‘Who’s that—talking to John?’ she asked.
Carrie turned and followed Elaine’s puzzled gaze across to the drive, where her husband John was talking to a tall, dark-haired man.
It was Nikos Kristallis.
‘No! It can’t be!’ Carrie gasped. ‘How did he find me here?’
‘Who is it?’ Elaine asked, looking at her sharply. ‘Are you in some kind of trouble, Carrie?’
‘It’s…It’s…’ Carrie croaked, struggling to speak with a suddenly dry mouth. She swallowed hard and twisted the towel tightly in her shaking hands. She was rooted to the spot, hardly able to believe her eyes.
Nik stared at Carrie.
Satisfaction at finding her and the child mixed unpleasantly with a powerful rush of anger. Here she was, apparently having a whale of a time, frolicking around the pool in the sunshine, while he’d had to go to the trouble of ascertaining her whereabouts from her colleagues at the gym and then follow her to Spain. That wasn’t how things worked in his world.
He turned and scanned the garden quickly. His eyes settled on Danny, who was sitting on a rug under a tree, with two older girls and a young woman who appeared to be looking after all three children. The girls were laughing and building a tower of blocks in front of him, and the young woman leant forward and adjusted the hat that had slipped down over Danny’s eyes.
He seemed to be happy and well cared for, but that didn’t excuse the fact that Carrie had taken him out of the country without informing him. He knew she was here to work, but as far as he was concerned that made no difference. The sharp pain from his fingernails digging into his palms told him he was clenching his fists too fiercely.
He turned his attention back to Carrie, and suddenly the memory of their last evening together flashed unexpectedly through his mind. To make matters worse she appeared to have just stepped out of the pool. His body’s hot response was out of his conscious control as he took in the sight of her, wet and glistening, dressed in a tiny clingy bikini.
‘I need to speak to Miss Thomas.’ He spoke briskly to the British gentleman who owned the villa, knowing his tone didn’t leave room for debate.
Carrie was looking across the pool at him. He had seen her reel under the shock of seeing him, but now she was talking to the other woman and glancing across at the children.
He deliberately uncurled his fingers and forced himself to release some of the tension gripping his tightly coiled muscles. He took a few quick strides and suddenly he was standing right in front of her. Two hectic spots of colour danced on her pale cheeks, but she stood her ground and stared straight up into his face.
‘What do you think you are doing here?’ she demanded, planting her hands firmly on her hips and tossing her sleek black hair back from her face with a shower of droplets. Next to the wet blackness of her hair, her skin looked paler than ever, almost shimmering with the sheen of moisture that still clung to it. ‘How did you find us?’
‘Your colleagues at the gym were most helpful,’ Nik said, thinking how it hadn’t taken much to loosen their tongues.
‘They had no right to tell you,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘And you have no right to barge your way into my client’s house. I’m working,’ she added.
‘I have every right to be concerned over the welfare of my nephew,’ Nik replied, keeping his eyes firmly on her face and not giving in to the desire to run his gaze down over her exquisite body.
‘Well, as you can see, he’s perfectly fine.’ Carrie folded her arms across her chest. ‘Not that it’s any of your business. I look after him and I decide what’s best for him.’
She glared up at him, determined to keep her cool, but it wasn’t easy when she was standing there in nothing but a bikini. He was so tall that standing in her bare feet, she had to tip her head right back to look at him properly.
It was hot beside the pool, but the heat of the Spanish sun was insignificant compared to the burn of his gaze. She couldn’t help fidgeting slightly, curling her toes against the hot tiles, then dropping her arms down to her sides before promptly folding them again.
‘You may be Danny’s guardian at the moment,’ Nik said. ‘But pull any more stunts like that and you’ll soon find out who you’re up against.’
‘You think I’ll just roll over and let you do whatever you want?’ Carrie gasped. ‘Danny means everything to me. Do you think I’d care if I found myself up against you?’
As soon as the words had left her mouth she realised how they sounded. Or maybe it was only to her own ears. But she couldn’t stop her gaze sliding down and taking in the broad expanse of his chest. She knew exactly what it felt like to be pressed up against him, and she couldn’t stop her body responding to the memory.
She knew all about ‘muscle memory’, where muscle groups seemed to have their own recall of a sequence of movements in dance or exercise. But she’d never heard of ‘body memory’—which was surely what she was experiencing now. Her whole being seemed to be buzzing with the memory of their bodies pressed together and bending as one as he pushed her back over Darren’s desk. If she wasn’t careful she’d find her body stepping forward of its own volition and melding provocatively to his.
Nik narrowed his eyes and a smile flashed across his tanned face.
‘In fact, I can see you definitely would care to come up against me—again.’ He tilted his head and let his deep blue eyes sweep suggestively down her exposed body.
The touch of his gaze was almost as potent as the touch of his hands. It felt as if he’d run his fingertips across her skin, leaving a sizzling trail of sensation in their wake and starting a slow-burning fire deep within her body.
Carrie sucked in a shaky breath and hugged her arms defensively over her breasts. But she knew she hadn’t stopped him noticing the sudden tightening of her nipples beneath the wet bikini. And she couldn’t hide the hot flush which was creeping across her bare skin.
She simply wasn’t used to her body reacting like this, and she didn’t know how to handle it. She’d never realised that she could experience such powerful and confusing sexual feelings.