She’d seen it too.
“I like Mikhail…that’s all I can handle right now without putting him in a body cast or ICU for a few days.” Drew laughed.
Bethany began to join them until she studied the cold room. Walls full of old antique knives waiting to slip from the rusty hooks and slice down her arm, gave her a chill.
“How long had you two dated before he hurt you?” Anya asked.
Her ears perked up. “How do you know he hurt me? Is this a long standing pattern with Mikhail?”
“How long?” Anya repeated.
Where was the bald bulb that’s normally hanging from the ceiling during an investigation? “You’re very perceptive. Two months ago,” she admitted.
“What did he do?”
“Broke my trust.”
Both women sucked in a breath.
“Give him a chance.” Great Simone joined in the gang take down of Mikhail’s weakened prey…her.
She had to protect herself from being burned. “It takes a while for a heart to develop a scab. So if your son doesn’t filet my heart again, we might salvage our friendship.”
“The romance,” Anya asked her eyes low yet hopeful. “I know he apologized.”
“Anybody can say they’re sorry after the fact. Nothing can take away the memories they can recall whenever they need a hit of infidelity.” That slithered out on a rope of pain and Bethany witnessed the hurt on Anya’s drawn features. “I don’t hate your son, Mrs. Shamochernyi. I hate being hurt. Now can we go back upstairs…it’s kind of cold down here?” Clutching the edge of the banister, it groaned under the stress.
“Oh, I forgot, Josef told me Mikhail said you had a fear of knives. Forgive me.”
“Knives…what happened?” Simone asked coming closer to Bethany’s side her hand out in a gesture of comfort. “That freak held a knife on you in the cabinet?”
“No.” She forced back the knot in her gut with the memories flooding her mind. “I had a bad experience as a teenager. Nothing to be concerned about, it’s just that, I’d rather not be down here, if you don’t mind.” She hurried part way up the tight stairs. Good thing she wasn’t claustrophobic…totally. She’d die before she reached the top.
“Admit you love Mikhail,” Anya said holding on the banister.
“You just met me. Why would you make that assumption?”
Simone laughed. “Don’t waste your time fighting it. Anya called me out on my feelings for Seth the day she and I met. And she was right.”
“You’re still talking to him after he hurt you. So you’re either that or a naïve little girl mesmerized by his wealth and dark rugged features.”
“I wish I could say I’m naïve and thrilled by his money…but I’m not.”
Anya said easing down to sit on the bottom stair. “What are you thrilled by, Ms. Cansler?”
Bethany angled her face up the tight stairs then blew out a breath returning to the two sets of eyes trained on her and the wall full of knives. “He has an abacus made of metal on the credenza in his office. His love of numbers is sexy.”
“You know my son well.”
“I do,” she said unable to stop focusing on the knives dangling on pegs lining the stone wall. Wicked reminders of her past she’d never be free of no matter the amount of therapy. Taking a deep breath helped to calm her spastic nerves, nothing stopped the sweat trickling down her back.
“You’re really unnerved by the knives aren’t you?”
The mild moldy scent crowded her on the stairs. “Can we please just go? I’m not in love with Mikhail, and I would like to go lie down. I want to participate in the games tomorrow. If I’m being set up they figure the person will try and use me again,” Bethany said in a rush of words, gesturing before they hog tied her to a chair and began the interrogation, or she passed out from the terror eating away at her soul. “Mikhail thinks if whoever is doing this believes we are back together they’ll stop harassing me and focus on him.” She scrambled up the stairs feeling nauseated. Pushing open the paneled door, she bolted out of the pantry nearly running into Mikhail coming down the hall with paper in his hand.
“Hey—c’mere, stop running.” Mikhail blocked her escape curving his arms around her shoulders. “What happened down there? Your skin’s as pale as mine.” He ducked his head under her lowered face.
Steadying herself, she whispered bringing a hand to her mouth. “I’m going to throw up.” Bethany hooked her arms around his neck.
Her feet left the ground.
Mikhail ran down the hall with her in his arms to the family office through to the bathroom.
That would’ve been ugly if she actually had food in her body.
He carried her to the leather sofa covering her with the afghan on the back. Bethany started to protest. His strength said otherwise. She curled beside him against the gently worn tufted leather.
A tease of black hair laid flat against his chest visible through his partially open sweater at his throat. Mikhail tucked her over his lap and began stroking her hair.
“Mikhail, that cellar is mad with knives hanging everywhere. I thought I was going to pass out down there,” she admitted, shaking off the shiver coursing through her body. Mikhail’s arms slowly curled around her. “Apologize to your family for me, please. I’m so embarrassed.”
As if a butterfly walked across her skin, Mikhail skimmed a gentle kiss across her temple. A whisper of words trailed the touch. “
Charman
t, Bethany. Go to sleep. I’ll work in here at the desk.”
Fatigued, she tucked the afghan under her chin and let out a breath. “You’re being funny calling me graceful the way I ran up those stairs like Satan was chasing me.”
He sighed. “You know what else
charmant
refers to, Bethany. I say it to you often enough.”
And she did. “I don’t feel pretty, right now. I feel drained and exhausted,” she managed to say. Gently patting his thigh she continued, “Go work on your parents’ books, I’ll be fine right here.”
Mikhail rubbed her hip as she let sleep pull her under.
“You’ve had a rough day,” he reminded her, stroking a knuckle under her chin. “Let me watch over you just once. Go to sleep Bethany.”
“Khail?”
“Hmm,” he murmured stroking a hand down her back lovingly massaging her hip.
