LITMIR.BIZ

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and a plane to catch.’

      ‘Back to reality,’ Aurelie said, making a face, and Luke reached for her hand.

      ‘Maybe reality won’t be so bad,’ he said quietly. This new reality, with the two of them in it together. One day at a time. Yet what would tomorrow hold?

      They walked back to the Jeep in companionable silence, the jungle lush and vibrant all around them. As they emerged into the sunlight a brilliant blue morpho butterfly fluttered close to Aurelie’s face and briefly alighted on her hair. She laughed aloud, and Luke smiled to see her joy. Then suddenly, impulsively perhaps, she leaned over and brushed her lips against his.

      He stilled under that little kiss, felt a flare of heat inside, the instant arousal, yet something more. Something precious, because he knew that little kiss hadn’t been calculated. It had been an expression of her heart.

      ‘What was that for?’ he asked, and she shrugged, smiling.

      ‘Just because I wanted to.’ She paused, bit her lip. ‘Do you mind?’

      Mind? ‘No,’ Luke said. ‘I don’t mind at all.’

      ‘Good.’

      And that, he knew, was a very good start.

      By the time they got on the plane Aurelie was feeling sleepy. She curled up in a corner of one of the leather sofas, and when Luke came and sat down right beside her it felt amazingly natural to rest her head on his shoulder. Luke curved his arm around her, drew her closer so her cheek rested against his chest, and with a kind of wonderful incredulity Aurelie realised that felt natural too. It felt right. She snuggled closer, and by the time the plane took off her eyes were drifting shut.

      They got back to the hotel after dark, and Luke walked her all the way to the door of her suite. Aurelie turned to him, felt her heart throw itself against her ribs. Should she ask him to come in? Did she want him to? Part of her did, desperately, and another part still felt that old fear.

      She took out her keycard, hesitated and turned to Luke. ‘Well.’ She swallowed, smiled. Sort of.

      Luke smiled back and cupped her cheek. The feel of his warm palm against her skin was both reassuring and exciting. Yet even so Aurelie felt herself tensing. She wanted this, she did, and yet …

      ‘Goodnight, Aurelie.’ Luke dropped his hand and turned to walk back down the corridor. Aurelie stared at him in disbelief, a little disappointment.

      ‘You mean you aren’t … you aren’t going to kiss me?’

      Luke glanced back, eyes glinting. ‘No.’

      ‘But—’

      ‘You didn’t want me to.’

      ‘I did,’ she said, but she knew she didn’t sound that convincing.

      ‘Maybe,’ Luke suggested quietly, ‘you didn’t know what you wanted. And until you do, completely, I’m not going to touch you.’

      Aurelie stared at him, her mind spinning. ‘Why not?’

      ‘I think the better question is, why would I?’ She had no answer to that one. With one last smile Luke walked down the hallway and left her there, half-wishing he’d kissed her and half-glad he hadn’t.

      The next morning dawned hot and bright and Aurelie lay in bed, her mind tumbling over the events of yesterday—including Luke’s non-kiss—and then suddenly freezing on the realisation of what today was.

      Today they travelled to Singapore, and she was giving another concert for the store opening tonight. Swallowing hard, she drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them tight. Somehow she didn’t think her fans in Singapore wanted to hear her new song any more than the ones in the Philippines had. Which left her … where?

      She avoided the question as she got dressed and ate breakfast, meeting Luke down in the lobby at nine, as they’d agreed earlier. They were taking his private jet to Singapore, and from there going on to the Fullerton Bay Hotel on Marina Bay. They’d check in and go directly to Bryant’s.

      By the time she’d boarded Luke’s jet Aurelie could no longer ignore the fluttering nerves that were threatening to take her over. She glanced at Luke sitting across from her, a sheaf of papers on his lap, his thumb and forefinger bracing his temple. He looked so serious and stern, and yet a lock of unruly dark hair had fallen across his forehead and Aurelie longed to brush it away, to savour its softness under her fingers. She’d been wanting to touch him more and more. Luke was awakening a desire in her she hadn’t thought she possessed, and all by not touching her.

      Yet what would happen when he did?

      He glanced up as if aware of her gaze, smiled ruefully. ‘You’re nervous.’

      For a stunned second she thought he’d guessed the nature of her thoughts, then realised with some relief that he was talking about the concert. ‘Yes, I am.’

      ‘You’ll be fine.’

      ‘You don’t know that.’

      ‘True.’ He stretched his legs in front of him and put the papers back in a leather case. ‘What did you do when you had all those big concerts? To warm up, I mean, and get rid of stage fright?’

      Aurelie shrugged. ‘Honestly, I don’t know. I didn’t really have stage fright.’

      Luke arched an eyebrow. ‘Never? Not even when you played to ten thousand people in Madison Square Garden?’

      She laughed, but the sound trembled. ‘No, because it was all an act. It wasn’t really me, and so I didn’t … I didn’t really care.’

      ‘And now it’s you, and you care,’ he finished softly, and she nodded, stared at her hands. Luke covered her hand with his own, twined his fingers through hers. He didn’t say anything, didn’t offer false promises about how they’d all love her, and she was glad. Silence could be honest too.

      Yet her nervousness came back as they landed in Singapore and took a limo to the hotel. Aurelie barely registered the sumptuous suite with its view of the bay from one balcony and the city skyline from the other. All she could think about was how in just a few hours she would walk onto that stage and bare her soul.

      Why had she written the damn song, anyway? And why had she ever played it for Luke?

      ‘It doesn’t matter what they think, you know,’ Luke said. She turned and saw him standing in the doorway of her suite. ‘It doesn’t mean anything if they don’t like it.’

      ‘Doesn’t it?’

      ‘No. What matters is what you think of it. How you think of yourself.’

      How she thought of herself? She couldn’t answer that one. Being herself still felt so new, so strange. She still wasn’t sure she even knew who she was.

      ‘We’d better get going,’ she said, and slipped past him out into the corridor.

      Luke stayed with her as they toured the store, five floors on Orchard Road, and showed her the new café, the glittering beauty hall, the department for crafts and clothing all supplied by local artisans, clearly his brain child.

      ‘Don’t you have important people to see?’ she asked, half-joking, as he escorted her to the dressing room where she was to get ready. Already people were milling about the marble lobby, waiting for the official opening.

      ‘I’ll check in with a few people now, and come back before you go on.’

      Aurelie swallowed. Luke had done a good job of distracting her with the tour, but the fear—the terror—was now coming back in full force.

      ‘Okay,’ she said, still trying for insouciance and failing miserably. He put his hands, strong and comforting, on her shoulders and smiled down at her.

      ‘Forget about the crowd,’ he said quietly. ‘Forget about me. Sing your song for yourself,

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