Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 141532 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 708(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141532 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 708(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
She understood the lines of strain in his face. Sevastyan, his cousin, had them as well. It had to be a horrible way to live. She sat back, the delicious meal suddenly tasting like cardboard. “I’m so sorry, Mitya.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Don’t be, Ania, not for me. My leopard, but not me. I escaped with cousins, and we came here and have made a life for ourselves.”
“You were shot.”
His smile was faint, but his eyes had gone a disturbing and very sensual, warm green-blue, pushing the glacier away for just enough time for her stomach to pitch.
“I see you’re doing your homework on me.”
She couldn’t very well deny it. “Naturally. I have my father to look out for and my attraction to you was . . . unexpected. And unsettling. At least I know why it was so strong.”
“Why do you think it’s so intense?”
There was the slightest touch of amusement in his voice, and that got to her as well, although not in the good way his faint smile had. The chemistry between them was intense, but she hadn’t gone near that word deliberately.
“Our leopards.” She tried to meet his eyes, but she couldn’t. She used her fork to push around the rice on her plate.
“Ania, look at me.” He went silent.
She knew he was waiting. He could wait until hell froze over. The silence stretched between them, and she felt his eyes on her. Almost as if his gaze was burning right through her. Reaching deep. She tried to resist, but her stomach kept doing those weird slow rolls and she felt him crawling deep inside, right where she didn’t want him. She raised her eyes to his. Instantly, she was caught and held. Mesmerized. Unable to look away.
“I’ve had a lot of women. Fast. Back to me. No time spent. No kissing. Just get relief and send them away. I’m not telling you this because I’m proud of it. I’m not. I’m telling you because I want you to know the moment I saw you, I couldn’t stay away. I had to be with you.”
“For your leopard,” she persisted. Her heart was beating far too fast.
“For me. I needed you for me. I wanted you for myself. I knew better. You deserve better, but I found I wasn’t a good enough man to give you up, not when I knew you were attracted to me.” He leaned forward. “We can take this slow. You deserve that, Ania, and I want to give you the world. The problem is our leopards may not give us the time we need.”
She bit down on her lower lip, hard. She’d felt the beginnings of her leopard’s need, so she couldn’t pretend not to understand.
“I don’t know, Mitya. I’m responsible for the care of my father. I’m in the middle of trying to sell the family business. This isn’t a good time.” She forked rice into her mouth. Her food was cold, and she put her fork down again.
“Keep trying to find reasons to push me away.”
That was exactly what she was doing because he scared her. Everything about him scared her because everything about him appealed to her.
“I’m not going to say I’m not tempted, because I am, but it’s the wrong time right now. I’ve got responsibilities. A few months from now . . .”
“What will you do when she goes into heat?”
She moistened her lips. She still couldn’t look away from him. It was impossible. “I don’t know. What do most women do when it happens? Lock themselves away? Find a companion? What?”
“You find a companion other than me and that’s a dead man,” Mitya said so mildly that for a moment she didn’t comprehend.
Footsteps sounded on the tile and Sevastyan was there immediately, stepping between the running woman who had come from down the hallway and Mitya and Ania.
“Miss Ania. You’re needed now in your father’s room. Hurry.”
4
“HE’S having another one of those spells!” the woman shouted. “Hurry, Ania!”
Mitya’s gaze had been on Ania’s face when the nurse had rushed into the room, calling out to her. He saw the fear in her eyes, in the sudden white beneath her skin, beneath her expression. She tried to hide the trembling of her hands as she put them on the table to leverage herself out of her chair. It wasn’t just fear of her father passing; this was much more primal. He was on his feet almost before Ania.
“Stay here, Annalise,” Ania commanded. “I’ll handle it.” She didn’t even look at Mitya, almost as if she’d forgotten he was there as she raced out of the room.
Mitya paced along right behind her, Sevastyan at his side. Neither made a sound as they hurried after her. Ania used her leopard’s speed whether she knew it or not. A leopard could leap long distances, and she covered the ground at an incredible pace.