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‘Was I?’ she said, thinking, You were watching me... and feeling quite extraordinarily exposed.
‘You don’t remember?’
He was looking at her with what felt like uncomfortable intensity. ‘Who remembers dreams?’ she said, turning her head to look out of the window, determined that whatever she saw, if her grandfather ate off gold plates and showered in champagne, she was not going to display unworldly awe. She’d show Zach she could pretend as well as anyone.
Her decision incinerated at her first glimpse of her new island home. Temporary home, reminded the voice of caution in her head.
It helped that their arrival coincided with the start of a breathtaking sunset, which, as they came in to land, had just tinged the water with feathers of red.
The landing strip seemed close to the candy-coloured village with terracotta roofs they had flown over, appearing to be cut into the rock of a peninsula that projected into the sea. She doubted her grandfather’s villa could be set anywhere more spectacular.
She glanced towards the backdrop of green mountains, looking for signs of a road that might lead to the villa.
‘Is it far?’ she asked, releasing her white-knuckled grip on the armrest and willing her stomach to stop churning as the helicopter set down and she released the breath held in her chest in a long sibilant sigh of relief.
He angled a questioning look at her face. ‘Far?’
‘To the house, villa, whatever—is it far from the village?’
An amused smile deepened the lines fanning out from his deep-set eyes. ‘There is no village.’
‘Town, then,’ she said, irritated by his pedantic response.
‘Not one of those, either.’
‘But...’ Her brows twitched into a frown. ‘I saw...’ Comprehension dawned and her eyes flew wide. ‘You’re telling me that was a house?’
The incredulous uplift of her voice on the word made his lips twitch.
‘But where are the people?’
‘There is a live-in staff, obviously.’
Still in shock, she watched as he turned to someone who had entered the helicopter; presumably the younger man had been waiting for their arrival. He tipped his head towards Kat and spoke at length in Greek with Zach, who responded in the same language, saying something that had the other man smiling and heading for the exit.
Zach turned his eyes, stilling on her averted face. She was struggling to loosen the clip on her safety restraint. A hank of hair had fallen across her face and he experienced the strangest impulse to push it back. Would the skin of her cheek be as smooth and soft as it appeared?
His hands clenched into fists as though they held the silky tendrils, before he brought the line of speculation to an abrupt halt. The fact that the questions had been there to begin with was a massive wake-up call. Just a warning; he was in control and in no danger of losing it now.
If the thought lacked conviction, he refused to acknowledge it. Admitting it would have meant acknowledging a chink in his armour.
Freeing herself after a tussle, Kat lifted her head and found he was looking at her with an intensity that made her stomach flip. For a moment the charge in the air, imaginary or real, was back, and it took her breath away before, heart thudding, she managed to lower her lashes in a self-protective shield. Had she imagined that moment? Had it been a creation of her over-heated imagination? Wishful thinking?
The sly whisper vanished like smoke but not before her spine had stiffened in utter rejection, that she would want to unleash anything in him let alone... A tiny little shudder showered through her body as she moistened her dry lips. It was ludicrous, more than ludicrous, she told herself firmly, laughable!
Only she wasn’t laughing.
‘Your grandfather bought the island in the sixties, I believe. At the time there was a church, a couple of houses, but the only occupants were the goats. A goatherd came over from the mainland once every couple of weeks to tend them. So no evictions. The goats are still here too, but don’t try hugging them. They are feral creatures, not tame, so approach with caution.’
Kat stared at his face. In profile, there was a strength to the angles and planes that touched her now that she’d told herself it was a purely aesthetic level of appreciation.
Yes, he was beautiful to look at, but he was also not tame.
Luckily, she had never been drawn to the untamed, or unpredictable.
There you go with the denial again, Kat, taunted the voice in her head. Afraid you’ve got more of your mother in you than you admit to?
‘All right.’ She set her shoulders. ‘So what now?’
‘Now I escort you to the villa and introduce you to your new home.’
Standing up, her head ducked, she followed him towards the open doors.
