‘So your agreeing to treat me had nothing to do with money, publicity, sex or bragging rights?’
‘Correct,’ she said with a huff of disbelief. ‘Wow,’ she added. ‘You really do have a high opinion of yourself. You’re not my only celebrity client. And if I wanted sex it wouldn’t be here, and it wouldn’t be with you.’
‘You sure about that?’
‘Let’s get one thing straight. My focus remains returning you to full fitness. I don’t accept if, only when you are cured. You may not like my regime. You may not like me, but that’s irrelevant because if you do as I suggest you will be cured, if a cure is at all possible.’
Jess was all heat and anger as she stared into his eyes, but then, as if she’d been clinging to the edge of a cliff with her fingertips, she exhaled and closed her eyes. The result should be inevitable. It might have been, had he been a different man.
CHAPTER NINE
HAD SHE REALLY been that close to falling under the notorious Acosta spell? Her body confirmed the lapse by softening and yearning.
Dante made it easy to snap out of the slip when he murmured, ‘You think I want to kiss you now?’
‘I’m just hoping and praying that you see sense.’ They had to work together, and it was crucial for Dante’s injury that there were no more interruptions in his treatment.
His harsh laugh suggested there was no warmth inside him, but they had both suffered loss and unimaginable grief, and that could so often lead to closing down feelings. She wasn’t exactly a dab hand at showing emotion herself. Since her mother’s death it had been a relief to lose herself in work, where caring for the individual was paramount, and personal feelings had no place. Dante was challenging her isolation, making Jess want things she had never believed possible, like learning to love and daring to show it, and having the courage to lay her heart on the line.
Maybe they could help each other.
In another universe, she concluded. One where she wasn’t a medical professional treating a patient, and Dante actually wanted to lower the barricade he’d built around his heart.
She jerked to attention when he spoke. ‘Tired?’ she queried. ‘I guess I’m running on fumes too. Could I join you in town tomorrow, though, after our morning session?’
‘So you do need something from me,’ he remarked dryly.
‘Yes, I could do with some advice on what to buy Maria for her wedding. She’s invited me. I don’t have anything to wear, or a gift to give the bride.’
‘You don’t have to give her anything. You weren’t to know about this. You’ve just arrived from England. I’m sure Maria doesn’t expect a gift.’
‘That’s not the point. I wouldn’t dream of turning up without something nice after all her kindness to me. And I can’t go dressed like this...’ Jess ran a hand down her scrubs. ‘This is all I’ve got with me, apart from spare uniforms and gear for riding.’
Dante dismissed her concerns with a shrug. ‘Order what you like and I’ll pay for it. The gift too.’
‘That’s not how it works,’ she informed him bluntly. ‘I set my own budget. The gift for Maria must come from my pocket, not yours.’
Dante’s impatience showed itself again. ‘You wouldn’t be borrowing anything from me. Just think of it as a bonus on your charges.’
‘Your brothers and sister have already paid me.’ But not danger money, Jess thought as Dante speared her with an impatient stare. He was wealth-blind, and didn’t have a clue how patronising he sounded sometimes. ‘If it’s not convenient to take me into town, just say so. Maybe I can borrow a car or a bike?’
‘A bike?’ he queried. ‘Why not take a horse? You could tether it to the nearest lamppost while you shop.’
‘Is there a bus?’
‘No,’ he said flatly. ‘We’re deep in the countryside and the nearest town is around twenty miles away. Why the rush? Must you go tomorrow?’
‘It seems like a good opportunity. I’d like to start looking for a gift sooner rather than later, so if I don’t find anything tomorrow I can always try again.’
‘Nothing daunts you, does it?’ he remarked.
‘You’d better hope not,’ she countered.
‘I’ll take you into town. Get some sleep. We leave first thing.’
‘After your treatment,’ she reminded him.
‘At seven we leave.’
‘Deal,’ she said happily. It would be tight, but she’d make it work.
* * *
The next morning’s physio went without a hitch—when you were on the clock there was no time for banter. There would be chance for plenty of that on their journey into town, Jess anticipated as they set off, but she would confine herself to bland remarks and try not to look too hard at Dante.
The sparring didn’t take long to start.
‘You shop, and then I’ll take you to lunch,’ he stated.
‘There’s no need. I imagined you’d drop me—’
‘Over a cliff?’ he suggested.
‘In town, close to the shops,’ she said evenly, refusing to rise to the bait. ‘And don’t worry. I’ll make my own way back. A taxi or something.’
‘Am I driving too fast? Are you frightened?’
Not of his driving, though Dante’s skilful handling of the low-slung muscle car as it blazed a trail down the tarmac was surely at the limit of what was possible. ‘I’m not frightened of anything.’
‘Except yourself,’ Dante suggested as she remembered to release her fingers from the edge of the seat. ‘Don’t worry. I won’t hold you to my schedule.’
‘I’m not worried, but you really don’t have to buy lunch. I’m not dressed for somewhere fancy.’
‘Am I?’
She had vowed not to look at him, study him, drink him in, but Dante had just made that pledge impossible. Even in jeans and a form-fitting top, he could go anywhere and be treated royally. With a body made for sin and a face to launch a thousand fantasies, Dante’s piratical good looks would open any door.
‘Can I trust you not to get lost?’ he said when they arrived in town. ‘Or had I better show you around first?’
‘I’m sure I can manage,’ she said, holding up her phone. It was time to escape from temptation.
Unfolding his formidable frame with annoying ease from the confines of the vehicle, Dante swore, retrieved his cane and swore again. Then, with a jerk of his chin, he led the way. She maintained space between them, but the streets were crowded. There seemed to be some so
rt of festival going on.
‘It’s market day,’ Dante explained. ‘Anything goes. Any excuse for a party.’
Jess glanced down at herself self-consciously. She certainly wasn’t dressed for a fiesta. She’d had a quick shower and changed her clothes after Dante’s treatment session, but her hair remained tied back and she was still make-up-free. She yelped as he held her back as a motorbike with a youth on board roared past within inches of her toes. Dante’s touch was like an incendiary device to her senses.
‘Careful,’ he advised. ‘You must remember what it was like to be a teenager—wild, reckless, risk-taking?’ Her cheeks burned up as he added, ‘There’ll be a lot of them around today.’
‘They grow up,’ she said tensely.
‘Some of them very well,’ he agreed with a long, steady look. ‘What made you decide to be a physiotherapist?’
It was a relief to have a question to answer. ‘I promised my mother I’d finish my studies, whatever happened. I always had an interest in sports-related injuries, and equine sports in particular. When she died it made sense to have regular money coming in. My father went to pieces. I could help him.’
‘So you tore yourself in two, working in London and spending your spare time on the farm.’
‘I was lucky to land such a prestigious job,’ she argued. ‘I didn’t want to leave my father, but my friends in the village promised to keep an eye on him. We needed the money, and I’d promised my mother. We all do what we must.’
‘Your father’s very lucky.’
‘And so am I,’ Jess insisted. ‘My father was the first to encourage me to take the post. He reminded me of my mother’s wishes, saying they were as one in that, and he’d never forgive himself if I stayed in the village because of him.’
‘He struggled that much alone that you would have needed to?’
Jess hesitated, but then drew herself up tall. She was so lovely, Dante reflected, and so very proud. ‘He loved my mother very much. It was...hard. I guessed he was lonely, so I returned home permanently. If it hadn’t been for the help of the local village, I don’t know what we’d have done. While I was freelancing, one of our neighbours would make sure to keep him company, and somehow we made it work.’