Was she mad?
Her father had always said she was reckless, yet there was something so vital about Alexei in this moment. Even as she warned herself to be careful, her artist’s eye was busy cataloguing the changes in him, the way potent masculine anger imbued every sharp angle and bunched muscle.
Already his hold on her waist loosened. Was she ridiculously naive? Yet the vibe she picked up from Alexei was the same as she got from her brother-in-law, Huseyn. When he’d first appeared, Huseyn had been the enemy, storming in to snatch the kingdom and her sister in marriage. Big, abrupt and deliberately provoking, he’d nevertheless proved appearances wrong. He’d turned out to be a devoted family man and an unobtrusively kind brother-in-law, whose bark was worse than his bite, at least with those he cared for.
Was Alexei like him? Or did her instinct lie because she was attracted? And because she battled a compulsion to commit that sparking, urgent energy to paper? Mina wanted to capture his aura of power.
Almost as much as she wanted that energy focused on kissing her again.
She blinked. She couldn’t take her safety for granted.
‘Do you plan to hurt me because of him?’ Mina had no idea if confronting Alexei directly was the right approach but she had to know.
His head reared back, a scowl settling on his forehead. ‘I suppose you’ll find it tough to work for a living instead of living off your father’s ill-gotten gains. But I’d hardly call that hurting.’
‘I mean, are you so angry you’llhurtme.’
She saw the moment her meaning registered. Alexei’s instinctive recoil and the horror in his eyes.
His hands dropped to his sides. ‘No! Of course not.’
‘There’s noof course. Some men do.’
Slowly he inclined his head, his breath expelling in a rush of warm air that feathered her hair. ‘Not me. Not ever.’
Mina surveyed him steadily, wondering whether to believe him, and her instinct.
‘I think you’re wrong about the theft. I think it’s a mistake. Maybe someone else stole the money and made it look like he did it.’ What she knew of Carissa’s father pointed to an honest man, though his idea of engineering an arranged marriage was bizarre. Maybe his recent bereavement had affected him more than Carissa feared.
Alexei shook his head. ‘There’s no doubt. It was definitely him.’ He raised his eyebrows as if challenging her to prove otherwise.
‘Well, if so, he didn’t fritter it away funding parties in Paris.’ Carissa’s father had paid his daughter’s art school tuition and now helped with part of her rent, but Carissa was talented and hardworking, supplementing her income from her art by waitressing and modelling. Even her shopping addiction for second-hand clothes was a source of income since she sold items she’d refurbished.
Alexei merely crossed his arms over his chest. He looked as unmoved and unmovable as the rocky outcrop at the far end of the beach.
Mina suppressed a sigh. What was the point of protesting Carissa’s blamelessness? He’d never believe her. And, if he’d been ripped off so badly, who could blame him?
She slicked her tongue around her parched lips, feeling the rush of her pulse and the jitter of nerves still unsteady after that sprint to the beach, with Alexei at her heels. And Alexei holding her against him as if he’d never release her.
In fury, Mina reminded herself. Not desire. She was the one plagued by that. To Alexei she was a conniving thief, or as good as.
She shivered and looked away, out over the water where the dark clouds grew more threatening by the moment. The humid air felt heavy, sultry with ominous foreboding.
It was hard not to see it as a sign, a warning that Alexei had some revenge planned.
Of course! Abruptly she swung towards him. His gaze was already on her, sending sensation wrinkling down her backbone. Mina’s mouth tightened. She had to stopreactingto him!
‘Why am I here, Alexei? What do you really want?’
‘Don’t look so worried. Nothing’s going to happen to you that you don’t want.’
Mina took a second to digest that. It should have reassured except the dark speculation in his eyes and her answering tremor of awareness undermined certainty. As if their bodies spoke a different language. As if he expected her towantfar more than was good for her.
Mina refused to go there. Bad enough to find her first stirrings of real desire were for a man who didn’t trust or like her. Who was, to all intents and purposes, her enemy.
She crossed her arms, mirroring his posture. ‘Why am I here, Alexei? And don’t give me that line about wanting to marry. That’s clearly a lie.’
One dark eyebrow slanted. ‘You take offence at a lie?’
Mina was about to tell him she abhorred dishonesty as much as she did selfish men who manipulated women for their own ends. Then she remembered she was here under false pretences. For the best of reasons, but still...
‘Spit it out, Alexei.’
His eyes held hers. ‘You’re bait, to draw your father out. Since he had the front to suggest I marry you, I figure when he learns you’re here, he’ll assume his theft hasn’t been discovered or that I’m willing to come to some agreement with my soon-to-be father-in-law.’ His disdainful tone and chilly stare told her how likely that was.
‘And until he gets here?’ She swallowed. Her throat was tight and she had a hard time projecting calm.
‘Till then you’re my trump card.’ His lips curved in a smile she could only describe as dangerous. ‘I’ll keep you close.’