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He despised himself for not confronting it head-on, for giving himself leave for one more day with the excuse that the investigative report he’d done on her had provided him with enough pertinent details about her. Everything else she’d revealed so far had been harmless.
She couldn’t hurt Maria, and that had been enough.
But she could hurt you. His chest tightened, and he pushed the thought away. He could only be hurt if he let this thing spin out longer than their agreed time.
So far his investigators had found nothing on Tyson he could use and Olivio remained intransigent. Draco hated to rely on no news being good news, but more and more he was accepting that the choice might not be his as to whether Carla remained out of danger. She might have been partly responsible for his sister turning a corner during the bleak years after her accident, but Maria was much stronger than he’d ever given her credit for.
He would protect Carla as much as he could, but Draco was beginning to realise that some things were indeed out of his hands.
Arabella rolled over in her sleep, straight into his arms. He was pulling her close even before caution kicked in. She opened her stunning blue eyes and smiled, and he kicked caution to the kerb.
Sliding her arms around his neck, she stretched against him. ‘Thank you for my extra hour. It was heavenly.’
‘You’re welcome. Now let’s see if this is equally heavenly.’
He lowered his head, took what was his and silenced the clamouring of his instincts.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE PACE CHANGED drastically over the next three weeks. Although she was fully installed in Draco’s chalet in Verbier, Rebel barely saw him. Her training had stepped up another gear with Greg and a team Draco had hired now in charge of her on-site drills.
She hadn’t realised how much she’d missed the snow until she stood at the top of the ramp on the first day. Breathing in the frigid air, she felt peace settle over her as her mother’s smiling face wove into her mind. She suffered a moment’s regret for the years she’d wasted being less than she could’ve been. How could she have ever believed she could go through life like that?
‘Ready?’ Greg’s voice piped from behind her.
‘Ready.’ She adjusted her goggles a final time and planted her skis, the sheer joy of being here, doing what she loved, firing through her.
Greg counted down and sounded the klaxon. She grimaced as she pushed off a millisecond later than she’d intended.
She could already imagine the conversation with Draco later that night in her head.
Blocking it out, she poised her body for the lift-off. Exhilaration burst through her as her feet left the ramp. The elation her mother had felt and passed down to her wrapped around her as she soared.
Her mother had loved her beyond her own life. Rebel knew that had she survived the accident that had claimed her life, she would’ve forgiven Rebel’s part in it.
It was time to forgive herself. Time to come clean to Draco. If for nothing else, for the chance to take the risk of baring her heart to see if there was a future for them.
Although things had remained the same on the surface, Rebel had felt a shift in Draco the day after she’d met Maria via video link. He hadn’t smiled as widely at her jokes, nor lingered in bed with her when they’d both had a little time on their hands. By the time they’d left the island, the only time she’d felt fully connected to him was when they’d made love.
She couldn’t let it carry on. He’d helped her achieve life-changing clarity, the least she could do was give him the complete truth about herself in return. What he chose to do with it was up to him.
Her heart squeezed as the ground rushed up to her. Bending her knees, she executed a perfect landing and skied to the bottom of the hill.
‘You know you’re going to hear about that take-off, don’t you?’ Greg said via the mic in her ear.
She grimaced and made a face at the camera that was recording all her jumps for Draco to review later.
‘I’m not scared of the dragon,’ she quipped, lying through her teeth.
Greg laughed. ‘You’re in the minority, then.’
Grinning, she skied to the edge of the enclosure, toed off her skis and got back on the escalator for another test jump. She had three days before the championships began, and Draco had found less and less to criticise her about as she’d perfected her jump.
She didn’t doubt that he would chew her out for the millisecond delay. But he would be doing so while in the same room with her. And after four days without him, she didn’t care if he berated her for half the night. As long as she got to spend the other half in his arms.
She was showered and in bed, anticipating Draco’s arrival, when her phone rang. She saw his number, and her heart sank.
