Read Online Reckless Runaway at the Racecourse by Ros Clarke - Free Book Online

direction of Fliss’s pointing finger. ‘The one over the poplars?’
         ‘Maybe. The tiny one that looks like a rabbit.’
         ‘I think so.’
         ‘See where its tail fades away?’
         He was struggling to follow her. ‘What about it?’
         ‘That’s the colour of your eyes.’ She said it as though it was a profound observation.
         ‘Blue,’ Luke agreed.
         Fliss shook her head. ‘Silver and grey and azure and cornflower. Like an impressionist painting.’
         Luke kissed Fliss’s hair softly. ‘What if you didn’t go back to London today?’
         He had no idea what had made him say it.
         Fliss must have bewitched him somehow. It was the only explanation. But his dad was right, he did need a secretary. And Fliss needed a job. It would only be for six weeks, and then he’d have enough time to find someone permanent.
         She sighed. ‘I only brought one pair of knickers.’
         ‘I do have a washing machine,’ he pointed out. ‘With a delicates cycle.’
         ‘I need to find a job.’ Luke wasn’t at all sure why Fliss was suddenly getting cold feet. Hadn’t she been angling all weekend for an invitation to stay?
         Still he found himself trying to persuade her. ‘There are jobs in Newmarket.’
         Fliss frowned. ‘I don’t know, Luke.’
         ‘I thought you wanted to stay.’ Suddenly it mattered that she did. He needed her to feel the same irresistible compulsion he did. If he was making a fool of himself for this woman, he wasn’t going to be the only one.
         ‘Another night, sure. A week, maybe. But get a job? Move here for good? It’s a bit sudden, isn’t it?’
         Luke turned his head to look at her. ‘I’m not in the market for permanent, Fliss.’
         She sat up and shifted so that she didn’t have to look at him. Her hands were randomly pulling up handfuls of grass. ‘What are you in the market for?’
         ‘A few weeks. Nothing serious. You could help me take my mind off work when I need it.’ A few weeks couldn’t do any harm. Provided he was clear about the ground rules. Work took priority. Always. No matter what.
         ‘I thought you never took your mind off work.’
         ‘Apparently I do when I’m with you.’
         ‘Oh. And that’s a good thing, right?’
         Luke flopped back on to the grass. ‘Sometimes. It’s less than six weeks to the Derby and I’ve gone through every minute of that time in my head more times than I can remember. I know what needs to be done and I need to stay calm.’
         ‘I’ve never lived with a boyfriend before,’ Fliss told him. ‘It scares me.’
         ‘Nothing scares you.’
         She laughed. ‘Riding scares me.’
         ‘Right.’
         ‘And moving in with you scares me.’
         ‘Why?’
         It was her turn to sigh. ‘It’s the way I’ve always been: no commitments, no ties, no responsibilities. It’s how I like it.’
         ‘What are you scared of?’
         She took a deep breath. She’d never admitted this to anyone before. But this was Luke. He didn’t do emotions. He wouldn’t go all soppy on her. ‘I’m scared that I’ll start relying on someone else to be there. And then, one day, they won’t be. It’s better to be independent. That way, if I let myself down, I won’t have anyone else to blame.’
         Luke took hold of her hand and squeezed it. ‘Who let you down, Fliss?’
         ‘No one, really.’
         He didn’t say anything.
         ‘I mean, it was my mum, not me.’
         Another pause.
         ‘For as long as I can remember, she had one man after another. They moved in with us and stayed - sometimes for a few days or weeks. Some for months. One or two for a couple of years. But they all left, eventually.’
         Luke squeezed again. ‘That must have been tough for