LITMIR.BIZ

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pressed his lips to her forehead.

      ‘You can do it. I know you can.’

      And then he was gone, and Aurelie sagged against the door, completely spent from that small encounter.

      By the time Luke returned half an hour later she was ready—or at least as ready as she’d ever be. She wore a sundress this time, in a soft, cloud-coloured lavender, and cowboy boots. Her hair fell tousled to her shoulders, and she carried her guitar.

      Luke smiled. ‘You look fantastic.’

      She smiled back, wobbly and watery. ‘I feel like complete crap.’

      ‘You can do it,’ he said, and this time it wasn’t an encouragement, it was a statement. He believed in her. More, perhaps, than she believed in herself.

      A few minutes later she was miked and ready to go, and then she was on. She heard the hiss of indrawn breath as she walked onstage. Another surprised, perhaps even outraged, audience. She sat on the stool, stared into the faceless crowd. Swallowed. Her heart hammered so hard it hurt, and she felt a blind panic overwhelm her like a fog. She couldn’t do this.

      Then she felt Luke’s presence on the side of the stage, just a few feet away. Strange, impossible even, to feel someone when he didn’t move or speak, yet she did. He felt warm, and his warmth melted away the fog. She glanced sideways, saw his steady gaze, his smile. She took a breath. Blinked. And started to play.

      Distantly she heard the rippled murmur of confusion as she began to play a song they didn’t recognise. Her song. But then the song took over and she knew it didn’t matter what anyone in the audience thought. Luke had been right; she wasn’t doing this for them. She wasn’t doing it just for herself, either.

      She was doing it for him. Because he was the one person who had believed in her, more than she’d been able to believe in herself. Already he’d given her back her soul; he’d shown her how to reclaim it. She played the song for him, for her, for them.

      And when it was over and the last note faded away, you could have heard a pin drop on the marble floor of the lobby. You could have heard the tiniest sigh, because no one did anything. No one clapped.

      They didn’t, Aurelie knew numbly, know what to do with her. How to react.

      Then, from the side of the stage, she heard the sound of someone clapping. Loudly. Luke. And the sound of his clapping was like the trigger to an avalanche, and suddenly everyone was clapping. Aurelie sat there, her guitar held loosely in one hand, blinking in the bright lights and smiling like crazy. And crying too, at least she was as she walked offstage and straight into Luke’s arms.

      He enveloped her in a tight hug, his lips against her hair. ‘You did it. I knew you could.’

      She tried to speak, but there was too much emotion lodged in a hot lump in her throat, too many tears in her eyes. So she did what she wanted to do, what she needed to do. She kissed him.

      This wasn’t a tentative brush of her lips against his. She kissed him with all the passion and hope, the gratitude and joy that she felt. She dropped her guitar and wrapped her arms around him, and Luke took her kiss and made it his own, kissing her back with all he felt too.

      It was, Aurelie thought dazedly, the most wonderful kiss.

      The rest of the evening passed in a happy blur. Luke kept her by his side, introducing her to various officials and dignitaries, and for once in her life Aurelie didn’t feel like the pop star performing for another sceptical crowd. No, with Luke next to her, she simply felt like herself. A woman whose hand was being held by a handsome and amazing man.

      She was, Aurelie thought distantly, halfway to falling in love with him. It didn’t seem possible after such a short time, and yet she felt the truth of it inside her, like a flame that had ignited to life. She never wanted it to go out.

      And yet what did she want? The memory of that passionate kiss by the side of the stage had seared itself into her senses, but she still felt her insides jangle with nerves at the thought of what else could happen. What she wanted to happen … and yet was afraid of, both at the same time.

      Despite her wonder and worry about what might happen later, she still enjoyed every minute of the evening spent by Luke’s side. A dinner for the VIP guests had been arranged in the conservatory on top of the store, with the lights of Singapore stretched out in a twinkling map on three sides, and the bay with its bobbing yachts and sailing boats on the other. A silver sickle moon hung above them, and she felt the warm pressure of Luke’s hand on the small of her back.

      ‘Are you having a good time?’

      ‘Very.’ She turned to smile at him. ‘You’ve done an amazing job with all these openings. I’ve heard a lot of great things about the new design of the store.’

      ‘I’ve heard a lot of great things about your new song.’

      She let out a little laugh. ‘If you hadn’t started clapping, I’m not sure anyone would have.’

      ‘They would have. They just needed a little nudge.’

      ‘Maybe next time you should hold up cue cards. Flash “Clap” in big letters as soon as I finish.’

      ‘Next time they’ll know. There were a lot of media people out there in the audience tonight. Word will get around.’

      She drew a deep breath and let it out rather shakily. ‘That’s a scary thought.’

      ‘Is it?’

      ‘I don’t know what the response will be.’

      ‘Does it matter?’

      She stared at him, surprised, until she realised it didn’t matter. She hadn’t written or performed the song to impress people or even make them change their minds about her. She didn’t even want a comeback. She wanted … this.

      Acceptance and understanding of who she was, not by a faceless crowd or the world at large, but by Luke—and by herself. And somehow he’d known that even before she had.

      ‘Come on,’ he said, ‘I have some people I want you to meet.’ And with his hand still on her back he guided her through the room.

      Luke watched Aurelie chat and laugh with the CEO of the Orchard Bank of Singapore and felt something inside him swell. He loved her like this, natural and friendly and free. He loved her.

      The thought, sliding so easily into his mind, made him still even as he attempted to keep involved in the conversation. He was trying to negotiate a new deal with a local clothes retailer to design exclusively for Bryant’s. It would be an important agreement, and he couldn’t afford to insult the CEO across from him.

      And yet … he loved her? After just a few short days? When he still couldn’t really say he knew her, not the way he’d known the three women with whom he’d had significant relationships. They’d dated for years, had known each other’s peeves and preferences, had run their relationship like a well-oiled machine. And yet now he felt he could barely remember their faces. Had he loved them? Not like this, maybe not at all. He’d been emotionally engaged, certainly, although it hadn’t hurt that much when they’d mutually agreed to end it.

      But this? Her? It felt completely different. Completely overwhelming and intoxicating and scary. Was that love? Did he want it, if it was?

      Did he have a choice?

      And could she love him, when there were things he hadn’t told her? Failures and weaknesses he hadn’t breathed a word about? His insides clenched at the thought. She’d been slowly and deliberately baring herself—her soul, her secrets—while he’d kept his firmly locked away.

      Could love exist with that kind of imbalance?

      ‘Mr Bryant?’

      Too late Luke realised he hadn’t heard a word the man in front of him had said. He swallowed, tried to smile.

      ‘I’m

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