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‘Get out. We’ll talk about this inside.’
Her lips pursed, but she didn’t respond when he caught her arm and led her indoors. His study was the closest room and he made a beeline for it, slamming the door behind him despite his attempts to control his temper.
He watched her take a seat on the sofa before the tall fireplace, crossing her long legs and watching him with a composure he faintly resented as his senses leapt with the pounding reality of how much he’d missed her. How much even the thought of her being a little bit hurt had sent terror hurtling through him.
And he accepted that this situation was far from ideal.
Odessa watched him pace for a full minute. Then stop dead before her.
‘Do you even have a licence?’ he demanded. ‘If I recall, your father forbade you from going near the garage. Women aren’t supposed to drive, according to him, no?’
She flushed, the scorching reminder tightening her chest.
It was one of the many ways her father had limited her and kept her firmly under his thumb, before suddenly allowing her—in a rare display of magnanimity—to take lessons. Although he’d scoffed at the idea several times before her determination had finally worn him down.
‘I do, actually,’ she said, secretly pleased when she saw Ares’s surprised look.
‘And how many times have you driven yourself?’ he tossed back.
She shrugged, self-consciousness dragging embarrassment through her. ‘A few...’
‘A few?’ he echoed derisively. ‘And how many of those “few” times included a vehicle with an actual engine and not the electric buggy you used to get around your father’s estate?’
Irritation made her exhale sharply. ‘Antonio let me drive his car to the shops once in a while.’
When her father hadn’t been around.
‘You mean Antonio the gardener, in his jalopy that barely went over twenty miles an hour before it threatens to shake itself into extinction?’
‘What’s your point, Ares? You don’t want me to touch your precious sports car? Trust me, I’ve got that message. Or is it something else?’
‘Something else?’ he echoed coldly.
‘You don’t want me getting close to your father?’
Her heart squeezed as she said it. In a very short time she’d been reminded of Sergios Zanelis’ inherent goodness and kindness, and in the last two weeks she’d found herself seeking his company, her yearning for the kind of father she’d never had alternately intensifying and being sated by the old man.
The thought that Ares might resent that sent a shaft of pain through her.
He sucked in deep, pent-up breath and she got the feeling he was trying to hold himself together. Why that both riled and excited her, she didn’t want to delve into.
‘Odessa, that car has more horsepower than a small plane. One mistake and you could’ve been...’ He paused again, his eyes darkening as whatever thought he’d been about to express turned inward. ‘Things could’ve gone very badly.’
A small gasp left her throat as she grasped his meaning. Shame engulfed her. ‘I’m sorry, Ares. It didn’t occur to me... I didn’t think about your accident... Sergios was talking about how much he missed driving and I offered to take him. I should’ve—’
He jerked forward. ‘I’m not talking about my father!’
This close, she saw his ashen pallor. Her heart leapt in wild giddiness. ‘You were worried about me?’ she whispered, stunned.
His irritation vanished with an exhalation. ‘Does that surprise you so much?’
‘Well...a little bit, yes.’
Something flashed in his eyes. Something like...hurt. It was gone in a second, of course, but she’d seen it and her heart lurched.
‘Ares...’
‘Your health and safety aren’t to be compromised under any circumstances. That’s non-negotiable.’
