Caught in His Gilded World

Gigi didn’t know why, but something very heavy that she hadn’t even known was pressing down on her chest suddenly wasn’t there any more.

‘I guess people write all sorts of nonsense about you. I should know.’

‘Some of the nonsense I don’t mind. The truth is none of the women I’ve been involved with are the kind of people I’d bring here.’

There was a lot to unpack there, so Gigi went with, ‘Too glamorous?’

He grunted noncommittally, which made Gigi think she’d got it right.

‘So I’m the mountaineering kind?’

‘You don’t strike me as particularly outdoorsy, Gigi.’

‘Oh, I am. I’ve just never climbed a mountain before.’

‘There’s a first time for everything.’

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

HE SHOWED HER waterfalls where the water was crystalline and made love to her in a hot stream where the minerals were said to cure everything from aches and pains to old age—neither of which were on Gigi’s mind as her wet, naked body cleaved to his against a slippery boulder, where they were afforded the smallest privacy from anyone else trekking in the area.

They climbed high enough to find wild mountain goats grazing on meadow grass and he told her about his youth, working as a shepherd with his stepfather’s flock. About his dog, his knife and the wild animals he’d encountered.

He told her about the threat from poachers who had nearly wiped out the entire mountain bison population here. He took her up to the top of Mount Elbrus by chopper and pointed out the area where his company was putting in a resort using prefabricated eco-friendly modules from Denmark.

‘The more eco-tourism we encourage into the region the further we can push the poachers out.’

Gigi understood his commitment to the natural world. How he kept it in tandem with the oil holdings that had made his fortune. And it made sense that he was diversifying as he moved further away from an industry known to be aggressive against the planet. How could you grow up in this place and not care about keeping it alive?

She knew now that he was an extraordinary man—nothing like the one-dimensional, showgirl-eating beast the whole of Paris believed was going to devour their candy-coloured theatre. He was her lover, and she thought her friend, and really she’d do better with the latter.

Maybe when this was all over she could keep him as a friend.

But that wasn’t likely, was it? Her pain when this was over was going to be intense. They were sexually involved now and there was no going back from that.

Nobody lived in that world.

Nor would she want to.

They headed for the truck. It was the middle of the afternoon and everything was bathed in sparkling sunlight.

It was difficult to believe this had ever been a place of darkness for Khaled.

But it had, and she didn’t want to ignore that. He hadn’t ignored her poor, damaged feet.

She angled a look up at his beautiful broad features. ‘How old were you when you left here?’

He stopped, and the look on his face had her heart pounding like a drum. He looked...surprised, then thoughtful. She’d expected him to clam up.

‘Do you remember the highway we came in on? When I was fifteen I filled a duffel bag and hiked up it all the way to Nalchik.’

‘For a job?’

‘You could say that. I was working for the local crime boss.’

‘Oh,’ said Gigi.

‘Welcome to twenty-first century Russia, malenki.’

‘I take it you did well out of it?’

‘Well enough to start selling black market imports at a local market.’

‘I guess you did well out of that too?’

‘Enough to invest with a friend in a company. Then I did national service. After that I made the move to Moscow.’

He folded his arms, his sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He looked so inherently masculine as he surveyed the valley around them that he took her breath away.

‘It doesn’t say any of this on the internet.’

He gave her a bemused look, but there was affection in it. ‘I don’t broadcast it, Gisele.’

No, but he’d told her.

‘Why did you leave when you were fifteen, Khaled, when you clearly have this place in your blood?’

The remnants of his smile reconfigured into something she had seen in his face before when he talked about his past but hadn’t understood.

‘I would have killed him if I’d stayed.’