‘So, what would you have done,’ he enquired coolly, ‘if a few of the ruffians who infest that part of the city had decided to try their luck with you?’ Completely ignoring my attempts to get free, he leaned closer. Even in the darkness that had taken hold of the room, from this close I could see his eyes clearly now. They were dark pools, swallowing everything, demanding more. ‘Well? What would you have done?’
‘I wouldn’t have needed to do anything! The guards were with me!’
‘True. And what if Karim, in his commendable foresight, hadn’t sent half of them with you?’
‘I still wouldn’t have been alone! There was someone with me who-’
My voice trailed off as the darkness in Mr Ambrose’s eyes flared, and the muscles of his jaw tightened. I knew instantly that he had seen Captain Carter. I also knew that mentioning him had been a bad idea. A very, very bad idea.
Oops…
‘Yes,’ he said. His voice, only Icelandic so far, had moved to arctic temperatures. ‘I noticed. Tell me, just out of curiosity… Who was that man?’
‘What man?’ I tried to play innocent. The only problem was I had never been particularly innocent.
‘The man who brought you to the hotel. Tall, brown hair, a ridiculous speck of beard on his chin.’
‘It’s not ridiculous! And I don’t know a man like that anyway!’
‘Answer me! Who was he?’
I tried to shrug. This isn’t very easy to do when both your shoulders are in the unbreakable grip of a muscular financial magnate, but I did my best.
‘Just someone I know from London. We accidentally bumped into each other. Don’t worry, he doesn’t know we’re staying here under false names. I took care of it.’
Mr Ambrose cocked his head. Shadows moved across his face, casting his already dark eyes into deeper blackness.
‘Just someone you know?’
‘Yes!’
‘A mere acquaintance?’
‘Yes, exactly.’
‘Ah.’ A pause. A very heavy, very dark pause. ‘I didn’t know it was common for mere acquaintances to kiss a lady’s hand on departure, nowadays.’
Blast! He had seen that? I felt my face heat. Double and triple blast! Thank God my skin was so tanned and it was dark in the room!
What was I blushing for, anyway? If Captain Carter wanted to kiss my hand, he could do so all day long, and there was nothing Mr Ambrose could say or do about it!
‘I didn’t know it was common for people to spy on other people’s farewells, nowadays,’ I shot back.
‘It isn’t,’ he told me coldly. ‘That’s just something I do.’
‘You are insufferable!’
‘Respect, my dear, respect.’ His voice was silky, unusually soft with threat. ‘I am your husband after all.’
‘You? You are an arrogant, calculating bastard with an iceberg for a heart!’
‘That, too.’
‘Let go!’
‘No!’
‘I’m going to kill you!’