Modern Romance Collection: January 2018 Books 1 -4. Dani Collins
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her bottom, lifting her against his hard arousal, holding her there, his mouth softening to tease a little, then tangle her tongue with his own, sensuous, arousing, until she became lost to his persuasive touch, unaware her hands had crept unbidden to clutch his face, holding him close.
The sharp blast of a car horn, followed by a male catcall and a laughing voice demanding, ‘Get a room!’ acted like a bucket of icy water, and Natalya released her hands and wrenched her mouth from his.
Her eyes changed from slumberous to startled fury as she began to struggle free...only to fail miserably.
‘We’re going to talk.’ His eyes became dark ominous pools. ‘Back at the hotel.’
Without warning he turned to face the opposite direction, holding her hand, pulling her along with him as he began walking, not even so much as flinching as she curled her fists and hammered his shoulder-blades...anywhere she could reach with as much force as she could muster.
Alexei just kept walking.
She bore his silence for several long minutes, then she launched a punch into his ribcage...with no physical reaction whatsoever.
‘Alexei, slow down,’ she demanded. Causing a public scene had never been on her agenda...waiting a beat before adding, ‘Please.’
‘Will you behave?’ His anger was quiet...too quiet. She drew in a deep breath, aware in a moment of clarity just how ridiculous it was to attempt to best him.
Temporary capitulation was the only option as she released her breath and briefly inclined her head. Relieved as he finally slowed down and released her hand.
There was wisdom in silence, and she refrained from uttering a further word until they reached their hotel. Together they crossed the marble-tiled foyer to the bank of elevators, all too aware the air between them could be cut with a knife.
Tall, dark, and silent, Alexei resembled a dangerous force as electronic doors opened, and two other couples followed them in.
Natalya deliberately looked straight ahead, ignoring him until the elevator reached their floor, choosing to walk ahead of him along the carpeted passageway to their suite, swiped the room card and she took three steps into the lounge before swinging round to face him.
‘I want out.’ Anger was a palpable entity she barely managed to control. She indicated the desk. ‘My formal resignation will be there in the morning.’ It provided a measure of satisfaction to turn her back and walk towards her suite.
Right at that moment she didn’t give a damn.
She was done. With him, the situation she’d been manipulated into...all of it.
‘I didn’t figure you for a coward.’
Alexei’s voice reached her as she was about to open the door to her suite, and she turned to spare him a scorching glare.
‘Why? Because you kissed me?’
‘You were with me every step of the way,’ he offered quietly.
‘I’m no longer the girl you once knew,’ she retaliated.
‘No?’
‘You saw to that.’
His eyes darkened, sharpened. ‘Enlighten me...how?’
‘There’s no point to this conversation.’
His entire stance stilled. ‘I think there’s every point.’
Natalya suddenly felt as if she was standing on the edge of a precipice, poised between the need to lash out in anger...or live to regret not imparting fact...as she knew it?
She tensed, every muscle in her body tightening as she recalled in minute detail the devastating discovery he’d disappeared out of her life.
‘You left without a word. I called you. Many times. I made enquiries... “The line has been disconnected.” I checked your apartment, hospitals, any and everyone I could think of who might have a clue to your whereabouts.’ She tamped down the helplessness, and resorted to anger. ‘I sent you texts. Emails. Desperately pleading for an answer. An explanation.’
She clenched each hand into a fist, felt her nails dig in each palm...and didn’t even feel the painful sensation. ‘Anyone who could tell me whether you were alive or dead.’
The pain of him leaving her...even after five years, was still there...raw, aching, like a wound that had never truly healed.
Anger rose to the surface. ‘Do you know what it’s like to wake each day...and hope today a call, text or email could ease the heartache? God willing in the best way possible? Only to fade into despair? Until eventually there’s a need to accept whatever path you thought your life would take no longer existed?’
‘Yes.’
She couldn’t stop until she said it all. ‘Worse, the agony of not knowing what went wrong? Why texts and emails remained unanswered?’ She took a deep breath. ‘To consider the worst scenario in each of many guises?’
He moved towards her and closed his hands over her shoulders. ‘Back up a little,’ he demanded quietly.
Her eyes blazed in anger. ‘Why?’
The ensuing silence became electric, and she closed her eyes in an effort to shut him out...only to have them widen as he took hold of her chin and tilted it.
She opened her mouth to berate him, except no word emerged as he pressed it closed.
‘I didn’t receive any texts or letters.’
She tore his hand away. ‘You expect me to believe that?’
He stilled, his features hardening as a muscle clenched at the edge of his jaw. ‘I left messages on your answering machine. Texts.’ His eyes darkened. ‘Are you saying they never reached you?’
The colour fled from her cheeks as uncertainty left her temporarily speechless. ‘No,’ she managed as her mind reeled. ‘Nothing,’ she said in a shocked whisper.
First and foremost, how it could have happened, followed seconds later by why?
She was reluctant to explore who, for it appeared highly unlikely anyone had access to her laptop, smartphone, snail mail.
Except...memory resurfaced in minute detail...her move to another apartment building, misplacing her smartphone, her father’s decision to replace all their phones, both business and personal, with a different provider and new numbers. As well as a new email address for a reason that appeared valid at the time.
When?
Years ago. Her mind momentarily retraced the events back then, examined each sequence in detail, unaware of Alexei’s narrowed scrutiny as he witnessed every fleeting emotion on her expressive features...and caught the moment she realised she had stepped into an unbelievable nightmare. Surely...it couldn’t coincide...except it did.
Her father.
‘How could he do such a thing?’ Natalya’s voice was an agonising whisper.
‘Roman wanted you to marry up. I didn’t come close to being a prospective candidate.’
‘Tell me.’ Her voice was calm...too calm. ‘I need to hear what my father did. All of it.’
She deserved the truth...which he whittled down to essential detail. Leaving out his emotional turmoil, anger. Worse, the desperate need to discover why.
‘Roman demanded I end my relationship with you, and presented me with a substantial cheque in a pay off. I tore it up.’
For the love of heaven. That her father would dare to go to such lengths to destroy their relationship was unconscionable. Unforgivable.
The disbelief, the silent anger.
The loss of five years of their lives.
Dear heaven, her