He was still holding his cell phone and, instead of answering her, he hit redial.
‘Ramsey...I’m sorry,’ he began before the man had a chance to say more than his name. ‘You’re right, the house must have a security presence and the company are doing an excellent job. Please ask them to pass on my apologies to the guard I met this morning. He took me by surprise but he was simply doing his job and it has been pointed out to me that I behaved like a jerk.’
He didn’t wait for an answer, but disconnected, tossed the phone back on the shelf and reached for the ignition.
Natasha cleared her throat. ‘Do you want your shirt back?’
‘Keep it,’ he said. ‘I’ll wear your top. Now you’ve cut me down to size, it’ll be a perfect fit.’
‘Oh, I think you fill this one pretty well,’ she said, pulling it over her head and handing it to him, before turning behind to recover her top and bra from the back seat. By the time she was straight he had pulled up in front of the house.
To the right the parkland fell away to the river; then, beyond it, the Downs offered a breathtaking view for miles around.
Tash sighed. Beside her, Darius had that same locked-away look that he’d had when she’d first set eyes on him, except now she knew that it was not simply about the advertisement. For a moment, before he’d called Brian Ramsey, told him to apologise to the security guard, she’d seen the darkness, a pain like a knife in his heart.
There was something about this house, what had happened here, that hurt bone-deep, and yet he’d brought her here. She’d like to think it was because he wanted to spend the day with her, maybe fool around a little—fool around a lot if the last few minutes were anything to go by. Now she realised that she had simply provided him with a hook, that her need had given him an excuse, a way back.
The minute he came to a halt, she climbed down, grabbed her bags from the back seat but, instead of going straight to the door, she walked to the edge of the lawn where there was a strategically placed bench, giving him breathing space to come to terms with being here before he had to go inside.
Meanwhile, she had a job to do and she’d better jolly well stop lusting after Darius; she took out her mini camcorder and began to create a panorama to post on Facebook.
The crunch of his boots on the gravel warned her that he had followed her. ‘The house might have a few shortcomings, but the setting is perfect,’ she said, not looking up until the view was blocked by his broad chest. She didn’t stop filming but, instead of panning from left to right, she lifted the lens until his face filled the screen.
‘Here are the keys. The alarm code is 2605.’
‘You’re leaving me to it?’ she asked, letting the camera fall to her side, a little hollow spot of disappointment somewhere below her waist that he was ducking out. ‘I thought you’d been appointed responsible adult?’
‘Apparently I failed at the first hurdle. Don’t worry. I’ll ask that security guard to frisk you for the family silver before you leave,’ he said.
‘You were wrong, Darius.’
‘Totally.’ He met her gaze head-on. ‘I lashed out because I felt guilty.’
‘I realise that, but I’m an adult; I knew where I was, what I was doing. The responsibility was equally mine.’
‘But you didn’t know what I knew.’