‘Well, we’re here,’ Eva said, slightly anxiously, he thought as they reached the entrance to his home.
The customary duo of men with earpieces and suspicious bulges beneath their jackets was leaning back against the wall. He nodded to them. They nodded to him. He didn’t pause to speak. There was something he couldn’t wait to do, and he didn’t need an audience for that.
‘What are you doing?’ Eva gasped as he swung her round and backed her against the door as soon as he had let them both in. ‘Where’s the butler?’ she added nervously, gazing about.
He laughed. ‘Only you could worry about the butler at a time like this. If you want a drink, I’ll get it for you,’ he added huskily.
‘I don’t want a drink.’
She was a little breathless, a little flushed. She was perfect. ‘I think I prefer this new, bashful Eva—’
‘As opposed to the old grouch I used to be?’ she cut in, giving him one of her wry smiles. ‘Just because we’ve had a nice supper, doesn’t give you the right to insult me.’
‘But it does give me the right to kiss you.’
‘Says who?’ she said, frowning a warning at him.
‘Says me. And don’t worry,’ he added dryly. ‘You can be as uninhibited as you like. I gave the staff the night off.’
Arrogant, her narrowed eyes told him. ‘I’ve heard something like that before,’ she said.
‘And as I remember, you weren’t too displeased with the outcome.’
‘Ah,’ she murmured as he brushed her mouth with his.
‘Shall we go inside and continue this in greater comfort?’ he suggested.
‘Yes, why don’t we do?’
His senses roared. One moment she was the innocent, and the next Eva was like no other woman he had ever known. There was only one certainty and that was that he wanted her. And this time she wouldn’t say no. He deepened the kiss and she softened against him. He closed his arms around her and she pressed her body into his. His erection thrust against her. She moved a little, and then with more confidence, taking her pleasure from him. He cupped the back of her head and laced his fingers in her wild, silky hair. She groaned deep in her throat in response. He lifted her and carried her the rest of the way to his bedroom, and when she saw that his bed faced the lights of the city through the floor-to-ceiling windows, she gasped.
‘No history lessons now,’ he warned as he lay her carefully down on the bed.
‘I hope you’re going to join me?’ she said.
‘I’ve got nowhere else to go.’
Laughing, she reached out for him. ‘Am I ever going to knock that arrogance gene out of your system?’
‘I doubt it,’ he murmured, starting on her zip.
Kicking her shoes off, she pushed the jacket from his shoulders and unbuttoned his shirt. He shrugged it off, and by the time he’d slung it on a chair and turned around she’d taken off her dress. He moved back to the bed, and she reached for the buckle on his belt. Unfastening it, she freed it from the loops and then reached for the button above his zipper. They did that at the same moment and their fingers tangled. They laughed, and he left her to it. He stood in low-slung boxers staring down at the woman on his bed, wondering how he ever got so lucky.
‘Are we overdressed?’ she queried, putting a cheeky finger beneath her chin as she stared up at him.
‘You definitely are,’ he said, viewing her bra and pants.
‘And you’re not,’ she said, hooking her fingers into the waistband of his boxers. ‘Do you have something in that nightstand to rectify that situation?’
‘Might have.’
He sat on the edge of the bed, toying with her hair. He didn’t want to rush a moment of this. Tiny auburn curls framed her face and a fan of gold-red hair cascaded across his snow-white pillows. She looked like a promise and a dream all wrapped in one. And, hell no. He was not a born-again romantic. It was simply a fact.
* * *
She wanted him so much and this felt so right that all the fear had left her. Their previous disastrous encounter had faded into oblivion. She had changed and so had he. Roman had deepened. He had revealed more about himself, so she knew now that he was more than a warrior in business, or an irresistible sexual animal—he was a man like any other with all the same struggles and flaws, and that was what made him perfect.
She felt close to Roman in a way she had never felt close to anyone before. But she needed to be closer still. She longed to be one with him. This wasn’t a whim, or a need to prove she could overcome her fears or even a memory to lock away of one night with an incredible man. Her feelings went so much deeper than that. It was something she couldn’t put a name to, unless she called it love. And yes, she was taking an incredible risk with a man who had always laid his cards on the table. She was risking her heart and her pride and her future happiness, but none of that mattered. Nothing added up to this. Only Roman making love to her was important now. Nothing else came close.
Roman stretched out beside her and took her in his arms. He was leisurely and confident, as if they had been lovers for years. She felt so safe in his arms, and so turned on. Roman’s body was magnificent, but it was the man beneath the rugged frame who would keep her safe. This was like no feeling on earth. Every part of her was singing with arousal, and every part of her was primed and ready for whatever would come next...in her heart, in her body, in her soul. She was desperate for physical release, but every time she sighed and clung to him like a desperado, he smiled against her mouth and held her back. ‘You can’t keep me waiting for ever.’
‘But I can try,’ he argued.
‘This is one battle I won’t let you win.’ Reaching up, she laced her fingers through his hair. Feeling it spring against her palm, as strong and virile as he was, was the ultimate torture, and then he added to that torment by rasping his stubble across her neck.
