Sophie Weston - The Millionaire Affair

Having surrendered a point by getting into the expensive comfort of his car, Lisa was going to make him fight for every scrap of information he got out of her.

‘What’s it got to do with you?’

Nikolai looked at her out of the corner of his eye. ‘Tatiana,’ he said quietly, ‘is my great-aunt. We don’t see enough of her but that doesn’t mean we forget her. Besides, I am very fond of her.’

‘Oh.’ Lisa bit her lip. She was fond of Tatiana too. To her regret, she had to admit that he had a point.

Nikolai hid a triumphant smile.

‘So, who are you and where do you come from?’ His tone was quite pleasant but it demanded an answer.

Lisa shrugged and gave him one.

‘Lisa Romaine. Tatiana and I go to the same dance studio.’

‘So she said. And that’s not quite what I meant,’ said Nikolai drily.

A faint flicker of resentment returned. ‘What do you want to know?’ she snapped. ‘My ancestry for the last six generations and my bra size?’

He was taken aback.

‘I think we can skip the ancestry,’ he said smoothly. ‘I was thinking along the lines of where you lived before and whether you work.’

Lisa was insulted. ‘Of course I work. I’m Head of Bond Trading at Napier Kraus.’

The car slewed dangerously close to the parked cars. Nikolai braked.

‘Napier Kraus?’ He saw enough of Uncle Dmitri at family gatherings to know the bank’s name—and know that it was not a lightweight institution. ‘You’re a banker?’ he said blankly.

Lisa was pleased with the reaction. ‘I told you. A bond trader.’

‘You don’t look like a banker,’ said Nikolai, unheeding. There was a strong note of indignation in his voice.

‘Oh?’ said Lisa dangerously.

He didn’t notice the danger. ‘You’re too young. Too scruffy. Too—’

‘Female?’

He did hear it then. For a moment his face went blank. Then he glanced sideways at her and drawled very deliberately, ‘Well, you’re certainly not feminine.’

There was a sharp silence. Then Lisa gave a silent whistle.

‘Oh, very nasty,’ she congratulated him in her most affable tone. ‘You must be a real barrel of laughs in the jungle.’

Nikolai was annoyed with himself. ‘I just thought—’

‘Yes?’ She was too angry to let him off the hook. ‘I’d be interested to know just exactly what you did think.’

That was when Nikolai made a tactical error. ‘Tatiana knows some strange people. And she can be—unwary.’

There was a long pause.

Then Lisa said on a note of discovery, ‘You think I’m a con artist.’

He did not deny it.

Lisa began to shake, very slightly.

It had happened before, but not very often. Usually when someone threatened her family; once or twice when it had been Lisa herself in a corner and fighting for the job on which they all depended. It had something to do with survival and a lot more to do with justice.

Now the unfairness of it blinded her. For a glorious moment she lost control of her temper and let it ride her. Straight to the devil, if that was where it wanted to go.

She said sweetly, viciously, ‘After all, a scruff like me couldn’t rent a room in a posh place like this any other way, could she?’

Nikolai was taken aback. He hadn’t expected retaliation so swift or to the point.

‘I shouldn’t have said that you were scruffy,’ he said stiffly. ‘I apologise.’

‘Oh, why bother?’ She gave him a glittering smile. ‘It’s so much easier to do business if you’re straight with each other, don’t you think?’

At once he was very still. ‘Are we going to do business, then?’

Lisa widened her green eyes and gave him her sweetest smile. ‘Aren’t we?’ she asked dulcetly.

She was so angry she could barely hold it together. But she was not going to let him see that. Instead she was going to lead him to think that she was the worst sort of con artist he could imagine—and then show him there was not a thing he could do about it. It was time somebody showed this control freak that he was no master of the universe.

They were back in Stanley Crescent now. There was the tightest possible parking space on the opposite side of the road from Tatiana’s house. Lisa, who did not like driving, thought he would never slot the car into it. She fell silent, in pleased anticipation.

But to her annoyance Nikolai backed in at first go. He hardly seemed to notice the difficult manoeuvre at all. He was frowning, but not about wheel angles.

‘Are you asking me to pay you to leave my aunt’s house?’ he said bluntly.

Lisa inspected her nails.

Nikolai said softly, ‘Let me warn you now. I’m not a good subject for blackmail.’

‘And I’m not a good subject for bullying.’ She gave him a bland smile and unlocked her seat belt. ‘Should make for an interesting negotiation.’

‘I am not,’ said Nikolai between his teeth, ‘going to negotiate with a woman like you.’

Lisa could feel the rage in him. And the frustration. It gave her a heady sense of power that almost swamped the effect of the insult. Almost.

‘Up to you,’ she said, and reached for her shopping.

His hand closed over her arm. For a moment Lisa blinked in real alarm. He was shockingly strong. Suddenly she could believe in his jungle prowess. Quickly she reminded herself that she was not afraid of him. She even gave a scornful laugh.

Their eyes met. Lisa’s expression dared him. Nikolai’s grip relaxed a fraction. But he did not let her go.

‘Don’t even think about it,’ he said.

‘About what?’

‘Taking me on.’ He let her go and drew back, considering her with a connoisseur’s deliberation. ‘You can’t win, you know.’

‘I can do anything I choose,’ Lisa said calmly. ‘I have something you want and we both know it.’

The atmosphere in the car was suddenly arctic.

‘Oh?’ Nikolai sounded mildly interested, but Lisa knew he was wound up tight as a spring. ‘And what do you think that is?’

She showed her teeth.

‘Squatters’ rights.’

Lisa swung out of the car. Nikolai didn’t move to prevent her. He was sitting very still, his expression frozen.

At last Lisa gave vent to her fury, if only for a moment. She slammed the car door with the full force of her arm. Nikolai winced.

She crossed the street without looking back.

Nikolai picked up the car phone and dialled.

‘Hi, Tom,’ he said when it was answered. ‘I’m going to have to take a raincheck on lunch. Something’s come up.’

‘And Sedgewick? What do I do with him? I’m not the one who wants to go with him to Borneo.’

‘Hang onto him. I’ll be over later.’

Tom was not best pleased. ‘He goes at teatime, whether you’ve caught her by then or not,’ said Tom firmly.

Nikolai grinned for the first time in what seemed like hours.

‘Caught her? I don’t know what you mean.’

Tom ignored that. ‘How long have I known you, Nicki? Put the skirt on ice for the afternoon. If you really want to go on this expedition.’

Nikolai was injured. ‘You’ve got a suspicious mind. I am dealing with my great-aunt’s affairs.’

‘Affairs, I believe,’ Tom said drily. ‘Four o’clock, latest. Or forget Borneo.’ He hung up.

Nikolai got out of the car.

As soon as Lisa let herself in to the house she saw that Tatiana’s door was now open. Immediately Tatiana herself appeared, almost as if she was waiting for her.

‘Are you all right?’ the older woman asked.

‘Of course I’m all right,’ said Lisa furiously. ‘Did you think your nephew would bombard me with poison darts?’

Tatiana blinked. She hadn’t seen Lisa in a temper before.

‘He—er—said you’d met.’