In 1981, the arrival of the glamorous Alexandria Quartermaine was met by enthusiasm from her uncle, Edward, and wariness from Monica. Alexandria hired Luke to do some investigative work. His mission: to locate Alex's competitors, the Cassadines, who were thought to be living in Port Charles under assumed names. 

Luke entered his ransacked apartment and came face to face with a man who held him at gunpoint and demanded information about the Ice Princess. "I've been waiting for you. Close the door. No sudden moves or I'll blow your head off," the mystery man threatened. He was suave, cool and spoke his quiet menacing words in a smooth Australian accent. Luke attempted to disarm him with a karate chop but wound up unconscious when an accomplice emerged from the bathroom and knocked him out.

Later, Luke learned that his mystery man was Robert Scorpio, an international financier and well-known bon vivant. Wanting answers, Luke turned the tables on Robert, showing up at Scorpio's apartment with a gun and then conked him on the head after Robert tried to disarm him. 

Scorpio also caught Laura's eye and soon the two were seen together around town. Assured of Luke's jealousy, Laura allowed the dashing Aussie to court her. Meanwhile, Laura's mother was seeing a man named Tony Castle, who was actually Tony Cassadine. He and Robert had a secret alliance. 

An odd friendship developed between Luke and Robert. Learning from Scorpio that the Ice Princess was a statuette, Luke agreed to help the Quartermaines find it for a price! But Scorpio wanted it too, and he offered Luke $50,000 to find the statuette, which was actually the world's largest uncut diamond which Alex had painted black, mounted on a pedestal, and shipped from Rio De Janeiro to Port Charles. However, when she went to the docks to claim the crate, Alex was horrified to discover that it had been stolen!

Noticing a cab driver named Charlie seemed to have a lot of unaccounted money, Luke made friends with his ambitious wife Emma Lutz and eventually learned she had given the statue to Lila Quartermaine for the General Hospital benefit auction. Confident he would get the statue, Luke wined and dined Laura, ending the night with a marriage proposal. Laura placed ad in Mexican papers so she could find Scotty and obtain a divorce. Luke only wanted to find the Ice Princess!

The next day, the eager bidders all turned up for the auction, each planning to steal the statue. However, the lights went out briefly and upon their return, Luke and the statue both turned up missing. A frustrated Robert called his accomplice and agreed that "Luke Spenser must be silenced if he is found by the Cassadines." 

Weeks later, Luke resurfaced and claimed not to have the statue. He and Robert formed a partnership to find the statue while, unbeknownst to either, Alexandria had reconciled with her old flame Tony. Alex explained that the statue held the formula to create synthetic diamonds but could also be used to make a powerful weapon. 

At Scorpio's penthouse, Robert revealed to Luke and Laura that he was an agent for the World Security Bureau, and it was imperative to locate the Ice Princess. Laura surprises Edward by informing him that "Circumstances have arisen that make it impossible for me to continue working for you!"

When Luke is taken prisoner on the Cassadine yacht, Robert and O'Reilly come up with a plan for her blow the power box after Robert signals her with five flickers of his cigarette lighter. A drugged Luke refuses to talk about the Ice Princess and Alex suggests they frame Laura to motivate Spenser. "Do you honestly think you can get through to Luke by using a silly plot like love?" Cassadine retorts. Robert interrupts and says he can get Spenser to talk. "By point five you will definately be gone," he says and begins flashing his lighter at the window. Unfortunately Cassadine catches on, grabs the lighter and threatens to kill both Robert and Luke. Spenser then agrees to go fetch the statue while Robert's held as collateral. Robert talks Tony into giving him his lighter, proceeds to give the final flicker and the lights go out. A relieved Robert and Luke make their getaway.

