It was a fragility that Rafe believed might snap and break, shattering Nina along with it, if he said or did the wrong thing to her.
Which was the only reason Rafe hadn’t taken Nina into his arms and kissed her senseless the moment he had closed the office door behind her.
Nina looked so brittle at the moment she was only capable of showing two responses to any attempt Rafe might make to hold her in his arms. One, she would fight him, biting and scratching with every bit of strength she possessed. Two, that fragile outer shell she held so tightly about her would crack wide open and she would disintegrate in front of his eyes. The first Rafe would withstand gladly, the second would utterly destroy him.
As it would destroy Nina.
And he didn’t want that to happen. Nina’s shy but rebellious spirit was one of the many things he had admired about her from the moment he first met her—was it really only a week ago?
That initial admiration had widened, and now included her unassuming beauty, her gentle sense of humour, her passion, the warmth of her heart, so evident when she spoke of her father.
A warmth so noticeably missing today whenever she spoke of Dmitri.
Rafe drew in a slow, measured breath, determined not to do or say anything that would shake the fragility of the tight control Nina had over her emotions. ‘Nina...’
‘I realise it would have been more businesslike to have made an appointment first, but I’ve brought in some sketches of my designs to show you,’ she told him briskly, indicating the folder she carried in her left hand.
His brows rose at her use of the word ‘businesslike’.
‘Your designs?’
Her smile lacked any warmth or humour. ‘I found myself with a lot of time on my hands over the weekend.’
Rafe winced.
Not only had Nina not spent the day with him yesterday, as he had hoped she would following the two of them spending the night together, but he also knew that after walking out of her father’s apartment on Saturday evening Nina had gone down to her own apartment, packed a suitcase, and left the building altogether.
Because of something Dmitri had told her after they had returned home from the gala opening on Saturday evening. A conversation Nina had found so painful that she had apparently walked out of her father’s apartment, swearing she would never forgive Dmitri for what he had done.
Quite what that was Rafe had no idea. Dmitri had remained close-mouthed about the details of that conversation when Rafe had repeatedly pressed him for answers. All Dmitri was interested in was finding Nina, and, as Rafe had shared that concern, the two men had reached an uneasy truce on the reasons for her disappearance.
Nor, it seemed, had Nina come to Rafe today for any other reason than to show him her designs.
When Rafe had been hoping she had come to be with him because she needed him.
As he needed her.
Rafe had been shocked yesterday to learn that Dmitri hadn’t seen Nina since Saturday night either. Having discovered Nina was missing on Sunday morning, after eluding her security guards, Dmitri had gone straight to Rafe’s apartment to look for her.
Only to learn that Rafe hadn’t seen her since Saturday evening either.
Michael had walked in on the heated argument that followed as Rafe and Dmitri threw accusations at each other, out of their concern for Nina rather than any real anger towards each other. Having calmed the situation down enough to find out what the problem was, Michael had even offered to cancel his flight back to Paris in order to help them look for Nina. An offer Rafe had thanked him for but refused, knowing that he and Dmitri were the ones who had to look for her. Who had to find her. They had to ensure that she was safe.
The two men had spent most of yesterday calling any and all of Nina’s friends or acquaintances to see if they had seen or heard from her. None of them had. Following that they had called hotel after hotel to see if a Nina Palitov had booked in late on Saturday night. When those calls had turned up nothing, they had widened the search to the suburbs, to any and all places Nina might have stayed since she had walked out on him.
All to no avail; Nina was out there somewhere, but she obviously didn’t want to be found.
Rafe had hoped that didn’t include by him, but her comment just now would seem to imply that she hadn’t even been aware he would bother looking for her when she hadn’t arrived at his apartment on Saturday night, as she had said she would. And maybe he deserved that dismissal; Nina had no way of knowing that Rafe had thought of little else but her since the moment he first met her.
And now, when she was hurting so badly, because of the things her father had told her, wasn’t the right time for Rafe to tell her how he felt, either.
‘You know, Nina...’ he spoke softly ‘...whatever your father has done, whatever he’s said to you, nothing and no one is ever as completely black or completely white as they appear, and those shady areas of grey can be—’