While she had never truly loved anyone outside of her family. Though she’d had loss there. Tragic loss. Her mother … and then Xander leaving when she’d needed him so badly to stay.
“She was … ill. It was time when it happened. There was nothing more to be done.” His tone was flat, devoid of emotion. She could feel it, though, not in his tone, but coming from within. She wasn’t sure how, only that she did.
“I … my mother died,” she said. “Very suddenly. I don’t … really remember her, but I miss her anyway. I don’t think it’s ever easy.”
“No,” he said. “It never is. I’m sorry about your mother.”
“I’m sorry about your wife. Truly.”
“Thank you,” he said, in that same monotone as before.
“Will we land soon?” she asked. The subject of his wife was closed, she could feel that radiating from him. He didn’t want to go into detail, and she didn’t blame him. But she wanted to know. She wanted to help somehow, even if she knew it was impossible.
“Another hour. Hopefully the weather will be clear.”
She grimaced. “I don’t really like flying all that much. The rough-landing thing doesn’t appeal.”
“The chalet is up in the mountains. It’s very snowy and the winds can get intense. But don’t worry, if it’s bad we’ll circle, or we’ll get permission to land at the airport and take a helicopter up later.”
“I’m liking the helicopter idea even less.”
“I’ll put a word in with the one who controls the weather and see what I can do for you.”
“Now you really are making me feel silly.”
“I’m sorry. For what it’s worth, you aren’t.” He paused. “I would rather fly than drive, but driving is more practical for quick trips.”
“You didn’t seem to have a problem driving me around Thysius.”
“Yes. I do it anyway. But I don’t care for it. So I understand.”
That simple olive branch made her eyes sting. He was trying to understand her. Trying to make her feel that he cared, even if it was only because he was good at reading people and would rather have her soothed than edgy.
It was still more than she’d come to expect from people.
Stavros was wonderful, but he was distant. He ran a corporation that provided a huge portion of the funding for the national budget of Kyonos. And as hard as he worked, he played just as hard. Which left very little time for the two of them to see each other.
She was also thirteen years his junior, which had always made her far too young for him to relate to as a peer. Even if things were catching up now. And Xander was gone. His duty abandoned. Off doing whatever he pleased, not sparing a thought to his family. So he didn’t do her any good either. “Thank you,” she said. “For that. For … making me feel better.”
“That’s just the champagne talking.”
She laughed. “No, I think it’s you.”
His expression changed, his face hardening. “Well, don’t get used to it. I can’t maintain any level of charm for an extended length of time.”
“I don’t think that’s true.”
“No, Eva,” he said. “It’s true. On that you can trust me. I’m not a nice man. The sooner you realize that the better.”
His words sent a shiver through her. “You say that. But you should know that I’m a very stubborn woman. I’m not going to believe that simply because you told me it was true.”
“You would be better off if you did.”
“And I think you’ll be better off if I challenge you.”
He shook his head and pushed the call button on his chair. “Now I need a drink. It’s going to be a long two weeks.”
The descent and landing went smoothly. Eva watched as the pristine white ground drew closer, and the plane touched down on the cleared landing strip.
The chalet’s property was in an open, shallow bowl on the side of a mountain, peaks rising up on all sides, dusted with evergreens and covered by a heavy layer of snow, smooth and perfect, like fondant on a wedding cake.
An ironic observation since she was so desperate to avoid having a wedding cake made in her honor. Well, that wasn’t strictly true. She would be happy to get married if she was in love.
That brought to mind thoughts of Mak’s wife. It made her heart squeeze tight.
“Your luggage will have been unloaded and put in the back of the car that’s waiting for us,” Mak said, standing and making his way to the door as it lowered, and a rush of cold, thin air flooded the cabin.
“Wow,” she said, grabbing the wool coat that she’d laid across the couch she was sitting on and shrugging it on as she stood. “Chilly here. Much colder than Kyonos ever gets.”
“Have you seen much snow?”
“Not a lot. We’ve gone on skiing vacations a few times, but nothing recently. I confess, I’ve never been a huge fan of it.”
“Why’s that?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Well, it’s cold. And then when it melts it’s wet. And then you’re cold and wet, so I fail to see the appeal.”
Mak put on a wool coat, black, like everything else he owned. “I’m used to it. But then, it snows a lot in Russia.”
“Of course,” she said, stepping out of the plane and descending the stairs, trying to take in the vastness of the scenery. It was all quiet, completely still, the only sound coming from snow sliding off tree limbs in the distance. “Did you play in the snow?”
“Sometimes. I worked from an early age. Not uncommon there. My family didn’t have a lot of money so I helped where I could.”
“That must have been hard.”
“Not at all. It was better. Better to have some control over the situation, over whether or not I got to eat dinner, rather than simply being at the mercy of my circumstances.”
“Oh. I didn’t … I didn’t realize.”
“I told you, printzyessa, there are other problems to have in life beyond having someone select your spouse for you.
There was compensation. I had a lot of freedom. That didn’t always turn out well.”
He opened the back door of a black SUV and she slid inside, Mak following and closing the door, shutting out the chill. At least the chill in the air. The chill between them seemed to have come back a bit.
Mak spoke to his driver in German and they started driving along the plowed roads. At least, she hoped they were sufficiently plowed.
“Don’t worry,” Mak said, “the car is well-equipped for the weather, and Hans will drive safely. It’s his job.”
“That’s right. You don’t like cars.”
“Not much,” he said, his voice tight.
“Is it a short drive?”
“Very, but you don’t want to hike up the side of the hill in these conditions, trust me. Your boots, fashionable though they may be, couldn’t handle it.”
She looked down at her knee-high leather boots, the ones she’d purchased recently. She held her foot up so that the slender heel was clearly visible. “Maybe not.”
“No, I think you’d find yourself tobogganing down to the village on your backside.”
“Not the best image.” She held her breath as the car wound up a road that ran with the shape of the mountain, taking turns that were extreme S-curves. She put her hand on the door handle and looked over at Mak, who was sitting with his posture straight, the only betrayals of his stress in the tightness of his jaw, the clenching of his fist.
It took all of her self-control not to put her hand over his. Not to try and soothe the tension in him. She couldn’t touch him. Because, for some reason, whenever she did, it felt as though a small spark popped between them. And if she did it too often, that spark might ignite.
She sucked in a breath and looked out the window.
The view from the side of the road was fabulous, clear, pale skies over glittering snow and deep green trees. But enjoying the view required her to be able to look down over the edge of the road and that was much less fabulous.
The car stopped at two heavy iron gates and Mak pulled out his phone, opening an app and entering his code on the touch screen. “Only myself and the manager of the property knows the code. And on the rare occasions when some of my employees have stayed over during long assignments, I’ve had the code changed afterwards,” he said as the gates swung open. “As I said, this is my place. It’s private.”
“I get that,” she said as they went around another S-curve and the huge log chalet came into view.
It was set into the side of the mountain, the front of it built up on supports, giant triangular windows, mirroring the lines of the roof, overlooking the incredible mountain vista.
The car pulled up in front of the home and Mak opened the door, sliding out and then holding it until she got out behind him. He rounded to the driver’s side and spoke to Hans for a moment, before handing the other man a thick roll of cash and stepping away from the vehicle.
Two staff members came out of the house to greet him and, she assumed, to collect their luggage.
Eva followed Mak through the large, square door and into the foyer of the chalet. The ceilings were high, the windows flooding the space with natural light. There was a huge fireplace with a stone hearth and chimney that dominated the center of the room, filling the room with warmth and a homey orange glow.