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‘Sergei comes highly credentialed, with impeccable qualifications for the role.’
Thea wouldn’t look at him, her eyes darting instead to Sergei’s massive form. ‘Impeccable qualifications for a jailer. Were they your instructions?’
‘You said you’d become reliant on a bodyguard.’ Christo folded his arms. ‘Sergei’s brief is to keep you safe.’
‘I won’t feel safe with him.’ Her hand reflexively slid the small coin-sized pendant backwards and forwards along the chain round her neck. ‘I want—’
‘Alexis. I know.’
She was a clever woman—she had to see he’d caught her out. But Thea stood there, tall and defiant. He’d give her a chance to redeem herself, to tell the truth once and for all.
‘I’m wondering why you want him so badly. Is there anything I need to know?’
She licked her lips. ‘If you want someone to protect you, you have to trust them.’
‘Perhaps. Sadly, Alexis is unavailable.’
She seemed to relax a little. Her shoulders rose and fell with a long, deep breath. How would she take the rest of the news?
‘He’s on the run. Your father alleges that he stole fifty thousand euros.’
‘No!’
The colour drained from Thea’s face till she was as pale as moonlight. She slumped against the wall. Was she going to faint?
Christo jumped up from the desk at the same moment Sergei moved towards her. She held up her hand, halting them both. Sergei stood down but remained within arm’s reach. Thea’s trembling fingers moved to touch the pendant at her throat and she seemed to compose herself.
‘Alexis is no thief.’ Her voice scraped the words out.
A hot throb of anger burned in his chest. He looked at Sergei. ‘Excuse us.’
The bodyguard nodded acknowledgement and left the room.
Christo glared at Thea. ‘You said the same of yourself.’
Her denial was futile in the face of his evidence.
‘I think your professed skill at accumulating money is a myth, and that you stole it like I originally suspected. With the help of a complicit bodyguard.’
‘You can think what you want.’
She chewed at her lip, teeth biting so hard she might draw blood. Mercifully the colour had returned to her cheeks, though she still used the wall as support.
‘All you give me is lies,’ Christo growled. ‘One truth. That’s all I ask. Tell me one deep, abiding truth about yourself.’
Thea’s plump bottom lip quivered, then firmed. The hand fiddling with her necklace fell to her side, clenching in a tight fist. She pushed away from the wall, bringing her luscious body closer to his.
Every part of him stood on high alert. He didn’t care that Sergei waited outside the door. He didn’t care that Thea was a liar. He craved to slide his arm round her slender waist, to push her back against the wall and take her so hard the only word from her lips would be his name, screamed loud.
‘A truth, Christo?’
She tossed her head. The soft chocolate waves of her hair swirled round her shoulders. Her mouth curled into a bitter smile as she placed her hand on his chest where it seared like a brand.
‘I’m not very partial to ouzo.’
Then she stalked from the room with an exaggerated sway of her hips, slamming the door behind her.
* * *
