Why Resist a Rebel - By Leah Ashton Page 0,27

or pitying or anything like that. Which she appreciated. Her childhood at times had been difficult, but it could have been a lot worse.

‘You were looking for attention,’ he said, and now it was Ruby’s turn to be surprised.

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I figured that out, eventually.’

Although that really was too simplistic. It had been more than that.

She’d wanted to be wanted. To be needed. Even if it was painfully temporary.

‘Don’t look so surprised,’ he said. ‘I’m no expert in psychoanalysis or whatever—I can just relate. It’s why I started to act. My family is overflowing with academic over-achievers. But I hated school—hated sitting still. But acting...acting I could do. It was the one thing I was actually pretty good at.’

He’d grown up to be a lot more than a pretty good actor.

‘Your family must be really proud of you.’

The little pang of jealousy she felt, imagining Dev’s proud family, was unexpected. That was a very old dream—one based on stability, and comfort and permanence. She’d dreamt up castles in the sky, with her own prince and toothpaste-advertisement-perfect family. But she’d traded it in long ago: for a life that was dynamic, exciting and unencumbered. Free.

‘Not particularly,’ he said, his tone perfectly flat.

His words jolted her out of the little fairy tale she’d been imagining.

‘Your family isn’t proud of their world-famous son? I find that hard to believe.’

He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Maybe they are. I don’t have that much to do with them.’

She was going to ask more, but he suddenly pushed his chair back, scraping it on the wooden floorboards.

‘You ready to go?’

He didn’t bother waiting for her to reply; he’d already stood up.

‘I thought we’d agreed to leave separately?’ she asked. All in aid of not being photographed together.

Dev shoved a hand through his hair, then, without a word, walked out of the dining room.

Ruby didn’t have enough time to wonder if he’d just left, kind of balancing out being, well, nice, for the past few hours—when he returned.

‘The staff assure me there’s been no sign of paparazzi, so I reckon we can risk it.’

She nodded. Really, there was no reason to leave together at all. But still—they did.

As they left she was hyperaware of him walking closely behind her—down the stairs, then to a private exit that avoided the busy main restaurant. His proximity made her skin prickle, but in the nicest possible way.

It was probably the wine, but she felt a little fuzzy-headed as she shrugged on her coat, so she was careful not to look at him. All of a sudden the reasons why she’d refused the date felt just out of reach.

He held the door open for her, and he caught her gaze as she stepped outside.

Something of her thoughts must have been evident in her expression.

‘What are you thinking?’ he asked.

They’d taken a few steps down the near-deserted back street before she replied. ‘You confuse me,’ she said. ‘I had you pegged as an arrogant bastard, but tonight you’ve—almost—been nice.’

The warmth of his hand on her froze her mid-stride. He turned to face her, his fingers brushing down the outside of her arm, touching skin when the three-quarter sleeves ended. His fingers tangled with hers, tugging her a half-step forward.

She had to look up to meet his gaze. They were between streetlights, so his face was a combination of shadows, the darkest beneath his eyes.

‘No, Ruby,’ he said. Quiet but firm. ‘I think you had it right the other day, in my trailer.’

She racked her brain, trying to remember what she’d said—her forgetfulness a combination of being so red-hot angry at the time she’d barely known what she’d been saying, but more so just being so, so close to Dev. It was a miracle she could think at all.

‘I’m not a very nice person.’

Then he’d dropped her hand, and was somehow instantly three steps away.

Her instinct was to disagree, to reassure him with meaningless words. But she couldn’t, because he wasn’t talking about blackmailing her for a date, or being deliberately late to dinner—he wasn’t talking about her at all.

And because she didn’t understand, and because in that moment there was something in him she recognised, she didn’t say a word.

Instead she moved to his side, and together, silently, they started walking.

SIX

Dev wasn’t really thinking about where they were going. He just needed to walk.

But soon the rapidly increasing light and numbers of people that surrounded them heralded the direction he’d taken—and he looked up to the many, many steps that led to