Those eyes, the mini version of which she looked into every day, collided with hers. The startling blue-green colour was infused with annoyance and a great deal of frustration.
‘I’m protecting you, Thadie,’ he said, transferring his gaze to the rear-view mirror. He waited for Greg to pass him and Thadie noticed his scowl. His displeasure with Greg oozed from every pore and Thadie felt the need to protect her young, albeit inexperienced bodyguard.
‘It’s not Greg’s fault. I insisted on going to Dodi’s place,’ she gabbled. ‘I told him that I’d go alone if he didn’t accompany me.’
Angus’s eyes returned to her, and she felt pinned to her seat as he silently debated whether she was telling the truth or not. While she waited, she noticed the strands of grey hair above his ears, and he now wore thick stubble instead of a beard. There were new lines next to his eyes. He looked older, warier, a hundred times sexier.
Thadie grabbed the skirt of her dress and twisted it in her clenched fists, feeling her heart pushing its way through her ribcage. She felt light-headed. Her thoughts were racing at two hundred miles a minute. How and why was the father of her sons sitting next to her, looking remote and distant and, man, even more handsome than he did four years ago?
Thadie looked out of the window and bit the inside of her lip, not knowing what to do. Or say. She’d just been dumped by her fiancé and was facing an insane amount of press attention. Andnow she had to deal with the arrival of her one-night lover and the father of her toddlers.
She didn’t know which way was up.
‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand why you are here,’ Thadie said, sounding utterly confused.
He didn’t blame her. The last person she’d expected to see was the man she’d slept with, and forgotten about, four years later in her home city, while she was being jostled by a pack of reporters looking for a headline.
Despite seeing Hadley’s car ahead of him—he and that young man would be having words later about how to say no to clients—he checked his phone’s directions, pulled left and was nearly cut off by a small bus, the passenger hanging out of the window, calling to pedestrians.
‘I’m driving in a strange city, and I need to concentrate,’ Angus told her, his voice hard. ‘Can the explanations wait?’
‘I suppose they’ll have to,’ Thadie muttered, slumping in her seat. Angus dropped his sunglasses onto his eyes, joined another stream of traffic and rubbed the back of his neck. What he most wanted to do was find a hotel, strip her out of that sexy dress and kiss his way up and down her body before sliding inside and losing himself in her.
God, it was hot in here, he needed air. But the air conditioner was on, it was working fine. No, he was the one overheating and all because he’d, too briefly, held Thadie in his arms. Angus shoved his hand into his hair, holding back his groan of frustration. He’d thought he wanted answers, and he did, but he’d never expected this insane amount of lust, to feel so intensely, crazy attracted to her again. He was older, hopefully wiser, and he’d thought he’d outgrown his desire for her...
But...no. Not at all. If anything, it was wilder, more out of control.
Brilliant. His South African trip wasn’t going to plan, and Angus felt weirdly off balance. Nothing was as he’d expected, and he felt as if he were floundering in quicksand, being battered by enormous waves. He was way out of his comfort zone, and he didn’t like it.
If he’d known how seeing her again was going to affect him, he would’ve stayed in London. Angus didn’t like feeling mentally, and emotionally shaken, or caught off guard. He’d grown up in a house where emotions were carefully regulated, if not dismissed. To achieve what he did, his father, The General, gave everything he had to the army; it was his wife and mistress, the great love affair of his life. To create his own legacy, to build an international, and respected, company, Angus needed to be as emotionally divorced as his father had been. Was.
But, unlike his father, he’d walk his road alone, he wouldn’t view his wife and kids as shiny accessories, further proof he was a success in every aspect of his life. He’d watched his parents’ dysfunctional marriage, had seen his friends marry and divorce, the unhappiness relationships engendered when they fell apart. What was the point of starting something that had a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding? Not succeeding at anything was unacceptable and taking on wild-goose challenges like relationships was, simply, stupidity.
He didn’t believe in love. Neither did he need it, whateveritwas...
Besides, he didn’t have the space in his life for a relationship. All his energy had to be devoted to creating a legacy of his own, to prove to himself that The General wasn’t the only Docherty who could achieve extraordinary things. He had a point to prove, and nothing—not even a gorgeous woman who made his heart race—would stand in his way.
Forty minutes later, Angus closed his car door, ignored the shouts and demands from the press and followed Thadie up the stone path to her front door. She plugged in a code on the panel and the door opened on hinges placed in the middle of the door. He stepped directly into a double-volume, open-plan great room. The wall to his right was covered in hats, placed to form a sweep of colour from espresso to white. The far wall comprised double-volume glass, and, on closer inspection, he realised that the wall was a sliding door opening onto an entertainment deck and sparkling pool. Indoor plants, including a vine climbing up and across a wall, supported by hooks, added pops of colour to the room. Comfortable-looking couches squatted on expensive rugs but there were no personal items or photographs on any of the surfaces. There were also blank spaces on the wall where paintings, or artwork, had hung before.
Despite it being denuded of any personal items—was it because she had intended to redecorate with her new husband?—he liked her house. It was very different from his white and black and minimalistic flat in Knightsbridge. It was, he decided, homely, unlike the perfectly neat, emotionally cold houses he’d grown up in.
His home, like everything else in his life, had been regimented. Everything had its place, and God help you if you spilt anything or used something and didn’t put it back in its proper place. He didn’t know if both his parents were naturally neat freaks or if his father had trained his mother to be that way, but it had been an uncomfortable way to live. Somehow, he knew Thadie wouldn’t sweat the small stuff. She was the type who encouraged people to put their feet up onto her furniture, relax, and enjoy her very pretty home.
Enjoy her. After all, they were alone in her house...
Thadie placed her hands on the island counter separating the kitchen and dining area—a wooden table with bench seatssat between the kitchen and the living area—and dropped her head between her arms. Her bright braids hung down her back, pulled together by a plain black band. Her eyes were scrunched closed and he thought she was silently cursing. They were alone and they were adults—he wasn’t sure why she felt the need to keep those words silent. He’d served and worked in an industry dominated by men and could cope with a swear word or two. He had more than a few creative curses of his own.
‘What are you doing here, Angus?’ she asked without looking up at him.
He was a straightforward guy, someone who never pulled his punches, but he didn’t want to toss questions at her head or hear her explanations. Because if he got what he came here for—her explanation on how he’d read her wrong—he’d have no reason to stick around, to spend any more time in her company.
He wanted to hold her face between his hands, lower his mouth to hers, feel her tall body aligned with his, have his thigh between her legs and his hand on her lower back, pushing her stomach into his erection.
Angus swallowed, feeling disconcerted. His attraction had come roaring back, as ferocious as a category five hurricane, as relentless as a mega-tsunami. He was, he reluctantly admitted, in big trouble here. A huge part of him didn’t care about what had happened in London, he simply wanted to take up where they’d left off.
Her in his arms, both of them on their way to getting naked.
‘Angus?’ Right, she’d asked him a question.