She let her brow pucker in a frown. ‘I hope the fruit I bought doesn’t spoil while I’m away. And the milk.’ She let her smile widen. ‘But I understand. I’m sure you’re used to wanting something and having it happen immediately. No time to waste on boring niceties like invitations or queries about whether the dates suited me.’
Below his rumpled black hair grooves corrugated that wide brow. Mina raised her hand. ‘Not that it matters. I know how terribly valuable your time is. After all, what could I possibly have scheduled that could be nearly as important?’
From behind her Mina heard a snuffle from Henri that sounded suspiciously like a stifled laugh. Then he excused himself, murmuring something about putting her luggage away and prudently followed his wife down a corridor.
Which left Mina alone with Alexei Katsaros.
He didn’t even seem to notice Marie and Henri leave. All his attention was on Mina.
If she were in the mood to feel fear it would have swamped her now, for the man watched her with the hyperawareness of a hunter. Then there was the sheer size of him, not only tall but well-built, all muscled strength beneath those straight shoulders. She’d caught a glimpse of a well-developed chest and taut abdominals that confirmed this man did far more than sit behind a desk, making money. His thighs beneath the faded jeans were those of a skier or a horseman, honed hard and strong.
Without taking his eyes off her, he slowly finished buttoning his white shirt. Then he tucked it into his faded jeans with a casual insouciance utterly at odds with the speculative gleam in his dark eyes.
Mina’s manufactured smile solidified as he took his time shoving the material down, his hand disappearing behind the denim. For reasons she couldn’t fathom the sight of him dressing made her pulse quicken. Her palm prickled as if her own hand slid down that flat abdomen.
‘I’m sorry, did my arrival wake you?’ The snap in her words betrayed her discomfort but Mina compensated for it by slowly taking stock of his tousled black hair and the dark shadow of beard growth across that solid jaw.
His hands fell to his sides and he stepped out of the shadows. The light hit sharply defined cheekbones, a well-shaped mouth and a stern blade of nose, down which he surveyed her. Mina was reminded of precious icons she’d seen. But whereas those old saints had looked flat and unreal, this man exuded raw energy and the glint in his dark eyes was anything but unworldly. Alexei Katsaros was too...physical for sainthood. With his imposing size and posture he could model for a cavalry officer from a previous century, supercilious and deadly in a bright uniform, with a sabre at his side.
Mina repressed the warm shiver that started at the base of her spine and threatened to crawl, vertebra by vertebra, up her back.
‘You know you didn’t wake me. We watched each other.’ His voice was both rough and dangerously soothing.
Mina couldn’t explain it but he made the simple words sound almost indecent. As if they’d been naked at the time, or as if she’d watched him doing something—
‘So, you’re concerned about your groceries, is that right?’ One dark eyebrow rose and it took a second for Mina to follow the change of subject. She was still lost in a hazy daydream of Alexei Katsaros stripping his shirt away and reaching for the button on his jeans. ‘I can have one of my staff deal with your apartment, Ms Carter, since I put you to such inconvenience.’
Mina wrenched her thoughts back to the man before her. The man whose satisfied smile told her he knew he’d unsettled her. Whose tone conveyed that she’d managed to needle him with her pointed comments about being dragged away.
‘That’s very kind, Mr Katsaros.’ She blinked up at him, mimicking Carissa, then thought better of it. She’d never batted her eyelashes in her life and wasn’t about to start.
‘Something in your eye, Ms Carter?’ Not by a whisker did he betray a smile yet Mina knew he laughed at her.
To her surprise, Mina had to stifle a smirk of her own. He was right. She couldn’t pull off such feminine wiles. She was better to stick at being herself.
‘Sand, probably.’ She blinked again. ‘My own fault. I insisted on driving with the window down to enjoy the breeze.’
Carissa would have shrieked at the thought of her hair getting messed up, but Alexei Katsaros didn’t know that. Mina would have to get by with pretending to be a Mina version of Carissa. Less fluttery and uncertain, less overtly feminine, less willing to be bullied.
‘Thank you for the offer to take care of my apartment but I prefer not to have my home taken over by strangers. I’m sure you understand.’
He understood all right. His smugness fled as he registered that she referred to his staff who’d politely yet inexorably ushered her from Carissa’s flat.
‘My staff disturbed you? You felt threatened in some way?’ His voice was sharp.
Had he really thought she’d be happy, herded by armed bodyguards?
Mina remembered Carissa’s tears and frantic fear. How would she have coped, confronting those big men with cold eyes and suave suits?
They’d been impeccably solicitous but Mina read in them the same quality she’d seen in her father’s royal guards. Beneath the polish were men trained to use force. If she’d refused to go, they’d have bundled her onto that private jet without a qualm.
‘Oh, I didn’t feel at all threatened by anyone else while I was with them.’ She paused, letting him absorb her words. Would he understand they’d been the threat?
His expression didn’t alter.
Clearly he had no idea how frightening it was for a woman not used to close personal protection to have stony-faced men wearing shoulder holsters usher her into an anonymous vehicle.
Suddenly weary, Mina suppressed a sigh. What was the point? He wouldn’t care even if he understood.
‘Your staff were polite and incredibly...efficient. I’m sure no express parcel could have been delivered to your door more quickly.’
She looked away, letting her gaze rove the white marble foyer, taking in the carved Cycladic figurine in a niche on the far wall. Mina’s pulse quickened with interest but she couldn’t afford to be distracted. Slowly she turned back to her host, whose hands, she noticed, were bunched in fists at his sides.
He stepped forward and Mina’s nape prickled. This close she realised those intent eyes were a stunning dark green, opaque and intriguing. She’d never seen the like. Momentarily she was mesmerised. Then she dragged her thoughts back to their conversation.
‘I prefer to make my own arrangements, Mr Katsaros. I’m sure you understand.’
* * *
Alexei understood all right.
He was being taken to task by a woman who didn’t know she was playing with fire. Or did she believe she could set her own rules because he contemplated marriage?
That had to be it. There was no other explanation.
He’d wondered if Carter’s daughter was a spoiled princess. As far as he could tell, she’d lived for years off her father’s, and by extension his own, largesse, while enjoying a dilettante’s life.
Now he had his answer. Carissa Carter was used to getting her own way. Spoiled rotten, he had no doubt. Her father had led her to expect an advantageous match and she seemed sure it would happen.
Yet her words disturbed him. Had she really been frightened of his security staff? Alexei barely noticed them now, just considered them a normal part of life.
He stared down at the woman who continued to surprise him. It wasn’t only her plain outfit, or the accent that wasn’t quite as he’d heard it over the phone, but then there’d been interference on the line. He’d imagined someone more eager to