by Kim Lawrence
Because this was about Nat, not him. Since Tess’s arrival the change in his sister had been borderline miraculous. She had rediscovered some of her enthusiasm for life. The situation was still a work in progress and obviously there had been the London blip, there were still resentful silences and looks directed his way, but they were less and less frequent. Tess Jones might be making his life uncomfortable but her influence on Nat was all positive.
And it wasn’t just Nat, and Franco, who acted like an attention-seeking puppy in her presence, but even his aunt, not a woman easily impressed, had referred to his sister’s companion as a breath of fresh air, and a very sensible woman.
Jaw clenched, he ground his even white teeth over his mounting seething frustration, ashamed that he had ever considered snuffing out his sister’s smile simply because he was frustrated.
The arena was dark after the sun outside and it took his eyes a few moments to adjust and for him to realise that there was a horse and rider in the far end of the area. He barely spared them a glance as he continued to stare at Tess. She was a spectator, watching not in the tiers of seats at the far end, but standing balanced in a pair of crazy spiky ankle boots on the bottom rung of the fence that surrounded the exercise area, her elbows resting on the top bar. Her chin was cushioned on top of her hands. Her hair was drawn back smoothly from her face, secured at the nape of her neck by a thin leather thong. It fell in soft silky waves almost to her waist.
The pattern on her shirt was strident, bold swirls of clashing red and orange tucked into a pair of snug-fitting jeans, her tiny waist emphasised by the wide leather belt. Oblivious to his presence, she lifted both hands to wave at the distant figure on the horse, letting out a husky laugh and clutching wildly when she almost fell from her perch.
Dragging his gaze off her bottom, Danilo closed his eyes and exhaled a slow measured hiss of breath through flared nostrils. Self-control! Dio, it was going to require a miracle to douse the fire she lit in him!
The impulse to pull her off the rail and into him quelled even though the arousing image of his hands curving over her breasts remained. He opened his eyes. Three more weeks of this, or bend his self-imposed rule of keeping his sex life away from his family?
Weren’t rules meant to be broken?
The step he took towards her was involuntary; where it would have taken him he’d never know because at that moment there was a sound of laughter. He automatically turned his head towards it and froze.
‘What the hell is going on here?’
The sound of his furious voice drew a shocked gasp from Tess. For once the inner radar that seemed to alert her to his presence had failed her. She stepped back awkwardly from the rail.
‘Hello.’ It sounded stupid—not that he seemed to hear her; he was striding towards the closed gate of the manège, his intention clear. Knowing she had to stop him, she raced to his side, for once forgetting her no-touch policy as she grabbed his arm.
‘Please don’t go and drag her off. She’ll be so embarrassed and she’s having such a good time.’
‘My sister is on a horse.’ Tearing his eyes from the figure just long enough to direct a killer look at Tess’s face, he ground out, ‘My paralysed sister is on a horse.’ It was the most terrifying thing he had ever witnessed. Sweat broke out as he watched. She looked small and the ground looked so far away.
‘Yes, and she’s having a great time.’ Tess’s attempt to lighten the mood fell flat.
She watched as he visibly paled with anger then exploded, pinning her with a wrathful glare.
‘This is all your doing. Without your influence Nat would not have dreamt of doing this.’
‘Calm down.’
A few minutes earlier he had been telling himself she was good for his sister. The dark irony was not lost on him, though her appeal to calm down was.
‘Calm down? My sister is riding!’
‘You can thank me later.’ Too flippant, Tess, she thought with an inner groan.
‘Dio! I can understand that you get a kick out of thwarting me, I can tolerate that while you appear to make my sister happy, but you have put her in danger! You can pack your bags and stay the night in a hotel. I’ll book a flight for you for tomorrow.’
Shock froze her to the spot, the colour seeping from her face as she stared up at him. ‘You’re sacking me?’
He raised a sardonic brow and turned away, his long fingers slipping the latch that led to the arena.
