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meet Alexei’s gaze. Would she still see pity in his eyes? It was nothing but wishful thinking to hope he’d forgotten how she’d thrown herself at him after he’d told her about Chad and Emma. She wanted to sink into the leather cushions and disappear, but since that wasn’t happening, she forced herself to be cool under pressure.
    “I’m just thinking,” she said. “We don’t get snow in April where I’m from.”
    His smile made her heart thump. “Ah yes, it is quite tropical where you live.”
    “I wouldn’t say tropical.”
    He shrugged. “Compared to Moscow?”
    Paige swallowed. He was too handsome, this man. Too easy to look at. She found herself wondering what it would have been like if he hadn’t pushed her away.
    Mind-blowing, no doubt.
    “I see your point.”
    “You should see my home in St. Petersburg,” he continued. “It is an old estate dating back several hundred years in my family. The snow is pristine, undisturbed. There are wolves that howl during the night, and the stars shine so brightly you cannot believe. It is perfect for a
troika
ride.”
    She had a vision from a movie, of a couple bundled under a fur and riding through the snow in a sleigh with jingling bells. It seemed so romantic, though of course he hadn’t mentioned it for that reason.
    “That sounds lovely,” she replied.
    “Perhaps I will show it to you someday,” he said, and her heart thumped harder.
    Was
he flirting with her?
    Impossible.
A man like him dated movie stars and models, not plain secretaries who were so pitiful they could only admire a man from afar.
    “I don’t see how,” she replied truthfully, “though it’s a nice thought. We are leaving in a few days, and St. Petersburg is not on our itinerary.”
    His gaze glittered strangely. “Do you intend to take your lover back after what he did?”
    Shock zapped her like an electrical current. “Chad Russell is my boss, not my lover.”
    “Is that so?”
    She thrust her chin forward. “Yes, it is.”
    He laced his fingers between hers, brought her hand to his mouth. She was too stunned to pull away as his lips touched the back of her hand. “Then that is really too bad for him, isn’t it? But it’s excellent for me.”
    When he 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 youare 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