The Russian's Dangerous Game (8 page)

“Why not?” she demanded, wondering if he was going to keep her here against her will.

“Because the roads are now impassable.
There’s no way you’d be able to get your car out of the spot you put it. The wind is blowing the snow around so it’s also surrounded by two feet of snow and it’s still going strong.”

That was not the news she wanted to hear. She looked out the window and saw the falling
snow, not sure she believed him about the depth of the snow. “When did all of this start?” she demanded, walking over to the window and pulling the filmy drapes back. It really looked lovely, she thought, seeing the barn in the back where she’d hidden. There weren’t even any tracks where he’d walked, the snow covering everything in a thick, white layer. She could barely even make out the fence line since the snow was so deep. “It wasn’t supposed to snow!”

He laughed softly. “It wasn’t forecasted to s
now in the city. I imagine it’s just raining closer to your home. But out here, we’re at a higher elevation so it’s much colder than in the city.”

She sighed, leaning her forehead against the cold glass. “Great,” she mumbled. “This is just perfect!”

He smothered his amusement at her reaction behind his hand, pretending to rub his jaw. She really was cute, he thought. And he liked her derriere in those jeans. The denim wasn’t tight but it showed him all of her curves. “Are you hungry?” he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed her hand and pulled her gently down the stairs. “My housekeeper makes a great omelet with whatever your heart desires.”

She shook her head, trying to pull her hand out of his but he wasn’t letting her go. “I’m really not hungry,” she said.

Rocco stopped and looked down at her, almost backing her up against the wall. “If you’re not hungry, what else can we do to entertain ourselves while we wait for the roads to open up?” he asked softly, his hand coming up to caress her cheek and ear, sending tingles everywhere in her body.

Brianna was so
surprised, she didn’t have her defenses in place. She hadn’t planned on him shifting gears quite so quickly and was stunned in place while he touched her. She told herself to move, to shift out of his embrace, but her feet didn’t move. And her head actually tilted into his hand, enjoying his soft touch.

When she realized what she was doing, she ga
sped and looked up into his golden, piercing eyes. How did he have that kind of power over her? He could do anything and she would love it? No! He couldn’t have that kind of control over her! She wouldn’t allow it! “Breakfast sounds wonderful,” she squeaked out, not sure if she had the willpower to pull away from him.

Rocco laughed, seeing exactly what she was doing but enjoying himself immensely. He’d never had a woman who ran away from him so this was all new to him. He found that he actually liked having her pull back. It made him have to work harder for what he wanted. A challenge!

Yes, she might be up to something that he wouldn’t like. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy her while she tried to accomplish whatever her mission was.

“Are you sure?” he asked, enjoying her soft skin as well as the challenge of trying to change her mind.
He liked the way she wiggled against him, her soft breasts felt wonderful against his chest. He almost laughed out loud when she turned slightly to give him better access, telling him without words that she liked what he was doing to her.

Why was she so skittish? Surely she remembered what it had been like between the two of them. It had only been
a few days since they’d been in each other’s arms.

“I’m famished,” she said and looked down. “I forgot to eat dinner last night.”

Rocco’s hand froze with her words and he smiled slightly. She was a complete mystery. And he liked that. A frustrating mystery, but one he was going to unravel, piece by piece. And enjoy every moment of the unveiling, he thought as he surveyed her unflattering flannel shirt. The only redeeming piece of clothing on the woman was her jeans, which he approved of completely. The flannel and, what he suspected was a brutal sports bra, would have to go though.

Changing tactics since he wanted to know everything about this woman, he asked,
“What were you doing in the barn last night?” Looking at the dark circles under her eyes and the gauntness of her cheeks, his eyes narrowed. “And why the hell didn’t you bring something to eat if you were going to stay out in the cold for so long?”

He didn’t wait for an answer but took her hand again, leading her down the stairs. He didn’t have to pull her this time and he realized it was because she wanted to get out of the bedroom and away from the bed. That news didn’t cheer him since he was aching to make love to her, but he didn’t want her getting sick on him either.$

He didn’t stop until they were in the small dining room he preferred when he was alone. There was a larger dining room he used when he had guests or elaborate functions but this room, with the large windows and small table, was more intimate and comfortable. The delicious scents of breakfast wafted to him and he signaled to his housekeeper that she could bring in their meal.

“If you don’t want an
omelet, Ms. Rogers can make you anything you want.”

A robust woman with a friendly smile brought out two plates that had been warming in the oven. She placed one in front of both of them,
then disappeared once again. In addition to an omelet brimming with cheese, ham and vegetables, there was also a huge biscuit on the side of the plate, a bowl of chilled, fresh fruit and, in the center of the table, a large pitcher of orange juice and an urn of coffee. Rocco poured juice and coffee for both of them while Brianna’s mind tried to catch up with everything that was happening.

“So how did I get from the barn to the house?” she asked, taking a full sip of coffee to try and clear her mind
from the cobwebs of sleep.

He spooned
an enormous helping of fresh fruit onto her plate. “I carried you. You’d fallen asleep.”

She looked down at her plate, truly ashamed that she hadn’t even been able to stay awake
. Looking out the window, she tried not to let her performance the previous night get her down. She’d questioned whether a real reporter would hide out in a barn in order to get a story, but she was absolutely sure that they wouldn’t fall asleep in the barn, or anytime during a stakeout while they were trying to get a story.

“I see,” she said softly,
mentally kicking herself for being ten kinds of a fool. “That was very…considerate of you.”

Rocco noticed the almost defeated look on her lovely face and didn’t like it. He wanted her smile back, her energy. Even her anger would be better than this downtrodden expression.
“Would you like to tell me why you were out in my barn? If you wanted to attend the party, I would have been delighted to have you accompany me.”

