Two days later Sasha was standing at her fridge stacking groceries when she heard the agonisingly familiar sound of helicopter rotorblades. The aircraft flew directly over her small cottage before landing in a field half a mile away.
Even though she forced herself to finish her task, every sense was attuned to the knock that came less than five minutes later.
Heart hammering, she opened her door to find Marco standing there, tall, dark and windswept.
‘You know you’ll have my neighbours dining out on your spectacular entrance for years, don’t you? What the hell are you doing here anyway? I recall you wanting nothing to do with me.’
Hazel eyes locked on hers, the look in them almost imploring. ‘Invite me in, Sasha.’
‘I don’t invite heartless bloodsuckers into my home. You can stay right where you are. Better yet, jump back into your vampire-mobile and leave.’
‘I’m not leaving until you hear what I have to say. I don’t care what your neighbours think, but I get the feeling you do. There’s a blue-haired one staring at us right now.’ Brazen, he waved at Mrs Miller, who shamelessly waved back and kept right on staring at them.
Firming her lips, Sasha stepped back and waved him in. ‘You think you’re very clever, don’t you?’
Expecting a quick comeback, she turned from shutting the door to find him staring at her, a tormented grimace on his face.
‘No, I don’t think I’m clever at all. In fact, right now, I’m the stupidest person I know.’
Her mouth dropped open.
His grimace deepened. ‘Yes, I know. Shocker.’
‘Marco …’ She stopped and finally did what she’d been dying to do since he knocked on her door. She let her eyes devour him. Let her heart delight in the sheer magnificent sight of him. He went straight to her head. Made her sway where she stood.
He stared right back at her, a plethora of emotions she was too afraid to name passing over his face. He opened his mouth a couple of times but, seemingly losing his nerve to speak, cast his gaze around her small living room, over the pictures and racing knick-knacks she and her father had accumulated over the years.
Finally he dug into his jacket pocket. ‘This is for you.’
Sasha took the papers. ‘What are these?’
‘Signed affidavits from two former drivers who swear your father wasn’t involved in the fraud. He was the fall guy.’
Hands shaking, she read through the documents. ‘How …? Why …?’ Tears clogged her throat, making the words difficult to utter. Finally she could clear her father’s name.
‘The how doesn’t matter. The why is because you deserve to know.’
She didn’t realise she was crying until the first teardrop landed on her hand. Sucking in a sustaining breath, she swiped at her cheeks. ‘I … I really don’t know what to say. After what happened …’ She glanced down at the papers again and swallowed. ‘Thank you, Marco,’ she said huskily.
‘De nada,’ he replied hoarsely.
‘You didn’t have to deliver it in person, though.’
His watchful look intensified. ‘I didn’t. But I needed the excuse to see you.’
‘Why?’ she whispered, too afraid to hope.
He swallowed. ‘Rafael woke up—really woke up yesterday.’
Her heart lurched. ‘Is he okay?’
Marco nodded. ‘I went to see him this morning. He told me what happened in Budapest.’
Sasha sighed. ‘I know it was stupid, but I lost it when I found out what Rafael was doing.’
‘You mean deliberately using your friendship to make Raven jealous?’
She nodded. ‘I think she was smitten with Rafael when she first joined the team. That changed when she found out he’d dated most of the women in the paddock. She refused to have anything to do with him after that.’