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“It’s a good investment,” he dismissed
The stateood invest all of Victor’s properties?” He’d been positively ruthless, speaking harshly into hisher few sentimental items He hadn’t taken any losses that she could discern, but he hadn’t seee profits either “I’m sure his family would have kept what you didn’t want”
“His sons kept enough,” he said bluntly, pausing on the top landing to open a door by punching a code into the security pad “I left them their homes because they have innocent wives and children, but they knew enough about how their father ht my takeover I didn’t have the evidence to prove Van Eych’s cri books were in e their names to escape any connection to him”
His mouth curled into a cruel smile as he held the door for her
Foreboding crawled through her veins “You think it’s funny to cause the severing of fa was appalled
“Funny? No Justified? Yes”
She stepped into a rooolden pools, but she didn’t take it in, too caught up with looking for a crack of hu expression Until now she hadn’t worried ould happen to her, aware only that if she walked away froret Orphaned children needed a voice and it wasn’t as if she could find support for the foundation elsewhere Victor was gone and who else would sponsor it if rumors started up that its founder had been in collusion with a white-collar criminal? No, if she didn’t do this, the foundation was history, but reality hit as the door clicked shut behind them, loud and symbolic
Aleksy Dmitriev was a hard man Not cruel; she believed him when he said he didn’t hurt women He’d already demonstrated that he held himself to specific, sharply defined ethics But he wasn’t merely detached like her She deflected e catch in her Apprehension, but empathy too What had made him so devoid of a heart? Had he ever had one?
Did it ardless
Her heart sank, taking her last chance of protest with it, leaving her feeling naked and defenseless You’re not naked yet, a lethal voice whispered in her head
“Dine out or in?” he asked, his accent raspy on her sensitized nerves
Her breath stuttered and she struggled to catch it, not realizing she’d been holding it Part of her would rather get thetired, but she was also wide-aith nervous anticipation
His nearness, the power of his intense glance, stole her voice His hair had flattened into a dark helrown in on his square jaw, accentuating everything aze should have been flashing a back off Instead she studied hiswith erotic control over hers Her fingertips itched to trace the sly masculine, yet wickedly sexy
“This stubble will burn if I kiss you the way you’re begging rowled voice that slammed her back to reality
“I—” She strangled on denial,aura and move across the room
“I’ll shower and shave You put on one of those cocktail dresses you asked s”
She threw hilare, but he disappeared down a hall What did she have to be angry about anyway? She’d sold herself into his control, hadn’t she?
Clair gripped her elbows, hanging on to her cos to turn her e was enors and attractively arranged furniture Everything was decidedlydesk set in the corner surrounded by enough space to accommodate its charismatic owner The rest of the flat took up the entire top floor of the building, incorporating half a dozen s space that one man couldn’t possibly need
She had thought Victor obscenely wealthy She shook her head, re herself that the real test of a person’s class came frouarded himself even more closely than she did She wondered what kind of ranite exterior One ould laugh her to the curb when he realized what a novice she was?