‘She fell over before she could get there. That’s quite a turn of speed you have there, Mrs Lakis. I wouldn’t bet against you in the hundred metres,’ he teased.
Nikos, who was regarding her with total incredulity, did not appear to share his amusement.
‘I wasn’t thinking,’ Katie said in a small voice.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ the paramedic advised kindly. ‘People rarely do think when they know a loved one is trapped in a burning building. Ask any of the fire crew.’
Katie didn’t know where to look—except not at Nikos!
‘Katerina has always been an impulsive creature, haven’t you, yineka mou?’
The satiric bite in his voice made Katie wince. She did her best to disguise her limp, but evidently not well enough.
‘You’ve hurt yourself!’ the paramedic exclaimed in concern before she’d taken a couple of steps. ‘Hey,’ he hailed, ‘the lady here needs a stretcher.’
Katie laid a restraining hand on his arm. ‘Please, no stretcher,’ she appealed, shaking her head. ‘I’d much prefer to walk and it’s nothing serious.’
To her intense annoyance he looked towards Nikos, who presumably gave her request his husbandly seal of approval, because the guy walked away and left them to make their own way to the ambulance.
Unbelievable! If she had been his wife in the real sense of the word, admittedly a scenario about as likely as seeing a herd of flying pigs overhead, but had she been, she would definitely have challenged this outrageous sexist assumption that she needed permission…that she wasn’t capable of making her decisions.
Oh, my goodness, wouldn’t I just! she thought grimly.
Obeying another of those unwise impulses, Katie lifted her head and for a split second her eyes meshed with midnight-dark orbs. It was long enough to reveal Nikos seemed to be really steamed up. This struck Katie as particularly perverse; she was the one who’d been made to feel a total fool. How dared he go around telling everyone she was his wife? As for the image the guy had drawn so vividly of a woman pushed beyond reason by an overriding compulsion to save her man, she had thought she would die from sheer embarrassment!
‘Lean on me,’ Nikos wanted to throttle the woman, but felt obliged to put aside his natural inclinations and offer his assistance having watched her painfully hobble a few steps while maintaining the pretence every one didn’t hurt her like hell.
‘I’d prefer to crawl on my hands and knees.’
The air hissed through his clenched teeth as he exhaled. ‘As you wish,’ he replied stiffly.
He made no concessions to her injury as he strode off, not that Katie wanted or expected any, but the grim smile pinned on her lips got harder and harder to maintain with each step.
‘So were you so frightened for me that you were willing to risk your life in a futile attempt to rescue me?’ Nikos’s dark, sardonic voice observed somewhere above her head.
Katie’s spirits, already badly mauled, sank to knee-level. Her worst fears were confirmed. This was exactly what she’d been dreading—he’d thought about her crazy rescue bid and come to the conclusion she’d acted that way because she was nursing some burning passion for him. Maybe he half expected women to fall in love with him? And maybe that expectation was usually justified, an ironic voice in her skull suggested.
Actually, when you thought about it, it was quite funny.
Despite recognising the humorous potential of the situation Katie found herself unable to laugh or even smile. She was, however, seized by a desperate need to establish that she was not one of the worshipping masses.
‘It wasn’t like that…’ She paused and gave a frustrated sigh; how could you explain away why you did something when you didn’t know yourself? ‘I didn’t think…’ she revealed lamely.
‘That I never doubted,’ he incised grimly. ‘For the past seven years when I have thought of you at all it has been as a shrewd, hard-headed young woman who, despite an extraordinarily innocent exterior, is capable of bending the rules ruthlessly to get what she wants. In short, a woman well able to take care of herself.’
He exhaled and dragged a hand roughly through his dark hair. ‘That is what I expected, you understand? A woman like you should know how to negotiate. But what do I get?’ His revolted gaze came to rest on the top of her head, which had she been able to stand upright would have just topped his shoulder. ‘You…!’ He shook his head and, with an expression of rampant exasperation, began to list the traits he had discovered her to possess. ‘Not only are you opinionated to the point of derangement…’ he choked.
Good grief, she thought, lifting her astonished eyes to his furious face. I needn’t have worried—he doesn’t think I’m in love with him, he just thinks I’m crazy! Could be he’s not far out, she thought, contemplating the firm contours of his mouth with an expression of dreamy speculation.
‘Do not interrupt!’ he thundered, holding up his hand. ‘You are sentimental and you possess no sense of self-preservation whatever. I am a patient man…’ he revealed without a trace of irony.
Too late, Katie clamped her hand over her lips to prevent the gurgle of laughter escaping.
Nikos gave her a thunderous look as he visibly fought to retain control of his extremely volatile temper—only he didn’t have a volatile temper. ‘I have humoured you too long,’ he announced forcefully.
‘That’s a laugh—’ she began. She let out a strangled shriek when without warning he swept her up into his arms and strode off without a single word.
‘Put me down this instant!’ she hissed. His arms were muscular and extremely strong because, although Katie was slim, she was not a small woman and he barely seemed to register the burden he carried.
‘What, and see you stagger along in that ridiculous manner?’
Silently seething and reduced to winding her arms around his neck to anchor herself, Katie allowed herself to be carried to the ambulance with as much dignity as she could muster—what choice did have?
Sadie was waiting at the steps. ‘Why did you tell them I had been in the flat?’ Katie demanded of her friend in a trembling undertone.
Sadie looked startled at her vehemence and followed them up the stairs. ‘Sorry, but they asked.’
Katie felt a wave of remorse. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to take it out on you. That man,’ she explained, glaring at Nikos’s ear, ‘is a manipulative snake.’ Even his hair curled perfectly into the nape of his neck.
She held herself rigid while, apparently oblivious to her insult, Nikos deposited her on a seat and straightened with sensible caution considering the limited headroom.
‘I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him—less, in fact!’ she declared loudly.
Sadie shot a wary look in Nikos’s direction and he in his turn returned her look with a smile of spectacular charm, which much to Katie’s disgust had an immediate effect on Sadie. She melted like an ice cream on a warm day.
‘A sexy snake.’
Sadie’s sly remark earned her an amused grin from Nikos. ‘Thank you,’ he said, inclining his head. ‘And may I say that a true English rose like yourself is much admired in my country?’
Katie shook her head as Sadie blushed. ‘What a load of b—’
‘Don’t spoil it, Katie,’ Sadie interrupted, casting her friend an irritated glance. ‘Do go on,’ she begged Nikos with a throaty laugh.
Katie glared at her friend indignantly—she was flirting, and flirting pretty well. ‘Has anyone