“Curious fellow,” Thorne murmured next toher.
“Oh?” she asked just assoftly.
“He seems most interested in the jewels, and he…” The old man shook his head, erasing whatever errant thought had strayed into hismind.
“Mr. Thorne, could I trouble you for some champagne?” She hated to impose upon his good nature, especially with an ulterior motive at play, but she was hoping to get a minute alone with Mikhail. It was silly, but she wanted to see if he would talk to heragain.
“Of course.” Thorne patted her hand and wandered off in search of a waiter. She composed herself, painted a cool smile on her face, and readied herself to greet him. When she turned back to Mikhail, she growled in frustration. He was gone. Again. She whipped her head around, searching for him, and caught a glimpse of him exiting through a door at the opposite side of theroom.
Don’t follow him. Piper ignored her inner voice and slipped after him through the crowds. Perhaps she should have heeded the voice in her head, but that voice had kept her living a lonely, bored life. Boring meant not getting her heart broken. Boring was safe. It was long past time she did somethingdangerous.
She found Mikhail in a small drawing room next to the reception hall. He stood before a fireplace in the dark as if he belonged there. His lean, strong figure and the dark navy-blue suit were lit by flames. The door clicked shut behind her, the sound far too loud in the soft silence of the darkened room. Piper sucked in a breath, watching the shadows play on his dark hair as he turned toher.
“Piper.” The word was a silken caress that was straight out of her darkest fantasies. Even though there was a good distance between them, she could hear him clearly, his voice seeming to come at her from all sides thanks to the acoustics of theroom.
“Mr. Barinov,” she whispered so softly that there was no way he could hear it. But she swore she saw his lips twitch in the dim, shifting, gold-vermilionlight.
“Straying off the map into unknown territory, are we?” He chuckled as though it was some private joke. “Here there bedragons.”
Piper stared at him. “I followed because…” Why had she followed him? Because he was like the damn Pied Piper for women who had tall, dark, sexy strangerfantasies.
“You followed because you can’t stop thinking about it.” That voice poured over her like molasses, and she could feel a delicious burn grow in herbelly.
“Thinking about what?” She didn’t move, remaining by the door. But hedid.
Mikhail walked toward her with a grace that seemed more panther than human. Her pulse spiked when he stopped mere inches from her. The firelight made the blue of his suit appear to be a dark, rich brown as he placed a hand on the closed door behind her and leaned in. The minty smell of his breath, warm and fresh, fanned her face, and his eyes, although out of view of the fire, seemed to burn with light—goldlight.
“You are thinking about…” He moved closer, his lips a hair’s breadth from her now. “This.”
Her heart exploded as he slanted his mouth over hers. Waves of electric, pulsing pleasure at that exquisite kiss sent her head spinning. It was like curling up by the fire on a cold winter’s night and putting a glass of warm brandy to her lips, with a slow burn followed by a powerful rush secondslater.
Piper moaned against him as he slipped his tongue between her lips to stroke hers. She was already curling her arms around his neck, dragging him closer. Mikhail pressed his body flush to hers against the door. He was so tall, a daunting wall of muscle, frightening and exciting all at once. He was a man who could take her without asking. The thought, as forbidden as it was, only made her hotter and wetter than she’d ever been before. She should have been ashamed of such thoughts, but in that moment she couldn’t be. There was too much pleasure in this kiss, too much exhilaration in her surrender to it. She didn’t want it to end, didn’t want the distant sounds of the party to intrude upon this perfect unplanned adventure. It would likely never happenagain.
He deepened the kiss, his mouth consuming hers with a fire that left her giddy. And then something happened—strange flickers of images flashed across her closed eyelids. Not her imagination, which had been fixed on Mikhail’s animalistic appetite. This was somethingelse.
Men in doublets approaching a throne, a queen with a pale face and red hair, pearls glistening on the bodice of her gown. Then the images changed, a roaring sea beneath her, icy water crashing against a distant shore, a deep loneliness that seemed only to growuntil…
She saw herself at the exhibit. Saw herself throughhiseyes, a beacon of color and life drawing him toward her like a moth to a flame. She could feel his heart jolt, his body hum to life as he zeroed in on her. It felt as though he would never look away from her ever again. It was seductive, powerful, frightening, and yet she embraced the rush of emotions that came fromhim.
What…how…?
He broke the kiss to nip at her throat, and she tilted her head back to let his exploration continue. “It’s as though you were made just for me,moyasud’ba.”
The way he said the words made her shiver. “What’smoya sud’ba?” sheasked.
“My destiny,” he growled, his eyes bright. “I should have known the moment we first met.” He inhaled again. “Even the way you smell, sweet and wild like Fire Hillflowers.”
“Fire Hill flowers?” she said in a haze. His clothes were still warm from the fire, and even his skin was hot to thetouch.
“The wildflowers from my home. The Fire Hills of Russia. They are soft and sweet, not too much, just…” He kissed behind her ear. “Right.”
She blushed, unable to stop smiling. “I smell likewildflowers?”
He made a deep-throated purr against the column of her throat, and she dug her nails into his shoulders. “And your taste,” he continued in a husky whisper as he kissed heragain.
This was madness to be kissing a stranger in a darkened room lit only by firelight. What else could you call it? But she was tired of being boring old predictable Piper. Mikhail made her feel wild and reckless, alive in ways she’d never dreamed. She didn’t want to stop, didn’t want to go back to being responsible. She wanted to live in this momentforever.
“What about my taste?” she asked, her voice trembling withdesire.
