So why was it that she didn’t feel remotely hemmed-in when Mal was around?
He was the one who had insisted on this sham marriage, on her moving into his apartment, on them forging some kind of relationship, if only for the sake of their unborn baby.
But you didn’t have to agree, pointed out a calm, rational voice which sounded altogether too much like her best friend, Anouk.
Shoving it aside, Saskia threw open the door to the gym and marched boldly inside.
She stopped.
Swallowed.
Tried not to stare.
Knowing Malachi was in here
all hours, running, swimming, keeping out of her way, had been one thing. The sight of him now, training with a Mu ren Zhuang—all graceful power, his body in complete control of each perfectly landed strike, his bare chest glistening with a sheen of sweat—was enough to steal the breath from her lungs.
He didn’t appear to have spotted her, and she knew she should probably alert him to her presence, but all she could do was stand and watch. Mesmerised.
Time passed, but Saskia wasn’t even aware of it. Only of the rhythmic, elegant pace of his movements. The hypnotic nature of his training.
And then he placed a plastic water bottle on the top of the training post, kicked the post with one leg to catapult the bottle into the air, then spun around and kicked it with the other foot.
It came thundering through the air towards her, and before she could stop herself Saskia let out a surprised squeak and launched herself sideways.
Malachi was across the room in an instant. ‘What are you doing in here?’
‘Looking for you,’ she retorted, tilting her chin up in defiance at his vaguely accusatory tone. ‘You’re back, then.’
‘Evidence would support that observation,’ he returned.
Any other woman might have balked at the dangerous edge to his voice. Saskia decided that she didn’t care. Or, at least, what did she have to lose?
‘I wouldn’t have been surprised if you’d left me here. In the capable hands of Imelda, of course.’
For a moment she thought he wasn’t going to answer. So she wasn’t prepared when that dark, impenetrable expression eased and he nodded at her.
‘Perhaps I was going to. But I thought better of it.’
For a split second she faltered, but then caught herself. If she didn’t take advantage of this moment she would be a fool. Because he could shut her out at any moment and then where would she be?
Her heart thundered.
‘Why?’ she asked.
‘You once asked me to tell you something about myself. Something that wasn’t carefully crafted by MIG International’s PR machine.’
The roaring in her ears, which had started slowly the moment she’d walked into the gym, became almost deafening. He couldn’t be opening up to her—that would be too much to hope for.
‘You refused,’ she managed instead.
‘So now I’m telling you.’
He shrugged, but the dismissive gesture didn’t fool her for a moment.
‘My parents had a similar sort of ridiculous grand love affair to what your parents had. Passion and drama with a sprinkling of volatility, just like your parents—though it ended rather differently. The first few years of my life were fine. Better than fine. We didn’t have much money, but we were a family.’
Her heart was already twisting painfully, folding in on itself even before he’d finished.