Why Resist a Rebel - By Leah Ashton Page 0,46

a distraction, a stunning accessory for his arm who wouldn’t have asked a single question.

But he hadn’t wanted that; he’d wanted Ruby. He’d used that stupid favour—something he’d dreamt up in some desperate attempt to gain control of a humiliating situation, a favour he’d never thought he’d use—to get her here.

He’d manipulated her—for the second time.

And once again, he just couldn’t feel bad about it.

He was glad she was here. Ruby. Not anyone else.

‘I heard that your father died,’ she said, very softly. ‘Someone mentioned it, on set.’ A pause. ‘I’m really sorry.’

‘We weren’t close,’ he said, dismissive. ‘The opposite, in fact.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she repeated.

‘I didn’t go to the funeral,’ he said, suddenly. Unexpectedly.

‘You couldn’t make it?’ she asked, and he liked that she’d jumped to that conclusion, as erroneous as it was.

‘He wouldn’t have wanted me there. You could say we didn’t agree on a lot of things.’

An understatement.

Dev waited for her to judge him on that decision. To tell him he’d made a mistake.

‘Is that why your brother is so angry with you?’

Dev managed a tight smile. ‘Brothers. And yes, that’s partly why. The rest has been a lifetime in the making.’

‘You’re the odd one out.’

A small, harsh laugh. ‘Yeah.’

‘Are you close to your mum?’

He nodded.

‘But you haven’t seen her much recently.’ He must have looked at her curiously. ‘She was shocked to see you tonight, I could tell. So I guessed you hadn’t popped by for dinner in a while.’

‘I haven’t been here in years. Ten years or more. When I saw Mum, it was somewhere else. A restaurant or something.’

‘Because of your dad?’

Another nod.

For a while they were both silent, and little snippets of unintelligible conversation drifted across the breeze to them.

‘That really sucks, you know,’ she said, finally. ‘That you have siblings, parents—and you’re estranged from them all.’

He knew what she meant. That she’d had none of that. No family to be estranged from.

‘Sometimes I think it would’ve been better if I didn’t have them.’

All he associated his family with were guilt and failure—his. And disappointment—theirs. Except for his mum—but then, she got the consolation prize of worrying about her youngest son all the time.

‘Now that,’ Ruby said, ‘was a very stupid thing to say.’

Her matter-of-fact words made him blink. ‘Pardon me?’

She didn’t back down—but then, she never did.

‘You heard me.’

She spoke without anger, and something—something about how sure she was of his apparent stupidity—made him smile.

‘I like you, Ruby Bell.’

‘You keep saying that.’

He stood up, holding out a hand for her. ‘I think I just figured out the reason I invited you.’

‘Invited? Is that what you call it?’

But she was smiling as she wrapped her fingers around his. They were just slightly cool, but where they touched his skin they triggered instant heat.

‘I reckon we go enjoy this party.’

Whatever Ruby might think, right now he didn’t need to talk.

But then, he didn’t want a mindless distraction either.

Quite simply, he wanted Ruby.

TEN

Later—much later—Ruby leant against the mirrored walls of the penthouse’s private elevator, and grinned at Dev.

‘That was fun,’ she said. She felt good, buzzing with a touch of champagne, her toes pleasantly sore from hours of dancing.

‘Yeah,’ he said, with a slightly bemused smile. ‘I know.’

The elevator doors slid open, and Ruby stepped out, her boot heels loud on the foyer’s marble floor. A lamp on a spindly-legged side table glowed softly, only partially lighting the room.

But two steps later, she stopped dead.

‘Where am I sleeping?’

Dev laughed behind her, and Ruby turned to look at him. He’d propped his shoulders against the wallpaper beside the shiny elevator door, and he looked at her with a sparkle to his eyes.

He pointed at the floor. ‘I booked you a suite on the floor below.’

‘What’s so funny?’ she asked. But the narrowing of her eyes was more a habit now. At some point he’d stopped being quite so irritating.

Come to think of it, for at least half the night—more if she disregarded the whole favour debacle—he’d been quite the opposite.

‘This is a private elevator. You’ll need to go all the way back to the lobby. When we arrived I didn’t think.’

‘Oh,’ she said, nodding.

Dev didn’t move. His jacket was thrown haphazardly over his arm, and part of his shirt had untucked itself. He should look like a mess. Instead he looked...rather appealing.

Dishevelled. Yes. That was the word for it.

Ruby blinked, and attempted to refocus. She needed to go to her room.

As she walked to the elevator Dev didn’t move. He just stayed where he was, looking at