Alexandra has to attend a charity event every year at her father’s country club. She tells Dmitri he can’t go with her, because he’s too rough and he won’t fit in. Her father may suspect what his daughter does with her free time, but she works hard to be sure each of her two sides never interfere with the social situations of the other one. She tells Dmitri to go to the biker bar and make himself happy with one of the females in her gang…but for some odd reason, that thought is bothering her.Â
Alexandra was so busy with her thoughts that she didn’t hear her Father approaching her from behind. When he cleared his throat she turned and almost swallowed her tongue.
“Alex, I’ve been looking for you all over! I know you don’t like when I introduce you to men not directly in our business, but this man here represents a conglomerate of interests from Russia. They aren’t big in the US market yet, but if they ever get to the point where they need our expertise, it would be nice if we knew we would be in the running at least for an interview. Isn’t that right, Dmitri?”
Dmitri was wearing a European-styled power suit so tailored to him that it had to have been hand-made. It was flawless and hugged every part of his body, accentuating his broad shoulders and tapered waist. The trousers had generous pleats in the front for a smoother line, amply covering up what Alexandra knew was under them, making her mouth go dry as she forced herself to not stare. His shoes looked to be hand-tooled Italian leather oxfords, and his conservative tie was held in place by a tack that had a diamond encrusted on it. As he held out his hand to shake hers, Alexandra idly noticed that the cufflinks on his sleeves had the same diamonds on them as his tie tack. The overall impression she got from looking at him was that this was a man born to wealth, who only walked among the plebeians when he had to; otherwise he stayed on Mt. Olympus, within his own social group.
She tried to speak, but had no voice. She cleared her throat and tried again, her hand still held in Dmitri’s massive paw as both men waited patiently for her to acknowledge him.
“I’m please to meet you, mister…” she began then turned to her Dad, her hand still being held. “What did you say his name was?”
“Dmitri Illyanovich,” her Father smiled at the man. “I did pronounce it right, didn’t I?”
For Dad to be so ingratiating, he’s totally under Dmitri’s spell! Either that, or I’ve been played for a fool in a major way. What the fuck?
Alexandra felt her face begin to hurt as the fake smile she was wearing cause muscle fatigue. Her eyes searched Dmitri’s face but he kept up the act of having never met her before.
“This is your lovely daughter who runs your company, Mr. Blackstone? You are indeed a lucky man, to have produced such beauty. Yet to have her be as intelligent as the head of your firm is known to be, must be a source of inordinate pride for you.”
Dmitri bent his head down to kiss the back of her hand, “I’m honored to meet you, Miss Blackstone. I hope that in the future I can become important enough to merit some of your attention.”
Feeling her Father’s eyes on her, she bit back her sarcastic responses and replied in a tone she hoped was neutral, “I hope so also. Father so rarely introduces me to men who can present me with an interesting challenge…” she hesitated a split second before continuing, “In the workplace.”
While they stared at each other, Alexandra’s Father glanced across the room to announce, “Ah, I see my wife is signaling to me from the entrance to the dining room. Would you consider joining us at our table, Mr. Illyanovich?”
Without taking his eyes away from the stare-down with Alexandra, Dmitri replied smoothly, “If there is room at your table for one more diner, I’d be honored to join you tonight.”
He turned to smile at the senior Blackstone, “And please, call me Dmitri.”
“Excellent! And you can call me Thomas. I’ll tell my wife that we need to save two seats. Come join us when you’re ready.”
Dmitri watched as Thomas strode across the room back to his wife and bent low to talk directly into her ear. She glanced across the room at them and nodded before they walked with her hand on his arm, into the dining room.
Alexandra had had enough. She turned quickly and walked out through the doors that had been left unlocked for smokers to seek refuge on the balcony. She didn’t stop until she had reached the opposite end of it, and she leaned against the ornate railing.
Dmitri had followed her closely, and as she contemplated whether or not she would break a leg if she jumped, he spoke into her ear. His lips were so close to her skin that the hairs on her neck stood at attention and a shiver ran down her spine before taking a detour to send the tingling sensation to the juncture between her thighs, making her legs shake.
“You don’t appear to be happy to see me, Sashka.”
She whirled around to face him, “What the fuck are you doing here? How did you even find the right place? This is an invitation-only event. What the hell kind of conglomerate are you supposed to represent? And how did you pick my Dad out of the crowd, to get him to introduce you to me?”
Dmitri smiled at her, shaking his head, “You don’t really want to know the answers to all of those questions. The only question you really want to know is why I’m here. The answer should be obvious. I’m here because it’s Saturday night and you’re here. Where else would I be?”
Sparks flew out of her eyes as she spat out, “At the bar? Fucking one of the biker babes there? Not here, intruding on my private life!”
He didn’t back off, but stared into her eyes. “Private life? Is there anything more private than what you and I have shared for weeks now?”
“Okay, my weekday life. My businesswoman persona. You’re not a part of this part of my life. You don’t belong here.”
A smile played with the corners of his mouth, “But that’s where you are so wrong, Sashka. I belong where-ever you are. I told you when I met you, that we both wear many faces and many names. I actually told your Father my real name, though your knowing that gives you more power over me than I had intended for you to have at this point. But it will make things easier to explain to him when we tell him we’re going to be married.”
“What?” She shrieked as her face registered anger and shock.
“Oh, did I say that out-loud? My bad. We’d better get into the dining room or your Father and his lovely trophy wife will wonder where we are, since we’ll be missing the soup course.”
“Of all of the delusional, conceited, over-bearing…”
“Yes, yes, we can argue later. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”
He reached out and took hold of her elbow and began walking towards the unlocked door back into the brightly-lit great room.
She walked without thinking about what she was doing, as her mind continued to try to process what was going on.
“But…” she sputtered as the door shut behind them.
“Later, Alexandra. We don’t want your Father to suspect that we have already met, do we? That might lead to some embarrassing questions.”
****
What do you think of Dmitri showing his alpha side? Do you think he’s man enough to convince this woman she needs to give up other men and settle down with just him? Leave a comment below and be entered into a contest to win either an autographed paperback of this book (if you live in the USA), or the eBook. I’ll choose the winner at 10pm EST tonight, since I’ll be working both jobs for the next few days.
If you don’t win, the book is on sale at CTR for a great price!
Find links to reviews and another excerpt at my blog: http://www.fionamcgier.com
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