Morelli's Mistress (Harlequin Presents) by Anne Mather

baby.’
    ‘That’s all right, then.’ Joan smiled in return. ‘I did worry that it might be that man Greg was telling me about.’
    Abby stared at her. ‘What man?’
    ‘Oh, you know. The Morelli man, who came to see you a few weeks ago. Since Greg’s started that petition, I’ve been expecting him to call.’
    Abby’s lips parted. ‘What petition are you talking about?’
    ‘Well, how many petitions are there?’ Joan sounded amused now. ‘The one to the council, of course, requesting that these properties be granted preservation status. You must have seen it. The last I heard, Greg had over a hundred signatures.’

CHAPTER SEVEN
    ‘S O WHAT DO you think their chances are?’
    Luke was pacing restlessly about Ben Stacey’s office in Mayfair, and he paused a moment to fix the other man with an impatient stare.
    ‘Hell, I don’t know.’ Ben, a man in his early forties, who had worked with Luke for the past four years, gave an indifferent shrug. ‘I’m an estate agent, a valuer, Luke. Okay, we occasionally deal with listed buildings, but they’re generally of historical or architectural interest. I wouldn’t have thought a row of shops that are due for demolition comes into that category.’
    ‘Nor would I,’ said Luke with asperity. ‘I’m fairly sure this is just a move on Hughes’ part to try and get me to pay him increased compensation for having to find new premises for his so-called studio.’
    Ben grinned. ‘I thought this petition had over a hundred signatures.’
    ‘It does.’
    ‘Well, then.’
    ‘Hughes inaugurated it. I’m sure of it.’
    Yet was he? Abby had no reason to think kindly of him either after the way he’d behaved that afternoon when he’d visited the café. And subsequent events...
    But he didn’t want to think about subsequent events. He especially didn’t want to remember how shabbily he’d treated her a week ago. Seducing her, and then walking out on her, had been unforgivable. He’d used her and then made his escape while she was still asleep.
    Not that he’d wanted to. It had been one of the hardest things he’d ever done, sliding out of Abby’s warm bed. He’d wanted to stay, but that would have been crazy. Did he want her to think he couldn’t leave her alone?
    But she’d never forgive him, he thought. Hell, he’d never forgive himself. That was not why he’d driven over to Ashford-St-James. He’d wanted to speak to her, yes. To confront her about the petition Felix had told him about. But that was all.
    Then, she’d opened the door and he’d seen her, all flushed and warm from her shower, and he’d lost his mind. The lapels of her bathrobe had parted as she’d bent to drag the retriever back into the hall, and he’d glimpsed damp, shadowy cleavage and smelt the fragrant scent of her skin.
    God, he could smell it still. It had filled his lungs and interfered with his thought processes, so that by the time he’d got upstairs and into her apartment, he’d been running on nuclear.
    ‘So what are you going to do about it?’
    Ben was talking to him now, and Luke, who had been staring blindly out of the fourth-floor windows of his colleague’s office, turned a somewhat blank look in his direction.
    ‘Say what?’ he asked, his brows drawing together, and Ben gave him a curious look.
    ‘About the petition,’ he said patiently. Then he glanced towards the windows himself. ‘For pity’s sake, what’s going on out there? You haven’t heard a word I’ve said for the last five minutes.’
    ‘Oh, sorry.’ Luke pulled himself together and offered an apologetic smile. ‘I was just wool-gathering, that’s all.’
    ‘It must have been some pretty serious wool-gathering, then,’ Ben remarked, an amused expression on his face. ‘If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say a female was involved.’ He paused. ‘Am I right?’
    Luke pushed a frustrated hand through his dark hair. ‘There are women involved in this petition; of course, there are. But