“You succeeded.”
Claire immediately wished she hadn’t mentioned London. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I shouldn’t have brought up London.”
“I’m the one who ended the relationship,” he reminded her. “The person who might be sensitive about discussing our breakup is London.”
“I know, but you can’t tell me that ending your engagement was easy on you.”
“I feel guilty that I let it go on so long.”
“You shouldn’t. Sometimes falling out of love can sneak up on you in the same way falling in love does.”
“What do you know about falling out of love?”
Although he didn’t say Jasper’s name, she suspected he was on Linc’s mind.
“I’m not still hung up on my...” She couldn’t call him her husband, couldn’t speak the lie in this moment. “On Jasper.” She delivered the statement with more heat than either of them had expected.
“Okay.”
“You don’t sound like you believe me.” Now she was getting annoyed. “You know I’ve been out on several dates in the last year.”
Linc’s eyes widened at her fierceness. “Several dates,” he mused. “Well, there you go. Sounds like you’re ready to move on to the next stage in your life. Was there anyone special?”
His question flustered her. She opened her mouth to reply but had no idea what to say and set her hands on her hips in an imitation of Honey’s terrible-twos willfulness.
“The point I’m trying to make is that I’m ready to move on. I just haven’t found the right guy yet.”
“You’ve always struck me as a woman who wants the right guy as opposed to a right-now guy.”
“What does that mean?”
“That you aren’t going to give someone a chance unless you can see yourself with him for the long-term.”
“That just shows how little you understand me. Women have needs, too, you know. I have needs.”
Linc nodded sagely, but the glint in his eye told Claire he wasn’t done teasing her. “No doubt.”
“I heard Knox teasing you about me.” She cursed the husky note in her voice.
His expression turned to granite, all amusement gone. Looking chastened, he raked his fingers through his hair. “Damn, I’m sorry.”
While her sensible side screamed at her to drop it, reckless urges had been building in her since he’d come home from Texas. The conversation she’d overheard combined with the two glasses of wine she’d consumed were making it hard to ignore her longing to press against the hard muscular body that was so close to hers.
“Don’t be. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping. And it doesn’t bother me that you’ve thought about sleeping with me.” She got the words out only by studying the decorative marble backsplash behind the six-burner stove. This let her detach from the intensity of the exchange. “With our proximity...” She shrugged. “It only makes sense that you’d consider it.”
He was silent for what felt like minutes, but based on the rapid thump of her heart, it was more like seconds.
“I think you’re discounting how important you are to me. You and Honey.” His fingertips grazed her knuckles. The fleeting touch awakened a kaleidoscope of butterflies in her stomach. “Have I thought about you in that way, sure. But you know I’d never take advantage of our situation in that way.”
“What if you weren’t taking advantage?” She couldn’t believe such bold words spilled from her lips. What was she saying? He was her boss. “And it’s not as if the gossip hasn’t already condemned us.”
“Claire.” He sounded half amused and half despairing.
“Do you want to?” She shuffled forward until the heat of his body made her light hoodie unnecessary. Suddenly far too warm, she slid the zipper down and let it fall off her shoulders.
“Claire.” This time when he said her name, there was a warning in it. He gripped her bare shoulders, sending shock waves of longing searing through her. “You have no idea what you do to me.”
Linc’s palms skimmed down her arms and gathered the cotton of her hoodie, pulling it up over her shoulders once more. She stood frozen as he covered her bare skin. Embarrassment spilled through her as she wondered what the hell had gotten into her.
“I’m sorry.” Humiliated, she took a step back, surprised how hard it was to move away from him.
“No, I’m the one who should apologize. Knox and I should never have been talking about you.”
“He’s worried about you.”
Despite Linc’s rejection, her body continued to rumble with hungry impulses. While her brain screamed, What were you thinking? her body shouted, Why did you stop?
“I think he’s more worried about you,” Linc countered, his deep voice reverberating with regret.
“Why? You’re his friend. If anyone stands to be hurt, it’s you.”
Linc cocked his head. “How do you figure?”
“Your reputation.”
“To hell with my reputation. That’s important to my mother, not to me.”
“But your mother is important to you. Imagine how something like you being discovered sleeping with your housekeeper would hinder her mission to find you a suitable Charlestonian woman to marry.”
Linc expelled his breath on a derisive snort. “My mother has weathered bigger scandals just fine. Besides, what she wants for me is not necessarily what I want for myself.”
“You mean you don’t want to marry a girl from a good family and start having children?”
“I want to marry a woman I love. I don’t care what sort of a family she comes from.”
While his determination was sexy and thrilling, Claire knew that his engagement to London had strained his relationship with Bettina.
“That’s all well and good,” she said, “but your mother does care, and in the end, you know that matters to you.”
And there was no way Bettina Thurston was going to approve of her son getting into any sort of relationship with his housekeeper.
Six
Claire’s words infuriated him because he knew she was right. But he didn’t want it to matter that his choice of a fiancée had upset his mother when he and London were engaged.
“I like to think she’d eventually come around if she knew it would make me happy.”
“Your mother is a strong matriarch
