He liked the feeling of Britt resting on him and was in no hurry to move away. If she had been anyone else the next move would have been simple. He would have taken her back to Kareshi with him. But she was too much like him. There would be no diamond mine, no town, no Skavanga Mining, without Britt. Just as he belonged in Kareshi, she was tied here. But still he felt a stab of regret that he couldn’t have this exciting woman. ‘Are you okay?’ he murmured as she stirred.
She lifted her chin to look at him, and as she did this she drew herself up and drew her emotions in. As she pulled herself together he could almost see her forcing herself to get over whatever it was she had briefly felt for him.
‘There are two bathrooms,’ she informed him briskly. ‘You can use the one directly off the boardroom. I have my own en suite attached to my office. We will reconvene this meeting in fifteen minutes.’
A smile of incredulity and, yes, admiration curved his lips as he watched her go. She walked across the room with her head held high like a queen. It might have seemed ridiculous had anyone else tried it, but Britt Skavanga could pull it off.
He showered down quickly in the bathroom she had told him about, and was both surprised and pleased by the quality of the amenities until he remembered that Britt had a hand in everything here. There were high-quality towels on heated rails, as well as shampoo, along with all the bits and pieces that contributed to making a freshen-up session pleasurable. Britt hadn’t forgotten anything—at which point a bolt of very masculine suspicion punched him in the guts. Had she done this before? And if so, how many times?
And why should he care?
He returned to the boardroom to find Britt had arrived before him. She looked composed. She looked as if nothing had happened between them. She looked as she might have looked at the start of the meeting if she hadn’t been forced to change a tyre first. She also looked very alone to him, seated beneath the portraits of her forebears, and once again he got the strongest sense that duty ruled Britt every bit as much as it ruled him.
They both imagined they were privileged and, yes, each was powerful in their own way, but neither of them could choose what they wanted out of life, because the choices had already been made for them.
She hated herself, hated herself for what she had done. Losing control like that. She hadn’t even been able to meet her sex-sated reflection in the bathroom mirror. She had weakened with Emir in a way she must never weaken again. She put it down to a moment of madness before she closed her heart. But as her mind flashed back to what they’d done, and the remembered feeling of being close to him, for however short a time, she desperately wanted more—
She would just have to exercise more control—
‘Is something distracting you, Britt?’ Emir demanded, jolting her back to the present.
‘Should there be something?’ she said in a voice that held no hint that Emir was the only distraction.
‘No,’ he said without expression.
They deserved each other, she thought. But she was curious all the same. Did he really feel nothing? Didn’t his body throb with pleasurable awareness as hers did? Didn’t he want more? Didn’t he yearn to know more about her as she longed to know more about him? Or was she nothing more than an entertainment between coffee breaks for Emir?
And rumour had it she was the hardest of the Skavanga Diamonds?
What a laugh!
Tears of shame were pricking her eyes. She could never make a mistake like this again—
‘Hay fever,’ she explained briskly when Emir glanced suspiciously at her.
‘In Skavanga?’ he said, glancing outside at the icy scene.
‘We have pollen,’ she said coldly, moving on.
She wasn’t sure how she got to the end of the second half of their meeting, but she did. There was too much hanging on the outcome for her to spoil the deal with a clouded mind. So far so good, Britt concluded, wrapping everything up with a carefully rehearsed closing statement. At least she could tell her sisters that she hadn’t been forced to concede anything vital, and that Emir was prepared to move on to the next stage, which would involve a visit to the mine.
‘I’m looking forward to that,’ he said.
There was nothing in his eyes for her. The rest of Emir’s visit would be purely about business—
And why should it be anything else?
She hated herself for the weakness, but she had expected something—some outward sign that their passionate encounter had made an impression on him … but apparently not.
‘Is that everything?’ Emir said as he gathered up his papers. ‘I imagine you want to make an early start in the morning if we’re going to the mine.’
The mine was miles away from anywhere. The only logical place for them to stay was the old cabin Britt’s great-grandfather had built. It was isolated—there were no other people around. Doing a quick risk-assessment of the likely outcome, knowing the passion they shared, she knew she would be far better off arranging for one of her lieutenants to take him…
But Emir would see that as cowardice. And was she frightened of him? Could she even entrust the task of taking him to the mine to anyone else? She should be there. And maybe getting him out of her system once and for all would allow her to sharpen up and concentrate on what really mattered again.
‘I would like to make an early start,’ she said, ‘though I must warn you there are no luxury facilities at the cabin. It’s pretty basic.’ Somehow, what Emir thought about the cabin that meant so much to her mattered to her, Britt realised. It mattered a lot.
Emir seemed unconcerned. ‘Apart from the difference in temperature, the Arctic is another wilderness like the desert.’
‘My great-grandfather built the cabin. It’s very old–’
‘You’re fortunate to have something so special and permanent to remember him by.’
Yes, she was, and the fact that Emir knew this meant a lot to her.
They stared at each other until she forced herself to look away. This was not the time to be inventing imaginary bonds between them. Better she remembered Eva’s words about a true Nordic welcome to contain this warrior of the desert. It would be interesting to discover if Emir was still so confident after a brush with ice and fire.
CHAPTER FOUR
HE LEARNED MORE about Britt during the first few hours of their expedition than he had learned in any of the reports. She was intelligent and organised, energetic and could be mischievous, which reminded him to remain on guard.
She had called him at five-thirty a.m.—just to check he was awake, she had assured him. He suspected she hadn’t slept after their encounter, and guessed she was hoping he’d had a sleepless night too. He gave nothing away.
It couldn’t strictly be called dawn when her Jeep rolled up outside his hotel, since at this time of year in Skavanga a weak grey light washed the land for a full twenty-four hours. Only Britt coloured the darkness when she sprang down and came to greet him. He was waiting for her just outside the doors. Her hair gleamed like freshly harvested wheat and she had pulled an ice-blue beanie over her ears to protect them from the bitter cold. Her cheeks and lips were whipped red by the harshest of winds, and she was wearing black polar trousers tucked into boots, with a red waterproof jacket zippered up to her neck. She looked fresh and clean and bright, and determined.
‘Britt—’
‘Emir.’
Her greeting was cool. His was no more than polite, though he noticed that the tip of her nose was as red as her full bottom lip and her blue-grey eyes were the colour of polar ice. She gave him the once-over, and seemed satisfied by what she saw. He knew the drill. He might live in the desert, but he was no