Diamond in the Desert(8)

Something else for her to regret. And what did that amused look signify-the bed was just a few tempting steps away?

And now the familiar ache had started up again. They were consenting  adults who made their own agenda, and, with the mine open twenty-four  seven, it wasn't as if they didn't have time-

And if she gave in to her appetite, Emir would expect everything to be on his terms from hereon in-

'I'll take quick a shower and see you outside in ten,' she called,  running up the next flight of stairs to her own room in the attic.  Slamming the door, she rested back against it. Saying yes to Emir would  be the easiest thing in the world. Saying no to him required cast-iron  discipline, and she wasn't quite sure she'd got that.

She had to have it, Britt told herself sternly as she showered down. Anything else was weakness.

Britt's bedroom was one of three at the cabin. She had chosen it as a  child, because she could be alone up here. She had always loved the  pitched roof with its wealth of beams, thinking it was like something  out of a fairy tale. When she was little she could see the sky and the  mountains if she stood on the bed, and when she was on her own she could  be anyone she wanted to be. Over the years she had collected items that  made her feel good. Her grandmother had worked the patchwork quilt. Her  grandfather had carved the headboard. These family treasures meant the  world to her. They were far more precious than any diamonds, but then  she had to remember the good the diamonds could do-for Skavanga, the  town her ancestors had built, and for her sisters, and for the company.

She had to secure Emir's recommendation to his master, the Black  Sheikh, Britt reflected as she toyed with some trinkets on the dressing  table. They were the same cheap hair ornaments she had worn as a girl,  she realised, picking them up and holding them against her long blonde  hair so she could study the effect in the mirror. She hadn't even  changed the threadbare stool in front of the dressing table, because her  grandmother had worked the stitches, and because it was a reminder of  the girl Britt had been, like the books by her bedside. This was a very  different place from her penthouse in the centre of Skavanga, but the  penthouse was her public face while this was where she kept her heart.

And to keep it she must cut that deal to her advantage-

With a man as shrewd as Emir in the frame?

She had never doubted her own abilities before, Britt realised as she  wandered over to a window she could see out of now without standing on  the bed. Skavanga Mining had meant everything to her parents, but they  hadn't been able to keep it-

Because her father was a drunk-

She shook her head, shaking out the memory. Her parents had tried their best-

Leaving little time for Britt and her siblings.

So she had picked up a mess. Lots of people had to do that. And somehow  she would find a way to cut a favourable deal with the consortium.

Staring out of the window drew her gaze to the traditional sauna hut,  sitting squat on the shore of the lake. With its deep hat of snow and  rows of birch twigs switches hanging in a rack outside the door, it  brought a smile to her face as she remembered Eva's teasing  recommendation-that she bring Emir into line here. There were certainly  several ways she could think of to do that. If only there weren't a risk  he might enjoy them too much...                       
       
           



       

Seeing Emir's shadow darkening the snow outside, she quickly stepped  back from the window. Tossing the towel aside, she pulled out the  drawers of the old wooden chest and picked out warm, lightweight Arctic  clothing-thermals, sweater, waterproof trousers and thick, sealskin  socks. She resented the way her heart was drumming, as if she were going  out on a date, rather than showing a man around a mine so he could make  vast sums of money for his master out of generations of her family's  hard work. She also hated the fact that Emir had beaten her to it  downstairs. She was endlessly competitive. Having two sisters, she  supposed. Determined to seize back the initiative, she knocked on the  window to capture his attention, and when she'd got his attention she  held up five fingers to let him know she'd be down right away. Almost.  She'd brush her hair and put some lip gloss on first.

Traitor.

Everyone likes to feel good, Britt argued firmly with her inner voice. This has nothing to do with Sharif.

* * *

He had the cabin keys as well as the keys to the Jeep, and was settled  behind the wheel by the time Britt appeared at the door. Climbing out,  he strolled over to lock the cabin. She held out her hand to take charge  of the keys.

'I'll keep them,' he said, stowing them in the pocket of his lightweight polar fleece.

Britt's crystal gaze turned stony.

'I'm driving too,' he said, enjoying the light floral scent she was  wearing, which seemed at complete odds with the warrior woman expression  on her face.

She was still seething when she swung into the passenger seat at his side. 'I know where we're going,' she pointed out.

'Then you can guide me there,' he said, gunning the engine. 'I'll turn the Sat Nav off.'

She all but growled at this.

'Why don't you let me drive?' she said.

'Why don't you direct me?' he said mildly, releasing the brake. 'It  doesn't hurt to share the load from time to time,' he added, which  earned him an angry glance.

They drove on in silence down the tree-shrouded lane. He noticed she  glanced at the sauna on the lakeside as they drove past. He guessed his  trials might begin there. The sauna was all ready and fired up. She  wasn't joking when she'd said the people at the mine looked after her.  The consortium would have to work hard to win hearts and minds as well  as everything else if they were going to make this project a success.  Perhaps they needed Britt's participation in the scheme more than he'd  thought at first.

The snow was banked high either side of the road. The tall pines were  bowed under its weight. The air was frigid with an icy mist overhanging  everything. Snow was falling more heavily by the time they reached the  main road. It had blurred the tyre tracks behind them and kept the  windscreen wipers working frantically. 'Left or right?' he said, slowing  the vehicle.

'If you'd let me drive-'

He put the handbrake on.

'Left,' she said impatiently.

As he swung the wheel Britt tugged off her soft blue beanie and her  golden hair cascaded down. If she had been trying to win his attention  she couldn't have thought up a better ruse, he realised as the scent of  clean hair and lightly fragranced shampoo hit him square in the groin.  He smiled to himself when she tied it back severely as if she knew that  he liked it falling free around her shoulders. The fact that Britt  didn't want to flaunt her femininity in front of him told him something.  She liked him and she didn't want him to know.

'You must be tired,' he said, turning his thoughts to the stress she  was under. It wasn't easy trying to salvage the family business, as he  knew only too well. Whether it was a town or a country made no  difference when people you cared about were involved. Her thoughts were  with all the people who depended on her, as his were with Kareshi.

'I'm not as fragile as you seem to think,' she said, turning a hostile back on him as she stared out of the window.

She wasn't fragile at all. And if Britt tired at any point, he'd be  there. Crazy, but somehow this woman had got under his skin-and he had  more than enough energy for both of them.





CHAPTER FIVE

EMIR HAD WHAT was needed to take the mine to the next level summed up  within the first half hour of him visiting the immense open-cast site.  Digging down into the Arctic core would require mega-machines, as well  as an extension to the ice road in order to accommodate them, and that  would take colossal funding.

With such vast sums involved he would oversee everything. Second in  command-second in anything-wasn't his way. Britt was beginning to wonder  how Emir managed to work for the sheikh-until he handed over the car  keys.                       
       
           



       

As she thanked him she couldn't have been more surprised and wondered  if she had earned some respect down the mine? She had known the majority  of the miners most of her life, and got on with everyone, and, though  her brother Tyr would have been their first choice, she knew that in  Tyr's absence the miners respected her for taking on the job. Some of  them had worked side by side with her grandfather, and she was proud to  call them friends. She would do anything to keep them in employment.

Emir broke the silence as she started the engine. 'Once I've had the  samples tested, we can start planning the work schedule in earnest.'

'I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the result of the test. I've  had reports from some of the best brains in Europe, who all came to the  same conclusion. The Skavanga mine is set to become the richest diamond  discovery ever made.' If they could afford to mine the gems, she added  silently. But surely now Emir had seen the mine for himself he wouldn't  pull back. He mustn't pull back.