Mina was bent forward, hands on knees, dragging in desperate, gasping breaths. Her hair was a slick, dark curve that arrowed over her shoulder. Her nipples stood proud against the dark cherry pink of the top that plastered her breasts. Her slim legs glistened with water and there was a long red scratch on her shin.
‘What. The. Hell. Were. You. Thinking?’ He ground the words out.
Her eyes lifted. A second later Carissa straightened, abandoning her recuperative pose for that now-familiar haughty stance. Chin forward, slender neck stretched high, eyebrows slightly raised. She did obstinate condescension to perfection.
‘Saving a wonderful work of art.’ She reached into a back pocket of her shorts and produced a large screwdriver. That explained how she’d dislodged the sculpture from its plinth. She must have grabbed it from the garage.
‘What on earth possessed you?’
Still not quite believing what she’d done, he watched as she turned away and put the screwdriver down on a side table. It landed with a clatter. There was a jagged tear at the hem of her T-shirt and another scratch down the back of one toned thigh.
Alexei felt something surge high inside. Something rough and sharp, scrabbling and clawing at his control. He clenched his jaw so tight he wondered if he’d ever unlock it.
A spasm shook him as he remembered the waving boughs, the lashing storm and thought of the lucky escape she’d had.
Carissa turned, eyes dark and wide in her too-pale face. ‘We couldn’t leave it there. It’s a masterpiece.’
Alexei stared. He couldn’t believe what he heard.
‘You know it is.’ Her voice was clipped. ‘Otherwise you wouldn’t have bought it.’
He knew all right. He wouldn’t have paid the exorbitant amount he had for it otherwise. But that didn’t matter.
‘That was the single most stupid, irresponsible thing I’ve witnessed in years.’ His voice lashed as he relived the sight of her, refusing to budge without her precious sculpture. ‘I don’t care about the money.’
She flinched, her face paling even more. ‘Of course you don’t! Obviously I was mistaken. You probably bought it because it had a big price tag to match your big ego.’ She drew a breath that emphasised how shaky she was, despite her show of defiance. She looked proud and glorious and frighteningly vulnerable. And Alexei couldn’t understand why the vein of fury ran so deep and strong within him.
It was a good thing they were on opposite sides of the room. Dimly he realised fear fed his anger. That terrible moment when he’d discovered her missing. Guilt that she could have died out there because he hadn’t forced her inside earlier.
‘It’s not worth your life. Do you have any idea how dangerous it was out there?’ Alexei heard his voice rise from a hoarse whisper to something close to a roar. ‘Are you really that thoughtless? That unbelievably stupid?’
His loss of control stunned him. When had he ever been this angry? When he’d discovered her father’s theft he’d been livid, determined to get justice. He’d felt personally betrayed, made a fool of by the one person he’d trusted in years. But he hadn’t experienced this visceral level of dismay. This gut-scouring scrape of horror.
Carissa didn’t flinch. She faced him with cool—almosttoocool—composure.
Finally the echo of his words died. Outside the wind wailed, but in here there was nothing but the sound of heavy, uneven breaths and the tumble of rushing blood in his ears.
‘If you’ll excuse me, I have a cut I need to attend to, before I stain your floor.’
Carissa spun around and walked away down the dark corridor towards her suite. Belatedly he realised she was cradling one hand. And that she walked with the careful precision of someone marshalling their strength to stay upright.
The red mist edging Alexei’s vision began to clear. The cyclonic rage eased. His brain kicked into gear, enough to suspect her superior bearing hid something other than disgust at his fury.
His gaze dropped to the floor. A spatter of dark droplets led down the corridor. The sight was a kick to the belly.
Her hand was bleeding and he hadn’t noticed. He’d been too busy berating her.
Alexei slumped against the wall, palming his wet face, trying to scrub away the last vestiges of blinding fury.
He still reeled from the fact Carissa had pitched in to help secure the house, making herself useful as if she wasn’t the spoiled, self-absorbed woman he’d pegged her as. Alexei had expected her to demand he spirit her off the island. Or that she’d cower in the house, frightened by the ferocity of the weather. He wouldn’t have blamed her.
Carissa never did what he expected.Shewasn’t what he expected.
Now she made him feel as ifhewere in the wrong.
Residual anger made his heart pound his ribcage. Yet that didn’t explain the unfamiliar, queasy feeling in his belly. It wasn’t fear, not now she was safe.
Surely it wasn’t guilt? Shehadrisked her neck out there.