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‘But I—’
‘Do it.’ He handed her his phone, his gaze relentless. ‘I’ll wait.’
His insistence made her bristle. ‘Forgive me, but I’m not sure why you’re insisting on looking after a complete stranger. I can arrange my own babysitter, believe me.’
His straight black brows drew together slightly, but the intense look in his eyes didn’t waver. ‘You slipped beside my car. You are my responsibility, and I take my responsibilities very seriously.’
A pulse of inexplicable heat went through her, though she wasn’t sure why. She didn’t want to be his responsibility. She’d been other people’s responsibility for years after her parents’ deaths, and it hadn’t turned out that well, at least not for her.
Clearly impatient with her silence, he nodded at the phone. ‘Search my name.’
Nell was tempted to tell him very firmly that he couldn’t tell her what to do, but that wasn’t going to help matters and, anyway, she abhorred a fuss.
Reluctantly, she opened the web browser in the sleek black piece of technology in her hand.
‘Do you need me to spell it?’ he asked.
She gave him a look. ‘Aristophanes. Like the ancient Greek playwright?’
‘Yes.’
‘Fine.’
‘Katsaros is spelled K-A-T—’
‘I can manage,’ she said coolly, interrupting him for a change as she entered his surname—it was Greek, she thought—into the web browser.
Hundreds of hits came up. Newspaper articles, magazine articles, think pieces, opinion posts, essays, interviews, videos... A bewildering array of information about Katsaros International, a huge finance company, and its mathematical-genius founder, who’d invented a financial algorithm that did something to the stock market.
Aristophanes Katsaros was that powerful billionaire founder, and he was currently standing at her hospital bedside in the busy ER of a public hospital, staring at her as if he wanted to eat her alive.
You would like him to.
The pulse of heat became a flame flickering inside her, and she couldn’t keep telling herself that she didn’t know what it was, not this time.
It was physical attraction, pure and simple.
She didn’t understand. Why on earth would she be attracted to this stranger? She didn’t know anything about him and, given how insistent and overbearing he seemed to be, she wasn’t sure she’d like him even if she did. There was no way on earth she could beattractedto him. Yet, she couldn’t deny that she felt hot when he looked at her, restless too, a million ants under her skin.
She’d had a grand total of one lover in her life and Clayton was to be the second, but even Clayton had never made her feel like this. That was the issue. Clayton had made her feel...well...nothing. If this was indeed attraction, and she’d never felt it before so she wasn’t entirely sure, then Clayton hadn’t made her feel even a tenth of what Aristophanes Katsaros made her feel.
Bewildering. She didn’t like it. Shewouldn’tlike him to eat her alive, and what she actually wanted was to be out of his disturbing, electric presence.
Also, she didn’t need him to make such a fuss. If he was indeed the founder of Katsaros International, then he had much better things to be doing than looking after a lowly preschool teacher. Why on earth was he making all this effort for her?
‘I see,’ she said after a moment, gripping her self-possession as tightly as she could. ‘May I ask why?’
His straight dark brows twitched again. ‘What do you mean why?’
She gestured at the phone. ‘You’re very rich and obviously very important. Why on earth would you waste time looking after me?’
‘Waste time...’ he echoed, looking puzzled, as if the words meant nothing to him. ‘No, you do not understand. I never waste time. Every second is accounted for, and I can assure you that I have rearranged my schedule to account for looking after you.’
Nell blinked. He had a strange way of speaking, as if his words were precious and he was doling them out one at a time. His accent was tantalising though, making soft music out of his deep voice, making her want to hear him speak again just for the pleasure of it.
Still...he’d rearranged his schedule? For her? Why would he do that?
She stared at him blankly, not knowing what to say.