When he’d received the text from her about meeting up for a drink, he had thought she’d
changed her mind about him. It had put a spring in his step the whole way to the wine bar,
wondering why she had changed her mind when he hadn’t exactly been Prince Charming that
night. But she hadn’t contacted him for a rerun of their blind date. She wanted to engage his
services as a lawyer for her mother, yet she had agreed to another shot at dinner. Tick. That
was a win for him. He was looking forward to making up for the disaster of their last date.
Never let it be said a woman walked away from a date with him without a smile on her face.
Hunter walked back to the table and she glanced up from her phone. One of her neat
eyebrows rose and her smile had a cynical tilt. ‘One of your many lovers checking if you’re
free this evening?’
Hunter rarely spoke to anyone about his sister’s circumstances and was certainly not going
to do so now.
‘Not this time.’ Hunter sat opposite Millie and picked up his drink. That was all the
explanation he was prepared to give. He didn’t need her sympathy. He didn’t need endless
questions about Emma’s condition and treatment options. It was pointless talking about
something that could never be fixed. Emma was a part of his life that was sectioned off, mostly
out of the desire to protect her from intrusive attention, and not just from the press.
Emma had a loving and trusting nature, and quickly formed attachments to people, but when
they left she was completely and utterly devastated, just as she had been when their father had
abandoned them. In his early twenties Hunter had made the mistake of introducing her to a
girlfriend who had made a big fuss of her, but then, when she’d broken up with him, Emma
had been dropped too. Since then, he had never introduced his sister to any other lover. They
were too temporary, and he didn’t want them using Emma to ‘impress’ him.
‘Would you like another?’ He gestured to Millie’s now-empty glass.
She shook her head, her lips twitching, as if she was trying not to smile. ‘No, thank you. I
like to keep a clear head when I’m talking to a lawyer.’
He laughed at her dry wit. ‘Good for you.’
There was a strange little silence.
Hunter couldn’t stop looking at the shape of her mouth—ripely curved, evenly full lips with
tilted up corners, as if smiling was their preferred position. He wondered if her lips were as soft
and pliable as they looked. Wondered why he was even tempted when she was exactly the sort
of woman he usually avoided. She wasn’t the type for a quick hook-up or short-term fling, even
if her gaze kept drifting to his mouth as if she couldn’t help it. She was still in love with her
dead fiancé, for God’s sake. Her fiancé’s ring was still on her finger. But there was something
about her that captivated him in a way he had never been captivated before.
‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ Her voice jolted him out of his study of her face.
He gave a slow blink and brought his gaze back to meet hers. ‘You know exactly why I’m
looking at you like that. You’ve been looking at me exactly the same way.’
Two small circles of colour bloomed in her cheeks. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’