The Flaw in His Diamond

‘There’s one thing I don’t understand,’ he said as they lay with their limbs entwined during one of their brief resting periods.

‘Tell me,’ she managed groggily, easing comfortably against him. Roman was so big and she was so small, and yet every part of them fitted so perfectly together. How did that happen?

‘Why were you frightened of men?’

She lifted her head, suddenly wide awake. ‘I’m not afraid of men.’

‘Really?’ Roman murmured. ‘So why haven’t you had any affairs, Eva? You’re not exactly a troll.’

‘Well, thank you for that,’ she mocked. ‘And how do you know I haven’t had hundreds of affairs?’ But then she remembered Roman’s people in Skavanga and their famous reports.

‘I don’t believe you’ve ever allowed a man to kiss you as I kiss you, because that would put too much power in their hands.’

‘Now you’re being ridiculous.’

‘Am I?’

There were some things she never talked about, and she was in no mood to spoil the moment.

‘Relax, Eva. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to tell me.’

But the craziest thing of all was that she wanted to tell him everything, but the memories had been buried so long she couldn’t just flaunt them as if they meant nothing. She didn’t trust herself to go back to that dark place just yet without losing it—without losing him and losing all the gains she had made in confidence.

‘You can’t blame me for being curious about the woman who slammed the door on me at the wedding,’ Roman murmured against the top of her head. ‘Eva the firebrand. Eva the so-called undateable sister—according to my source,’ he quickly said. ‘And, yes, it gets worse,’ he warned, tongue in cheek.

‘Don’t tell me. Eva the shrew? Eva the pain-in-the-butt campaigner.’

‘There are quite a few choice epithets for me to choose from,’ Roman admitted. ‘And some of it I have experienced firsthand, of course.’

‘Lucky for you, I can hear your smile.’

‘But nothing I’ve heard fits the woman I just made love to. So who are you really, Eva Skavanga? Are you the beautiful woman who gave herself so completely to me just now? Or are you the frightened little girl sitting at the top of the stairs, listening to her parents arguing?’

‘How did you...?’ Roman’s sources, she realised. Their damned reports. He must have been investigating her from the moment she landed on the island.

‘I’m sorry, Eva.’ Feeling how tense she was suddenly, he hooked some wild strands of hair behind her ears. She turned away. ‘Look at me,’ he whispered. ‘It didn’t take too much working out. And I don’t mean to hurt you or pry.’

She relaxed as he drew her back into his arms. ‘Then don’t,’ she said.

‘I didn’t mean to stir ugly memories.’

But he had. Would she never be allowed to forget? They remained in silence for a long time. She knew Roman wanted her to tell him what had happened, and that he would listen when she did tell him, and without judging her.

‘So what about you?’ she said, avoiding the question she had successfully avoided for so long. ‘Have you never been in love, Roman?’

His sudden stillness gave her an answer, but not the answer she was looking for. He had withdrawn from her and that frightened her. It was like a hint of things to come. And now she was seriously overreacting, Eva thought, until he said, ‘I have never made any secret of the fact that love is not what I offer.’

The change in his tone chilled her. After all they’d shared was that all she was—a sexual partner and nothing more? Even friendship between them would be better than that, so much better, though she hated herself for wanting more, because it seemed so weak. ‘So you offer spectacular sex and a good deal of spoiling if that’s what a woman wants. Expensive gifts and lavish trips to exotic places.’ When all she wanted was the chance to love and be loved, and to find a safe haven for her children, should she be lucky enough to have children one day.

‘Eva?’ he prompted when she fell silent after this outburst.

It had taken a giant leap of faith to trust Roman Quisvada, having grown up associating men with pain and unhappiness. Having seen her father mistreat her mother had left a lasting legacy, and the way she dealt with it was by trying to drive men away. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ She turned her head away.