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It wasn’t until he had vanished that she realised she hadn’t asked the practical things like what happened when they landed.
CHAPTER EIGHT
ANNAGAVEAsigh of relief as her first ballet slipper hit the tarmac. She didn’t go overboard with the relaxation—this was not the end of anything, it was the beginning of a step into the unknown—but before she could get worried about the unknown the heat hit her.
By the time she was ushered into the terminal building her shirt was sticking to her back, but the air conditioning inside was marvellous. The crew member who had escorted her handed her over to an airport official, who progressed her through the formalities in painless moments.
She had refused the offer of refreshments when the suited figures of what she assumed was Soren’s VIP welcome committee surrounding the man himself melted away before he reached her. ‘Sorry, I had some things to do. You were looked after?’
‘Very well, thank you, and there’s no need to be sorry. I didn’t expect you to come and hold my hand for landing,’ she said spikily, thinking,It would have been a nice gesture, though, considering you knew I was petrified.
Catching the disgruntled direction of her thoughts, she performed a self-correcting U-turn, reminding herself that she was here as an employee, not a guest. She would have to put some appropriate barriers in place if this was going to work, though the unusual way that this situation had come about made it harder than it would have been otherwise.
‘The luggage has been unloaded.’
He dragged a hand through his hair. His jacket and tie were back in place, but the lightly hair-roughened section of brown wrist banded by a wafer-thin expensive watch exerted a stomach-tightening fascination on Anna.
He lowered his arm and she turned away, killing dead her theory that the exhausting electrical atmosphere on the plane might vanish or at least lessen once she had escaped the confined space.
It hadn’t.
So live with it, Anna.The only other option was to make a total fool of herself. Even had there been any possibility that he would look at someone like her...though she had noticed that she forgot in his company that she looked like a coat hanger. He didn’t look at her as if she were a coat hanger, he looked at her like... She felt the hot shudder low down deep inside and shocked herself back to the present.
She was standing here in a public place having a hot fantasy about who she—
‘I’d like to miss the traffic.’
‘What? Yes, of course, sorry...flying is so tiring.’ She gave a little yawn.
‘Well, we could stay overnight here in Palermo, if you like, travel in the morning. We have a house here. The staff—’
‘No, that’s very...considerate, but I’m fine.’
‘Good. I’d planned on getting there before dark.’
‘You’redriving?’
‘You have a problem with that?’
‘No, of course, I just thought you had a driver.’
‘Alberto has gone on ahead.’
Alberto would reach the palazzo several hours ahead of them, refreshed after a helicopter transfer, which had been Soren’s own planned mode of travelling. But seeing how she dealt, or didn’t, with flying, he could not imagine that Anna would have coped any better with a helicopter transfer that many would consider breathtaking.
‘He drives, certainly, but he’s notmydriver. He multitasks, but he is a security expert.’ Security was so much part of Soren’s life that he took it for granted, and he forgot sometimes that his life was different from others’. Seeing Anna’s eyes widen reminded him that his normal was not normal.
‘I like to keep things low-key and, relatively speaking, discreet.’ Unlike his grandfather, who travelled with a small personal army, in Soren’s opinion more to draw attention than avoid it. ‘I also enjoy driving.’
‘I hate it. It took me four times to pass my test.’
‘Did it not occur to you that someone was sending you a message?’
‘I happen,’ she retorted with dignity, ‘to be a very competent driver. You miss so much when you’re behind the wheel and I got full marks in my theory test.’
‘Well, that’s a clincher. Also, you’ll be pleased that this is a very scenic island. Not everyone likes our roads but there are plenty of things for you to see while I drive... Did I mention what a lovely thing it is to drive in silence...?’
She directed a narrow-eyed glare up at his too handsome face and saw the lazy glint of humour shining in his eyes. Finding herself wanting to respond to the gleam, she fought off a smile and hitched her bag on her shoulder.
