Maid for Montero - By Kim Lawrence Page 0,52

taut jaw clenching as he stared with white-faced intensity at the road ahead.

‘There’s a layby up ahead. Pull over, Isandro,’ she said quietly.

‘Why?’

She had wondered why he had chosen the minor road, a slightly longer route, in preference to the shorter journey on the motorway. Now she was glad; at least this road was almost empty.

‘Because I don’t particularly want to end up a road-traffic-accident statistic.’ For a moment she thought he was going to ignore her, but to her intense relief at the last moment he swerved into the layby, sending up a shower of gravel.

He turned off the engine, and without a word got out of the car. Leaving the door wide open, he began to pace up and down on the grassy verge of the road.

Zoe didn’t follow him. Isandro was a man who needed space, so she let him walk while he fought the devils that drove him. He couldn’t not be elegant—the animal grace was an integral part of him, and even vibrating with anger he was riveting to watch.

This was a part of his personality he concealed behind a carefully contrived mask. This was the part of his personality that he liked to deny—the passion and fire—allowing it out only behind closed doors. She knew from experience that driving something underground didn’t make it go away; it just consumed you.

Ignoring the fact she had fallen in love with him had not lessened her feelings. It had just meant that when it surfaced…She shivered and wrapped her arms protectively around herself, hugging tight. She wouldn’t let it surface.

She stayed silent when he finally slid back into the car.

‘What do you think?’

‘About what, Isandro?’

‘I was twenty-one when my mother died, and already married.’

Zoe had lost her own father when she was a baby and she had no memory of him. Her mother’s death remained a strong and sad memory, even though at the end it had been a release.

‘My father was a wreck. Then two months after she died, out of the blue he rang and told me he’d met a wonderful woman who reminded him of my mother.’ His lips curled into a contemptuous smile. ‘Turned out the wonderful woman had a sweet daughter who he planned to adopt. And yes, the likeness to my mother was startling. It became obvious pretty quickly to everyone but him that she was a con artist. Friends, colleagues told him…’

‘You told him?’

Isandro nodded. ‘He told me I was jealous. When they finally did a flit, he was one step away from bankruptcy. He’d mortgaged my mother’s home, sold off her jewellery, and…’ His chest heaved as he struggled to contain his feelings.

‘And now he’s met someone else?’

‘Apparently.’

‘And he’s invited you to the wedding?’

She got another nod.

‘Do you really want to know what I think?’

‘I asked, didn’t I?’ The belated realisation sent a wave of shock through his body. One of the reasons Dana had cited for the breakdown of their marriage was the fact that, according to her, he never listened to her, or asked her opinion.

I need to be needed, Isandro, and you don’t need me—you don’t need anyone.

He had not disputed it, because it had been true…It still was.

Zoe arched a delicate brow and wondered about the odd expression on his face. ‘That doesn’t mean you won’t yell if I say something you don’t want to hear.’

He pushed his dark head back into the leather headrest and gave a half-smile as he looked at her from under the dark mesh of his preposterously long eyelashes.

‘Since when has that stopped you?’

Zoe was the only woman who ever challenged him. She didn’t go out of her way to say what he wanted to hear, and sometimes it seemed to him she took a perverse pleasure from winding him up.

‘I think you should go to the wedding and wish your father well.’

He clenched his jaw and swore under his breath.

Zoe didn’t let his response throw her. It was pretty much what she had anticipated. ‘Well, not going isn’t going to stop him. I know he screwed up once, but who doesn’t?’

‘He didn’t just screw up, he—’

‘He thought he was in love. That’s not a crime.’ Though Isandro’s expression suggested he thought it should be. ‘I’m sure he feels pretty stupid about what happened. Ashamed and embarrassed.’

‘I suppose so.’ Isandro rubbed his jaw. Had he ever really thought about how his father felt? Would a stronger man have shown more compassion?

He turned his brooding gaze on Zoe. Such uncomfortable thoughts