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‘You’re not nervous, are you?’ The teasing question finally focused his mind. ‘I have been taught to do this properly.’
‘No,’ he lied as he tried to sit back and relax. With each passing second it was obvious she could drive and if she’d had the same tutor as Seb, what more guarantee did he need? ‘I make a bad co-pilot. I like to be in control at all times.’
She glanced quickly at him, the green of her eyes flashing with amusement. ‘Are we just talking about driving?’
He couldn’t help the laugh that rumbled from him. ‘I was only referring to driving, but now you come to mention it...’
‘Let’s see what she’s made of then.’ The laughter in her voice gave way to a serious tone full of purpose.
Before he could utter one word of protest, the car lurched forward like an angry stallion, pressing him back in the seat. The trees around the track blurred as the engine roared. His heart pounded and he had images of arriving at the scene of his sister Francesca’s accident and comforting her while he waited for help to arrive.
‘Slow down!’ he demanded, hating the sense of being totally unable to avert a crisis.
‘Don’t spoil it now. I know what I’m doing.’ Her raised voice did little to assuage the doubt he had in himself to trust her driving ability.
‘Charlotte!’ He snapped her name loudly, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the corner they were hurtling towards.
* * *
Charlie could barely hear Alessandro. Her heart was thudding with the excitement of being behind the wheel of a powerful car again. It had been too long and she had no intention of stopping now. This was exactly what she needed to chase the demons away.
She pressed harder on the accelerator, elated to find the powerful engine still had more to give. As the countryside blurred to a sway of green she knew this was the right thing to do. Seb had driven this car, felt its power and had been at one with it. Driving it now brought her closer to him; it was as if he was here with her.
‘Slow down, Charlotte. Now.’ Alessandro’s curt tone was full of authority but she couldn’t stop now, couldn’t deny herself this moment.
‘This is amazing,’ she enthused, pushing the car to its limits around a corner. Tyres squealed but held the track like nothing she’d known before.
‘Do you ever do as you are told?’ The rich timbre of his voice was edged with steely control. She sensed him sitting there, rigid with anger at her disobedience. The thought made her laugh.
‘Didn’t Seb tell you that I’m exasperating?’ Another corner took her concentration and beside her he cursed fluidly in Italian. Was she really worrying him or was it just that she wouldn’t do what he wanted? There wasn’t any doubt in her mind that he was the type of man who liked to be in total control of every situation.
‘That, cara, is something we didn’t discuss. Slow down.’ His voice was firm, full of discipline, making her smile and itch to push the car harder.
‘Do you always spoil everyone’s fun?’ She slowed the car enough to be able to talk with him, but the engine protested, tempting her with its power once more.
‘Only when my life is on the line.’ The acerbic tone of his voice didn’t go unnoticed as he raised it to be heard over the engine. They headed down a long straight and she had to resist the urge to push the car harder.
‘Your life is not on the line, Sandro—don’t be so dramatic. I’ve been trained to the highest level to drive cars just as powerful as this.’ She drove into the next bend, restraining herself from showing him just how capable she was of handling the car.
‘By whom?’ Those two words were curt and heavily accented and she wondered again if he genuinely was afraid.
‘My father. He taught Seb and me everything he’d learnt, so relax and enjoy your car, feel it, be at one with it.’
She pushed the car into another bend, her body infused with adrenaline, something she’d missed when she’d taken up the more genteel pursuit of gardening. It just hadn’t given her the same buzz.
A long straight stretch spread out before her again as she came out of another bend and, forgetting everything, including the hurt and pain of losing Seb, she pushed the car to its limits one last time.
It felt so good. Nothing like it on earth had ever come close. It was exhilarating. The car ate up the tarmac as they sped along the straight stretch.
‘Dio mio, stop!’ The harsh command penetrated the bubble of excitement she’d slipped into and she let her foot off the accelerator, the car slowing.
