Free His Most Exquisite Conquest by Emma Darcy

giant tree ferns, palms, bamboo, hibiscus, native flowers. Lucy wondered if her sister loved working in this environment, so different to city living. Had she found it more relaxing, or was working with Harry a tense situation, given the very personal element of being attracted to him?
    Ellie was not one to let down her hair in a hurry, but Lucy hoped she was letting Harry into her life. Two years of strict spinsterhood needed to be broken. Ellie was too young to give up on men. There was pleasure to be had in relationships, even though the guys might turn into frogs after a while. Lucy decided to insist they all have lunch together. It would give her the opportunity to observe what was happening between Harry and her sister.
    They alighted from the buggy at a wide wooden walkway dividing the two main buildings. Michael took her arm, tucking it around his, smiling in pleasure at having her with him. Lucy’s heart lurched. He was such a beautiful prince. She desperately wanted to be his princess, though she already knew this relationship would not have that happy ending.
    Michael would want a family in his future. He hadn’t actually said so last night, but she’d felt it in his head and in his heart, and she wasn’t the one who’d be sharing that with him. Nevertheless, she still wanted to feel he loved and respected her.
    Harry led them into the manager’s office. Lucy beamed at her very clever sister, who rose from behind an imposing desk, looking very much in charge of everything. ‘This island is fabulous, Ellie,’ she immediately enthused. ‘What a great place to work!’
    ‘Tropical paradise,’ Ellie replied, smiling as she moved out from behind the desk to greet them.
    Lucy slipped her arm free of Michael’s to rush forward and give her a hug. ‘Are you loving it?’ she asked, curious to know everything, especially the situation with Harry.
    ‘Not too much, I hope,’ Michael semi-growled in the background.
    ‘It’s been quite a change,’ Ellie said drily, flicking him a sharply assessing look, probably checking if he was badly put out by her decision to leave him for a month. He hadn’t grumbled about it to Lucy, but he probably wouldn’t anyway, since their relationship had nothing to do with his work, and he’d be conscious of the fact she and Ellie were sisters.
    ‘A good one, I hope,’ Harry interjected, drawing Ellie’s attention to him.
    ‘Yes,’ she answered with a warm smile, which Lucy took as a very good sign.
    ‘Now, Harry, poaching my PA is not on,’ Michael declared.
    ‘Like I said before, Mickey— her choice, ’ he replied with an affable shrug.
    ‘Okay, while you two guys argue over my brilliant sister, I want her to show me her living quarters,’ Lucy put in quickly, wanting to get Ellie on her own. ‘You can mind the office, can’t you, Harry?’
    ‘Go right ahead,’ he said agreeably.
    ‘Come on, Ellie,’ she urged, nodding to the door at the back of the office. ‘Michael said your apartment was right here. I want to see everything. And while I’m at it, may I say you look great in the island uniform?’
    Ellie laughed. ‘Not as spectacular as you this morning.’
    Lucy was wearing cheeky little navy denim shorts with a red-and-purple halter top, big red hoop earrings, red trainers on her feet, and a purple scrunchie holding up her long blond hair in a ponytail. ‘Am I over the top?’ she asked.
    Ellie shook her head. ‘You can carry off anything, Lucy.’
    ‘I wish....’ she replied with a wry grimace, as Elizabeth ushered her into the apartment and closed the door on the two men in the office.
    She hadn’t carried off the encounter with Jason Lester with any classy panache, quite possibly adding to his nasty slur on her character with her own wild retort, and she wasn’t very confident of carrying off being an appropriate companion for Michael at the ball next Saturday night. Jason’s accusation that she had come on to one of the Finn brothers