She shrugged. ‘Both.’
Drake looked at her for a moment, his face brooding and his eyes hidden under lowered lids, then he said, ‘You haven’t answered my question.’
Seeing that she’d only just met him that was hardly surprising, Allie thought indignantly. She said, ‘I told you I didn’t guarantee an answer.’
‘And you’re not going to?’
Tilting her head to one side as she looked at him, Allie said, ‘I think—not.’
For a moment he looked annoyed, as if he wasn’t used to being thwarted, but then his tone became brisk and formal again. ‘Very well, as you wish. I’ll walk you round to the entrance to the Armoury museum so that you’ll know where to go when you visit.’
He led her round the side of the wall and through a gate in a low iron railing that led through an archway guarded by armed soldiers. Through it they came into an open area where a section of pavement in front of the main building had been given a cover supported by scaffolding poles. A means of keeping the rain and snow off the queues of tourists waiting to enter, Allie presumed. Today, though, it served the purpose of providing welcome shade from the heat.
‘Isn’t it open yet?’ she asked, puzzled.
‘Yes, but visitors are only allowed in at certain times and for a set period.’
‘I hope that won’t apply to me,’ she said in some alarm. ‘I’ll need prolonged visits, preferably when there aren’t any visitors around.’
‘I dare say that can be arranged.’
Allie swept her eyes over him assessingly, wondering if he had any influence here. ‘I understand your company is setting up a branch in Moscow,’ she remarked casually.
‘Yes, that’s right.’
It was far from being a helpful answer, so she had to come right out and ask, ‘What sort of business is it?’
‘Banking,’ Drake replied shortly.
So he was nothing but a glorified bank clerk. Dull stuff, and he certainly couldn’t have any influence that would be helpful. He had probably already done the most that he could in introducing her to Sergei.
Turning, they left the Kremlin to walk back to her hotel. Allie had travelled a lot in the past, on holidays and with her job, so she was used to new countries. But Russia was somehow different. Perhaps the first thing she noticed was the road and street signs; they were completely impossible to decipher because Russia used the Cyrillic alphabet where some of the letters looked the same as the ordinary alphabet but had different meanings. An H for an N, for example. And then there was the beauty and colour of the splendid churches and the Kremlin, compared with the ring of concrete apartment blocks that surrounded the city.
‘Is it safe to walk around alone here?’ she asked idly.
She got a reaction she certainly hadn’t expected. Drake stopped and spun round. ‘What do you mean?’ he demanded sharply.
Blinking in surprise, Allie said, ‘Well...just what I asked; is it OK for me to walk around alone?’
Slowly his taut face relaxed and Drake ran a hand through his hair, but his voice sounded strained as he said, ‘In the daytime, yes, but I would certainly advise against it at night. In fact, I insist that you don’t.’
She gave a small gasp at his vehemence. Was the place that dangerous, then? Allie frowned, puzzled, but said nothing more. When they got to her hotel, she turned to Drake and held out her hand. ‘Well, thank you very much for meeting me and everything. It was very good of you to take the time.’
‘Not at all.’ He shook her hand but didn’t go, instead saying, ‘You said you’d been in contact with Professor Martos. When do you intend to see him?’
‘Some time tomorrow. I’m going to call him now to arrange a time.’
‘Does he speak English?’
‘Yes, I believe so.’
‘Are you sure? Would you like me to help you make the call?’
God give me patience, Allie thought, but said with some irony, ‘I think I might just be able to manage to make a phone call by myself.’
The sarcasm wasn’t lost on him. Drake raised an eyebrow, but only said, ‘Very well. I’ll pick you up at eight to take you out to dinner.’
‘That’s very kind of you, but I really don’t want to put you to any trouble,’ Allie said hastily.
‘It’s no trouble.’
‘But what about...?’ She had been going to say ‘your family’, but intuitively knew that he didn’t have anyone here, so changed it to, ‘I’m sure you’re terribly busy; I don’t want to take up all your time.’
Drake frowned for a moment, then said curtly, ‘I’ll meet you in the lobby at eight.’
He walked to where he’d parked his car and Allie watched him drive away with great misgivings. Trust her to get landed with a chauvinist, and an autocratic one at that. When he’d gone, she made her call to Professor Martos from the phone in the lobby, then quickly strode back to the Gum department store.
The building reminded her strongly of a huge French château with its white façade and sloping green roofs, but inside it was a delight of galleried arcades linked by bridges, ornate iron railings, and stuccoed archways. Allie searched the shopping arcades for a store that sold maps in English and bought a road atlas covering western Russia, from Moscow north to St Petersburg. Only then did she take time to stop and admire the magnificent glass roof that spanned the store like some immense spider’s web, the sun casting shadows that elongated the strands of the web and seemed to reach out to trap the shoppers as they passed below.
The shops were starting to close but Allie browsed through them, looking for typical Russian goods, but the up-market western companies seemed to have hijacked the place and if it hadn’t been for the wonderful architecture she could have been in any shopping mall in any part of the world.
When she got back to her hotel Allie locked the road atlas inside her suitcase. It was unlikely that Drake would ever come up to her room again, but she didn’t want to run any chance of him seeing the book and starting to ask questions. She changed into a beige lace dress that left her shoulders bare and, rather than have Drake call up to her room, went down to the lobby to meet him.
She reached it just as Drake was coming into the hotel. Allie caused quite a stir as she came out of the lift; most of the people glanced round and let their eyes linger. But then, it was a designer dress, and she knew she looked good in it, the colour and the style perfect for her slim figure.
Drake stood still for a moment and then walked forward to meet her. ‘You’re exactly on time,’ he remarked, letting his gaze run over her.
‘I don’t usually keep people waiting for three hours,’ Allie told him, referring to the wait at the airport.
He smiled, his grey eyes creasing with amusement. ‘You’re never going to forget that, are you?’
‘Could anyone?’
‘Don’t let it put you off the country.’ He put a hand under her elbow to lead her to the door.
‘Oh, I won’t.’ She raised her hand to her hair, making him let go of her arm, and then strode ahead of him out into the open.
His car was waiting at the kerb and Drake opened the door for her. She wasn’t sure whether or not he had got the message, but he made no further attempt to touch her.
‘Where are we going?’ Allie asked as he began to drive away from the city centre.
‘To a restaurant where they do typical Russian food. I thought you might prefer that on your first night here.’
‘How