‘I’m sorry,’ she managed to grind out. ‘I realise we’ve made a bad start.’
‘You have,’ he agreed.
CHAPTER THREE
DID THIS MAN get some sort of kick out of humiliating her? Eva wondered as she stood tense and angry by the side of the count’s fabulous pool. She might have learned a lesson in where being reckless led, but she wasn’t about to back down. ‘If it hadn’t been for you accelerating work at the mine, I wouldn’t be here.’
‘Is that what you call recovering the situation, Ms Skavanga? I think you’d better follow me into the house. I’ll decide what to do with you when you’ve had a chance to shower and change into some fresh clothes.’
The last thing she had expected was that he would invite her into his home. ‘Thank you,’ she managed awkwardly.
‘Don’t thank me, Ms Skavanga. Just think of yourself as an inconvenience I don’t intend to suffer much longer. And when I march you out of here, you stay off my property for good. Is that understood?’
Anger flashed through her as the count turned away and started to walk towards the house. She had to stop herself saying something she’d regret. If her concerns for the drilling hadn’t been hanging over her— If the survival of the mine hadn’t been largely dependent on this man—
‘Do you understand?’ he called out.
‘Yes,’ she fired back, scowling.
‘And while you are a guest in my house there will be no door slamming—no temper tantrums of any kind. Do I make myself clear, Ms Skavanga?’
‘Perfectly.’ He was remembering that time at Britt’s wedding when her body had reacted just as violently to him as it was doing now, and because she was so shocked by her response to him she had slammed the door in his face. She’d felt feminine at Britt’s wedding for about five minutes, but the count had changed all that. Fairy-tale bridesmaid into dowdy country bumpkin in no time flat.
‘Please follow me into the house, Ms Skavanga.’
She could play it tough with the guys back home, because they knew her and she knew them, but the count didn’t have the slightest interest in her as a woman, or as a companion. She should be pleased. No. She should be relieved. But being rejected as unfit for purpose wasn’t great.
But if that was how it was going to be, she would keep everything on a business footing. Catching up with him at the door, she offered him her hand. ‘Eva Skavanga—’
He ignored the gesture.
Swallowing her pride, she tried again. ‘I didn’t expect for us to—’
‘Meet like this?’ he interrupted, hostility rippling off him in big, ugly waves. ‘Who would?’
Hostile was far too mild a word to describe the count. And, yes, she’d trespassed on his land, but was that a hanging offence? She’d taken a swim in his pool, but so what? What was the big deal? What was riding the count? What was his problem?
The count exuded power and menace and sex, in more or less equal quantities, and admittedly that was fascinating, but it was also intimidating and she had shivers running up and down her spine. But at least she had accomplished something, if only the fact that she had tracked him down.
‘Well, at least we’re standing face to face,’ she said as he opened the door to the palazzo.
‘Is that meant to be funny, Ms Skavanga?’
‘No. It’s merely a statement of fact.’
‘Well, here’s another fact. Your intrusion in my home is not welcome, and as soon as it can be arranged—’
She pre-empted him. ‘As soon as we’ve talked, I’ll go.’
‘Go where?’ he said, standing back to let her go through the doorway. ‘You really haven’t thought this through, have you? You rushed here to confront me, without any thought at all, because you’ll stop at nothing to get your own way at the mine.’
‘Do you blame me when you will never agree to see me? I had to come here. You might not care about Skavanga or the people who live there, but I do. All that’s at stake for you is your money.’
‘So pumping in my money to keep the town and mine alive, saving people’s jobs along the way, means nothing to you?’
‘You’ll just leave us with a desolate site when you’ve taken what you want.’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about, Ms Skavanga. Now are you coming inside or not?’
She couldn’t risk alienating him. Had she forgotten that?
He led the intruder across his spacious orangerie at a rate of knots. He didn’t welcome unexpected visitors to his sanctuary on the island, least of all trouble-making girls with an agenda.
‘I’m not a whinger or a troublemaker,’ she shouted after him. ‘I’m simply concerned about the speed of your drilling programme.’
He stopped dead. ‘Do you have an alternative suggestion, Ms Skavanga?’
She almost cannoned into him.
‘Maybe...’ Her cheeks flushed red when she realised how close she’d come to touching him. ‘I don’t have an engineering background like you,’ she admitted, surprising him with the speed of her recovery. He was also surprised she had done her research. ‘I don’t have as many academic qualifications, either,’ she added, ‘but I do have local knowledge.’
And a good degree, he remembered, wondering why she had never used it.
‘Let me reassure you, Ms Skavanga, that the finest minds have assembled to make this project a success.’
‘The finest minds, maybe,’ she agreed, growing heated. ‘But no one local is involved at a decision-making level, so you run the risk of applying the wrong criteria to your thinking.’
‘What about your sister, Britt?’
‘Britt is just a figurehead—a sop to keep the locals quiet.’
He drew back his head to stare at her. ‘How sad that you don’t know your own sister.’
‘I know enough,’ she blustered, but there was guilt in her eyes.
‘Your sister is an excellent businesswoman. Decisive and clear-thinking, Britt had led the family business in the absence of your parents and her brother, and now she runs the mine for the consortium—’
‘I know all that.’
