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A nod from Seve and the housekeeper left the room. When his gaze dropped back to her hand, now clutching a clump of bedspread, she refused to react.
‘Get some rest,pequeña. Your personal maid will be on standby to draw you a bath if you require. We will speak further later.’
‘I fail to see what about. I’m leaving in—’
‘T minus twenty-one hours. Yes, I’m aware you’re counting down. But until the time is up, you’ll indulge me.Sí?’
He was walking away before she even responded, as if her answer didn’t matter. As if his mind was already made up. Weariness and the need to avoid another verbal skirmish—although thus far each one with Seve had been absurdly stimulating—made her bite her tongue.
And berate herself when she got her wish to be alone and immediately wanted him back. Wished back that invigorating force field that reminded her with every second that she wasalive.
She sagged against the bed, let out a long exhale and kicked off her shoes. She wanted a shower. Needed to gather her thoughts. Contact the contractors who’d been expecting her in Norway to tell them she’d been unexpectedly delayed.
But weariness was dragging down every cell in her body.
And the bed wassoinviting.
So she gave in, crawled under the sheets, and let sleep take her.
‘He’s a Cardosian Blanco.’
‘Indeed.’
Seve watched as Genie ran her hand down the stallion’s forehead and felt something intensely needful kick in his groin. She’d found him in his study after a two-hour nap and—from the scent of shampoo and alluring perfume torturing his senses—a bath. Her hair was coiled in a loose knot atop her head, leaving the elegant line of her neck to his full view.
He’d made the wise choice to start the tour outside so Lita wouldn’t bombard Genie with the questions she’d fired at Seve for a full hour before he’d taken refuge in his study.
Of course, he hadn’t taken into account that Genie would enthral his favourite stallion, too.
‘What’s his name?’ she asked.
‘Cyclone, so named for his terrible temperament before he learned the error of his ways.’
She hummed under her breath as she caressed him, her gaze moving over the other six horses in the paddock.
‘They’re breathtaking.You’rebreathtaking,’ she whispered to the horse, a world removed from the woman who’d laid down the law on the plane a few short hours ago. The woman who had fought him with words every single step.
Like everything about her, her many facets intrigued him far too much. And yet he couldn’t draw his gaze away from her fingers, from the soft wonder on her face as she caressed the horse.
His horse.Which he was in danger of feeling peevishly jealous of.
‘You’ll have to admire them from afar for the time being, I’m afraid.’
A layer of softness receded when she glanced at him. ‘You mean in the...’ she glanced pointedly at her watch ‘...eighteen hours and nineteen minutes I’m here.’
He shrugged. ‘If it pleases you to keep reminding me of the ticking clock, sure.’
Her hand slowly dropped from Cyclone’s muzzle, a thing that didn’t please the stallion, who attempted to nudge her touch back. And wasn’t it a hell of a thing to now feel a kinship with his horse?
‘I’m getting the impression that you’re simply humouring my intention to leave tomorrow.’
‘And there I thought I was giving you a tour.’
‘I’ve seen your stables, your beach, your swimming pool and the admirable recycling project you’ve got going. I know your estate runs on an eco-safe fuel system. I would’ve thought a man of your position would have better things to do than devote so much time escorting me around his home.’
His jaw clenched. ‘You keep making the mistake of not taking me at my word. I said you and the baby you’re carrying are now my priority. You will do well to start believing me.’
‘But what has it got to do with all this?’ She gestured to the paddock and the stables beyond. ‘Unless...’ Wariness crept into her eyes. ‘Unless you’re humouring me because you don’t intend to let me leave?’
