Their time up, he reluctantly nudged Laura out of her trance and they drove out of town to his meeting. This time he politely declined the hotel owner's offer of lunch in the hotel bar. Daniel wanted Laura to himself for as much of the day as he could manage—he'd deliberately engineered things that way. When he used the excuse that they had another hotel to visit, Laura raised her eyebrows at the lie but knew better than to say anything.
"Why didn't you take him up on lunch?" she asked as he drove back into town. "I would have thought you might want to sample what the hotel offers."
Daniel shrugged. "I wanted to see a little more of the town." And a little more of you. Laura's comment twanged at his conscience, though. He should be making decisions based on the purpose of his trip, not on his desire to spend more time with her.
They strolled once more towards the main square, where Daniel assumed Laura would choose to eat, so he was startled when she pulled him down a side street.
"Don't you want to eat in your favourite square?"
Laura shook her head. "The square's tempting, but the food in the place I'm taking you to is more tempting."
"Not as tempting as you," Daniel muttered under his breath as he followed her into a small restaurant.
The décor was basic, but the smell was glorious. They were ushered to a table and handed menus, but Laura shook her head at the waiter and ordered without even reading it.
"You do like caldeirada, don't you?" she asked him, suddenly worried, as the waiter left.
"I might, if I knew what it was."
Laura laughed. "Fish stew. It's fabulous here. But I could call him back if you prefer something else?"
Daniel shook his head. "I trust you."
And he did, he realised. He trusted her to buoy his spirits, to know when to hang back and when to dip into his meetings, to take him to the right places and—judging by the aroma—the right restaurants.
His trust was repaid when their stew arrived. She was right, it was fabulous: fish, shellfish, squid, with potatoes and onions and garlic, all in a wine and tomato sauce.
"Good?" she asked him.
"Mmm. Good."
"You just have to know where to go."
Daniel looked at her curiously. "Haven't you ever considered living and working out here? You obviously love it. I'm sure with your language skills, you'd find a good job. And you already have friends here."
Laura smiled wistfully. "I have daydreamed about it in an idle sort of a way, but not seriously considered it. I have my family and friends back home, and I enjoy my job most of the time." She took a sip of her drink. "It's nice to come in the summer, and I do wish I could be out here for longer, but it would be too much of a risk to think I could make a go of it permanently. I don't think I would dare lose job security for a whim."
"I can understand that. And I suppose the grass isn't always greener. I used to think I was the luckiest bloke in the world, travelling for my work. I still do sometimes." Especially when I'm with you. "But the novelty can wear off."
Laura eyed him with consideration. "I don't think it's the work or the travelling that's the problem," she told him boldly. "I think it's just too much of a good thing. You're too busy and too tired. It's hard to enjoy anything in those circumstances."
"I guess." Daniel shrugged. "Not much I can do about it, though."
She considered him for a moment. "Do you mind if I ask you a direct question?"
His mouth twitched. "You can ask. I might not tell."
"Why are you allowing your brother's commitments to dictate so much? Lots of men have families and run businesses and maybe travel a little. Couldn't you share it out more?"
Daniel stared at her for a long moment. He'd held back from her before, but for the life of him he could no longer think why.
"Ben's eldest, Jake, is four," he explained. "Becky was already pregnant with their second when they found out he's autistic. It's quite severe. They don't know yet if Oliver will have similar problems. He has some developmental issues, but it's not as obvious." He sighed. "We all love those boys to the end of the earth and back, but Jake is such hard work, and of course Ollie plays up when things are going wrong or his brother gets all the attention. Becky had to give up her job and she's fantastic with them, but it's a long day for her. She relies on Ben to come home after work and give her a break while she gathers her wits. She refers to him as her personal cavalry."
"Daniel, I had no idea," Laura said, pure empathy in her voice and eyes.
"It's fine," he said. "The boys are happy, Becky is brilliant, and Ben does a great job doing what he's doing. And the upside of running our own business is that we can be flexible. If he needs to go with Becky and the kids to medical appointments, therapy, he can go. But I can't expect him to jet around all over the place."
"Of course not. I can see that now." Laura was thoughtful. "And if Natalie's as good as you say, and Ben gets along with her, I can see why she's indispensable."
Daniel rolled his eyes. "Yes, well, she's been skating on thin ice recently."
"I suppose if Ben's kids hadn't had medical needs, as they grew older you could have stepped back a little and Ben could have stepped back up to the plate," she wondered aloud. "That's a big responsibility for you to bear."
"I didn't think of it as a responsibility until recently." Daniel shrugged. "Maybe adding Portugal to our