‘But...but...’ She tightened her grip on his forearm. Her stomach reacted to the contact as though she had just stepped off a tall building, but she didn’t let the sensation distract her. This was too important.
‘Please, Danilo!’ she begged urgently.
His lips were curled in a silent snarl as he swung back.
‘You can sack me if you like—’
‘Good of you to give permission,’ he sneered sarcastically.
‘But please don’t do this. It’s a massive mistake and you’ll regret it. It took a lot of courage for Nat to get on that horse and if you go over there now and embarrass her, Nat will—’
‘Better embarrassed than injured.’
‘She won’t be—’
‘How dare—?’
‘I asked you. I asked and you said I could—I know it was a bit retrospective, I should have checked yesterday, but—’
‘Make use of the stables, take out a horse—you, not my sister.’ He stopped. ‘Yesterday! This isn’t the first time?’
She fought the instinct to retreat from the arctic blast of his furious glare and brought her lashes down in a concealing curtain. ‘You didn’t stop long enough for me to explain,’ she muttered, the resentment that she recognised as irrational slipping past her guard. Since London there had been several occasions when they were alone when he had cut off a conversation abruptly, acting as though he couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. The only reason she cared, she told herself, was that she hated bad manners.
‘You knew what I thought and you could have put me right but you didn’t because you knew that I would put a stop to this.’
‘This, as you put it, is your sister having a good time, and I didn’t tell you because Nat asked me not to. She wanted to surprise you.’ And she hadn’t wanted her brother to see her fail. ‘And yes, I did encourage her, but I would never endanger Nat. She is totally safe. I used to help out at a stable that specialised in riding for the disabled, and there were people there with a lot worse disabilities than your sister.’
‘My sister is not disabled. She is going to walk again!’
The fingers curled around his arm tightened as the amber eyes lifted to his warmed with sympathy... Dio, he had sacked her and she was feeling sorry for him.
‘But until then don’t you think it would be good for her to enjoy the things she can still do? Look at her face, Danilo—sack me if you like but don’t spoil it for her,’ she begged anxiously.
He flashed a look at the distant figure, took in the figures beside her and took a deep breath. ‘If she falls—’ he gritted through clenched teeth.
‘They are walking,’ Tess pointed out as at the same sedate pace the horse carrying Natalia began to move across the manège towards them. ‘The horse is a pony. It has beautiful manners and she is being led.’
Danilo gave a grudging nod of stiff assent as the two grooms who walked either side of the pony brought the animal to a halt. The groom holding the leading rein moved closer to speak to his sister, her words indistinct at this distance.
‘But the fact is even if it is a donkey you had no right to do this without discussing it with me.’
‘I’m sorry.’
He gave a grunt. ‘No, you’re not.’
Tess shrugged and took advantage of the fact he seemed to be calming down. ‘True, but there really is zero risk.’ She pointed at the two girls walking alongside the horse and the third holding the leading rein. ‘Please don’t glower like that. It took a lot for Nat to get up there and i
n the end it was making you proud that swung it.’
‘I am proud of her. I always am.’
‘Then show it and smile.’
The admonishment drew a grunt of shock from Danilo. Though God knows why, he thought grimly. The woman could not open her mouth without telling him what he was doing wrong. What he needed was some time with a woman who appreciated him, not this witch with her talent for interfering and the innate conviction she knew what was good for everyone—or was that just him?
‘I’m beginning to wonder how I survived before you arrived to tell me how to behave.’
‘Oh, I expect you’ll cope when I’m gone.’
He turned his head sharply. ‘Gone!’
‘You sacked me.’ A first, but it was not the humiliation of being sacked that bothered her, but the panic that had surged through her at the thought.
Panic that would have been understandable if it had been the fear of her stalker waiting for her at home that had caused it, but it wasn’t. It was the idea of leaving, of never seeing Nat and...who was she kidding? The thing that had pressed her panic button was not seeing Danilo again.
