy Maher. Let’s have fun.’
‘But…’
‘But what?’ He fixed her with a searching look, and then smiled. ‘Why are you looking like I’m about to bite? Did you think I’d set this up for a spot of seduction instead of prawn gazing? How could you?’ He sounded wounded to the core and Wendy had to smile back.
‘It did cross my mind,’ she admitted.
‘When all I wanted to do was give you a birthday treat.’
‘You mean you didn’t think of seduction for a minute?’ Still he was holding her hand, and the thought of seduction wouldn’t go away. It was right there between them, prawns or not.
He appeared to consider this seriously, but still that gentle, teasing smile remained. ‘Well, I guess I could change my plans,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘If you really want a spot of seduction for your birthday…’
‘No!’
‘Then let’s find prawns,’ he told her. ‘Damn, if I can’t give you me, I’ll give you a prawn or two. How’s that for an alternative?’
‘It seems fair enough,’ she said in a voice that was none too steady. ‘You or a prawn. Hmm…’ She managed a chuckle but the tension between them didn’t dissipate in the least. ‘Let’s give me a prawn any day,’ she said, but she was starting to think she didn’t know what she was talking about.
The choice might be easy, but the prawns themselves were hard to find. Luke led her over to the river bank. Here, where the river met the sea, the river mouth spread to a wide, sprawling network of rivulets, each no more than eighteen inches deep but, combined, stretching for a couple of hundred yards across the beach. The tide was running sluggishly outward, but it must have been close to the turn because the pools of water between the separated strands of moving tide were still.
And they were warm.
The wide, shallow river had been sun-soaked all day. Wendy slipped off her shoes, expecting cool water
