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As if hearing his thoughts, Rose turned her head and opened her eyes, that green gaze landing directly on him. The smile immediately slipped from her face and she sat up, cheeks colouring. ‘I didn’t hear you.’
Zac felt like a peeping Tom. He stepped out from the shadows and saw Rose reach for a short robe, which she quickly pulled around herself. It made him say provocatively, ‘It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.’
He saw her cheeks redden in earnest now. How was it that she could still project such innocence when the evidence of her treachery was there as plain as day, expanding her waistline? Which should not be turning him on—dammit. He put a screeching halt on his wandering thoughts.
Something about that sphinx-like smile she’d had on her face just now made him want to test her. He said, ‘I’m going out to the mine to check on progress. You could come if you like?’
He regretted the impulse as soon as he’d spoken out loud. It was no place for a woman—much less a pregnant woman. But she was looking at him now with wide eyes, and something in those green depths stopped him from taking the invitation back.
‘Really?’
This was the last response Zac had expected. Most women he knew would run a mile from anything that sounded remotely boring or work-related, but she actually looked excited. His conscience pricked again for leaving her alone.
Far too belatedly he tried to change her mind. ‘It’s really not that exciting. It’s grimy and dusty...’
‘I don’t mind...but I don’t want to be in your way.’
Feeling bemused now, but also wanting to see how far she would go before bailing, Zac said, ‘You won’t be.’
She stood up and said quickly, ‘I’ll just go and change.’
He called after her as she hurried off. ‘Put on something practical—like jeans and a long-sleeved shirt.’
It was only when she’d left and Zac was waiting for her that he realised there was a little hum of something that felt suspiciously like excitement in his blood. He tried to suppress it, telling himself it wasn’t because she was coming with him. He was just testing her. That was all. And he was intrigued to see how long she would keep the interested act up. No doubt she was just seizing an opportunity to court his favour.
But then she emerged minutes later, in soft faded jeans, sneakers and a light long-sleeved shirt, her hair pulled back into a ponytail and an anxious look on her face, asking, ‘Is this okay?’ And suddenly Zac wasn’t sure of anything at all. Except for the surge of heat in his body.
Gruffly he said, ‘It’s fine, we’ll go in the Jeep.’
* * *
Rose strapped herself into the passenger seat, feeling ridiculously buoyed up that Zac had asked her to come with him. Well, had grudgingly offered to take her. She hoped, as they drove out of the estate, that she hadn’t appeared like an eager puppy, starved of affection.
Zac drove the Jeep with the same insouciant confidence that pervaded everything he did. Fast, but not too fast. Smooth. The countryside rolled out around them, stunning.
Rose said, ‘I can’t believe there are mines here. It seems such a shame to churn up this scenery.’
Zac’s mouth tipped up slightly at one corner. ‘I think the local population figure some desecration of the scenery is worth the benefits of having a local industry.’
Never had Rose felt more aware of her education going only as far as graduating from high school. She flushed with embarrassment. ‘Well, of course. I didn’t mean—’
‘I know what you meant,’ Zac surprised her by saying. ‘I agree—it does seem slightly sacrilegious to mess with this view. This is one of the few mines that is still functioning—most of the seams have been depleted by now. It’s rare to find an untapped source of raw minerals.’
He glanced at her then, but Rose kept looking straight ahead, aware of the fact that there seemed to be a very delicate cessation in hostilities. She didn’t want to say anything to provoke his sharp tongue again.
Then he surprised her by asking, ‘How are you feeling...you know, with the pregnancy? We haven’t really spoken about that. Do you have morning sickness?’
Rose looked at him, and then quickly schooled her features in case he was offended by her obvious surprise at his question.
She put a hand to her belly. ‘I’ve been okay, actually. Luckily. I only experienced morning sickness in the first eight weeks, and then it seemed to pass. Every now and then if a strong smell hits me I might get nauseous...but nothing untoward. At my last doctor’s visit she said everything looked okay. But I should have a scan at around twenty weeks.’
Zac surprised her by saying, ‘I have a local gynaecologist on standby in case you need anything. And the hospital in Siena is only a short helicopter ride away.’
She was strangely touched to hear that he’d organised this. Until she realised that of course his concern was for his potential future heir, which seemed to matter to him as much as it did to his mother.
She still didn’t know what had caused the rift between them, and wondered if she ever would. Something she’d noticed in the small local village the previous day came back to her, but while Zac was being civil enough right now, she didn’t want to push it by asking him anything personal.
‘Well, thank you—that’s reassuring... But I’m sure I won’t need to use their facilities.’
