Kyle rose to his feet. "Do you stay in touch with any of your old family?"
The way he said old family, as if he saw her as part of her new family, the Atraeus clan, was warming. "There was never much family to begin with. My mother was an only child." And the distant family that had been left hadn't wanted to know. "Why do you think I had to be adopted?"
Needing something to do, anything to take her mind off Kyle's large, distracting presence in her house and the tension that seemed to be pulling tighter and tighter, Eva began picking up cushions and stacking them on couches. Given that the cushions were cotton and linen, she figured there was no possibility that they would retain fingerprints. "I haven't seen or spoken with anyone from my mother's family since Mario adopted me."
Kyle began helping her clean up. Thirty minutes later, after picking up all of the loose clothes and underwear and putting them in a laundry basket so they didn't smear any prints that might be on the drawers or closet doors, Eva was satisfied they had done everything they could. She probably should have left everything as it was, but she had needed to restore as much as she could to reclaim her space and counter the creepy knowledge that someone had gotten into her house, even with the alarm turned on.
Kyle checked that the rear door was locked, then extracted his car keys from his pocket. "You can't stay here until you get the locks checked and your alarm upgraded. At a guess, the thief had a piece of equipment that could connect to your alarm wirelessly and give him the code-they're common enough. It would have taken him seconds to break in and then disable the alarm."
A shudder went down her spine at the brief description of how vulnerable she had been in her own home, even with the doors locked. Until she'd given the house a security upgrade, she wouldn't be able to relax, let alone sleep here.
Eva found her cell in her bag. Her first impulse was to ring one of Kyle's twin sisters, either Sophie or Francesca. Unfortunately, both of them had been out of town for a week or so. She checked through her contacts and found a number. "I've got a friend who helps me out at work occasionally. She'll put me up for the night." Annie had once had her own wedding event business, but had segued into special event planning for hotels and major corporations.
Her call went through to Annie's answering service. She tried again, with the same result. She tried Jacinta's number. Normally she never mixed business with her personal life, but she was desperate.
Jacinta's breathless hello was cut off by a lazily amused masculine voice, informing her that Jacinta was busy. Cheeks burning, Eva terminated the call.
Kyle lifted a brow. "No luck?"
She reached for her laptop then remembered it had been stolen. Luckily, all of her carefully managed business systems and contact lists were stored remotely so she could retrieve them, but it was still a major inconvenience. She picked up her phone and began looking online for a motel. "I could get a motel."
"Suit yourself. Or you could stay at my place. I've got a house just a couple of minutes from here. There's a guest room."
Tension zinged through her at the thought of staying with Kyle. And continuing on with what they had started at the beach. "I didn't know you bought a house." The last she'd heard, Kyle had lived in an ultraexpensive penthouse apartment in the Viaduct, an affluent waterfront area a stone's throw from the center of the city. Although, with all of the frustration of Mario's will and the times she'd had to spend trying to find a husband, she hadn't exactly kept up with family news.
"I bought the old Huntington place. It came up for auction a few weeks back."
Shock jerked Eva's head up. The Huntington place wasn't just a house. It was a fascinating Edwardian red brick folly situated on a rare acre of grounds that also ran down to a tiny private beach. She had caught glimpses of it from the road, through ornate wrought iron bars as she'd either jogged or walked past. But the ivy-festooned walls that glowed in the afternoon light and the lush garden possessed the kind of irresistible romantic charm that had drawn her like a moth to the flame. When she had seen that it was for sale, she had taken a risk and climbed through the gate. The overgrown gardens and the beach had been so beautiful that if she had been able to marry in time and obtain her inheritance, she would have bought it, regardless of what the house was like. "I can't believe you bought that house."
Especially since she had wanted it. From the first moment she had seen it, something had clutched at her heart. It was the most perfect family home she could imagine, even though she would not be requiring it for that, unless at some point she was able to adopt a child. Her most immediate purpose had been for her wedding business. It had everything for a perfect venue.
Kyle's expression turned wary. "What's wrong now?"
Jaw taut, Eva picked up the overnight bag she had packed and her clutch. Somehow, finding out that he was in possession of her house was upsetting. She couldn't quite put her finger on why. Maybe she felt so knocked off balance because for years she had been used to forging her own path, making her own decisions and doing things her way. Now, for the first and only time in her life, she had made love-with Kyle. Added to that, Kyle held the balance of power for the two things she wanted: her inheritance and the dream house.
As much as she wanted to say no about something, she couldn't deny the twisted desire to torture herself by looking around a house she knew would be beautiful and exactly what she wanted.
Seeing the house and knowing she could only have it on Kyle's terms would reinforce all of the reasons she should squash the incomprehensible, fatal attraction that had sneaked up on her.
What was wrong now?
She gave Kyle a cool stare. "Nothing much."
When Kyle tried to take her overnight bag, she kept a steely grip on it and marched to the door. "First you deprive me of my wedding. Now you've bought my house."
Seven
The crowded suburbs of Auckland seemed to disappear as Eva drove her car through the gates of Huntington House, with its stone gateposts and aged and stately magnolias arching overhead. Security lights came on, illuminating the thick tangle of rhododendrons and old-fashioned roses planted cheek by jowl with native ponga ferns and drifts of reinga reinga lilies.
The house was two-storied and peak roofed, with an array of chimneys that poked up against the night sky, adding to the old-world charm. Apart from more security lights, which illuminated the circular piece of drive before the front porch, the house sat in darkness, enclosed and secret with the thick press of overgrown trees and gardens.
Kyle drove into a garage off to the side. Since she was only here for the few hours that were left before she had to be at work, Eva parked near the front portico. By the time she had grabbed her things and locked the car, lights glowed softly in the downstairs area.
The scent of the sea and the sound of the waves hitting the shore nearby should have been relaxing after the tension of the break-in, except that it gave her another searing flashback of their passionate moments on the beach.
The portico lights came on and Kyle opened the front door wider, stepping out to take her bag from her.
Unwillingly loving Kyle's manners, Eva walked into the foyer, her heels clicking on the marble floor. Directly ahead a stairway curved away in a graceful arc. To one side there was an elegant front parlor and what looked like a series of reception and family rooms. On the other side of the staircase she knew, because she had peered through the windows when she had snuck into the estate previously, that a hall led in the direction of the kitchen and what had probably originally been the servants' quarters.
Eva let out a breath. "It's perfect." As a wedding venue. As a family home.
Kyle shrugged and indicated she should follow him. "At the moment it's a museum."
"You don't like it?"
"I wouldn't have bought it if I hadn't liked it. It just needs updating."
He walked into a huge kitchen, which was shabby and badly lit, but which already contained a selection of gleaming stainless steel appliances; fridge, cooktop, microwave and dishwasher. Kyle pointed out a kettle and toaster and a pantry that contained cereals and bread and a few food essentials if she needed to make a hot drink or get breakfast.
He indicated she should follow him up the stairs and showed her an array of bedrooms, finishing up with a large room with a king-size bed that was unmistakably his. He set her overnight bag down in the hallway.
Eva's cell beeped. When she took it from her bag, she saw Hicks's name flash up on the screen. When she answered the call, his voice was curt. Apparently they just had a call from a neighbor of hers to say that a man had been seen in her rear garden. They had just dispatched a cruiser to check it out. His main concern was that she was out of the house and safe.