curved mouth.
The length of brunette hair styled into a sleek chignon made his fingers itch to free the pins to allow the thick waves to frame her face.
Professional cool...successfully achieved, Alexei admitted.
Absent was the vibrant, fun-loving girl who’d once embraced the world and all it had to offer. The sweet curve of her mouth parting in a laughing smile...eyes sparkling with teasing humour. The touch of her mouth on his own, magical, incredibly sensual as passion transcended to intimacy.
Alexei lifted one dark eyebrow in a gesture of musing cynicism. ‘Nothing to say, Natalya?’
Where would you like me to begin? presented a tempting start.
Instead, she cut straight to the point. ‘If this is some kind of sick game,’ she offered with controlled calm, ‘I refuse to be a part of it.’
He’d expected no less of her, given his deliberate act to conceal the new owner’s identity from the media.
He inclined his head in silent mockery, enlightening, ‘I prefer...a calculated strategy.’
Any sense of calm was discarded as anger rose to the surface, almost robbing her of speech as she fought the desire to slap his face hard.
‘What else from a man such as you?’
Dark eyes speared her own. ‘You have no knowledge of the man I’ve become.’
So very different from the Alexei she’d once known as memories flashed through her mind...hauntingly real for a few heart-stopping seconds as she recalled her body beneath his...supple, avid, in a manner that drove her wild.
For him, only him.
Dear God in heaven...stop.
Reflection in any form was a madness she could ill afford.
Almost as if he knew the passage of her thoughts he indicated the nest of chairs framing the front of his desk. ‘Take a seat.’
Natalya spared him a dark glare, which had no effect whatsoever. ‘I prefer to stand.’
He merely inclined his head...and waited.
An action which ramped her animosity up a notch, and her eyes speared his as she sought a measure of calm. ‘The employment contract your henchman presented for my signature bears no mention of your name.’
‘Henchman, Natalya?’ The query held a vague musing quality. ‘Marc Adamson is ADE’s legal consultant.’ He eased his lengthy frame against the edge of his desk as he spelled it out. ‘Alexei Delandros Electronics.’
‘Very cleverly disguised in the contract I signed,’ she accused as she reached into her satchel, removed the folded document, ripped it in half, then tossed the pages onto his desk, quietly pleased when a few of the torn pieces fluttered onto the carpet.
She wanted to hurt him, as she had been hurt by his abrupt disappearance from her life. Days when she could barely function. Nights where sleep eluded her until the early dawn hours.
Weeks, dammit, spent examining every possible reason he could have left without a word.
An inexplicable action which compounded when she woke one morning feeling queasy and had to make a mad dash into the en suite bathroom. Something she ate became less likely when a second early morning bathroom dash occurred the following day, and the next. A positive pregnancy test had tipped her into a state of shock...they’d always used protection, so how?...until she recalled a night when need had obliterated common sense.
A rapid calculation of pertinent dates had merely confirmed a distinct possibility, followed by a host of scattered emotions that briefly pitched her between delight and despair, and the inevitable...this can’t be happening. Except a further three pregnancy tests over several days had eliminated any vestige of doubt.
Vivid images swirled unbidden through her mind of times shared, long nights together, the joy of love and quietly spoken plans for their future...then nothing, no word as to why Alexei had seemed to disappear like smoke in the wind.
The energy she expended attempting to track him down without success. Details of staff employed by Montgomery Electronics revealed Alexei’s file had been deleted—but she had no idea who by or why.
It appeared he’d intentionally slipped off the radar...but for what possible reason?
She’d lain awake for nights searching for an answer...any answer. Only to come up with a few scenarios, none of which seemed to fit the man she thought she’d known so well.
Was she that desperate to locate the father of her unborn child, when he’d presumably taken steps to disappear? And what if she did manage to make contact? Would he be someone with whom she’d want to do battle over shared custody?
Seeking medical confirmation was a given, providing the reality of early pregnancy, closely followed by her determination to carry the child to full term. The only person in whom she’d confide was her mother...except she needed the right words, the chosen moment.
Only to have the decision taken out of her hands when she’d suffered a miscarriage just six weeks into the pregnancy.
A tiny foetus not meant to develop and take life’s first breath.
There was little solace in medical opinion a second pregnancy would need to be carefully monitored with ongoing blood tests during the initial three months of pregnancy. Facts which didn’t begin to equate with Natalya’s emotional distress, until Ivana took action by booking flights and accommodation for a ten-day vacation on Queensland’s Hamilton Island.
On reflection, they’d shared a lovely apartment with views over tropical waters, restaurants, time to relax and enjoy what the resort had to offer, indulging in facials, body massage, treatments at the Island’s Resort Spa.
Sunshine, soft warm breezes, an idyllic beach. A healing period which strengthened their mother-daughter bond.
‘Love you, darling,’ Ivana had offered quietly as they exchanged hugs while the cab driver transferred Natalya’s travel bag from the vehicle’s boot. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to come in with you?’
‘I’m fine. Really,’ Natalya assured her, aware once she settled into her apartment and resumed work as her father’s PA life would assume its normal pattern...or as close to a facsimile of it.
And it had, over time.
All of which now flashed painfully through Natalya’s mind, and served to heighten her anger as she rose to her feet, choosing to icily indicate the destroyed paperwork lying on the carpeted floor of Alexei’s office.
‘Not even a million-dollar salary would convince me to work for you.’
There was nothing she could gain from his expression, or his demeanour, then one eyebrow lifted to form a slight arch as he queried silkily,
‘Are you done?’
Courage...she owned it in spades, Alexei acknowledged. Together with a flash of temper, which showed for a brief instant before she visibly gathered it in.
