Modern Romance October 2015 Books 1-4. Annie West

Чтение книги онлайн.

Читать онлайн книгу Modern Romance October 2015 Books 1-4 - Annie West страница 33

Modern Romance October 2015 Books 1-4 - Annie West Mills & Boon Series Collections

Скачать книгу

rested her head against his shoulder, even though she wanted to do so much more. She wanted to hug him tightly and tell him everything was going to be all right. She wanted to cover his golden face with kisses and tell him she was there for him and would always be there for him, if only he would let her. But some instinct stopped her. She reminded herself that she didn’t do emotional stuff like that and, more important, neither did he. Yet it was hard to restrain her instinct to reach out to him and it left her feeling confused.

      She told herself that what she was feeling was just natural sympathy after hearing a particularly grim story. Except that it wasn’t—because it felt like something more. Something which she’d tried to convince herself was the biggest con in the world and one she was never going to fall for again.

      She swallowed as she turned her face away from his.

      It felt uncomfortably like love.

      NOW WHAT?

      Dimitri glanced across the room to where Leo was teaching Erin how to play the popular card game of P’yanitsa. A game the boy hadn’t known how to play until earlier that week, but he was a quick learner—and now he was playing it as well as any Russian. Dimitri felt a stir of pride whisper over him as he studied the bent head of dark gold—so like his own—as once again the question nagged at him.

      What was he going to do about the problem of a small boy and a woman who talked more than was comfortable?

      His eyes moved to the woman in question as he watched Erin smiling as Leo scooped up a handful of cards with a triumphant whoop. To look at her now—you would never have guessed that a few hours ago he had been deep inside her while the rest of the house still slept. She had ridden him as he had shown her how he liked to be ridden, his hands on either side of her hips as he had positioned her to make penetration even deeper. And afterwards she had choked out her sigh as his tongue had slid down over her and he’d tasted her flesh.

      ‘You must learn to be a good sport, darling,’ she was saying softly. ‘And to play fair.’

      Play fair. It wouldn’t have been the lesson Dimitri would have focused on. In fact, up until a week ago, he would have said the opposite—that playing fair never got you anywhere. That in the big, harsh world out there, it was dog eat dog. But now he could see that you shouldn’t teach a child to cut corners, or to operate ruthlessly. He understood that you needed to show them how to do things right in order for them to live right. Just because his own childhood had been messed up, that was no reason for him to try to impose his own cynicism on someone else.

      And Erin had shown him that—by example rather than preaching. She was patient and understanding with Leo—pretty much every minute of every day—and Dimitri knew with a heavy certainty that he could never be the instrument to drive the two of them apart. His heart pounded. Because hadn’t that been a consideration when he’d first found out about Leo—thinking he might be able to lure the boy away using the power of his wealth and influence? He’d planned to show the child that he could have more fun in penthouses and private jets than he ever could living in the cramped quarters above his aunt’s café. But that option wasn’t on the cards any more—and it made him uncomfortable to think he could have ever entertained such a ruthless strategy.

      He stared out of the window, where the grey skies were heavy with snow and the occasional stray flake drifted past like a white feather. But experience told him that the snow would not fall tonight and it looked as if Leo wouldn’t get his snowman, no matter how hard he wished for it. Tomorrow they were flying back to England because half-term was almost over and Dimitri knew he needed to come to some sort of decision about what was going to happen.

      He waited until Leo had gone through his bedtime routine and, once he’d been embraced in a sleepy bear hug, Dimitri went downstairs to wait for Erin in the library while she read a bedtime story.

      He lit a fire, which crackled magnificently—the light from the flames flickering over the rows of books which lined the room, while Shostakovich played in the background. He spoke to Svetlana and soon two crystal flutes were standing beside a bottle in an ice bucket, but Erin’s footsteps were so quiet that he didn’t realise she was in the room until she was standing right in front of him.

      She had changed and brushed her hair, so that it gleamed like a dark waterfall around her shoulders, and a soft woollen dress was hugging her slender hips. He noticed that she frowned slightly when she saw the bottle standing on the table next to the peach blossom bonsai tree.

      ‘Champagne?’ she said lightly. ‘Why, are we celebrating something?’

      ‘I don’t know.’ He lifted the bottle from the ice bucket and cold droplets slid onto his fingers. ‘At least, not yet.’

      ‘Is this some sort of guessing game?’

      ‘Do you want to try guessing?’

      ‘Okay.’ She screwed up her face. ‘We’re celebrating a successful trip?’

      ‘That’s one thing we could drink to, I agree. It has been a very successful trip.’ He peeled away the foil and let it flutter to the table. ‘Which is why I think we should get married.’

      Erin stared at him.

      ‘Did you say married—just out of the blue like that?’

      ‘Why not?’ There was a hissing little pop as he eased the cork from the bottle. ‘What do you say?’

      What did she say? Erin swallowed. She didn’t have a clue how to respond. She felt perplexed—and bewildered. This had come out of nowhere with no warning whatsoever. And now he was pouring champagne, which was fizzing up the sides of a flute so delicate she was terrified her shaking hand might snap off its fragile stem. She shook her head as he held the flute out towards her.

      ‘Not right now, thanks. This has come as a bit of a shock,’ she said, aware of the glaring understatement in her words. She tried to rid her voice of any hope or expectation. ‘I mean, why? Why do you want to marry me, Dimitri?’

      ‘You don’t know?’

      ‘If I knew, I wouldn’t have to ask.’

      He smiled. ‘Because of Leo, of course.’

      Of course.

      Erin nodded. The logical part of her brain had known that all along but that didn’t protect her from the sudden stupid lurch of disappointment which chilled her skin. And she didn’t want to be disappointed. She wanted to be cool and calm and impartial. Just like him. She wanted to treat a proposal of marriage with the same kind of careless interest as it had been offered. ‘And how would that work?’ she said.

      ‘Isn’t it obvious?’

      ‘Not to me, no. I’m not in the habit of getting random proposals of marriage from men who only a short time ago were barely able to look at me without being furious. You’ll have to talk me through it.’

      He turned the swell of music down by a fraction and one of the logs in the fireplace spat out a shoal of bright sparks. ‘You must realise that I’ve grown very fond of Leo.’

      She nodded. ‘That’s good.’

      ‘And

Скачать книгу