She set her coffee cup down on the saucer, fighting back tears. “That’s very generous of you. But I don’t think that would have accomplished my mission very well.”

Rocco studied the woman sitting across from him, still trying to figure her out. And he was stumped. She simply didn’t fit. She didn’t act like the other women he’d known in the past. She looked sweet and innocent, but there was a vibrating energy deep down inside of her that drew him to her.

But he had to understand her. She was so different, she fascinated him.
“What’s going on, Brianna? Why were you outside and why do you think I’m going to be carted away in handcuffs?”

She cut off a chunk of the eggs
with her fork and tried to come up with a good enough answer for him, but in the end, she decided that honesty would be the best way to go with this man. “I wasn’t at the club Thursday night to dance,” she blurted out. She cut another bite of the eggs, but knew she wouldn’t be able to swallow any of it so she focused on breaking the rest of her meal up into very precise, bite-sized pieces.

He smothered a smile at her declaration.
“I know that. So were you just trying to pick up a man?”

She reared
back, horrified that he would think that of her. “Goodness, no!” she answered, too quickly for him to think she was lying. She shook her head, knowing she sounded ridiculous. “I suppose many women patronize that establishment for that purpose, but that definitely wasn’t my goal.” And then she realized what she’d just said, remembered what had happened and felt her face heat up with the painful blush at those memories. “Well, anyway…”

Rocco didn’t prod at that statement.
At least not yet. He’d definitely get back to the issue of the night, or at least, part of the night that they’d spent together. Because that part was definitely going to be repeated. “So what was so fascinating about that club on that particular night?”

“You,” she finally said, putting her knife and fork down at a perfect angle. She picked up her
coffee cup once again, thinking caffeine would help her brain start working more effectively. “I was there to find you.”

His eyebrows went up
with her bold statement. “I’m flattered, but probably shouldn’t be.”

She carefully placed her
cup down beside her plate and hid her hands underneath the table. Turning to face him, she gave him her full attention now, wanting him to understand that she wasn’t always silly. She had a goal and she was determined to get her story. “No. I was there to do a story on the real you. I wanted to find out what kind of man you are without all the cameras around you. But I think I found something even more fascinating.” She debated for a moment, then decided to come right out and say it. “Who was the man you were meeting with that night?” she asked.

Rocco’s eyes suddenly closed off. She was treading in dangerous territory now.
“Who says I was meeting a man?” he asked.

She smiled
suddenly, enjoying the cat and mouse game. It was thrilling to try and go head to head with a man like Rocco. “I have pictures,” she said with a victorious grin. “I don’t know who he was, but I’m going to find out.”

Rocco chuckled and shook his head. “Perhaps it was simply a friend.”

Her grin widened even more. “You didn’t treat him as if he were a friend. You were treating him like he was a stranger standing next to you.”

Rocco leaned back, prepared to enjoy her for as long as he could. “I am polite to people I meet in social environments. One never knows when a new acquaintance will become useful.”

Her eyes narrowed as she looked across the table at him. “Strangers don’t pass secret notes to each other.”

Rocco went very still, wondering how much she knew. “What note?” he asked, but he knew exactly what she was talking about. He might have underestimated this little lovely, he thought. She’d been inordinately perceptive about his meeting and how the hell had she seen the plan that night?

The cold, hard look in his eyes frightened her, but she instinctively knew that the letter was much more important than what she’d previously been thinking, simply by his reaction. “The note that you slipped into your coat pocket.”

Rocco watched her carefully. The look in her eyes w
as still curious. If she’d read the note, she wouldn’t be here. She’d be at her desk, submitting the story of a lifetime. So he forced his body to relax once again. But his interest was piqued even more. “What was on the note?”

He watched in fascination as her eyes clouded with confusion.
Bingo, he thought. Those pretty green eyes couldn’t hold his gaze and she looked away. His pretty little fairy had no idea about the kind of minefield she’d seen passed along two nights ago.

“I didn’t get a very good picture of it, unfortunately.”
She hated admitting that, wishing she hadn’t been so…flustered, for lack of a better word…the night she was fleeing from his bedroom.

Rocco considered what she’d said, trying to read between the lines. And as his mind sifted through what he knew of this woman already, he came to the obvious conclusion. “You tried to take a picture of it the night you ran away from me, didn’t you?”

Brianna desperately wished she could stop this irritating blushing, but it just kept rising up. If only the man weren’t so…masculine. And appealing.

No! He wasn’t appealing! He was a criminal! She was not attracted to the bad boy types, she reminded herself firmly. This man was going to jail and she was going to put him there! “Whatever the reason, I’ll figure out what’s going on. I’m going to dig into everything, find out what you’re hiding.”

His eyebrows went up. “And what are you hoping to discover about me and my nefarious business dealings?” he chuckled. Her passion really was delightful.

She squirmed in her chair, wondering why he was so casual about all of this. Shouldn’t he be nervous? Or was he so sure about his abilities to hide his illegal pursuits, it equated to absolute confidence?
“You’re too charming,” she snapped, looking back down at her plate so she could concentrate. “You’re too well spoken, too controlled. Initially, I was trying to get the story on whether you’re really a horrible person when the cameras weren’t filming. Now I want to know what was on that paper and what you’re doing that’s going to put you in jail.”

This was a total surprise, and yet another piece that didn’t make sense. “So you’re a reporter that was trying to get at the real Rocco Antoniv,” he said
, ignoring the issue of what she perceived as illegal activities. Surprisingly he was impressed with both her tenacity and her idea that he was too charming to be real although he didn’t know why. He should probably be insulted but she was just too beautiful and he was too distracted by her lips. And her eyes. She had startlingly beautiful, green eyes. “And what did you discover? Do I have any dark secrets? Are you going to tell the world about my temper tantrums?”