loved you.’
Sadie looked away. No. That had been her mistake. She had loved him. Leo had never loved her. ‘I was torn and he told me the decision should be easy and as it wasn’t that I should go.’
Kent didn’t know what to say. Pinto sounded like a total arse. ‘Did you go to London?’
Sadie shook her head, she’d been devastated by the whole thing. ‘I needed to get away from art for a while. So I studied journalism instead. And here I am today coming full circle.’
‘So, why does Pinto want you for the interview?’
Sadie shrugged. ‘Curiosity probably. I think he thought I would fall apart without him. Whatever his agenda is, I’m determined to show him I didn’t.’
Kent looked at her, then looked away. ‘Well, that dress ought to do it.’
He slowed as he saw the sign for Casa Del Leone, the Pinto retreat, approaching, but not before he noticed that fabulous mouth break into a broad grin.
Neither of them spoke as they drove into the property. The house, complete with massive marble columns, looked as if it had been picked up from Ancient Greece and deposited by Zeus himself. It looked completely out of place in the middle of the Australian outback.
Kent whistled as he pulled the vehicle into the Grecian portico. ‘It looks like a pimple on a pumpkin,’ Kent said as he reached for his seat belt.
‘Wait,’ Sadie said, putting her hand on his forearm.
Kent frowned at her. ‘What?’
Sadie looked at the imposing marble entryway and massive wrought-iron door, her heart suddenly pounding loud enough to shake the columns to their foundations. ‘Do not let me get sucked in by him, okay?’
Kent’s frown deepened as he looked at her hand on his arm. ‘Please tell me after everything you’ve just told me, you’re not still in love with him.’
Sadie shook her head. ‘No...I don’t think so.’ Kent’s impatient look spurred her to clarification. ‘He was a big part of my life for a long time. He was like...an addiction or something. And addicts are never really cured, are they?’ She chewed on her bottom lip. ‘I’m afraid I’m going to get a taste and...fall off the wagon.’
Kent’s gaze involuntarily followed the action of her teeth as they ate away her lip gloss. When he realised he was staring he dropped his gaze to her revenge attire. ‘I think you’re stronger than you think, Sadie Bliss.’
Sadie smiled at him, suddenly conscious of the warmth of him beneath her palm and the bunch of muscles in his forearm. She was surprised how good they felt. How the power of them did funny things to her insides.
He was so different from Leo. And not just in looks. Leo would never have calmly told her she was strong.
Leo had spent two years telling her she needed him.
‘Come on,’ he said briskly, because she was looking at him with those big doe eyes and the ridiculous urge to lean over and kiss her was growing stronger.
Neither of them needed that. Not now.
Not ever.
He undid his belt, her hand falling away. ‘Let’s do this thing.’
Leonard’s PA greeted them at the door. ‘Mr Pinto is in his studio and is not to be disturbed for another two hours. I’ll show you to your rooms and then take you on a tour,’ he said.
They spent the next two hours touring around the palatial house and grounds. Kent dutifully took photographs and Sadie asked all the standard questions. It was late afternoon when they were invited to freshen up and join Mr Pinto for pre-dinner drinks at six in the saloon.
Kent felt as if he’d just walked into the set of an Agatha Christie movie but he did as he was told, having a shower and getting changed into clean jeans and a casual skivvy. He took his camera with him as he headed for the Gone With The Wind staircase.
Sadie, who was still in her killer dress, met him at the top and they descended together. ‘I feel like I should be calling you Scarlett,’ he murmured.
Sadie laughed. ‘Why, Rhett, I do declare...’
Kevin fixed them both a drink and they all made polite conversation whilst they waited for the guest of honour. Leo turned up twenty-five minutes later.
‘Sadie!’ he exclaimed from the doorway.
Sadie, who had been chatting to Kevin, rose to her feet, her heart pounding again as the man she’d once loved walked briskly towards her.
‘Leo,’ she murmured as he swept her into a hug.
Sadie shut her eyes and waited for the