Eva gave up all pretence of putting food on her plate and straightened warily. ‘We do…?’
‘Yes,’ Markos rasped.
She gave a puzzled shake of her head. ‘I’m afraid you’re going to have to be a little more explicit than that if you expect me to know what you’re talking about.’
Markos stood up abruptly, too filled with impatient restlessness to sit at the breakfast bar any longer. ‘I am curious to know why you have not mentioned that you are acquainted with Donna Cresswell—the woman who you surely know was my PA in London until a few weeks ago?’
‘Ah.’
‘Yes—ah,’ Markos bit out evenly, not in the least comforted by the way the colour had leeched from Eva’s cheeks.
To say that Markos had been surprised to recognise the name of the Englishwoman making the call to Eva’s mobile phone earlier was putting it mildly. It was the same Englishwoman who had once been his PA—a PA he had been forced to dismiss some weeks ago under less than pleasant circumstances.
Eva’s obvious dismay now only seemed to confirm his earlier suspicion that perhaps this was the reason behind those two cancelled appointments made by interior designer Evangeline Grey, and behind her dismissive manner towards him the evening Markos had introduced himself to her at Senator Ashcroft’s cocktail party. He also strongly suspected there was a distinct possibility Donna Cresswell might have told her friend Eva a different version of those events of six weeks ago.
‘The two of you are friends…?’ he prompted evenly.
She swallowed before answering. ‘Cousins.’
Cousins? Eva and the machinating Donna Cresswell were cousins?
Markos’s thoughts were now in such disarray he had no idea what to think about this less than welcome revelation. ‘I thought you said yours was not a close family.’
She flinched. ‘It isn’t.’
‘With the exception of yourself and your cousin Donna, it would seem?’
Her gaze avoided meeting his. ‘We aren’t exactly what I would call close, either. We saw a lot of each other when we were children, but not so much any more.’
‘But you are still close enough that you exchange regular telephone calls?’
‘Occasional telephone calls,’ she corrected distractedly.
His nostrils flared. ‘And your cousin never mentioned to you the name of her current employer during these “occasional” telephone calls?’
‘Well, of course she mentioned you!’ Eva eyed him exasperatedly.
‘And what, exactly, did she say about me? From your earlier attitude towards me nothing complimentary, I would guess.’ His mouth twisted scathingly.
‘Considering the way things ended so badly between the two of you—’
‘Badly?’ he repeated harshly. ‘I had to dismiss your cousin for behaviour that was not only unprofessional but also less than acceptable to me personally!’
Eva frowned. ‘Admittedly Donna should have had more sense than to fall in love with you, but I would hardly call that—’
‘Eva, I have no idea what your cousin has told you of our past…association, but I somehow doubt, from your comment just now, she can have mentioned that I was less than pleased the evening I returned to my hotel suite and found her naked in my bed!’ His eyes darkened angrily at the memory.
Eva’s frown was pained. ‘If that really happened—’
‘Oh, I assure you it did!’
‘Then I agree. It wasn’t the wisest move on Donna’s part.’
Eva grimaced, having had no idea until that moment of the extremes her cousin had gone to in order to try and revive her relationship with Markos. Although it did sound like the sort of thing Donna would do…
‘But it was hardly grounds for dismissal, when she was obviously only reacting to the fact that she was so unhappy you had ended your personal relationship.’
His brows rose into his hairline. ‘We did not have a personal relationship.’