Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
He gritted his teeth. “What are you proposing?” Giving up the visits to his niece was not an option. Olivia might not particularly like him, but she was blood, and her daughter was as well. Cillian O’Malley had all the makings of a good father and husband, but Hadley was also Dmitri’s late second in command’s daughter in addition to being Dmitri’s niece. Responsibility for her care fell to him, even if his half sister wouldn’t thank him for pointing it out. Allowing Hadley to grow up surrounded by the Irish with no connection to her family—to him—was out of the question.
“Tomorrow. Bring Keira when you come for your visit. If I’m satisfied with her answers, she’ll return to New York with you.” His tone said how unlikely he found that possibility.
“If you try to take her from me, you’ll be facing war.”
“Romanov, if you’ve hurt my sister, you won’t have a chance to start a war, because I’ll kill you myself.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Keira slept late, but eventually her curtains couldn’t block out the sun enough to keep hiding. Humiliation almost kept her in bed despite that, but she wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. Last night she’d almost said to hell with it and taken Dmitri up on the promise his body had been making. Almost. But she hadn’t. She’d managed to hang on to her tiny edge, and she would damn well keep doing it until she had a better plan.
In the meantime, her stomach was growling, and boredom made her twitchy. She spent a solid five minutes staring at the bathroom cabinet where she’d stashed her vodka, before forcing herself to grab a quick shower instead. Drinking now had no purpose, and she had been weak enough last night without adding to the shit show. Get some alcohol in her, and she didn’t trust herself not to track Dmitri down and do something really reckless, like sit on his face. Keira threw on the first things she found—black jeans, a long-sleeved gray knitted sweater, and thick wool socks.
She peeked out her door, but there wasn’t anyone in the halls. Even though she knew Dmitri must have men stationed around, she’d yet to see any of them, and it was… strange. Back home, the house was filled with people. Two of her brothers and their women lived there, along with Olivia’s kid, Hadley. Dmitri’s niece. Not to mention the half dozen men who were there at any given time for protection and to run whatever schemes Aiden had going.
Compared to that, the Romanov home was a ghost house. It felt like she and Dmitri were the last two people on earth, and she was pretty sure she hated him, so that didn’t bode well for the future.
Does it get lonely for him here?
She’d always considered Dmitri to be some stone-cold angel who existed without the needs of a normal human, but last night there had been desire in his eyes. He felt things, no matter how well he covered them up. He was a mostly only child and his parents were both dead, his half sister and her kid were gone, and there was only the man and this ridiculously large house…
Stop it. Stop humanizing him. He’s a big boy and he can take care of himself. The only reason he brought you here is because he needed you to secure his power. Do not forget that.
She headed for the kitchen and threw together a quick breakfast with two eggs—her usual. Normally in the mornings, she was so hungover that she had to force herself to eat, but Keira found her fork scraping the empty plate and her stomach still demanding more, so she dug through the refrigerator and came up with the makings for a smoothie, too. No one showed up by the time she was done, so she cleaned the dishes and set them in the small drying rack beside the sink.
She was just considering her options when the phone hanging on the wall trilled. Keira looked around, but there wasn’t anyone else to answer it. While she was considering it, the ringing stopped… and promptly started up again. Oh yeah, that’s definitely for me.
With a sigh, she walked over and picked it up. “Romanov kitchen, Keira speaking.”
A pause. “Cheeky.”
She rolled her eyes. “Hello, Dmitri, lovely morning we’re having. Is there something you need, or were you just enjoying interrupting my breakfast?” He had to either have people around here that she couldn’t see, or there was some kind of security equipment that she’d missed. She turned around to lean against the wall and narrowed her eyes. There didn’t appear to be a camera around, but the tech was fancy enough these days that she might not be able to pick it out. “You have cameras in this house.”