Why Resist a Rebel - By Leah Ashton Page 0,44

legs out long before him. He tilted his head backwards, resting it along the back of the sofa, and stared upwards, as if the delicate ceiling rose suddenly required his full attention.

‘We can go in a minute,’ he said, just before she was about to speak again.

The low words—quiet and so unexpected—had her swallowing the outburst she’d had ready.

All of a sudden the fight went out of her—and all she could remember was the reason she’d agreed to come here in the first place: I really don’t want to go on my own.

‘Go?’

He looked at her. ‘Yeah. There’s a restaurant I like, at Darling Harbour. I won’t have any trouble getting us in.’

Ruby had been standing near the door, but now she crossed the room, perching on the edge of the single chesterfield armchair directly across from Dev, her booted feet only inches from his distressed leather loafers.

‘Why would you want to leave your mother’s birthday party? I bet it’s a milestone, too, given all these people.’

‘Her sixtieth.’

Ruby nodded. ‘So why leave?’ she repeated.

He stood up abruptly, and shoved both hands into his pockets. ‘It was a dumb idea to come. I don’t know what I was thinking.’

‘How was it a dumb idea to come to your own mother’s birthday party?’

Dev’s gaze was trained on the fire, and he stood perfectly still.

‘It just was. Is.’

Now he looked at her, but in the uneven light she couldn’t read a thing. ‘I’m confused,’ she said.

He shook his head dismissively. ‘You don’t need to understand. Let’s go.’

His fingers wrapped around the door handle, but before he had a chance to twist it open Ruby was on her feet.

‘I don’t need to understand?’ she asked, far from politely, stepping closer so they were almost toe to toe. ‘You’re telling me I’m supposed to just accept that you whisked me across the state and deliberately concealed our exact destination—and ask no questions?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘That would be ideal.’

Dev rubbed his forehead, not looking at her. In the flickering shadows, the darkness beneath his eyes was suddenly even more pronounced.

Without thinking, Ruby reached out, running a finger whisper-soft along the top edge of his cheekbone.

At her touch, his hand dropped to his side, but otherwise he didn’t move a muscle.

‘Does tonight have something to do with this?’ she asked, her fingertips tracing across to the smudges of black beneath his eyes.

For long moments, their gazes met, his momentarily open and revealing above her exploratory touch.

That his unspoken answer was Yes, was obvious—but there was more. A lot more.

His eyes revealed a depth of emotion she’d only seen before in glimpses. But now, right this second, he’d set it all free—for her to see.

But what was she seeing? Sadness, she knew. She recognised.

And loss. Guilt?

But then it was all gone, gone as quickly as he gently but firmly took her wrist and pushed it away.

‘Let’s go,’ he said. Again, he reached for the door.

Ruby touched him again, covering his much larger hand partially with hers.

‘I think we should stay.’

He was staring at their hands. Ruby could feel the tension beneath her palm, the rigid shape of his knuckles.

‘Why?’

‘Because you want to stay.’

He looked up, his eyebrows raised. ‘And how, exactly, do you know that?’

She had no idea. But she did.

She shrugged, deciding it best to say nothing at all. She stepped away, lifting her hand away from his, conscious that she really had no idea what was going on here. That she was the last person in the world who should be advising anyone on their own family issues.

Dev was right, really—there was no reason she needed to understand any of this. Not why Dev brought her here, not why he wanted to leave—and certainly not why Dev’s beautiful mother would look at her son with such a mix of instantaneous joy and pain.

She shouldn’t want to understand. There was no point.

She was no one to him. A friend, he’d said, for the evening. That wasn’t even true, and yet still she’d felt a stupid, stupid kick to her guts when he’d said those words.

Work colleague was the accurate term. The only term to describe them.

She stepped away, suddenly terribly uncomfortable. As she knew all that, believed all that—and yet all she could think about was Dev, and those dark eyes, and that sorrow behind them.

‘I think we should stay.’

Ruby’s head jerked up at the deep, firmly spoken words. As she watched, Dev opened the door, holding it open for her.

He looked relaxed and utterly unbothered. As