And he knew Eva had lost the mother who might have softened her at a critical age. Reports said that she now liked to think of herself as a frontierswoman, happier under canvas than in a bed. Or, as others described her, the sister who was all balls and belligerence and a crack shot with a gun. Britt worked for the consortium on merit alone, while Eva had positioned herself against them. Eva didn’t want things to change, and had made it widely known that she believed the future of Skavanga lay in the type of tourism that would preserve and pay homage to her unique Arctic landscape, rather than mining, which could only scar the land. He believed the two could co-exist.
‘Your sister Britt is a lot more valuable to the future of this project than you seem to think. Perhaps you should speak to her.’
Now she looked thoroughly miserable. He’d found her Achilles heel. Eva cared passionately about her family and the mine, more than she cared about herself.
* * *
She was reeling, both at the shock meeting with the count and him inviting her into his fabulous home. They had crossed the gracious glass-walled building opening onto the pool, and had entered a grand, light-filled entrance hall, complete with a sweeping marble staircase that housed a grand piano beneath its curve.
The fabulous setting and the fact that she was wearing a towel had really thrown her. This wasn’t her debating outfit of choice, and she felt even worse about the fall out with Britt since the count had made a point of talking about her sister. She knew what Britt had achieved at the mine and couldn’t have admired her sister more. Why did everything always come out wrong? Why couldn’t she control her tongue for once? For the sake of the mine, she had to try to make amends. ‘All
I’m asking for is the chance to talk to you, and then I’ll go.’
A flash of humour lit his eyes. ‘Do I have your word on that?’
‘The sooner the better, as far as I’m concerned,’ she fired back, unsettled by his worldly, mocking stare.
‘And what am I supposed to do with you until then?’
‘Listen to me?’ she suggested, lashing out again before she could stop herself.
‘I set the terms, Ms Skavanga. I speak. You listen.’
As the count’s lazy gaze washed over her, every part of her warmed. However much she resented him and his autocratic ways, her body remained incredibly impressed.
‘And now, as much as I have enjoyed talking to you, I have a wedding to get back to. So if you will excuse me, Ms Skavanga?’ He moved towards the stairs.
‘Don’t worry. I’ll still be here when you get back.’
‘Oh? Will you?’
She watched in fascination as he ran strong, tanned fingers through his thick black hair. The count was fiercely masculine. He had just enough polish to keep him this side of barbarian, but it was a close run thing. All the designer clothes in the world couldn’t hide his warrior frame. He’d been born to fight, and it was hard to imagine him in some cosy aristocratic setting—
‘Done staring at me, Ms Skavanga?’
She gave a start. She hadn’t realised she was examining him quite so intently. And that smile was back on his mocking lips. Her throat dried. She was used to straightforward emotions: black and white. She was not accustomed to this level of sophisticated banter. ‘Please don’t let me keep you. I’m quite happy to stay here—’
‘In the hall?’ He gazed around with a sardonic expression curving his firm, sexy mouth. ‘I’m sure you are. But if you think for one minute that I’m happy to leave you unattended in my home? I don’t think so, Ms Skavanga. You’re coming with me.’
‘What?’ Shock raced through her body at the thought of an evening with the count.
‘You’re the last person I’d leave alone in my house. Your reputation precedes you, Ms Skavanga. How do I know you won’t change the locks while I’m away?’
Mock all you like, but I’m here and I’m not going anywhere. But...if she did go with him, someone might be able to give her a room for the night. ‘Fine,’ she agreed. ‘I’ll come down with you when you leave and wait for you in the village.’
‘My same concerns apply,’ he said. ‘I won’t risk you upsetting people. You’re here and I’m responsible for you, which means I’m not letting you loose on any unsuspecting villagers. You’re going to stay close by me where I can keep an eye on you. You’re coming with me to the wedding.’
‘A wedding?’ She laughed. ‘Impossible. I don’t have anything remotely suitable to wear.’
‘Then you will have to improvise. I’m not leaving you here on your own, and that’s final. And I will be leaving the palazzo in half an hour. You need to be ready by then.’
‘But if I could find a bed for the night in the village, surely you would prefer that?’
‘I wish you joy of your search. Every bed is taken for the wedding, and, as I have no intention of letting you out of my sight, you have no alternative but to stay here for the night.’
‘With you?’
‘Well, I’m not going anywhere. Of course, you could return home?’ The count glanced at his watch. ‘If you hurry, you might catch the last ferry.’
‘Do you have any idea how hard it has been to track you down so I can express my concerns to you face to face? Do you seriously think I’m going to leave without doing that?’
The count gave her a look. ‘That is one option to consider.’
‘Not a chance.’
‘In that case,’ he murmured in a mocking tone, ‘my home is your home for the next twenty-four hours, Ms Skavanga. But don’t get any ideas.’ His voice hardened. ‘You leave when I say you leave. And the next item in your diary is a wedding party, and I am never late.’
She flinched at the count’s tone. She wasn’t used to being talked to like that. She drove situations in Skavanga. She did not take instruction. The count’s stare was steady and appraising, and not the least bit amused, when she was more accustomed to good-humoured tolerance of her laddish ways.