‘You’re merciless,’ she gasped as sensation shimmered through her.
‘Lucky for you...’ Roman smiled wickedly against her mouth.
‘You’re right,’ she agreed, panting. ‘I deserve this.’
‘For however long it takes?’
‘Oh, I hope so.’
‘We could be here some time.’
‘I’m planning on it.’
Breath left her body in a rush as Roman swung her beneath him. He judged the weight of his body on hers, supporting most of it on his arms as he nuzzled her mouth, her lips, her eyes, her forehead, not forgetting the very sensitive lobes of her ears before moving on to her neck. And then he kissed her mouth, and she floated away on a sea of sensation...wanting more...always wanting more.
She gave a shaking cry as he lodged a thigh between hers.
‘Not yet. You have to wait, Eva.’
‘Why?’ Her voice was shaking with need.
‘You know why—’
‘Let me,’ she said, taking the packet from his hand. ‘Lie back.’
‘And think of England?’ he teased.
‘Stockholm, please... Though perhaps you’d do better thinking what a mess I’m going to make of this.’ She was only half joking.
‘You are not going to make a mess of anything, Eva. You operate complex machinery in Skavanga, don’t you? This should be well within your technical capabilities. I’m pretty sure my aide’s exhaustive report mentioned your expertise with power tools.’
‘Yes to all the above. But unfortunately, I don’t have too much experience with machines that can feel or are quite this complex.’
‘Damn. And there was me thinking you were going to say you weren’t used to dealing with machines of this complexity and size.’
They laughed and she forgot to be worried. Because she trusted him, Eva realised. And because she loved him. What could possibly go wrong?
Nothing went
wrong. Roman drew her beneath him and she was soon lost in sensation; he saw to that. When his hand found her she was more than ready and she didn’t even flinch when he brushed his erection against her, teasing her with the tip. He finally eased carefully inside her and when she was used to the new sensation, he almost brought her to the brink with shallow strokes. It was a happy shock to find she wanted more. Give and take, thrust and relax, rise and fall, arch and subside, rhythmically, eagerly... She was greedy to take more of him than she would have believed possible. Turned out she had quite a talent, Eva realised as Roman groaned with pleasure as she drew him in.
‘I’m supposed to be telling you to wait,’ he growled against her ear.
‘And now you’re having a problem? Think drill bits and diamonds and you’ll be fine.’
‘You think?’
She wasn’t doing too much thinking, as she was right on the edge herself, and could only give in gracefully as Roman pressed her knees back and upped the pace.
‘That’s so unfair,’ she said when speech was possible. ‘You didn’t even give me a warning.’
‘Did you need one?’
‘No,’ she decided, thinking about it. ‘I like to be surprised.’
‘Big surprises as often as possible?’ Roman guessed.
‘All the time.’
‘More?’
‘What do you think?’ She rose against him, welcoming him back.
They made love all night. Neither of them tired. Why would they be? She had waited a long time for this, and Roman was inexhaustible. They were well matched. Turned out she was a closet nymphomaniac, and Roman had the answer to her every need.
‘There’s one thing I don’t understand,’ he said as they lay with their limbs entwined during one of their brief resting periods.
‘Tell me,’ she managed groggily, easing comfortably against him. Roman was so big and she was so small, and yet every part of them fitted so perfectly together. How did that happen?
‘Why were you frightened of men?’
She lifted her head, suddenly wide awake. ‘I’m not afraid of men.’
‘Really?’ Roman murmured. ‘So why haven’t you had any affairs, Eva? You’re not exactly a troll.’
‘Well, thank you for that,’ she mocked. ‘And how do you know I haven’t had hundreds of affairs?’ But then she remembered Roman’s people in Skavanga and their famous reports.
‘I don’t believe you’ve ever allowed a man to kiss you as I kiss you, because that would put too much power in their hands.’
‘Now you’re being ridiculous.’
‘Am I?’
There were some things she never talked about, and she was in no mood to spoil the moment.
‘Relax, Eva. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to tell me.’
But the craziest thing of all was that she wanted to tell him everything, but the memories had been buried so long she couldn’t just flaunt them as if they meant nothing. She didn’t trust herself to go back to that dark place just yet without losing it—without losing him and losing all the gains she had made in confidence.
‘You can’t blame me for being curious about the woman who slammed the door on me at the wedding,’ Roman murmured against the top of her head. ‘Eva the firebrand. Eva the so-called undateable sister—according to my source,’ he quickly said. ‘And, yes, it gets worse,’ he warned, tongue in cheek.
‘Don’t tell me. Eva the shrew? Eva the pain-in-the-butt campaigner.’
‘There are quite a few choice epithets for me to choose from,’ Roman admitted. ‘And some of it I have experienced firsthand, of course.’
‘Lucky for you, I can hear your smile.’
‘But nothing I’ve heard fits the woman I just made love to. So who are you really, Eva Skavanga? Are you the beautiful woman who gave herself so completely to me just now? Or are you the frightened little girl sitting at the top of the stairs, listening to her parents arguing?’
