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‘But the people of the island still think of you as their don.’
‘Yes, they do. There are some traditions that can never be eradicated just because you think they should be. And I want to help. I want to do everything I can to help them. And now I realise how lucky I am to have that chance. It’s not just a lifelong responsibility as I thought when I was a boy—it’s a privilege.’
‘You love them,’ she suggested.
‘I love them,’ Roman admitted gruffly. ‘And when did you become so perceptive, Signorina Skavanga?’
‘Around the time I stopped looking inwards and started looking out?’
‘Quite a recent occurrence, then?’ Roman suggested, not even bothering to hide his smile.
‘Quite recent,’ she admitted, reaching for him.
* * *
Roman would come to Skavanga to see Eva’s concerns for himself and then they would discuss how best to utilise her time in order to progress all the exciting plans she had in mind, both for the mining museum and for the protected ecological park. Her heart was flying on autopilot with no immediate plans to land as she packed her backpack in Rome prior to flying home with him. This was more than she had dreamed of. Working directly for Roman had been the last outcome she had anticipated when she arrived on his island, but then she hadn’t planned on falling in love with him either. Snapping the padlock on her backpack, she checked around the lovely rooms in his Roman apartment one last time.
He was speaking on his mobile phone when she came down to the hall. Her footsteps were silent in trainers. He couldn’t know she was there. She planned to surprise him with a kiss. She hadn’t planned on eavesdropping, but sound travelled in the lofty hall.
‘The drilling is completed?’ Roman confirmed. ‘And the land around the drilling site has been made good? Yes. I’m leaving now and bringing Eva with me. The timing couldn’t be better—’
She hunkered down on the marble step, wishing she had stayed a few seconds longer in her room. Her mother used to warn her that you never heard anything good of yourself if you listened in to other people’s conversations, but now she had to hear the rest.
‘Yes, I’m sure she’ll take the job,’ Roman continued. ‘So, yes, that’s another problem solved.’ He laughed. ‘My line of persuasion is none of your business—though I imagine it’s rather similar to your own.’
Who was Roman talking to? His tone was too familiar for him to be speaking to a member of staff.
‘Okay, Sharif. Leave it with me...’
He was talking to Britt’s husband, Sheikh Sharif, and from the tone of his voice she felt she had been under discussion long before she sat on the stairs. She shivered involuntarily, hugging herself as if a cold, arctic blast had just intruded on her happy and all too blissful ignorance. Roman was ready to leave with his bag at his feet, and a heavy jacket, suitable for polar conditions, slung over his shoulders. While she suddenly didn’t want to go anywhere, let alone face the truth.
‘Eva,’ he said with apparent delight when he spotted her. ‘What are you doing like a little girl lost, sitting on the stairs? Come down here and join me...’
As Roman held out his hands, she hesitated. She still had a really bad feeling. By his own admission Roman was incapable of love, and, with all that talk of timing and persuasion, she suspected that his keeping her at his side was just a ruse until it suited him to let her go.
‘Come on,’ he coaxed. ‘What’s wrong with you?’
Her world had just caved in. She had grown soft and trusting in his company, and maybe she should have known better. Until she knew the real reason for Roman prolonging her visit, she couldn’t bring herself to meekly smile and fold.
‘Don’t,’ she warned as he crossed the hall towards her.
‘What do you mean, don’t?’ Mounting the stairs two at a time, he took hold of her hands and lifted her up in front of him. ‘Why won’t you look at me? What’s happened? What’s wrong?’
She shrugged, finding it hard to express a feeling...a suspicion. ‘I heard you on the phone,’ she admitted finally, avoiding his gaze.
‘And what exactly do you think you overheard?’
‘That all this delay has all been part of your plan.’
‘What delay? And what plan?’ he said, frowning.
‘Your plan to keep me with you until the drilling is finished and the land is made good.’
‘So?’ He gave a shrug and shook his head. ‘What’s so wrong with that? Was I supposed to suspend all the work we’re doing at the mine until you returned?’
