Page 14 of Journey to You

She wanted to maintain a polite distance between them to ensure he didn’t get the wrong idea; that she had started to enjoy his flirting.

A long camel ride across the sand dunes of Jaiselmar had been perfect for her plan. Little opportunity for conversation, lots of concentration required to stay on the loping dromedaries.

But she hadn’t counted on arriving at this romantic haven in the middle of the desert for an early dinner, and hadn’t counted on the persistent attention of one determined guy.

Despite her monosyllabic responses, her deliberate long silences, and her focussed attention on the horizon, Ethan persisted.

For some reason, he seemed determined to charm her.

Why? They’d crossed paths occasionally over the last year and he’d been nothing but professional, almost aloof. Yet now, he’d gone from teasing to full-on flirting, and try as she might, she couldn’t maintain her freeze much longer. Under the scorching Indian sun, she had a serious thaw coming.

“Pretty spectacular, huh?”

With a weary sigh, she turned to face him, instantly wishing she hadn’t when that piercing blue eyed gaze fixed on her with purpose.

“Sure is.”

Her gaze drifted back to the beautiful tent city silhouetted against a setting sun, the sky an entrancing combination of indigo streaked with mauve and magenta where it dipped to the horizon and a sweep of golden sands as far as she could see.

A tingle rippled through her and she shivered despite the heat, captivated by the beauty of a land she felt more in sync with every day.

This was why she’d come to India; to reconnect with herself, and her past.

When she first booked this trip she’d envisioned shedding tears over her mum not being with her to share new experiences, releasing some of her residual anger against Richard, and discovering that missing part of herself tied to this mystical country.

Never in her wildest dreams had she anticipated feeling like this. Not that she could verbalise whatthiswas. But every time Ethan had glanced at her over the last few days, she’d felt overwhelmed, off-kilter,alive.

She liked his inherent ability to coax a smile, to make her laugh despite the unrelenting bitterness weaving a constricting net around her heart. He had a way of putting her at ease and she’d slowly but surely unwound.

But then she’d catch an off-guard glance, a loaded stare, and a little current of something arced between them like the faintest invisible thread; intangible, insubstantial, yet there all the same.

It terrified her.

This journey had been about self-discovery, and she’d discovered more about herself over the last few days than she’d anticipated, in the startling realisation she may be attracted to a man totally wrong for her.

“Let’s get something to eat,” he said, with a smile.

She forced herself to relax as Ethan helped her down from the camel by holding her hand and placing his other in the small of her back, a small gesture that meant nothing.

So why did the heat from his palm through her thin cotton sundress brand her, her skin prickling as she irrationally wished he’d linger.

She could blame this new awareness of Ethan as an attractive man on India, its wild, untamed edge bringing out the same in her. But she’d be lying, and if there was one thing she’d learned through her fiasco of a marriage it was to never lie to herself again.

As he held open a tent flap and gestured for her to enter, his inquiring gaze locked on hers and she swallowed when she glimpsed desire in his hypnotic eyes.

He knew she’d been trying to avoid him and he didn’t care.

So much passed between them in that one, loaded stare: challenge, intent, and heat, so much heat that sizzled and zapped and had her diving into the tent for a reprieve.

She’d been a fool. Playing it cool with Ethan hadn’t been the right way to deter him. A guy like him would now see her as achallenge and she’d be damned if she sat back and watched him try to charm his way into her good graces.

She wasn’t interested in anything remotely romantic and even if she was, he’d be the last guy she’d turn to.

“You can’t keep up the silent treatment forever.” The amusement in his voice only served to irk more.

“Watch me.”

She swivelled on her heel to walk away and he grasped her arm, leaving her no option but to face him, while trying to ignore the erratic leap of her pulse at his innocuous touch.

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