‘Problem, Eva?’ he said, standing back.
Slamming doors was a theme between them? She bit her lip to hide her smile. Everything was happening so fast. ‘I didn’t expect this.’
‘The ferry’s too slow for what I’ve got in mind,’ Roman said as he checked her straps.
He smelled amazing and looked even better. She doubted he ever took the ferry. She doubted she could survive being with him in such an enclosed space.
He closed her door, which gave her a few brief seconds of isolation in which to collect her thoughts. No chance. There could never be enough time for that while Roman was around. Even the air seemed to jangle when he climbed in beside her. It was charged with his energy, as was she. Just watching him strap in and put his headphones on, before placing a brief call in Italian to some distant control tower, was arousing. His familiarity with the big machine as he flipped switches and made other preparations for take-off was ridiculously sexy. His naked arms, tanned and coated with just the right amount of black hair, were sexy. His strong hands and wrists brought back memories of an extremely sexual nature, while his crisp short-sleeved shirt, tucked into well-packed jeans cinched with a no-nonsense leather belt, only made her remember what his body felt like beneath his clothes. And it tempted her gaze to wander down—
‘Are you sitting comfortably, Eva?’
His voice with its metallic twang as it came through the headphones startled her. Raising her chin just in time, she said, ‘Fine, thank you.’ Mighty fine.
Roman turned back to his pre-flight checks. His harsh, unyielding profile, with the customary coating of stubble, was incredibly sexy. Roman Quisvada was the most compelling individual she’d ever met, and she had to force herself not to take in any more of him and just stare straight ahead.
Before she knew it the ground was sinking away through the worryingly see-through panel on the floor at her feet. As she watched, the island became a playroom carpet of bright colours: green, orange, brown and blue.
‘Can you hear me clearly?’ Roman checked, bringing her back with relief to the reassuring sight of him in full control of the situation.
‘Perfectly, thank you.’
‘And you’re not nervous?’
Tongue in cheek: in what context? ‘Not one bit,’ she confirmed.
‘Good. We’ll be in the air around an hour.’
‘Are you going to tell me where we’re going now?’
‘To one of my facilities on the mainland. And you don’t need to shout. I can hear you perfectly too.’
‘I thought your work was cutting and polishing diamonds?’
‘It is.’
‘So that’s where we’re going?’
Roman didn’t answer. He had started talking to someone on the other end of the radio link, and so she fell silent, frustrated by the lack of information. Roman always contrived to be one step ahead of her, and that was something she had to change.
Heat rushed through her as, conversation over, Roman turned to glance at her. ‘I’m going to teach you all I know, Eva.’
About diamonds? There was a suspicious amount of humour, even in the robotic tone of voice coming through her headphones. So long as it wasn’t her klutzy lack of skill when it came to Roman’s advanced class last night.
‘Diamonds can do more than buy a woman or ruin a man.’
‘That’s a very jaundiced view.’
‘Perhaps I have a very jaundiced view of life, Eva.’
Perhaps he did.
Her thoughts turned from daydreams to reality as the glittering blue ocean gave way to pristine white seashore and then on to neatly cultivated land where the soil was a rich shade of ochre. It was some time more before she spotted any real signs of habitation other than the occasional farmhouse or barn, but then came increasingly busy roads and small towns, until they were hovering over what looked like a brand new industrial park.
‘Welcome to Quisvada Industries, Eva,’ Roman announced as he took them down. He landed the helicopter exactly on the centre of a yellow cross in the middle of a number of immaculately maintained, pristine white buildings. ‘This is where we cut and polish the diamonds.’ He switched off the engines and signalled that she could remove her headphones now. ‘And where we do a few more things you probably won’t be expecting.’
Diamonds, always diamonds. Her mind rioted with impatience. Would she never escape them? Why were diamonds so important to everyone but her? Yes, she wanted the mine to survive, but she couldn’t help wishing that Skavanga could be saved by some other means. Couldn’t Roman see she was desperate to get their talks under way? She was grateful to him for taking this time out to show her round, but she was desperate to move on so they could talk and she could go home. There was only so much torture she could take and she was just about at her limit. Being close to him, yet poles apart in their thinking, was unendurable. ‘I know all about diamonds,’ she exclaimed with frustration, ripping the headphones from her head.