When?
Soon.
To break the tension between them, she decided on a change of subject when she caught up with him. ‘I met your half-sister, Nicky. She’s lovely.’
‘She’s great,’ Dante agreed tersely.
‘Who takes care of the children when she’s not here on the ranch?’
‘Why? Are you volunteering, Karina?’
‘No.’ She huffed a wry laugh. ‘I’ve got my own job to do.’
‘Relieved?’ Dante suggested.
She shrugged. ‘No, but those kids are quite something.’ She paused, hoping Dante would tell her more, but he wasn’t so easy to unravel.
‘The staff will take over.’ He shrugged.
Dante took off again at speed, preventing her asking him any more questions. Hooves were soon thundering beneath them, making any form of conversation impossible, but she guessed Dante would want more answers when they got back to the ranch. She slowed her horse, allowing him to ride ahead of her, just to drink him in. There was no law against glutting herself on powerful shoulders and hard-muscled arms. She had always loved watching Dante ride. He appeared so casual and yet he was fully in control, with one hand on the reins and the other relaxed at his side. He rode smoothly and efficiently, employing minimum effort for maximum result.
Much as he’d ridden her.
Air shot from her lungs at the rogue thought entered her head. She had to shake herself round fast, and then she realised that Dante had turned his horse and was coming back for her.
‘What are you waiting for?’ he demanded. ‘Reminiscing?’
‘No. Thinking forward,’ she argued firmly.
‘About?’
‘About the work we have to do, and the short time we have to complete it in.’
‘You have to complete it in,’ he stressed with a look. ‘If you’re having second thoughts about your ability to handle a project as big as this one, you’d better let me know right away.’
‘I’m not having second thoughts.’ She met his demanding stare head on. ‘I’ll get this job done in good time, and it will be something we can both be proud of.’
‘It isn’t enough for me that you get it done. I expect more from you than that. And as for me being proud?’ He frowned. ‘It’s more important to me that I feel passion coming from you where this job is concerned. I want you to inspire the people who visit my ranch. That’s the only way you’ll make something memorable out of this.’
‘It will be memorable.’ She matched him with all her old fire.
‘That’s all I need to hear,’ Dante confirmed, turning away.
She watched him ride off, marvelling that she had ever been so young and na?ve as to believe they would stay together just because they’d slept together. Anything had seemed possible on that magical night. Consequences hadn’t even crossed her mind. Dante had made her feel so safe.
Had he?
Wasn’t it more likely that she had embroidered the facts to fit her fantasy version of a relationship with Dante? Everything about that night had been reckless—from the flimsy dress she had chosen to wear, to her dancing and then their lovemaking. An eighteenth birthday was supposed to mark the transition from childhood to adulthood, but she’d had to take everything to the edge. The validation of everything she’d been, and everything she’d hoped to be, had seemed to lie in the hands of one man—until Dante had thrown her out. Which she now understood had probably been a good thing, though it hadn’t seemed so at the time.
Good, because everything since that moment had made her face up to the fact that it was up to her to make her own fate, search out her own opportunities and her own path through life. Before the party she had still believed in fairy tales, and had saved herself for Dante. She had taken what had been a childhood friendship and changed it in her mind into true love, believing she’d touched him somewhere deep.
It had been a real slap in the face to discover that she hadn’t touched Dante anywhere. He had a deadline to keep, he had told her that night as he’d stared pointedly at the floor where her clothes lay scattered. He’d told her to pick them up and get out. She could still remember her shock as she’d stared at him numbly, trying to work out what she’d done wrong. ‘Take a shower and get out,’ he’d barked as she’d scooped up her clothes as if he couldn’t wait to get rid of her. She remembered holding them against her body, feeling suddenly ashamed of her nakedness.