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Her green eyes sought his for understanding and that look made him feel as though a hand had reached in his chest and squeezed.
When he’d been nailing the fine detail, treating this marriage like any other contract, he had failed to appreciate that even a temporary marriage would impact his life, especially one that came with a ready-made family... At least, not in the way it was. Just considering someone other than himself was a mind-bending change for him.
‘You’re very kind to Sam, and I’m grateful. He likes you.’ She really hadn’t anticipated Ezio becoming some sort of role model for her brother. ‘It worries me...’ she admitted.
‘What worries you, Tilda?’ It worried him that the sight of her nibbling nervously at her lush lower lips was exerting such fascination, and that the impulse to wrap her in his arms and tell her everything would be all right was growing more compelling by the second. ‘Surely,’ he added brusquely, ‘It is good that he likes me?’
She nodded and cast a furtive look over her shoulder. ‘Of course, but he doesn’t know that this is...well, not real...temporary. I’m afraid he’ll gettoofond of you.’
‘I wouldn’t hurt Sam.’
Her eyes flew to his face. ‘I know you wouldn’t mean to.’
‘There is no reason we can’t stay in touchafter.’
‘Stay in touch with Sam?’ She was startled by the idea.
‘I meant...’ In all honesty, he didn’t have a clue what he meant. ‘People remain friends after divorces.’
‘But they were friends before, we are...’
‘Not friends,’ he supplied, a hard edge to his voice.
‘I wasn’t going to say that.’ Even if it was true. ‘We were, I suppose, well,nothingoutside the office.’
‘So is the enforced intimacy making you feel uncomfortable?’
She felt a sudden spurt of panic as his glance connected. ‘There is no intimacy, enforced or otherwise. We aren’t strangers but I don’tknowyou...’ He was constantly challenging her pre-conceptions in a way that meant she couldn’t relax. ‘Not in any sense of...’ Her eyes slid from his dark, sardonic stare. ‘For instance, I never realised that you didn’t travel with security in Greece.’
His lips quirked at the obvious attempt to change the subject. ‘I travel with security most places...visible if you want to draw attention, and less visible...’ She watched as he lifted a hand, turned to his right and a car fifty yards away flashed its lights. He then turned left and the same thing happened before he swivelled back to Tilda. ‘If you don’t. You are perfectly safe. I would never allow anything to happen to you or Sam.’
‘I wasn’t worried, just surprised.’
‘The moment we got married, you and Sam became potential kidnap targets.’
‘Kidnap...?’ She cast a glance at Sam in the back seat and shuddered.Kidnap. The word floated through her head, sounding more sinister with each repetition. It wasn’t just the word it was the matter-of-fact way he’d said it. ‘I’m stupid, I didn’t think...’
‘Why should you think?’ The stricken look on her face felt like a stab in his chest. ‘This is notyournormal, it is mine.’ He gestured to the waiting cars, then placed a hand flat on the black paintwork of the gleaming monster they stood beside. ‘Armour-plated cars with bullet-proof glass are my world, and while you are in it you will be safe. I swear on my life.’
‘I know, I never thought otherwise... I trust you.’
His lashes came down like a veil but Tilda sensed another mercurial shift his mood.
‘Well, if you are ready?’
He held the door open, holding out a hand to help her on the step.
‘Thanks,’ she murmured, not looking at him, afraid that contact with his dark eyes would shake loose the confusing cocktail of dangerous emotions swirling inside her. She could not predict which one it would be, but none would be relaxing.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SAMSEEMEDTOregain form as they drove through the dust and congestion of the city, Ezio good-naturedly answering his constant flow of questions while negotiating the traffic, which in itself deserved a medal.
After they had been driving thirty minutes or so, the urban sprawl gave way to a quieter area. The streets they drove along were lined with palms and the sea, which she had only glimpsed at a distance through concrete, was now a dazzling blue backdrop against the beaches that lay along the bay.
‘This is so pretty.’
‘Vouliagmeni,’ he said with a nod.
