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‘Apparently that is an option. Liam will always be Declan’s father.’
‘Of course, but a boy needs a dad too. Your father died but he is still your father.’
Zac pulled himself back from the edge of throwing the truth back at her, revealing that, as much as he’d like to forget his father, he never could. That he’d spent his life watching for signs that he was anything like the dead man, guarding against anything resembling a paternal character trait that was hiding in his DNA, that he needed control to do that and now she was in danger of splintering it... She was pounding away at the protective wall he’d built in a way that no one had before.
He even kept his family that side of the protective wall built to shield the people he cared for, not himself.
The thoughts slid through his head, invisible behind the cold mask he wore. ‘I am aware of that.’
She had hit a nerve. How, why, she had no idea.
Zac seemed deep in thought. His body language did not encourage conversation as they walked up the hill, which actually was quite steep. Breathless by the time she reached the top, she was glad he was carrying the baby.
They walked through the open gates into a cobbled courtyard filled with a succession of bubbling fountains and geometric flower beds spilling colour onto the stone. The sea, which had been to their left as they climbed the hill, was now directly in front of them, visible above the terracotta-tiled roof where the aquamarine blended seamlessly into the blue of the sky, but revealed more dramatically through a massive stone arch that acted as a portrait frame for a breathtaking view of the gardens running down to the sand and endless sea.
Enchanted, she spread her arms wide as though embracing the view. ‘How do you ever leave here?’ she wondered out loud.
Zac normally felt a lightening of his mood as he stepped through the gates, but on this occasion the magic failed to work. The weight that had lain across his shoulders, a burden that was not physical, did not lift as he walked into the courtyard.
But as Rose spoke and he heard the unfiltered pleasure in her voice and read the uncomplicated joy on her face he felt lighter.
Her unfeigned pleasure was contagious. She was living totally in the moment, which was a rare ability.
‘I had no idea...’ She looked from right to left, saw the whitewashed walls glinting in the sun, taking in the sheer size of the place. ‘It’s so big! Did you extend on the original building?’
‘It was hard to tell how big the place was originally. It was derelict and there were no records and the locals seem to think that the villa I rebuilt was built on the site of a previous villa that was much grander. The old landscaped gardens, which we uncovered by accident, could have belonged to that earlier building. They were certainly very elaborate for what was an olive farm.’
‘You recreated the gardens.’ What she had seen of them was impressive.
‘As much as possible, we kept what original features in the house there were and used reclaimed materials in the build for the most part. There are some skilled craftsmen locally. They were ingenious in recreating incomplete and damaged features.’
Rose nodded. She couldn’t wait to see the interior.
‘Come,’ he added, glancing at her hair that blazed in the sunlight as he gestured to the building they stood in front of. ‘I think we could do with some shade.’
Rose gave a self-recriminatory grimace and glanced anxiously at Declan. She had been so busy admiring the building that she had neglected her charge.
‘Sorry,’ she said, following him through the arch.
He paused, looking mystified. ‘Why?’
‘I was chattering on while the baby...his skin needs protecting.’
‘The baby has barely a centimetre of skin exposed. It was your skin I was thinking about.’ Almost continually. The thought of feasting his eyes on the smooth paleness, of exploring it with his fingers, tongue and mouth, feeling her skin cool or hot beneath him...had become a constant. And now the images, sparked into life by his thoughts, glutted his senses, requiring a long sense-cooling moment before he could continue speaking without betraying himself and his growing obsession.
‘You are very fair. Redheads burn, don’t they? You should wear a hat while you’re here.’
‘Yes, I suppose I should... I freckle terribly.’ She touched her small straight nose and grimaced.
‘I like freckles.’
Rose told herself not to be flattered. There was liking andlikingand it was telling that the assets his dates boasted were not freckles!
Without warning he walked away. Rose started to follow, glancing around curiously as she hurried to keep him in sight. There was a lot to take in. The infinity pool below a terrace that surrounded this side of the villa took second place to the blue blaze of the shimmering sea beyond. The building itself was on three sides of where they stood. There were several arches cut into the stone smaller than the one they had entered, but beyond she had glimpses of what seemed to be a series of internal courtyards.
He led her to a doorway, not as large as the one in the outer courtyard, and swung around without warning, causing her to step back and the baby to gurgle excitedly.
CHAPTER TEN
