The Russian's Furious Fiancee Page 0,8

she didn’t like and couldn’t control.

“Let me take you out to lunch tomorrow,” he replied, ignoring her glare and actually moving closer. His hand didn’t release her arm, but it relaxed and slid down to her elbow and forearm, then took her hand in his while he examined her fingers. “I’d like to get to know you better.”

With his relaxed hold, she was able to snap her hand out of his grasp and take a step backwards, adding space so that she didn’t feel so small. She wasn’t a short woman, just small compared to this stranger’s extraordinary height. “I can assure you that the feeling is not mutual. I not only don’t want to get to know you, but I sincerely hope we’ll never meet again.”

He chuckled at her spunk, finding her refreshing and lovelier with each passing moment. “I can guarantee that we’ll meet again. And it will be very, very soon.” While he spoke, he was lifting her hand to his mouth. She thought he only meant to kiss her with old fashioned flair but she should have known better. Instead of a gentlemanly kiss, he turned her hand over and kissed the palm of her hand, smiling when he heard her gasp and felt the shivers intensify.

As he walked away, Eva shot daggers at his back, wishing she could say something pithy that would pierce his confidence. But she couldn’t think of anything at the moment.

How had he gained her hand again? She’d snatched it away from him!

Chapter 3

Eva closed her eyes, working through the scene and trying to come up with a good way to segue from one scene to the next. There was a clue to the murderer she had to add, but her main character, a female detective with a huge chip on her shoulder, needed to discover this one particular clue soon or the ending wouldn’t work as well. She already had that part figured out, even how the arrest was going to happen. It was the middle that was more of the puzzle. That was the part she loved too. It was all very intricate and detailed, making her think hard about how to shift the balance of power from the bad guy to the detective.

She really should be working on her lesson plans. They were more urgent, but her novel was coming along well and she’d made a great deal of progress today. She didn’t want to break the moment by working on plans for her investing class.

The phone ringing interrupted her concentration and she jumped at the sound, the ring shattering the silence of her apartment with a shrill sound.

With a sigh, she looked at the caller ID, not willing to break her work day up for just anyone. The phone number wasn’t familiar, so she pressed the button that would send the call to voice mail.

Once silence reigned once again, she stood up and paced her apartment. She’d set up her office in the second bedroom but it felt small today. Confined. And with the phone ringing, her whole concentration was interrupted. She’d lost the creative bubble that had been helping her to get through her storyline this morning.

It was all because of that man, she thought with a great deal of frustration. She walked into her kitchen and grabbed a diet soda, opening the top and trying to calm down. Every time she thought about the previous night she just got riled up again. She’d even had trouble sleeping last night because of that obnoxious kiss to her palm!

Of all the gall! Why did he think he could do things like that to her? Why would he even want to? They’d barely met and there he was, kissing the palm of her hand like some…..ugh! Just some….she couldn’t even think of a good enough epithet for him, she was just too angry.

When the phone started ringing once again, she turned around and looked at the phone number. It was the same number, so she supposed she should answer it. Besides, she wasn’t making any more progress today. Her whole mind was shot because of last night’s dinner party now that the phone had interrupted her. She should have unplugged it and just focused on her story!

“Hello?” she snapped as she answered the phone and then immediately regretted her tone. The caller wasn’t the cause of her frustrations so she shouldn’t be taking it out on the stranger. “I’m sorry. How can I help you?” she asked again,