Why Resist a Rebel - By Leah Ashton Page 0,45

if he’d always been the one who’d wanted to stay the whole time, in fact.

He motioned towards the door. ‘Ready?’

Ruby just nodded in response, and then he followed her out into the hallway.

The party spread from the three-storey home’s expansive entertaining areas through concertinaed bi-fold doors to the garden. Tall stainless-steel patio heaters dotted the grass, and fairy lights wound their way through the ornamental hedges and carefully pruned gardenias. The thirty-metre high Ironbarks and Turpentines of the adjacent Sheldon Forest—imposing even at night—formed a towering backdrop to the evening.

It was—clearly—yet another fabulous party hosted by Ros Cooper.

For about the twentieth time in the two minutes since he’d walked out of the library, Dev changed his mind.

He’d been right. He should go.

‘Devlin!’

Dev bit back a groan, but turned to face that familiar voice.

‘Jared!’ he said, as forced and false as his eldest brother.

He blinked as his gaze took him in. How long had it been? Two years? Five?

Jared had softened just a little around the middle, and his temples sported new sprinklings of grey. But his expression—anger mixed with frustration mixed with judgmental dismissal—that was remarkably unchanged.

Actually, not remarkable at all. Jared, like his father, wasn’t known for his swift changes of opinion.

It took barely a minute for Jared to introduce himself to Ruby, to make some irrelevant, meaningless, small talk—and then get straight to the point.

‘Mum’s pleased you’re here.’

Dev nodded. ‘You’re not.’

‘No. You’ll just end up upsetting her.’ His brother casually took a long sip of his beer.

‘That’s not the aim.’

Jared shrugged. Over Dev’s shoulder he mouthed hello! at someone behind them. He was always so smooth—always so perfect. The perfect son—one of two both equally, differently perfect: at school, at sport, at socialising.

Then along came Dev. Not even close to perfect.

‘You shouldn’t have come,’ he said, as friendly as if they were discussing a footy match. ‘I wish you hadn’t.’ Now he bothered to catch his gaze. ‘But as you’re here, at least try not to ruin tonight for Mum, okay? It’s her first party since...’ Jared swallowed a few times, and the pain of his loss was clear even in the moonlight.

Dev reached out—but he didn’t know what to do. So he let his hand flop back uselessly to his side. Jared was oblivious, his stare becoming hard.

‘Just don’t let her down again.’ Jared pushed the words out between clenched teeth—and then wasted no time waiting for a response.

‘Lovely to meet you,’ he murmured to Ruby, and then Dev found his gaze following his brother’s suit-jacketed shoulders as he walked away, across the limestone paving and back inside the house.

A hand brushed his arm. ‘Dev?’

Ruby was looking up at him, questions in her eyes. ‘You okay?’

He nodded sharply. ‘Do you want a drink?’

She raised her eyebrows, but let him go. When he returned a few minutes later, she’d found a small bench nestled in the garden. A man he didn’t recognise sat beside her, and something he said made her laugh. A beautiful, genuine, honest, Ruby laugh.

‘She’s with me,’ he said, sounding about as caveman as he intended as he came to a stop before them.

The guy looked up and Dev could see the exact millisecond he realised who he was. And that was all it took—the man stood up without a word, and left.

Ruby looked at him disapprovingly as he sat. ‘That was rude—and inaccurate.’

He handed her her champagne. ‘It’s what they all expect of me. And, also, it was technically correct. You did come with me.’

She smiled, just a little. ‘That’s not what you meant.’

He shrugged. ‘I’ve got other things to worry about than some guy who doesn’t have the guts to stand his ground.’

She took a sip of her drink, looking out across the garden. ‘Yeah, I’m getting that feeling.’ Another sip. ‘Are you going to tell me about it?’

‘No.’

She shifted on the wooden bench, and recrossed her long legs so they were angled towards him. ‘Then why, exactly, did you bring me here tonight?’

‘I don’t think I know,’ he said, deciding she deserved honesty—even if he couldn’t provide answers.

I really don’t want to go on my own.

That particular moment of honesty in Ruby’s apartment had definitely been unplanned. Until that moment, even he hadn’t known it was true. He’d told himself that she’d make the night more fun, that she’d be—his favourite word when it came to her, it seemed—a distraction.

Looking at her now, at her eyes that were wide with concern for him, distraction didn’t really cut it.

Because Veronica could’ve organised him