‘How did you...?’ Roman’s sources, she realised. Their damned reports. He must have been investigating her from the moment she landed on the island.
‘I’m sorry, Eva.’ Feeling how tense she was suddenly, he hooked some wild strands of hair behind her ears. She turned away. ‘Look at me,’ he whispered. ‘It didn’t take too much working out. And I don’t mean to hurt you or pry.’
She relaxed as he drew her back into his arms. ‘Then don’t,’ she said.
‘I didn’t mean to stir ugly memories.’
But he had. Would she never be allowed to forget? They remained in silence for a long time. She knew Roman wanted her to tell him what had happened, and that he would listen when she did tell him, and without judging her.
‘So what about you?’ she said, avoiding the question she had successfully avoided for so long. ‘Have you never been in love, Roman?’
His sudden stillness gave her an answer, but not the answer she was looking for. He had withdrawn from her and that frightened her. It was like a hint of things to come. And now she was seriously overreacting, Eva thought, until he said, ‘I have never made any secret of the fact that love is not what I offer.’
The change in his tone chilled her. After all they’d shared was that all she was—a sexual partner and nothing more? Even friendship between them would be better than that, so much better, though she hated herself for wanting more, because it seemed so weak. ‘So you offer spectacular sex and a good deal of spoiling if that’s what a woman wants. Expensive gifts and lavish trips to exotic places.’ When all she wanted was the chance to love and be loved, and to find a safe haven for her children, should she be lucky enough to have children one day.
‘Eva?’ he prompted when she fell silent after this outburst.
It had taken a giant leap of faith to trust Roman Quisvada, having grown up associating men with pain and unhappiness. Having seen her father mistreat her mother had left a lasting legacy, and the way she dealt with it was by trying to drive men away. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ She turned her head away.
‘I’m sorry if I’ve been hard on you. You don’t deserve it, Eva. You’re not to blame for my bad handling of the past, or for my colourful history. In fact, you’re probably my salvation, Eva Skavanga.’
‘You’re apologising?’ she said, lifting her head. ‘You do know I’m the most awkward person I know. It’s me who should be apologizing.’ She waited. ‘You’re supposed to be reassuring me now,’ she pointed out.
Roman looked at her with amusement. ‘We’re quite a pair, you and I. You stop me looking back, and I keep you more or less calm. But you should trust me enough by now to tell me what’s riding you, Eva.’
‘I don’t need counselling.’ She turned her face away again.
‘But you do need to let the poison out. Your sisters don’t have a problem, so I have to ask myself, what happened to Eva that didn’t happen to them? What did you see that they didn’t? What did you experience?’
‘Stop it,’ she flashed. ‘You want to know about the scar. Why don’t you come right out and say it? I know you’ve felt it.’
‘I wasn’t going to make an issue out of it. It doesn’t matter to me, but it obviously matters to you. I’m guessing it must have happened when you were still at home and Britt had left for university and your sister Leila was out of the house—’
‘Oh, you’re very smart.’
‘You have to stop with the compliments. Truly, my head is big enough.’
‘You can joke about this?’
‘It’s better than hiding it away and allowing it to fester all these years. So?’ he pressed.
‘You’re still interrogating me?’
‘Yes, I am. And I won’t let up. Not now.’
She remained silent for a long time and then it all came pouring out. ‘My fat
her began to drink when the mine started failing. He’d come home and beat my mother,’ she said without any emotion in her voice. ‘You were right in guessing that Britt was away at university, and Leila always seemed to be at some friend or other’s after school. He chose his times carefully. I was a bit of a loner and used to stay at school late, reading in the library, but one day I came home early and caught him hitting my mother with his belt. She was on her hands and knees in front of him, cowering. I went for him. I didn’t stop to think, I just...went for him. He knocked me away and grabbed the first thing that came to hand. His hat was on the table—harmless enough—but in his fury at being interrupted, at being found out, I suppose, his hand landed on the coffee pot instead. Don’t look at me like that. He didn’t mean to throw the coffee at me. And I don’t want your pity, Roman. I don’t want anyone’s pity. I came out of it okay.’
‘Did you?’
‘My mother looked after me. We made a pact that I wouldn’t go to hospital, so long as my father never touched her again.’
‘And he kept his word?’
‘Yes, he did. That was the end of it. So it was all worth it in the end.’
Roman said nothing.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘PLEASE DON’T LOOK at me like that. I’ve already told you I don’t want your pity.’ Eva stared at him fiercely. ‘And while we’re on the subject of secrets and lies, what’s so wonderful about your life, Roman? I’m sure you have secrets.’
‘My life?’ His lips curved in thought as he took himself back to a life that had been built on one set of foundations, only to have those foundations kicked away when he was fourteen. The next twenty years had been spent creating his own set of principles based on anything other than loving, because he’d seen where that led. But now he felt free for the first time in his life—free from guilt, and free from bitterness, because he could see where the future could lead, and that was to a small town in the Arctic Circle and a mining company he would care for as he cared for all his industries. Skavanga Mining had given him a new goal and a new purpose, and, most importantly, it had brought him a girl called Eva.
The Flaw in His Diamond Page 12
