‘I think it will look better on you than it looks on me.’
‘Oh, Roman...’ Emotion overcame her and she was lost for words for a moment as he fastened the precious chain around her neck.
‘I’ve got something else for you.’
‘And what’s that?’ She frowned as Roman drew her deeper into the shadows at the side of the impromptu stage.
‘Your bonus,’ he said.
‘I thought I already had that,’ she teased as they smiled into each other’s eyes.
‘It is usual to reward particularly successful staff.’
‘I’m very glad I pleased you, sir,’ she said, bobbing him a mock curtsy.
‘Oh, you did. You do. So now I want you to accept this.’
‘What is it?’ she said, unfolding the sheet of paper.
‘A flight plan to Rome.’
‘Are you serious?’
‘Never more so. I love you, Eva Skavanga. I love you more than life itself. And I did warn you what would happen if you tossed that coin into the fountain. We have to go back to Rome. What? You don’t want to?’ He was surprised by the look on Eva’s face.
‘Can’t you get someone else to fly the plane?’
‘Yes.’ He frowned. ‘Why? Don’t you trust me to get us there safely?’
‘Of course I do, but I’ve got plans for you, and, adventurous though we are, I don’t think we should risk the cockpit. You never know what I might sit on.’
‘I’ve got a pretty good idea.’ And taking hold of her hand, he held her gaze with his wicked eyes as he raised her fingers to his lips.
EPILOGUE
BEING CONTRARY, EVA got everything the wrong way around, and so they took a honeymoon in Rome before they got married on the island. They travelled in Roman’s private jet and, as planned, they sampled every surface that would support them along the way, and a few that threatened not to do so, especially when turbulence intervened, tipping them both up hard against the bulkhead.
‘Remind me never to listen to your suggestions again,’ Roman said as he picked her up and set her down on his knee. ‘These are perfectly decent seats. Why don’t we use them?’
‘All of them?’ Eva raised an optimistic brow as she glanced around the cabin.
Roman shot a look at his watch. ‘There should be time.’
‘Don’t you dare short-change me,’ she warned.
‘And don’t push me, lady, or I might have to work on instilling more discipline into you.’
‘Than you already have? Oh, please,’ she purred. ‘Discipline’s exactly what’s been missing from my life all these years, but thankfully that’s changed now. Shall I position myself over your knee?’
‘Later, I think. There’s something I must do first.’
‘Won’t it wait?’
‘Straddle me and find out.’
‘Must I?’
‘I think you must.’
She heaved a sigh. ‘How do the cabin attendants know when to make themselves scarce, by the way?’
‘There’s a call button?’ Roman informed her patiently.
‘We haven’t given them much to do.’
‘If you’re hungry—’
‘Oh, I am,’ she assured him. ‘But I very much doubt they carry what I need in the galley.’
‘Almost certainly not,’ he agreed. ‘Are you sitting comfortably?’
Her answer was to throw back her head and sigh with delight.
‘Then I’ll begin...’
* * *
They travelled by private launch to the island, where they were to get married at sunset on the beach, surrounded by friends and family. Leila was the first person to greet them on the jetty. Eva’s younger sister seemed flushed and unusually animated as they hugged, and it didn’t take Eva long to work out why. The answer came at supper that evening, when the sisters and the three men in the consortium met for a celebratory meal on the night before the wedding.
Sheikh Sharif was of course married to Eva’s sister Britt, and Roman was definitely spoken for, but Raffa Leon, the frighteningly brutal-looking Duke of Cantalabria, was reportedly unattached, and it made Eva’s heart judder with apprehension to see her gentle little sister choose a seat opposite the grim-faced duke.
Why? Eva wondered as she watched Leila field the duke’s acerbic commentary with thoughtful observations of her own. Why must opposites attract?