“He’s not weak,” Ivan said.“He’s smart and capable of protecting himself.”
Edwina let them direct her toward the officials.Ivan produced her fake passport.She silently waited while the uniformed man scanned her face and documents.An instant later, he stamped it and ushered them through.Gregory led her outside.An icy blast swept over the open ground, and Edwina shivered.It was much cooler here in Russia than in Scotland, despite being mid-summer.
Even her surroundings were uninspiring.The land to her right held the scars of recent earthworks and heavy machinery, suggesting they were making additions to the airport.Cars filled the parking lot, most as old as the vehicle she and Suzie shared in Middlemarch.
Middlemarch.
A sigh gusted from her as she trudged after Ivan and Gregory.She wouldn’t mind returning to a New Zealand winter right now.It would mean this was nothing more than a horrid dream.
Car locks beeped, and Ivan opened a rear door for her.He waited until she was safely inside before he closed the door.Gregory loaded several pieces of luggage.Edwina put on the seatbelt, uninterested in the scenery or where they were going.Her mate had left with another woman.Willingly left.
Edwina gritted her teeth and held back a howl.What the hell did she do now?
Mikhail’sskincrawledatClarice’s touch.Her fingers trailing over his arm hurt, which was weird since Clarice had been his mistress for two years.His tiger shoved against his control, his snarls reverberating through Mikhail’s mind.He had to bite his inner cheek, the jolt of pain helping him to exert authority.After paying the cab driver, Mikhail guided Clarice past the doorman in his bottle-green uniform to a bank of elevators.He pushed the button to summon the car and waited, mentally urging the machinery to hustle.
Gods, he had to get a grip on his thrumming emotions.It was Edwina, of course, but he refused to let Clarice know the woman meant something to him.All hell would explode if Clarice learned the truth.She was happy as his mistress and had even suggested he take a wife if he wanted to have children.One she approved of and who understood Clarice’s position in his life.Nothing needed to change between them.
Clarice had introduced him to two different Ivanov cousins at the last party they’d attended together.He’d assumed that the wife Clarice envisioned for him wouldn’t care if he kept a mistress.
Her encouragement irked him, his suspicions rising because his grandfather seemed determined to push him in the same direction.His father had struggled to make their business legal, and Mikhail refused to undo his hard work and dabble in crime.
His grandfather thought differently.Mikhail’s father had died while trying to escape that life.The family company was solid.They didn’t need to step outside the law to continue their success, even if his grandfather kept causing roadblocks and strife.
The elevator reached the top floor and opened to a short corridor with two doors.
“Clarice, I can’t stay.I have urgent business to attend to at home,” Mikhail said, pulling from her clinging embrace.He opened the door to her luxury apartment and ushered her inside.
“But I’ve missed you.”She wrapped her arms around his neck.He shuddered at her touch, and she misunderstood the slight reaction, her pink lips tipping up at the corners.“You can stay for a while, surely.You have staff to take care of business matters.”
He wanted Edwina, and that told him everything.
“No, not today.”Never again.Not that he told Clarice because he didn’t want to deal with the fallout.Stupidly, he’d thought to juggle both women without difficulty.He needed a different plan because the gleam in Clarice’s eyes told him she had seduction on her mind.
“But I haven’t seen you for a week.”She pouted, but he no longer considered her habits cute.Instead, a curvy woman with green eyes enticed him.
“Clarice, I’m sorry, but I must attend to a business matter.”
Irritation flickered across her face, an expression she would’ve hidden in the past.She’d always been sweetness and light with him, although he’d sensed she had a steel backbone.
“When will I see you?I want to go to dinner tonight and introduce you to my friends.”
“Go on your own,” he suggested.
“No, it’s better if you attend with me,” she said.
He understood then.She had more status and power when she was on his arm, and tonight was an evening when she judged his presence necessary.
“What time is the dinner?”he asked, mentally shifting his plans.He needed to keep Edwina under wraps until he’d spoken to his grandfather and had everything else ready in his business world.
“Eight,” she said, smiling now that she’d sensed he’d acquiesce.“But they’re having drinks from seven-thirty.I want to introduce you to friends visiting from Moscow.”
Everything in Mikhail pulled tight, his suspicions coming to the fore again.A prospective bride?Or someone else wanting to muscle him back to his mafia roots.He wanted to avoid a scene.“Seven-thirty, it is.Should I pick you up or meet you at your friend’s house?”
“Pick me up at seven-fifteen.”Clarice placed her hands on his shoulders and stood on tiptoe to kiss him.His skin crawled, distaste filling him, and he had to steel himself not to jerk from her touch.He sucked in a breath, and her heavy Oriental scent struck him wrong.He struggled to fight his urgent need to retreat, his tiger releasing a silent snarl of protest when Mikhail held himself still.
“I missed you,” Clarice said.“Perhaps you can stay the night?”
“Not tonight,” Mikhail said, wondering how to finagle out of this mess without causing hurt feelings and tantrums.Later.He stepped back and contrived a wide smile.“I’ll be here at seven-fifteen,” he promised before she offered a protest.