‘Roman Quisvada.’
‘I beg your pardon?’ She gazed up, bewildered for a moment as he spoke.
‘Introductions,’ he said. ‘As you’re coming to stay in my home, I think we should at least be civil to each other.’ He took her hand in a firm grip.
The handshake might have lasted no more than a few seconds, but the effect lasted a lot longer.
‘Call me Roman,’ he murmured, staring down at her.
As in emperor? Conqueror?
The count’s stare suggested either description was apt. One thing was sure, Roman Quisvada only accepted one rank, and that was Commander-in-Chief. Where he led others followed. When he spoke others listened. And much as a wolf wouldn’t trouble himself about the ants he trod on, she barely registered a blip on his radar.
Were those black eyes laughing at her again? Arrogant man!
Infuriatingly, her body didn’t seem to care. There didn’t seem to be an insult he could deal her that could stop her wilful body craving him. Or her eyes devouring him, Eva reluctantly conceded. ‘Well, I’m glad I’ve got your interest at last,’ she said coolly, checking her towel was securely fixed.
‘Oh, you’ve got my interest,’ he confirmed as he started to mount the stairs. ‘Though there may come a day when you wish you hadn’t.’
‘Are you threatening me?’ Her voice sounded much smaller than she had intended.
‘I’m just letting you know I’ll be watching you.’
Her pulse leapt at the thought, while her mind warned her frantically that this was not a good thing. ‘That’s fine by me,’ she said with a careless shrug. ‘You can waste your time watching me all you want. I don’t know what you think I’m going to do.’
‘Right now you’re going to take a shower and change your clothes, and then you’re going to meet me in the hall.’
She bridled at his orders. And wearing what? A tee bearing the name of an ancient rock band and a fresh pair of jeans? A wedding had been the very last thing on her mind when she left Skavanga, and it certainly wasn’t in her nature to insult the bride and groom by turning up wearing something like that. ‘I’d much rather wait on the sidelines for you.’
‘I’m sure you would. But that’s not how it’s going to be, Eva. We’re going down to the village together, and we’re going to attend the wedding together.’
‘Won’t people ask questions?’
‘And if they do?’
‘Wouldn’t it be easier for you to spare a few minutes to talk to me before you leave for the wedding?’ she suggested, trying hard not to register Roman’s intoxicating, warm and spicy scent.
‘Easy isn’t my way, Eva.’
‘Well, if a wedding’s more important to you—’
‘That’s enough,’ he rapped, shocking her into silence. ‘Shall we both examine our motives for being here, Miss Self-Righteous? I’m here on the island for my cousin’s wedding. What’s your excuse?’
CHAPTER FOUR
THIS MAN DIDN’T just bore out her eyes with his stare. He bore down on her. Physically. Until they were standing just inches apart. Eva tried not to flinch or step back. If she did she’d fall down the stairs. ‘You know why I’m here.’
‘Do I? Do I, really?’ Roman pressed, smiling in a way that chilled her.
‘You should do.’
‘Should I?’
His experience was so far in advance of hers, she didn’t stand a chance. He actually thought there was some other reason for her visit than concern for the mine.
; And wasn’t there?
‘Nothing to say?’ he murmured, the light in his eyes making her feel more awkward than ever.
There was a lot she could say, but nothing she was going to share with him. She wasn’t used to being pinned down and made to answer. She wasn’t used to a man staring into her eyes as if he could read her private thoughts. ‘My only reason for being here is Skavanga. I would have thought that was obvious.’
‘To you, perhaps,’ he said with that same disquieting look. ‘Shall we go upstairs, Eva?’
She moved past him into this very different world, and was almost home free when he put out an arm to stop her. ‘You have done your research on the mine, haven’t you, Eva?’
That compelling gaze was far too close and far too dangerous. ‘Of course I have. I grew up with it.’
‘Things change over time.’ Roman shifted position slightly, making a little more space between them, but also reminding her of how intensely charismatic he was. ‘Iron ore and minerals run out, Eva, and without the diamonds the mine is worthless.’
‘Britt said the traditional minerals are close to running out. She didn’t say they had run out.’
‘It’s only a matter of time.’
She shook her head—not just to disagree with this, but to break the disturbing eye contact. ‘They’ve been running out for as long as I can remember.’
‘And this time it’s true.’ Roman stepped in front of her so she had to look at him. ‘The mine has only survived this long because Britt has been holding it together as well as she has. She kept the truth from you and your sister so you didn’t have to worry. But that’s not a situation you and I can allow to continue, is it, Eva?’
Oh, he was good. ‘Britt doesn’t have much choice but to follow the party line now you and the consortium are in control.’
‘Your sister is in full agreement with everything we do. Perhaps you should have asked her about that before you left Skavanga.’
Instead of arguing with Britt as she had. Another wave of guilt washed over her and for once she bit back all the angry words on the tip of her tongue. ‘But, honestly, diamonds? Expensive trinkets? Is it really worth ruining the polar landscape for that?’
The Flaw in His Diamond Page 3