Page 35 of Covert

Or maybe he could stop pretending like he needed her to accept this job and admit he wanted to keep her around because he’d developed feelings.

Dylan was no fool. He knew there would be other personal assistants as competent as Sam. So hiding his real feelings behind a job offer was a dumbass move.

He had to come clean and ask if she wanted to stay beyond the three months so they could explore their developing feelings.

Correction.Hisdeveloping feelings.

He grimaced, wondering when he’d become such a sap. He’d managed to stay single and emotionally tangle-free for the last few years, just the way he liked it.

Yet here he was, already pining for a pint-sized blonde dynamo that would probably walk out of his life in a week without a backward glance, taking her damn secrets with her.

He needed to confront her and demand the truth.

But he hated prying in other people’s business, as much as he hated people delving into his.

How could he expect something of her that he wouldn’t willingly give?

“Wuss,” he muttered under his breath, slamming the back door as he headed for the stables.

A fast and furious ride would get the adrenaline flowing, and get rid of this emotional lethargy sapping him of every ounce of common sense he possessed.

He was sick of playing these games.

If Sam wanted anything more from him other than a pay cheque before the end of next week, she would have to show him.

25

Sam dug her heels into the mare’s sides, urging the horse to follow the distant streak across the horizon in any pace faster than a slow trot.

She’d ridden Speedy last time, soon recognising the plodding mare had been named in the typical Australian way of labelling opposite characteristics: Bluey for redheads, Shorty for anyone over six feet tall, and Mouse for the powerful stallion Dylan now rode like a man possessed.

True to form, Speedy could barely raise a canter as she followed her stable-mate, and Sam resigned herself to eventually catching up with Dylan and his mount—sometime tomorrow.

She’d seen Dylan tear out of the stable, riding his horse like a madman with a million demons on his tail. She’d wanted to take a ride this afternoon in the hope it might clear her head and it seemed Dylan had the same idea. Though she’d hardly call his hair-raising gallop a leisurely ride.

So she followed him, not wanting to lose her way on the vast plains of Budgeree and hoping she’d know what to say when she caught up with him.

Though the tears she shed earlier had been cathartic, she still had no idea how she could bear to leave Dylan next week.She had an inkling he might ask her to stay on as his personal assistant, but what would that achieve apart from prolonging the agony?

Besides, her parents wouldn’t wait much longer to meet her ‘betrothed’ and she didn’t want her elaborate lie falling down around her ears, with Dylan witnessing it. She’d had enough close calls and couldn’t believe her luck had held out this long.

Which only left her with one option. Leave next week as planned and return to her family in the hope they would accept the undeniable proof she could make it on her own without the support of any man as her husband and chief protector.

And hopefully, Dylan would be none the wiser of his involvement in her plan or that she’d lost her heart to him.

As if on cue, his vision rose before her, man and stallion standing still on a ridge, silhouetted against the vibrant ochre setting sun. Sam swallowed the lump of emotion in her throat, wishing she could imprint this moment on her mind forever, a cherished memory she could resurrect at will during the lonely months ahead.

As if sensing her presence, Dylan turned and guided Mouse down the hill toward her. She waited, overcome by a powerful desire that this could be a life she could get used to; riding out to meet the man of her dreams at the end of a day and accompanying him home, to their home, where they could stay wrapped in each other’s arms all night and face whatever the next day would bring, together.

Sam resisted the urge to shake her head and dislodge the ludicrous fantasy. There would be no shared life at Budgeree, no welcoming homecomings, no man of her dreams.

Instead, she would be left with nothing… apart from the chance to make the most of every second she had left with the man she loved.

Once the idea insinuated its way into her head, she couldn’t ignore it. What harm could it do, to make the most of their remaining time together? Treasured memories would be the only thing left to sustain her in the months ahead, when the full force of what she’d lost would hit her.

Squaring her shoulders as he stopped beside her, she smiled. “I thought you might get lost out here on your own.”

His perpetual frown softened as he reached toward her and ran an index finger lightly down her cheek. “You have a smudge of dirt right there.”

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