Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 139934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 700(@200wpm)___ 560(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 700(@200wpm)___ 560(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
She was silent for a long time—long enough to make him worry, although he didn’t allow that to show on his face. He’d grown up in a household where it was very necessary to hide all emotion, and it had become second nature.
“They were murdered, and I don’t want to talk about it.”
He heard the pain in her voice. He wanted to pull her into his arms and comfort her, but if he made a mistake and let his own needs, or any compassion, keep him from doing his job and he lost Fyodor or Evangeline, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.
“Ashe, we’re going to talk about anything I say is needed. You arrived at a very bad time. It just happens to coincide with the arrival of an old enemy of the family. That enemy is out for blood. I can’t take the chance that you have anything to do with him. Do you? This is your one opportunity to tell me everything. You get one . So talk to me now.”
She rubbed her palms on her thighs, her eyes on his. She was mesmerizing. She could see him, the killer in him, and she hadn’t flinched. She was utterly still with the exception of her hands moving up and down her thighs, calling his attention to her bare skin. That wasn’t a good idea for either of them.
Ashe was a truly stunning woman. It wasn’t just her physical body—and that was gorgeous—it was the way she held herself. The way she looked him straight in the eye. She couldn’t cover fear, because he was leopard and could smell it, but she didn’t flinch away. She didn’t retreat. She sat very straight and looked at him. There was no panic, which meant she was thinking all the time. She held herself carefully, the daughter of survivalists, not giving anything away.
“I don’t know what you want me to say. I would never harm Evangeline or Fyodor. Why would I? They’ve never done anything to me. I know he’s reputed to be a crime boss, that he supposedly took over Arnotto’s territory. I was never convinced that Antonio Arnotto was involved in the mafia. He was never convicted, and I believe he was investigated several times.”
“How would you know that?”
She rolled her eyes, and his cock jerked. She made him want to yank her into his arms and kiss the sass out of her.
“I read. When you’re alone a lot, you read. I happen to be fascinated by crime stories.” Color tinged her face. “I write sometimes. You know. Stories. I like to write and I do research, studying crime and criminals. Arnotto was in the news a lot. More recently, his granddaughter, Siena, was in the news. I know Alonzo Massi took over the territory, but …” She trailed off, a little confused by the name change. She knew Alonzo’s name had been changed.
“Fyodor Amurov and Alonzo Massi are the same person. Fyodor only recently went back to his name.”
They were ready for their uncles to come after them. Coming out in the open was better than letting them think they were afraid of them. Lazar and Rolan would love nothing more than to think their nephews were cowering far from their homeland, living in fear of their retaliation. Fyodor had thrown down the gauntlet by taking back his name.
“Maybe I thought by coming here, I’d be safe, and I’d learn more and be able to write better. I don’t know, I just felt it was the right thing to do. I can leave, Timur. I don’t want Evangeline to think I came here to hurt her or her husband.”
His heart clenched hard in his chest. She wasn’t leaving. It was too late for that. His leopard had claimed her. He ignored her offer, but he also heard the mixture of lie with truth. It was difficult to hear, but something about her tone made him uneasy. “Tell me about your parents’ murders. Who did it? Were they caught?”
She shook her head. Her fingers left her bare thigh and stroked her throat. He could see she wasn’t aware of that defensive gesture, nor did she realize her hand trembled. The tip of her tongue moistened her full lower lip, ran all along the curve and disappeared. “I should have been there. I wasn’t there, but I should have been.”
He remained silent, but now she was rocking herself very gently. It took everything he had not to pull her into his arms. He understood why Evangeline had fallen under her spell. Ashe not only appeared innocent of any crime, she was compelling. Mesmerizing. She had a magnetism about her that pulled anyone near her right into her. He felt her emotions as if they were his own. Telling her she would have been killed along with her parents wasn’t going to change how she felt.