Back in Robert's control room, the duo hear Cassadine's men ransacking Robert's apartment. Dressed as a cleaning woman, O'Riley manages to scare the thugs off with her threats to call the building manager. She's then able to wheel Robert and Luke out of the building in trash cans. Meanwhile, Laura's discovered that Luke's missing and she and Slick go looking for him. Laura's fears compound upon learning that Alex was with Luke before his disappearance, but later she's reunited with her love after Slick and O'Reilly manage to sneak Scorpio and Spenser into Laura's apartment. The reunion is short as Robert and Luke have to search Duvall's apartment for the formula. Lesley rebuffs Laura's claims that Tony's not a nice man. 

After knocking out the formula's creator, Duvall, Alex returned to Tony's yacht with the statue and was met by Tony and his younger brother, Victor.

Later, in a shootout on the docks, Victor Cassadine recognized Scorpio's WSB partner, O'Reilly, and gunned her down. In a tearful farewell, Scorpio held his dying friend, vowing revenge on the evil Cassadines!

Luke joined super-sleuth Scorpio in his plot to sneak aboard the Cassadine yacht. Laura stowed away too, joining Luke and Robert in this adventure of a lifetime! Victor Cassadine arrived, with his latest passion, Tiffany Hill, a B-movie actress. Waiting in an underground command center located under a tropical island was the mastermind of this scheme- the brilliant but diabolical Mikkos Cassadine. Mikkos gathered his guests in his spectacular Crystal Room and revealed his fiendish plans to build a massive weather machine, capable of producing a substance called carbonic snow, with which he could freeze the world- starting with Port Charles!

Tiffany was repulsed by Mikkos's plan and later ran into Scorpio. The duo immediately hit it off. With Tiffany help, Robert plotted to break into the underground command center and destroy the weather-making machine. 

Mikkos put his plan into motion and the temperature began to drop drastically in faraway Port Charles. Lovebirds Luke and Laura were shocked to discover Robert had left them behind and entered the Cassadine compound. The couple managed to get inside but were captured as they stumbled into an ice chamber where they found 4 frozen bodies, two of which were Tony and Alex. Taken to Mikkos, Luke and Laura were reunited with Robert, who had been captured earlier. 

Promising to convince the WSB to give in to Mikkos's demands, Luke was able to talk to the outside world and give a hint to the location of the Cassadine compound. As he and Mikkos struggled in a separate chamber, Robert and Laura were able to take over the others and hold them at gun point. 

Luke managed to maneuver Mikkos into an ice chamber where he was instantaneously frozen to death! With Mikkos thwarted, Luke anxiously tried to release the lever controlling the weather that Mikkos had programmed into the "lock" position. After several unsuccessful attempts to decode the computer, Luke entered the words "Ice Princess" and the weather machine shut down! The courageous efforts of Luke, Laura and Scorpio saved the world from disaster!

Back in PC, the grateful people of Port Charles offered the Mayor's mansion as the site for Luke and Laura's wedding and the Cassadine yacht, The Haunted Star, as a wedding gift. Laura's divorce from Scotty was complicated by his stepfather's burning the papers and Laura was forced to files a last minute "ex-parte" decree. She also was surprised to receive a minature version of the Haunted Star on the morning of her wedding day.

On the beautiful day of November 16th, Luke and Laura became man and wife. Tiffany and Robert made up part of the wedding party. Hidden in the shadows, Mikkos's bitter widow, Helena, vowed revenge. "A curse on you, Laura and Luke," she uttered. 

There was another party crasher- Scotty, who proceeded to get into a fist fight with Luke. Afterwards, the newlyweds left for their honeymoon which was later shortened when Helena insisted on meeting Luke. Helena's comparison of Luke to her former husband gave Luke a weird burning reaction. Robert was equally weary of Helena's actions, including her gift of 10 million to GH.

Tiffany talked Laura into accompanying her to New York and the young beauty was offered the contract to be "Miss Star Eyes" for an international cosmetics line. The Spensers fought over Laura's accepting the job and Luke later relented. At her screen test in New York, a skittish Laura felt as though she were being watched. Unbeknownst to her, a stranger named David Grey was intently observing Laura.