made to last, and the linens and bathroom soaps and oils all bore the strawberry logo. The small fireplace was perfect, guarding against the cold mist outside; the kitchen tiny and complete and the business work center well fixed with a computer and faxing and intercom facilities.
During the evenings, as they worked, listing ideas for the promotions and conferences, the door to Mikhail’s apartment was open, and he was very proper about knocking before entering. He’d sit beside her on the sprawling cream couch, comfortable in jeans and stocking feet and concentrating on meshing their ideas. Mikhail took every idea andturned it around carefully, asking questions before either approving or rejecting.
Mikhail hadn’t touched Ellie, and she missed him. He had returned to the cool methodical businessman, and she was too busy getting the feel of the Amoteh, and exploring the possibilities for conferences and entertainment. They worked together well—if she followed his orders, which she was doing for now. She had other ideas she hadn’t told him, ones that she knew he would squash.
It was only a temporary situation, Ellie decided. She knew what Mikhail thought of her, that she’d been rich and spoiled, a society jet-setter just like his ex-wife, not likely to stay…but then, her past performances with him hadn’t been exactly sweet. And it was so hard to be good around Mikhail. When he looked so withdrawn, concentrating on business, she just wanted to grab his tie, wrap it around her fist and tug him to her for a kiss.
She wanted to burn herself into his mind and body so that he wouldn’t forget her. Maybe that was what she wanted all along…to have Mikhail’s full attention, to meet him there in the passion that simmered now in her.
Leigh held Ellie’s hand as they watched the men and the child on the beach. Leigh sighed luxuriously and said, “The Stepanovs are a wonderful family and Mikhail is a lovely man. He needs you—you make him feel alive. Anyone can see what’s happening between you.”
“He doesn’t trust me—as a woman. I can feel it. Maybe I deserve that, given the Ellie I used to be—self-serving, spoiled and all the rest. I’m asking a lot of him.”
“Not any more than Jarek or Fadey would give. Stepanov men were meant to protect and to love, but Mikhail had little of that in his marriage. JoAnna put him through hell. It tore his heart out to know she destroyed his baby. She wasn’t faithful, and I have to question if it even was his baby. Yet he grieved for it as if it were. And he took the divorce as a failure. Failure is so hard for Mikhail to accept.”
Leigh was very quiet, and then she said fiercely, “I would do anything to protect my husband from those feelings, the dark, brooding side of their Stepanov heritage. Jarek’s first wife died, and he felt so guilty, felt that he should have gone with her to Strawberry Hill to conceive a child that day. I danced in front of the chieftain’s grave, because if there is a curse, I didn’t want it to touch Jarek again. Maybe it was silly, but I love him so. I knew myself—what was really important—my love for Jarek, and that’s what they say will break the curse, a woman who knows her own heart.”
“Really? You did that?”
“I had to tear him away from her, from his guilt. I know it was silly to believe in a curse, but it always seems to hover here, people talk of it. I would have done anything to tear her from him.”
Ellie shook her head. “It wasn’t silly at all. I’d use anything I could to keep Tanya safe.”
Leigh yawned delicately. “I could use a nap, and from the looks of you, Ellie, you could, too. Mikhail said you need hard work because you’re afraid for Tanya, but Mary Jo says you’re working too hard. And then you’re so sweet to take time to pamper me.”
Ellie thought of how Hillary had reacted after childbirth, as though she deserved every homage. “I’d better go and let you get some
During the evenings, as they worked, listing ideas for the promotions and conferences, the door to Mikhail’s apartment was open, and he was very proper about knocking before entering. He’d sit beside her on the sprawling cream couch, comfortable in jeans and stocking feet and concentrating on meshing their ideas. Mikhail took every idea andturned it around carefully, asking questions before either approving or rejecting.
Mikhail hadn’t touched Ellie, and she missed him. He had returned to the cool methodical businessman, and she was too busy getting the feel of the Amoteh, and exploring the possibilities for conferences and entertainment. They worked together well—if she followed his orders, which she was doing for now. She had other ideas she hadn’t told him, ones that she knew he would squash.
It was only a temporary situation, Ellie decided. She knew what Mikhail thought of her, that she’d been rich and spoiled, a society jet-setter just like his ex-wife, not likely to stay…but then, her past performances with him hadn’t been exactly sweet. And it was so hard to be good around Mikhail. When he looked so withdrawn, concentrating on business, she just wanted to grab his tie, wrap it around her fist and tug him to her for a kiss.
She wanted to burn herself into his mind and body so that he wouldn’t forget her. Maybe that was what she wanted all along…to have Mikhail’s full attention, to meet him there in the passion that simmered now in her.
Leigh held Ellie’s hand as they watched the men and the child on the beach. Leigh sighed luxuriously and said, “The Stepanovs are a wonderful family and Mikhail is a lovely man. He needs you—you make him feel alive. Anyone can see what’s happening between you.”
“He doesn’t trust me—as a woman. I can feel it. Maybe I deserve that, given the Ellie I used to be—self-serving, spoiled and all the rest. I’m asking a lot of him.”
“Not any more than Jarek or Fadey would give. Stepanov men were meant to protect and to love, but Mikhail had little of that in his marriage. JoAnna put him through hell. It tore his heart out to know she destroyed his baby. She wasn’t faithful, and I have to question if it even was his baby. Yet he grieved for it as if it were. And he took the divorce as a failure. Failure is so hard for Mikhail to accept.”
Leigh was very quiet, and then she said fiercely, “I would do anything to protect my husband from those feelings, the dark, brooding side of their Stepanov heritage. Jarek’s first wife died, and he felt so guilty, felt that he should have gone with her to Strawberry Hill to conceive a child that day. I danced in front of the chieftain’s grave, because if there is a curse, I didn’t want it to touch Jarek again. Maybe it was silly, but I love him so. I knew myself—what was really important—my love for Jarek, and that’s what they say will break the curse, a woman who knows her own heart.”
“Really? You did that?”
“I had to tear him away from her, from his guilt. I know it was silly to believe in a curse, but it always seems to hover here, people talk of it. I would have done anything to tear her from him.”
Ellie shook her head. “It wasn’t silly at all. I’d use anything I could to keep Tanya safe.”
Leigh yawned delicately. “I could use a nap, and from the looks of you, Ellie, you could, too. Mikhail said you need hard work because you’re afraid for Tanya, but Mary Jo says you’re working too hard. And then you’re so sweet to take time to pamper me.”
Ellie thought of how Hillary had reacted after childbirth, as though she deserved every homage. “I’d better go and let you get some
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