‘Ash.’
His name has come out of my mouth of its own volition.
He freezes, still bent at the waist.
I force myself to step out from behind the cabin, my pulse sprinting.
‘Ash,’ I say again.
And then he slowly straightens up, still with his back to me. He’s like a statue carved from marble by an old master.
‘It’s me. Ellie.’
My heart keeps stuttering. I’m so on edge, so full of hope and longing. I’ve found him. He’s here. It’s Ash.
I watch as his chest visibly expands and contracts, listen as his lungs release a long, heavy breath, and just as I’m wondering if he might have lost his ability to hear, he turns around.
The man staring back at me is not the man I remember. His expression is hard, cold. There is not an ounce of love in his eyes, not a smidgeon of gentleness.
He’s regarding me with hatred.
‘What the fuck are you doing here?’ he asks.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
My heart trips, stumbles and falls off a cliff.
‘I … I …’
I actually can’t speak.
‘How did you find me?’ he growls.
‘With difficulty,’ I reply.
‘Because I’ve done my damnedest to ensure people don’t.’
His muscled torso is glistening with sweat and damp hair falls down across his forehead and cheekbones.
This Ash isferal. But still sexy as hell.
‘I’ve been determined.’
‘Why?’ For just a flicker of a second his mask slips, but then he puts it back on again. ‘You know what? Fuck it. I don’t care. You can go back the way you came.’
He stalks towards his cabin, goes inside and slams the door shut.
I don’t move an inch. I’m too stunned.
I’m also flushed to the point of needing fireproofing. I didn’t know I could be attracted to rude men.
But, of course, I’m only attracted to Ash.
Despite the not-so-warm welcome, I’m suddenly giddy that he’s here. Idefinitelysaw his hard exterior crack a little. He can give up on the idea of me leaving; I’m going nowhere.
Did he sound different? I don’t think his accent was as broadly Welsh, but nor was it posh English – it was some sort of amalgamation of the two. Ash 3.0.
My insides are buzzing as I turn around to study his cabin. It’s small and single-storey with a pitched roof and clad with wood painted black. On the left are four large picture windows that have been fitted so closely together that they read as one big window, and on the right is a matt-black door.
