‘Ah, the mysterious Mr Carl Dalk,’ Liza chuckled, walking towards him.
Nick spun around, his dark eyes narrowing intently on her face. ‘How much did you hear?’
Liza stopped, surprised by his quick question, and looked up at him. ‘Nothing much, just that there was no need for him to come here, or something like that.’
‘Good.’ Nick squared his broad shoulders but avoided meeting her eyes. He slipped the mobile in his jacket pocket.
‘Why? Don’t you want me to meet your friend?’ Liza asked lightly. ‘According to your mum, he is very handsome and very wealthy—jealous are you?’ she joked.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Nick snapped back. He should be happy; the news was good. Carl had just informed him that the panic was over. The two men had been picked up at the airport last night trying to board a flight to Malaga, and were safely under lock and key. Daidolas had passed the valuation on to a middleman in Morocco. The top investigator from Nick’s agency was keeping tabs on the Moroccan. Carl and the police had the rest covered. Now all they had to do was wait for the approach to the insurers and set up the transfer. With Liza’s information that Brown was returning to the island a week today, it was almost certain that would be the day for the hand-over.
Nick no longer had a reason to keep Liza at his side twenty-four hours a day; she was safe for the moment. He could take part in the para-skiing competition, so why wasn’t he thrilled?
‘I was only joking,’ Liza said placatingly, breaking the rather tense silence and wondering what had happened to change his mood from the eager lover of an hour ago, to the stern-faced man in front of her.
‘It wasn’t funny; you don’t know Carl,’ Nick said bluntly, ‘and if you have any sense you will forget you ever heard his name.’ Liza was not out of the woods yet, as far as the criminal investigation went and she might still be questioned, and the less she knew about anything or anyone the better… ‘Understand.’
No, Liza did not understand. But she reached out to him, one small hand catching his arm, the other she placed on his chest and lifted her brilliant eyes to his darkly handsome face. ‘I understand you seem a bit uptight, and you need to relax,’ she said softly. But the light in her eyes faded as he flinched and drew back from her.
‘Don’t waste your time—we’ve run out of condoms,’ he informed her with a bluntness that shocked Liza to the core. ‘I’ll get some at the lodge later.’
Dazedly she looked at him; he was so cool and matter-of-fact she was painfully reminded of exactly what Nick wanted from their affair: sex; he had never pretended otherwise. Of course, he was right to take precautions, she knew, but she bitterly resented the implication that just because she touched him it had to lead to sex.
‘You do surprise me, Nick.’ It had taken a few moments but now she was back in control and she was coldly angry. ‘I would have thought a man like you would have an inexhaustible supply,’ she said sarcastically, and watched his head jerk back.
‘A man like me?’ he said with a raised brow. ‘I believe in protecting my lover and myself, but can your past lovers say the same?’
His insinuation was like a red rag to a bull. He was frightened of catching something off her! ‘You’ve got a nerve. I bet you have a little black book that would rival the Encyclopaedia Britannica,’ she shot back.
‘Oh, Liza, come on, you were no virgin and I don’t care how many lovers you have had. But if you are on the Pill I am perfectly happy to forget about the condoms.’ And he had the audacity to smile, like a man who thought he should be thanked for being so generous.
‘I am not on the Pill, and I have only ever had one other lover.’ She was incensed by his callous comment about ‘lovers’ in the plural.
‘And who was that?’ Nick asked cynically. ‘Henry Brown?’
‘No way—are you crazy? He is my boss and he is married.’ She was insulted that he could even think she would sleep with a married man, and she could not understand how a comment about a telephone call had led to a discussion on her sex life or previous lack of one.
‘Then who?’ Nick asked, relief flooding through him at her denial; the thought of Liza with Brown had been anathema to him.
‘Not that it is any of your business, but it was my fiancé,’ she told him and then wondered, was she really so besotted with Nick she actually saw his interest in her past love life as a sign of real interest in her?
‘You were engaged; for how long?’ Nick looked at her in astonishment. He had never heard that bit of information from his mother, he was sure.
‘Three days,’ Liza admitted drily. ‘The first time we made love it was a disaster, so we didn’t do it again. In fact, I thought I was frigid.’ She saw the expression of amazement on his face, and blushed.
‘You are joking!’ he exclaimed and laughed out loud.
Of course, to a man with his sexual history she must sound like an idiot, and quite suddenly she was furious. ‘Very funny, ha ha! But no, I am not joking. In fact, I should be thanking you for showing me I am not frigid. At least now when we part I will have no fear of dating dozens of men.’ And with that broadside she busied herself clearing the dishes to the sink.
Nick believed her; he had thought the first time they made love she was a little shy, shocked by her own response, and he was secretly delighted that he was the one to teach her the wonder of sex. But she was a fast learner, and he was damned if he wanted her trying out her new-found sexual prowess on anyone but himself. The thought brought him up cold.
‘I have to go. I want to watch the first slalom race,’ Nick said brusquely. ‘So if you want a lift to the lodge you’d better hurry up.’ He looked at his watch. ‘I’ll give you five minutes, but you can stay here for the day if you like, have a rest.’
‘What did you say?’ Liza spun around, blue eyes blazing. Stay here…if she liked… When had he ever cared what she wanted? Liza thought mutinously. She searched his strikingly handsome features for some reassurance, but his face was expressionless.
Not meeting her eyes, he strode out through the door, shouting over his shoulder, ‘Five minutes.’
Swerving to miss a young child, Liza ended the run on her back. That was it, she had had enough and, struggling upright, she headed for the lodge. Nick had parted company with her as soon as they arrived on the slopes, with a brief comment that he wanted to tackle something different. On her own for the first time in a week, she was very quickly bored, going up and down the same route.