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released her, she clamped her hands together in her lap. Her skin still tingled from his touch. “I don’t know why,” she said as the blood roared in her ears. “You had your chance last night and you didn’t take it.”
    Had she really just said that to him?
    His laugh was not what she expected. “When I take you, maya krasavitsa, it will not be as you cry over another man.”
    Her face flamed. “I wasn’t crying over Chad.”
    His expression said he didn’t believe it. She turned her head to watch the snow again. Damn him for seeing so deeply into her. Her shattered romantic fantasy hadn’t been the only thing she’d cried over, but she wasn’t planning to share everything about her life with this man in order to correct his impression.
    He was nothing to her, in spite of the heat of attraction she felt. After he dropped her off, she would never talk to him again.
    “I think perhaps you are in love with Chad Russell,” he said from behind her, “even if he is not your lover. And I think you are bitterly disappointed to learn he has chosen your sister over you.”
    Paige whirled, both stunned and furious. “You have no idea what you’re talking about!”
    “I am not a blind man, Paige.”
    Her breath stabbed in her chest. Was she that transparent? Had Chad always known it, too? Was that why he’d taken her to lunch? To try to let her down easily?
    My God.
    “Leave me alone, Prince Voronov,” she said coldly. “I appreciate your help, but that doesn’t give you the right to pick my life apart for your amusement. You don’t know anything about me, so save your rude speculation.”
    The car drew to a halt, but she couldn’t seem to look away from the man staring so intently back at her. His icy gray eyes weren’t cold like she expected—they were hot, boring beneath her skin.
    “Then I apologize,” he said after what seemed an eternity of them staring at each other in silence. “I would never want to hurt you.”
    The door swung open and she realized they were at the hotel, that a valet waited for her to exit. But everything in the car was surreal, and she found it hard to break away. The next time she saw this man, it would be at a meeting of corporate bigwigs. He would not notice her—nor did she want him to.
    If Chad knew she’d spent the night with Prince Alexei Voronov, even though it was innocent, he’d go through the roof.
    And she’d definitely be out of a job.
    “Thank you for your help,” she said again. She felt like a broken recording, but what else could she say? Paige tried her best to smile as if she wasn’t still raw inside. “I suppose this is goodbye then.”
    Alexei’s smile was wolfish. “Ah, but this is not goodbye, is it? We will see each other again, Paige Barnes. We will see a lot of each other, I promise you.”
    Paige hurried from the car and dashed inside the hotel lobby without looking back. Her skin was hot, in spite of the frigid weather, and she stripped off her coat in the elevator as it sped to her floor.
    Why did Alexei Voronov rattle her so much? Yes, they’d skipped a few steps with that meeting in Red Square, but a kiss was a kiss. Wasn’t it?
    Paige’s ears were hot. No, it definitely wasn’t. That kiss had been molten hot, and so had the kisses later, in his apartment.
    That didn’t make the kisses extraordinary, however. And, really, how would she know? She had very little to base it on.
    Paige fished her key from her coat and slipped into the room she shared with Emma. A pang of feeling pierced her heart, but she pushed it aside. So what if Emma was with Chad? Paige was so over it.
    “Oh my God, where have you been? I’ve been so worried!”
    Paige stopped dead in the midst of trying to close the door silently, in case Emma was in bed after all, and turned very slowly to face her sister.
    Emma’s pretty face was lined with worry. Paige’s heart squeezed in her chest.
    “I’m sorry, Emma. I couldn’t sleep and went for a walk.” The lie