I’d had your death on my conscience? Huh, I don’t suppose you even thought of that, did you?’ The hot, impassioned words tumbled out of her. ‘No, of course not, you were too busy being Action Man. Talk about grandstanding!’ She gave a disgusted snort.
It was one of life’s injustices, she reflected bitterly, that men got to do all the glamorous action things and were then patted on the back and told what marvellous chaps they were. While women, because they were delicate and frail creatures, got to wait at home, look after the babies and go prematurely grey.
If Tom ever wanted to do something rash and life-threatening she was going to go with him. It didn’t seem likely her resolve would be put to the test; if anything like that came up Tom would most probably delegate someone else to take care of it—which was the sensible thing to do. You wouldn’t catch Tom rushing into burning buildings for a cat; he would have, quite correctly, left it to a properly qualified person.
Actually, when you thought about it, have-a-go heroes were a bit of a liability.
Katie was disturbed to discover Nikos was looking at her rather too intently. ‘You were scared for me?’ he said, in the shocked manner of someone who had just made an extraordinary discovery.
She strove to calm her laboured breathing. ‘I was…concerned, as I would have been about anyone in the circumstances. Though it seems my fears were groundless. You seem to lead a charmed life,’ she observed heavily.
Her resentful gaze had examined most aspects of his person and she could see no obvious signs of injury other than a bloody gash on his temple. Even if he had emerged unscathed she considered his composure after such an incident abnormal. What did it take to shake this man? Demanding to be kissed would most likely do it. It was almost worth putting the theory to the test…almost!
‘That has been said of me,’ Nikos conceded with one of his charming, high-voltage grins. ‘I’m touched by your concern, but it is unnecessary, I was in no serious danger.’
Katie had a sudden flashback to that awful moment the window had blown out. The metallic taste of fear was once more strong in her mouth as she again experienced that creeping paralysis of dread.
‘Are you all right?’
‘What could be wrong?’ She was beginning to think that maybe he was one of those peculiar men who indulged in extreme sports, the sort that got a kick from risking life and limb.
‘I managed to locate the fire escape,’ he went on to explain, ‘thanks to Alexander who was sitting at the top of it crying. That is, I’m assuming this is Alexander.’ He opened his shirt, revealing a good deal of bare chest in the process, and presented her with a large, dirty cat who, at the prospect of being clutched to his loving owner’s bosom, stopped purring like a steam engine and spat furiously before leaping into space and disappearing into some bushes.
Katie began to laugh a little hysterically. ‘Oh, that’s Alexander, all right, he’s one of a kind. I’m surprised he let you carry him.’
‘He was not too keen on the idea at first,’ Nikos conceded drily. ‘But he came around to it in the end.’ He rubbed his face and revealed in the process a long, nasty-looking scratch.
‘That’s a first, Alexander is not a very…pliable animal. The vet did say he might be a little less aggressive if I had him done, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.’ Nikos’s penetrating eyes held an expression that made her wonder if he didn’t have a hormone issue of his own? The introduction of this possibility made her lose the plot for a second. It was hard to concentrate when illicit thrills were fizzing through your body.
‘Done?’ Nikos echoed, looking puzzled.
Katie slowed her breathing and told herself that a man who had just escaped from the jaws of death was not likely to have sex on his mind. She mimed a snipping action with her fingers—an action guaranteed to pour cold water on the flame of the most persistent male lust—and Nikos gave a very predictable male gulp in response.
‘I don’t want to be responsible for an explosion in the local cat population so I keep him in at night,’ she told him matter-of-factly.
From Nikos’s glazed expression she had the feeling this was more information than he wanted. Not that he looked bored, precisely, more… A little shudder snaked its way down her spine. Perhaps she was way off beam, maybe the thoughts of a sizzling kiss were still on her mind. But while they were standing here talking about cats she felt as though there was a silent conversation going on that had nothing to do with words and everything to do with the way his dark eyes were eating her up.
‘Don’t you think you should do up your shirt? You might catch cold,’ she suggested huskily as her eyes returned for the umpteenth time to the expanse of hard-muscled torso. The olive-toned flesh looked silkily smooth and hard and was dusted across the widest part of his broad chest with a fine sprinkling of dark hair that thinned the nearer his waist it got. Her stomach gave a lazy somersault as she followed the directional arrows.
He laid a hand against his firmly muscled midriff. ‘Actually I feel quite warm.’ For one awful moment Katie though he was going to invite her to feel for herself—an invitation she would obviously have rejected? ‘How about you?’
Katie dabbed her tongue to the tiny beads of sweat along her upper lip and drew a shaky sigh. This time there was no longer any doubt about the undertones in this innocent enquiry. If she’d felt more herself and less like a lustful stranger Katie would have confronted him about his inappropriate flirting…flirting, with its light, frivolous overtones, was actually far too light a term for the erotic verbal games he played.
‘I’m fine,’ she returned, throwing him a look that dared him to contradict her. ‘I’m really sorry about your face.’ Really sorry that it’s so damned beautiful, she thought weakly.
‘I’ll survive.’ He suddenly reached across and pulled a piece of blossom from her hair.
Like a hunted deer being stalked by a wolf, Katie backed up into the tree. Her heart was beating like a war drum as he placed a hand on the smooth trunk above her head. If he leaned any closer their bodies would be touching…the crushing pressure reached the point where her shallow, painful breaths were clearly audible.
‘You weren’t hurt or anything?’ It didn’t really matter what she said, she just had to speak, not only to demonstrate that he hadn’t disturbed or rattled her, but to banish the erotic images from her head.
It did neither; her weak, wispy voice sounded as though it came from a great distance away. As for being undisturbed, she was clearly insane! It was taking literally all of her will-power to prevent herself turning her cheek into the palm that remained close to her face.
‘Mr Lakis, I really must insist that you come with us now. You need to be checked over. Your wife too.’ The paramedic turned to Katie, who tried to gather her wits. ‘I understand from your friend that you too were inside the building earlier.’
It took Katie several seconds to register what he was saying and who he was saying it to. ‘Oh, yes, but I’m fine.’ Wife, he had definitely said wife. Her alarmed blue eyes flew accusingly to Nikos’s face; he returned an insouciant smile. ‘I’m perfectly fine,’ she gritted.
The sexual tension might have dissipated, but she sensed it was still there, waiting beneath the surface to bubble up given the right conditions… Katie resolved never to permit that to happen.
Dark eyes gleaming with mockery, Nikos continued to smile down into her wrathful features. ‘Let’s allow the doctors to decide that, shall we, yineka mou?’
‘Your husband’s right, it’s always best to be on the safe side, and that was quite a tumble you took. Did you do any damage?’
‘You fell?’ Nikos inserted, for all the world as if he actually was a concerned husband.
‘She went down like a stone,’ the other man confirmed. ‘It isn’t exactly