A muscle in his lean cheek clenched as their eyes connected, the emotions swirling around them suddenly solidified into a tension that made it an effort for Tess to breathe.
‘You make me—’ The words seemed drawn out against his will and the effort of cutting them off showed in the tension in his face as he found relief in an explosive expletive.
‘Angry, I know.’ Her voice, breathy and strange, sounded as though it was coming from a long way off.
‘You know that’s not what I’m talking about.’
She shook her head, her courage for once deserting her. ‘No—’ Her denial was silenced by the brush of his thumb against her lips.
She stepped away from the contact with a gasp. ‘What are you doing?’
Good question, Danilo, what are you doing?
His cobalt-blue stare had a hypnotic quality. Tess was suddenly fighting for breath as everything seemed to move into slow motion, everything but her heart that continued to batter against her ribcage.
‘Danilo!’
The musical sound of his sister’s happy voice made them both start. Tess pulled back first, her pale face flaming red, and, after staring at her for a moment longer, Danilo turned after, arranging his features in the requested smile. Behind him Tess began to clap. He could almost feel her relief when he joined in.
* * *
The beam of pride on his sister’s face as she continued to approach at a snail’s pace was worth gritting his teeth for.
Natalia laughed again. ‘I’ll get better. It was only my second time, but I can still do it, Danilo. I can still ride!’
For a split second before he responded his guard was fully down and Danilo looked almost vulnerable. The stark contrast between the pain and pride etched in the proud lines of his face sent a piercing stab of empathy she didn’t want to feel through Tess, who stood silently watching.
Removing the hand she had instinctively reached out to cover a white-knuckled fist that hung at his side—the gesture, she knew, would not be appreciated—she pressed it instead to her throat where an emotional lump ached. Blinking hard, she turned her head sharply away, taking a moment to regain control before she trusted herself to speak.
‘So I see.’
‘We dismount over there. Wait here.’
He took an involuntary step forwards as the horse turned. Tess caught his arm.
‘Let her, Danilo, don’t spoil it,’ she begged huskily.
‘Is that what you think I do?’ He tore his eyes from the smile on his sister’s face, turning his attention to the heart-shaped face looking up at him. ‘Spoil things?’ He felt as if he were walking around with a weight attached to his chest, but he knew naming his emotions would not make it easier. He didn’t deserve easier.
‘Smile, please. And don’t blame Nat. This is my doing, so if you’re going to be mad with anyone—’
‘I never doubted who was to blame,’ he ground out between clenched teeth as his sister, who was several yards away now on her stationary mount, yelled over.
‘Don’t watch me, Danilo, we have this covered. I don’t need your help. You make me nervous. Wait over there—both of you.’
‘You heard her, come on.’
Danilo had heard her and he’d heard the imperious tone he had almost forgotten about as he tipped his head in acknowledgement of the order, and with a glimmer of a smile he called out to her, ‘Sì, Principessa.’
With a tight hold on the pommel, Nat, and the horse responding to the urging of a groom, turned to face them. ‘You haven’t called me that for ages.’
‘You haven’t been bossy for ages,’ he tossed back.
‘It’s quite nice looking down on you for a change.’
It only took him a couple of long-legged strides to catch up with Tess, who was walking towards the tier of seats that Natalia had banished them to. ‘I suppose you want me to say you were right and I was wrong?’
‘This isn’t about being right, or being wrong, though you are. Actually I have no problem with you not being infallible, but you clearly do.’ Beside her Danilo stopped and she carried on walking, missing the expression on his face.
A moment later he caught her up and fell into step beside her.
‘I used to come here and watch our mother in the ring.’
‘Nat said she was very good.’
He nodded. ‘She gave up an international career in show-jumping and a place on the national equestrian team when she married.’ They had reached the tier of spectator seats but Danilo didn’t sit down; instead he turned and stared out at the empty ring.
‘My mum says a woman doesn’t have to give up anything. She didn’t.’
