His eyes crinkled at the corners as he returned her smile. ‘Did you know that you purr in your sleep?’ he asked.
‘You’re making that up!’ Eva refuted indignantly, her cheeks warming as she turned fully to face him.
‘No, I’m not,’ he assured her indulgently as he reached out to touch the hair at her temple. ‘You sounded like a contented kitten.’
That was probably because she felt like a contented kitten: warm, intensely satisfied and safe.
Safe?
How could she possibly feel sa
fe when she now knew that Markos was capable of breaching every barrier she had ever placed about her bruised emotions?
And yet that was exactly how Eva felt—safe, cared for, even cherished. So unwise when it came to this particular man! Eva knew better than most how ephemeral Markos’s relationships had been and always would be, and she had no intention of falling for a man who chose to fill a woman’s life before leaving it—and her—totally empty when he chose to walk away. She had already been burned so very badly once in her life. She certainly didn’t need—
‘You are thinking again,’ Markos rebuked gently, as his fingers moved to smooth the frown from Eva’s creamy brow. ‘Perhaps it is time for more food…?’
‘Good idea.’ Her smile didn’t reach those golden eyes as she turned away to throw back the bedcover. ‘If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go and take a shower while you look for something to eat.’
She picked up the black silk robe and shrugged into it in such a way that Markos couldn’t see her nakedness, before standing up to tie the belt tightly around her waist.
‘I can’t say I exactly like the idea of going home in a black silk evening gown in the middle of the afternoon!’ She wrinkled her nose in distaste.
Markos lay relaxed against the pillows as he looked at her from between narrowed lids, one of his knees bent and raised as a shield to the rampant hardness of his arousal. One look at a tousled Eva when he woke up, along with listening to those soft little purring noises she made in her sleep, and that part of him had immediately perked up and taken an interest!
‘Who said anything about your going home in the middle of the afternoon…?’
Eva frowned as she looked across at him uncertainly. ‘I think I’ve already been here long enough, don’t you?’
Markos gave a shrug. ‘I have no other plans for the rest of the day. Do you?’
‘Well…no, not exactly.’ She shifted uncomfortably, obviously having no idea how the silk material of robe once again outlined the fullness of her breasts. ‘I do have to things to do before work in the morning, though.’
‘Such as?’
Eva frowned. ‘How about I take a shower and we talk about this again afterwards?’ she said briskly. ‘I’d really like to freshen up now.’
As it was almost twenty-four hours since Markos had last taken a shower, he could perfectly understand Eva’s need to freshen up; he could do with a shave and a shower himself.
‘You’ll find a spare toothbrush in the bathroom cabinet.’
Eva raised dark, mocking brows. ‘Really?’
Markos could almost see the cogs of her imagination turning. ‘There’s also a spare razor in there—but you really shouldn’t infer anything from that!’ he drawled dryly.
Colour flared in her cheeks. ‘Very funny!’
Markos gave another shrug. ‘Just in case you were wondering.’
‘I wasn’t!’
Oh, yes, she most definitely had been. And Markos knew it hadn’t been in a good way. ‘What have I done since we met to give you the idea I make a habit of bringing women home to spend the weekend with me?’ He moved up on one elbow to look at her from between narrowed lids.
Nothing since the two of them had met, Eva accepted. His pursuit of her this past week or so had been completely single-minded. But she couldn’t allow herself to forget his reputation of coldness towards a woman once he had decided he no longer wanted them in his life. As with her cousin Donna.
‘Nothing at all,’ she dismissed lightly. ‘Is this the bathroom over here?’ She indicated the closed door on the right of the bedroom.
Markos shook his head. ‘The dressing room. Where you will find several of my shirts hanging up if you don’t want to put your dress back on.’