‘Do you remember our flight to Paris?’ he asked her suddenly.
She felt that dipping sensation in her stomach again. ‘No. Not really.’
He smiled, and she realised her reply didn’t fool him for a moment.
‘And I’m surprised you remember it,’ she continued swiftly. ‘I mean, one dalliance at thirty-five-thousand feet must be like another to you.’
One eyebrow rose at that. ‘You think?’
She shrugged and looked away from him.
He said something to her in Greek suddenly. Although his looks were Mediterranean, it always surprised her to hear him speak his native language, possibly because he spoke such perfect English.
‘What does that mean?’ she asked him, trying to ignore how the sound of his voice sent provocative shivers racing through her.
‘It means that I thought our time together that day was pretty spectacular.’ He laughed as she flushed a deep shade of beetroot. ‘And I’m glad now that I didn’t tell you the exact translation—otherwise you might set the cabin on fire.’
‘Stop it, Alexi!’ she muttered in embarrassment. ‘The past is forgotten, OK? It’s a taboo subject—a different planet.’
He shot her a mocking look as the aircraft-engines roared, and suddenly they were thundering down the runway. ‘Time for take off.’
He seemed to be taking a perverse pleasure in deliberately winding her up, she thought uncomfortably.
How was she going to get through this time alone with him?
She didn’t think she would ever be able to be at ease with him again. It was too…dangerous. He’d made her behave in a way that was totally out of character for her. Made her desire him…and need him. She didn’t want to remember that. But being around him made it almost impossible to forget.
The plane lifted off the ground, and for a moment there was a weightless sensation as they floated up through the clouds.
The lights of London disappeared, and a little while later the seatbelt sign was switched off.
‘Do you want a drink before we get down to things?’ He glanced over.
‘No thanks.’ Even the way he was wording things was sending her nervous system into orbit. Everything was going to be OK, she told herself steadily, as long as she kept her senses firmly in the land of reality and the present.
Alexi got to his feet to take out his briefcase from the overhead compartment. ‘So, you didn’t tell me—what part of France does your sister live in?’ he asked idly as he snapped it open and took papers out.
‘The southwest; a small village called Aviger.’
‘Is she married to a Frenchman?’
‘No, Lucy is single.’
Her sister was as bad at picking men as she was, Katie thought wryly. In fact they had both decided not long ago that it was the curse of the Connor family. Her mother’s bad choices in men were legendary, and they had suffered considerably in childhood as a consequence. They’d been dragged from one bad situation to the next. No wonder they were both wary of giving their hearts, and both fiercely independent.
Katie had always been determined not to be like her mother. When she had got involved with Carl she had done so believing him to be the steady, dependable type. It had been ages before she had invited him into her bed. She’d wanted to be sure about him.
But how could you be sure about anybody? It had turned out that he had just seen her as a challenge. Once he’d taken her to bed and the thrill of the chase had gone, he’d been ready to move on to the next conquest.
Life was one big learning curve, she thought now as she looked across at Alexi. And she didn’t want to learn anything more about heartache.
‘We need to get on with those timetables.’ She changed the subject swiftly away from the personal angle. She needed to take her lead from Alexi and be motivated solely by business. ‘And I’ve been thinking about what plans we could incorporate to make the strategy for increasing business greener.’
‘Have you, now?’
‘Yes, and I have a few ideas that I think we should explore.’
‘I’m remembering now why I wanted you for this job.’
Was he being facetious, or was he just thinking about work? It was hard to tell.
The colour in her skin heightened slightly, but she continued on, her voice brisk and determined. He watched as she picked up the papers she had left on the seat beside her. He noticed the way she bit down on her lower lip as she scanned through the pages.
He’d forgotten that she did that when she was trying to focus. Forgotten how businesslike she could sound, and yet how vulnerable she could look. How confident and grown up she could act and yet how lost she could seem.
There was something almost innocent about her. He remembered thinking that the first time he’d taken her to bed. Despite her glib words about being happy with a no-strings affair, he’d always suspected she’d spoken the words to mask a bruised heart.
She hadn’t been a virgin, but she’d been untutored in the art of love-making. She’d been almost tentatively afraid of giving herself to him, yet at the same time eager and willing for his kiss, his touch.
He’d found the combination explosive, had enjoyed drawing her out, teaching her how to please him.
Just thinking about it now made him want her all the more.
She looked up at him and he forced himself to concentrate on what she was saying. Work had to come first.
However, one thing was clear—he couldn’t wait too long before taking her to his bed again; his body was getting impatient. He felt edgy with need. And that was a situation he was very unused to.
CHAPTER FOUR
WHEN Katie opened her eyes and glanced out of the aircraft window she could see the lights of Manhattan shimmering against the darkness of the sky.
‘We’ll be touching down in twenty minutes,’ Alexi told her as he packed away the papers he’d been working on.
She must have fallen asleep, she realised with a start. How had she managed that when he’d been sitting opposite her working all night? She’d been determined not to give in to the overwhelming waves of tiredness—even when Alexi had told her to put her work away and make the seat into a bed she had resolutely refused. She hadn’t wanted to let her guard down around him for even one minute, had wanted to remain confident and poised. Now look at her! She self-consciously put a hand up to her hair, trying to smooth back the long, silky strands that had escaped to curl around her face. She felt a complete wreck.
Her eyes connected with Alexi’s across the narrow divide, and she felt the tension that had twisted between them all night flare instantly into life again.
‘Gosh, I didn’t mean to fall asleep,’ she murmured. ‘Did you finish the timetable?’
‘Yes, it’s all in order. You probably should have got your head down properly. I hope you can function at our meeting.’
The cool words irritated her. Typical that he should only be worried about the business that lay ahead and not about her welfare!
‘If you can function, then I’m damn sure I can,’ she murmured.
Her sparkly determination made him smile, and for a moment he allowed his eyes to slip over her. She’d been curled up like a kitten within stroking distance, and she had been driving him out of his mind—so much so that he’d had to ban himself from looking at her, because no work had been done whilst he’d been drinking her in like a mind-altering drug.
The