‘Everyone is different. Seeing our mother on a horse...it was special, but it was her choice.’ Even though it had never seemed right to Danilo.
‘I’ve always been scared of horses. They’re unpredictable.’ A bit like Danilo, she thought, as she took the end seat in the bottom row.
‘Nat used to love riding. Seeing her there just now has made me realise that she is growing up to be very like our mother and not just in looks. I saw my mother fall once when I was a kid. She looked so white lying there.’ He nodded to the ring. ‘I thought she was dead. They airlifted her to hospital. The next day she was back in the saddle with a fractured collarbone strapped up.’ He stopped. ‘You’re scared of horses?’ And he had spent the morning imagining her on horseback.
‘No, just of heights.’
He laughed. ‘But you helped at a stable?’
‘My feet firmly on the ground. Mum encouraged me to get involved with community projects. I didn’t always enjoy them but the stables were different. It was really rewarding to see how much confidence people gained. Being on horseback is a great leveller.’
Natalia did look happy. He felt a slug of guilt. This was the way she should have looked every day if he had been there for her. The way she would look when she walked again.
‘So are you all right with this? She can carry on with the lessons? I’m forgiven?’
The soft question brought his dark gaze zeroing in on Tess’s face as he acknowledged that there was nothing to forgive her for. That moment of gut-wrenching fear he had experienced when he’d seen Nat on the horse had made him lash out at Tess. ‘She can carry on with the lessons,’ he said, struggling to detach himself from the heavy weight of guilt in his chest.
The omission might not have been significant but the stab of hurt Tess felt was!
She pushed away the recognition as Natalia brought her chair to a halt beside her brother.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘I DIDN’T BELIEVE I could do it, but Tess said.’ She flashed silent Tess a beaming smile. ‘She said I could.’
Danilo looked at Natalia’s glowing face and found himself wishing that he’d been the one to put the happy shine in her eyes.
‘So
what do you think?’
Tess was worried to find she could identify so strongly with the need for approval that shone in the younger girl’s eyes.
‘You weren’t meant to see me until I’d got better.’
‘You were tremendous!’
She smiled happily and agreed. ‘Yes, I was, wasn’t I?’ She performed an acrobatic one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn in her chair that made Danilo wince, though he did manage to bite back a cautionary admonition to take care—just.
‘Where are you off to now, conquering Everest?’ He had no doubt that if Tess suggested it Nat would have a go.
‘No, that’s next week. I have physio and...’ she glanced down at her watch ‘...I’m late. Come on, Tess.’
‘Can I borrow Tess for a moment?’
‘Sure, but what do you want with her?’
A veiled look slid into Danilo’s eyes, though it was the heightened colour along his cheekbones that caught Tess’s attention—on anyone else she would have called it a blush. But when he spoke he sounded casual enough. ‘Your birthday is coming up and you should not ask too many questions.’
At this reminder the slight furrow that remained in her brow faded. Danilo was happy to see the sparkle rekindled in her eyes but less happy at the voice in his head that reminded him it was there despite him and because of Tess.
‘Fine,’ Nat tossed over her shoulder before she paused, reminding Tess, ‘But remember, we need to be at the hairdresser’s for three thirty.’
Danilo stiffened as the words killed off any softening of his attitude.
‘Oh, we’ve bags of time,’ Tess called back before the girl sped off in her chair.
Danilo waited for his sister to be out of earshot before he turned to Tess, saying flatly, ‘Cancel!’
He watched her smile gutter as she blinked up at him in apparent bemusement, so he spelt it out. ‘The hairdresser comes here.’
It was impossible to tell from her expression just how much his autocratic delivery had aggravated her. ‘Half the fun of having your hair done is hearing the gossip and watching other people. You wouldn’t understand. It’s called being sociable.’
He refused to play her game and rise to the bait. He was not going to allow his little sister to endure the ordeal her last trip out had involved.