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‘Acrux?’ He turned to where the horse was pulling at the hay. ‘He’s good.’ She couldn’t see his face but there was something odd about his voice. A hesitancy, almost as if it was a struggle to speak.
‘He’s beautiful.’
Another hesitation but the tension in his voice dropped a notch. ‘And he’s smart. People think horses are just dumb animals, but they’re not.’
‘Is that why you chose him? His intelligence?’
His face softened. ‘I didn’t choose him. I bred him, raised him from a foal.’
That surprised her. That he could have that focus and perseverance. Something of what she was thinking must have shown on her face, because his mouth curved up at one corner. ‘You don’t believe me.’
‘Well, it does seem a little out of character,’ she admitted. But then it wasn’t the first time he’d caught her off guard. Her body stiffened as she remembered the moment when she’d realised that she’d forgotten to upload her speech.
‘I never thanked you,’ she said slowly. ‘For what you did that night at the auction. Stepping in and just giving a speech like that, it was really impressive. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there, so thank you for that.’
There was a short, slightly startled silence.
‘What made you think of that?’ he said finally.
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Just you being different from how I thought. From how you were when we had lunch that first time.’
He laughed then, a real laugh, not a mocking one, and she couldn’t stop her eyes from moving towards the sound. It made her feel as if her limbs were filling with a golden light that poured straight from the sun.
‘Yeah, well, that wasn’t my finest hour.’ His eyes moved to find hers. ‘You were pretty impressive though. Seriously bossy, but impressive. I can remember being astonished that you were so young.’
‘To be fair, I’d been working on it for some time.’
He shook his head. ‘Which is why it was so impressive. It didn’t feel like you were phoning it in. You made it feel fresh, exciting. Even though you hated me,’ he added.
She felt herself blushing. ‘I didn’t hate you. Well, maybe I did, a bit, but you were late. And hungover. And distracted.’ Her mouth twitched. ‘But when I took away your phone, you had a lot of good ideas.’
His eyes were clear and steady on her face. ‘We were a good team. And you did thank me that night,’ he added softly and there were no words to describe how the softness in his voice made her feel.
Maybe that was why she forgot for a moment why she was there in Italy. Why it suddenly felt as if it were just two people, talking normally, a couple almost. Instead of what they were, which was actors rehearsing their lines for the opening night.
She took a breath. ‘I don’t know how to do this, Trip,’ she said quietly.
His face stilled then and for a fraction of a second, the doubt and nervousness she was feeling was visible in his eyes. And then it was gone. ‘You’re overthinking it. We’re both in the public eye, Lily. Which means having to play a part sometimes, putting on a mask.’
She felt a jolt of surprise. She didn’t just wear a mask in public, she wore full body armour. It was the only way she could do the job she loved, be the daughter she wanted to be. But she was surprised that Trip felt that way.
‘Remember how we stood up at that auction together.’ He was impatient again now. ‘It’ll be just the same as that.’
Except it wouldn’t be, she thought. At home, with her family, her close friends, she was herself, but here with Trip, she wouldn’t be able to relax. She couldn’t risk letting her guard down and something happening, as it had at her apartment.
‘No, it’s not. You have live-in staff on site. That means I’ll have to be in character almost all of the time.’
His face hardened. ‘What do you want me to say, Lily? Life’s not fair.’
Lily stared at him, her throat tightening. She didn’t need Trip to tell her that it was dog eat dog out there. She knew life wasn’t fair.
‘Okay, maybe that’s the wrong word—’
It was. Expecting her to fake what had once been real was not just unfair, it was unkind.
He cut across her. ‘I don’t know why you’re making it into such a big deal. It’s not as if I’m asking you to do something you weren’t already willing to do.’
Her heart contracted.
