LITMIR.BIZ

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prove he could?

      And he had as much hope of achieving that as a snowflake’s chance in hell, she vowed as she slipped off her heeled pumps and discarded the beaded gown.

      Make-up removal came next, then she donned a nightshirt and slid into bed, all too aware that sleep was never more distant.

      After an hour of tossing restlessly from one position to another she pulled on a wrap and made her way downstairs to the indoor pool adjacent the gym. There, she cast aside the wrap and dived neatly into the sparkling, crystal-clear water.

      Katrina stroked several lengths, then changed style, enjoying the feel of cool water against her skin as she covered length after length.

      It was mindless exercise, but one she welcomed in a bid to bring on a state of semi-exhaustion that would enable sleep.

      Maybe then Nicos’s image wouldn’t haunt her, or invade her dreams.

      Her muscles were beginning to tire, and her breathing was no longer smooth or even. Time to stop, she decided as she reached the tiled edge, then rested there for several long seconds as she caught her breath and smoothed excess water from her hair.

      ‘Had enough?’

      She gasped at the sound of that familiar male drawl, and went under as she’d inadvertently released her hold on the pool’s edge.

      Seconds later she rose to the surface, spluttering with indignation. ‘You frightened the life out of me! How did you know I was down here?’

      ‘Sensor security,’ Nicos informed. ‘A modem beeps beside my bed if lights are activated inside the house after the alarm is set.’

      Katrina trod water as she tilted her head to look at him. It seemed a long way up! ‘So you decided to investigate.’ In the reflected pool lighting he resembled a dark angel, and his navy towelling robe made her supremely conscious she wasn’t wearing so much as a stitch.

      There were towels stacked in a nearby cupboard, but she’d have to emerge from the pool and walk several steps to reach one.

      ‘Are you through expending excess energy?’

      ‘Yes.’ Please, God, he wouldn’t guess why she’d chosen a midnight exercise stint.

      He hunkered down and extended a hand. ‘I’ll help you out.’

      ‘One way to help would be to fetch me a towel,’ she declared dryly.

      ‘Skinny-dipping?’

      Suspicion darkened her eyes. ‘Just how long have you been standing there?’

      ‘A few minutes.’

      She scooped up a handful of water and aimed it at him. ‘You fiend!’

      Nicos rose to his feet, loosened the tie on his robe, discarded it, and dived into the pool to emerge close beside her.

      ‘Now we’re on equal ground.’

      Katrina lashed out a hand, and had it caught before it could connect. ‘Let me go.’

      His smile held a dangerous quirk that made her instantly wary.

      ‘Please,’ she added quietly, desperate to put some distance between them. He was too close, too physical, too much.

      ‘Is it me you don’t trust,’ Nicos mused thoughtfully. ‘Or yourself?’

      She swallowed the faint lump that had risen in her throat. ‘I won’t play mouse to your cat.’

      ‘Is that what you think I’m doing…playing?’

      Her gaze was steady. ‘I think you’re deriving a certain amount of amusement from the situation.’

      ‘And you’d like to escape?’

      ‘I’d like to get out of the pool,’ Katrina corrected.

      ‘Then, go, pedhi mou,’ he bade. ‘I won’t stop you.’

      She watched as he moved away from her and stroked a leisurely pace towards the end of the pool.

      With quick movements she levered her body onto the tiled surround, stood to her feet and quickly pulled on her discarded robe.

      She should have felt cold, for the water had been cool, but instead heat flooded her veins and her heartbeat quickened measurably as she extracted a towel and wound it into a turban over her wet hair.

      This wasn’t the first time she’d shared the pool, naked, with Nicos. Except then… No, she determined resolutely, don’t think about then.

      Without a backward glance she quickly negotiated the two flights of stairs to her bedroom, showered and shampooed her hair before engaging the hair-drier, then she slid into bed.

      A faint groan left her lips as she caught sight of the time. In too few hours her alarm would sound and she’d need to rise, change, pack an overnight bag, and leave for the airport.

       CHAPTER SIX

      MELBOURNE was a vast, cosmopolitan city with wide, tree-lined streets, electric trams, and changeable weather.

      It was two years since Katrina had visited, and little seemed to have changed as the cab took a familiar route from the airport.

      The hotel was a modern structure on the hill overlooking the city’s heart, and within minutes of checking in Katrina and Nicos rode the glass-faceted lift to a high floor.

      Their suite undoubtedly had a stunning view but, whilst there was a lounge area containing two deep-seated chairs, a coffee table, a desk with phone and fax machine, there was only one bedroom, not two, of which the focal point was a king-size bed.

      ‘If you think I’m sharing that with you, you can think again,’ Katrina declared as Nicos deposited their hand luggage.

      ‘We share a house,’ Nicos reminded her, slanting a hard glance.

      ‘But not a room,’ she argued. ‘Especially not a bed.’

      ‘Afraid of me, or yourself?’

      She opened her mouth, then closed it again. ‘That doesn’t even qualify an answer.’

      He unfolded two shirts and hung them in the wardrobe, took his toiletry bag through to the en suite.

      Katrina mirrored his actions, shaking out the slither of uncrushable silk georgette she intended wearing to dinner and transferring it onto a hanger.

      She was damned if she’d share the same bed with him. One of the comfortable chairs in the adjoining lounge area would suffice. Better, she could push the two together and arrange a makeshift bed with a pillow and extra blanket.

      The niggle of irritation joined a deeper, more significant disturbance in the region of her heart as the reality of sharing this suite began to manifest itself.

      Oh, get a grip, she admonished silently. They were here primarily for business purposes. They’d have lunch, attend the meeting, return to the hotel to shower and change, then enjoy dinner with Nicos’s cousin, Stavros Kidas, and his wife, Eleni.

      Lunch was pleasant, the food excellent in the hotel’s exclusive à la carte restaurant, and Katrina began to relax a little.

      They didn’t linger long over coffee, and took a cab out to view the two adjoining sites.

      Activity on two adjacent blocks merely confirmed Nicos’s independent investigation, determining without doubt the intentions a major developer had for the entire block.

      ‘They’re going to rase everything,’ Katrina opined, observing two old cottages that had stood for a century. They looked vacant, and soon to follow the fate of two equally old dwellings on their eastern boundary.

      Kevin had negotiated

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