to scream.
She turned towards the aisle and moved with the flow of exiting patrons, aware, as if she was a disembodied spectator, that Nina took full advantage of the crowd situation to press as close to Carlo as decently possible.
They reached the auditorium foyer, and Aysha had to stand with a polite smile pinned to her face as the patrons were served coffee, offered cheese and biscuits or minuscule pieces of cake.
‘Why don’t we go on to a nightclub?’ Nina suggested. ‘It’s not late.’
And watch you attempt to dance and play kissy-face with Carlo? Aysha demanded silently. Not if I have anything to do with it!
‘Don’t let us stop you,’ Carlo declined smoothly as he curved an arm along the back of Aysha’s waist. Tense, definitely tense. He wanted to bend his head and place a placating kiss to the curve of her neck, then look deep into those smoky grey eyes and silently assure her she had nothing whatsoever to worry about.
A slight smile curved his lips. Nina saw it, and misinterpreted its source.
‘The music is incredible.’ She tucked her hand through his arm, and cajoled with the guile of a temptress. ‘You’ll enjoy it.’
‘No,’ he declined in a silky voice as he carefully disengaged her hand. ‘I won’t.’
Nina recognised defeat when she saw it, and she lifted her shoulders with an elegant shrug. ‘If you must miss out...’
His raised eyebrow signalled her departure, and she swept him a deep sultry glance. ‘Another time, maybe.’
Aysha drew a deep breath, then released it slowly. Of all the nerve! She lifted her cup and took a sip of ruinously strong coffee. It would probably keep her awake half the night, but right at this precise moment she didn’t give a damn.
‘Carlo, come stai?’
A business acquaintance, whose presence she welcomed with considerable enthusiasm. The man looked mildly stunned as she enquired about his wife, his children, their schooling and their achievements.
‘You overwhelmed him,’ Carlo declared with deceptive indolence, and she fixed him with a brilliant smile.
‘His arrival was timely,’ she assured him sweetly. ‘I was about to hit you.’
‘In public?’
She drew in a deep breath, and studied his features for several long seconds. ‘This is not a time for levity.’
‘Nina bothers you?’
Aysha forced herself to hold his gaze. ‘She never misses an opportunity to be wherever we happen to go.’
His eyes narrowed fractionally. ‘You think I don’t know that?’
‘Were you ever lovers?’ she demanded, and a faint chill feathered across the surface of her skin as she waited for his response.
‘No.’
The words tripped out before she could stop them. ‘You’re quite sure about that?’
Carlo was silent for several seconds, then he ventured silkily, ‘I’ve never been indiscriminate with the few women who’ve shared my bed. Believe me, Nina didn’t number among them.’ He took her cup and placed it together with his own on a nearby table. ‘Shall we leave?’
He was angry, but then so was she, and she swept him a glittering look from beneath mascaraed lashes. ‘Let’s do that.’
Their passage to the car wasn’t swift as they paused momentarily to chat to fellow patrons whom they knew or were acquainted with.
‘Your silence is ominous,’ Carlo remarked with droll humour as he eased the Mercedes into the flow of traffic.
‘I’m going with the saying... if you can’t find anything nice to say, it’s better to say nothing at all.’
‘I see.’
No, you don’t. You couldn’t possibly know how terrified I am of not being able to hold your interest. Petrified that one day you’ll find someone else, and I’ll be left a broken shell of my former self.
The drive from the city to Rose Bay was achieved in a relatively short space of time, and Carlo cleared security at his apartment underground car park, then manoeuvred the car into his allotted space.
Aysha released the door-clasp, slid to her feet, closed the door, and moved the few steps to her car.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I would have thought that was obvious. I’m going home.’
‘Your keys are in the apartment,’ Carlo said mildly.
Dammit, so they were. ‘In that case, I’ll go get them.’
She turned and stalked towards the bank of lifts, stabbed the call button, and barely contained her impatience as she waited for it to arrive.
‘Don’t you think you’re overreacting?’
There was something in his voice she failed to recognise, although some deep, inner sixth sense did and sent out a red alert. ‘Not really.’
The doors slid open and she stepped into the cubicle, jabbed the top panel button, and stood in icy silence as they were transported to the uppermost floor.
Carlo unlocked the apartment door, and she swept in ahead of him, located the keys where she’d put them on a table in the foyer, and collected them.
‘Your parents aren’t expecting you back tonight.’
It didn’t help that he was right. ‘So I’ll ring them.’
He noted the proud tilt of her chin, the firm set of her mouth. ‘Stay.’
Her eyes flared. ‘I’d prefer to go home.’ Nina’s vitriolic words had provided too vivid an image to easily dispel.
‘I’ll drive you.’
The inflexibility evident in his voice sent chills scudding down the length of her spine. ‘The hell you will.’
His features hardened, and a muscle tensed at the side of his jaw. ‘Try to walk out of this apartment, and see how far you get.’
Aysha allowed her gaze to travel the length of his body, and back again. He had the height, the sheer strength to overcome any evasive tactics she might employ.
‘Brute force, Carlo? Isn’t that a little drastic?’
‘Not when your well-being and safety are at stake.’
Her chin tilted in a gesture of defiance. ‘Somehow that doesn’t quite add up, does it?’ She held up her hand as he began to speak. ‘Don’t.’ Her eyes held a brilliant sheen that was a mixture of anger, pride, and pain. ‘At least let there be honesty between us.’
‘I have never been dishonest with you.’
She felt sick inside, a dreadful gnawing emptiness that ripped away any illusions she might have had that affection and caring on his part were enough.
Without a further word she turned and walked towards the front door, released the locking mechanism, then took the few steps necessary to reach the bank of lifts.
Please, please let there be one waiting, she silently begged as she depressed the call button.
The following twenty seconds were among the longest in her life, and she gave an audible sigh of relief when the heavy stainless steel doors slid open.
Aysha stepped inside and turned to jab the appropriate floor panel, only to gasp with outraged indignation as Carlo stepped into the cubicle.
‘Get out’
Dark eyes lanced hers, mercilessly hard and resolute. ‘I can drive you, or follow behind in my car.’ The ruthlessness intensified. ‘Choose.’