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His eyes were icier than she’d ever seen the about a ree of ice

‘No,’ he said abruptly ‘Although I tried After my mother died I attempted to track him and that hen I discovered that he had been executed some years before’

‘Executed?’

‘Killed by a single bullet to the head in a Moscow alleyway It was, as they say in the business, a professional hit’

‘And you think’ She licked her lips ‘You think your father was behind it?’

‘I’ e written in his eyes

Erin squeezed his hand tighter as she began to understand why he’d wanted to escape from the reality of his past Because he had said himself that everyone was a product of their own experience And Dimitri’s was darker than most His was the kind of past which kept psychiatrists in business A mother who didn’t show her love and a cold-hearted crook who hated you because you weren’t his son A crook who had probably ordered an execution, thus effectively cutting off any opportunity for reconciliation between Dione off the rails quite so spectacularly?

She rested her head against his shoulder, even though she wanted to do so htly and tell hiht 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 hi confused

She told herself that what she was feeling was just natural syriwhich she’d tried to convince herself was the biggest con in the world and one she was never going to fall for again

She sed as she turned her face away from his

It felt uncomfortably like love

CHAPTER ELEVEN

NOW WHAT?

Di Erin how to play the popular card gaame the boy hadn’t kno to play until earlier that week, but he was a quick learner—and noas playing it as well as any Russian Dimitri felt a stir of pride whisper over hiold—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 eyesas Leo scooped up a handful of cards with a triuuessed 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

‘Yousoftly ‘And to play fair’

Play fair It wouldn’t have been the lesson Dio, 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 theht 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 hi She was patient and understanding with Leo—pretty much every minute of every day—and Dimitri kneith 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 hethe 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 here the grey skies were heavy with snow and the occasional stray flake drifted past like a white feather But experience told hiht and it looked as if Leo wouldn’t get his snowman, noback to England because half-term was almost over and Dimitri knew he needed to co to happen