The Flaw in His Diamond

‘So we’re okay?’

‘Eva...’ Britt shook her head as she threw her sister a wry smile. ‘We’ve never been anything but okay.’

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

ALMOST TWO MONTHS had passed. Two interminable months. Confrontation had never frightened Roman. His business life was composed of little else. In business he made objective decisions. With Eva that had never been possible, because always emotion got in the way. He resented every angry word and thought they’d shared. In hindsight they all seemed such a waste of passion. These past couple of months had been the hardest of his life. He had wanted to give her a fair shot at a job she had told him she had always dreamed of. He wanted to give her a chance to cool down from the nuclear fusion that occurred every time they were together. Unfortunately, two months had proved to be in no way long enough for the initials Eva had carved in his heart to heal.

‘Sharif—yes?’ he said, absent-mindedly picking up the phone.

‘Not Sharif. I’m just using his phone, Roman.’

‘Britt?’ he sat up, instantly anxious. ‘Is everything all right? Is Eva okay?’

‘Is everything okay with us? Yes,’ she confirmed. ‘With you? I doubt it.’

‘Never mind me. Just tell me about Eva.’ He hunched his shoulders as he pressed the phone closer to his ear.

‘How long are you going to do this to yourself, Roman?’

‘Do what?’

‘Stay away. Eva’s a changed person since she came out to see you.’

‘Changed how? Good? Bad?’

There was silence and then an impatient huff. ‘Why don’t you come back here and find out for yourself?’

‘Too much to do and never enough time to do it.’

‘That sounds like an excuse to me.’

‘Everything sounds like an excuse to you. That’s why we hired you to run the company.’

‘Yeah, well, when it affects my family I’m even less amused. Come for the party, at least, Roman. Come and see what Eva has achieved here. Or is that too much to ask?’

He ground his jaw. No one gave him instructions. No one but the Skavanga Diamonds, he amended silently. ‘I can’t promise anything.’

‘Yeah, that pretty much tallies with what Eva told me about you.’

‘She confided in you?’

‘She doesn’t need to, Roman. She’s my sister. I can read her like a book. So are you coming to the party or not?’

He stared into space for just long enough for Britt to exclaim something extremely unladylike.

‘Okay, Britt, that’s enough. I’ll see you—’

‘Not if I see you first,’ she snapped.

He stared at the dead receiver in his hand. What was it about these women? Were they born awkward, or did the frigid Arctic temperatures freeze the female gene out of them?

It didn’t help that there was daily contact between him and Eva, and it was almost time for her mail. She was meticulous with her reports on progress at the mine. He studied them for the slightest hint that she was missing him, but had found no sign of that so far. Eva Skavanga, the most emotional woman he had ever known, had been transformed into a paragon of restraint and proper conduct. In fairness, she was doing a great job in Skavanga. And Britt was right. He was doing less well. According to his people on the ground, Eva had galvanised everyone into action, and the mining museum was now a reality under discussion with architects and geologists, rather than a pipe dream, and he had missed out on being part of the action.

So why was he sitting here in his office in Abu Dhabi, while Eva was half a world away in Skavanga?

Because it was business as usual and he hadn’t lost his golden touch. He’d made a third fortune.

And his life was so full.

Staring at spreadsheets and bank balances really made up for the loss of Eva Skavanga in his life. Like hell it did! He missed her fire and temperament. He missed the chaos she brought to his life. And who listened to Eva’s concerns? Had she made up with Britt? She must have done by now, he guessed. Was Leila home from university, or was Eva all on her own? He had people in Skavanga he could ask, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that. He felt guilty enough already. He’d asked everything of Eva and had given her nothing but a job.

He brightened the moment he heard mail drop. It was that time of day. It had to be a mail from Eva with her latest report.