“Taking you back would mean I let myself down allowing you to treat me less than what I deserve. You disrespected me and us. That doesn’t go away because you offer an apology. You think my avoiding you is about us. It’s about me not respecting the boundaries I’ve set for myself as a woman.”
His lips were warm on her forehead when he kissed her. “Don’t do that to me again. Not talking for days at a time. I’ll never disrespect you again, but don’t ever walk away from me.”
Bethany picked up a hint of fear in his words. What wasn’t he telling her? As she drifted off to sleep, warm arms cradled her to an even warmer chest in a fierce hold. What had she missed?
A new day
Torture Bethany.
Behind the parking lot of the chalet, the morning clouds hung thick and low, pouring snow over the landscape. Greg stood inside his shanty lacing his hiking boots to get out on the trail to Bethany. Everything was going according to plan.
The front door swung open, and he watched his cousin Nina come inside and head straight for the coffee.
“You told me Bethany was a dumb broad. Not the boss’s squeeze. You said they wouldn’t look for her in the basement, but it’s all over the news that she was found okay.”
Nina waved her black pained nails through the air. He hated that color. She was already pale as a ghost.
“Greg, relax or you’ll have a heart attack. That’s why we’ll do it up here. Mikhail thinks he can toss me to the side and put another woman in my place well, I’ll teach both of them. He left me in Switzerland to die, and I’ve come back to claim what belongs to me—him and his fortune,” she warned, pouring herself a cup, drinking half of the contents before setting down beside the potbelly stove. “How did you land this sweet spot? No one will see us back here.” Her gaze tracked various points in the shanty from the threadbare, yet comfortable furniture to the kitchenette along the wall. A full size bed set three feet away in the only bedroom that had no door to speak of. Yet there was a bathroom.
Greg yanked down on the brim of his baseball cap then shrugged on his jacket. “Ex-military family. They understand positioning is everything. I can see everyone from here, but they can’t see me.”
“Were you able to stop by my apartment? I couldn’t go back.”
“I did. And you were right. Mikhail and Bethany aren’t the enemies everybody’s making them out to be. This may be harder than we think to get her away from him.”
“I told you.” She set the cup on the small counter and walked to the window three feet away. “You have to make her trust you. Get inside her head. Break down her shields.” She raised her face, eyes pleading with him to get this right. “She has to trust you over him for my plan won't work. And everything and I mean everything hinges on breaking those two apart.”
She was pushing him, and he didn't like being pushed. “Back off. You said Mikhail lied to you, and I promised to help you get even. But I do it my way.”
“You can’t botch this. I have too much invested to be caught now. I’ve spent all year getting ready for this week. By next Friday I want Mikhail’s ring to be on my finger.”
“Ms. Cansler will be fun to play with. She’ll never suspect a thing.”
“Remember, we’re just scaring her off at first to avoid any more police attention.” Swiping blond strands from her face poking out from under her black cap, she continued, “If she wants to put up a fight then we move on to phase three.”
“You’re sure it’ll work?” He had to ask. He’d seen scorn go too crazy in a matter of seconds with women before. The way her eyes were dancing, she was on her way.
“I’m not a novice. I paid attention at the hospital in the Netherlands. I know exactly what dosage to give for the results I need. It’s all measured out to her weight and height.”
Walking across the three feet to the door, he opened it stretching his back around the doorjamb to peer out through the trees. The guests were beginning to catch gondolas to the slopes and set up for the first event.
“The first event is starting, and I have to meet Bethany. So hurry up.”
“Remember we can’t do it right off, we have to wait until the heat from the threat wears down some. So get into character and gain her trust.”
“Don’t leave fingerprints, whatever you got planned. I want to walk away from this after its done and go back to my life.” He’d already purchased a one-way ticket for America if her scheme backfired. Prison life on a cop was suicide, not something he’d stick around to experience.
Thick snow fell around them and he caught the evil grin under her tight lips. As a little girl, she’d stayed in trouble, and he spent too much time getting her out of it or taking the punishment for her. Not this time. He was done.
Greg left the cabin and walked around the backside of the chalet through the stables, entering the shanty from the left.
Seeing Bethany through the window entering the great room he grinned. He hadn’t played with a woman’s mind in a long while. Let the party begin. “I’ll check in later,” he said jogging up the walk to the chalet. Pulling open the door, he shrugged off his coat, tossing it on the hook and making his way over to Bethany huddled over her boot tray under the bench. Long legs and a tight ass under her jeans, he could see Mikhail’s attraction. Too bad, he would have to off her. Pretty woman; he’d love to show her a world of new things in his cabin she’d never forget.
“Hey, we got off on the wrong foot earlier, but I take my job seriously. I’ve seen things go wrong fast assuming people were innocent.” Tension around Bethany’s mouth eased. He had her. “I took a quick look around, checking out the guests and there’s a few I got my eye on, but most are no threat.”
“And who do you see as a potential problem?” she asked sarcastically.
“You think this is a joke, Ms. Cansler?” he accused, tired of her insipid disposition. “Most employers would have fired you, but Mr. Shamochernyi feels you’re innocent. Take it as a compliment.”
Bethany looked back into the lobby then back to him.
“You still want to hit the slopes or give me a lesson on employer etiquette?”
She had a smart mouth, torturing her might be fun after all. Greg closed a hand over her ski boots in the cubby. He sat on the leather bench, not giving her a chance to object, and tugged her down beside him.
“Prison won’t be easy on a pretty woman. I’d watch my tone if I were you.”
Her face relaxed. “Greg, no offense, but I’m not myself right now, so you’re getting me frustrated and upset. I feel like I’m being attacked, and I’m coming out fighting. And sadly, I’m taking my fear out on you.”
He gave her a genuine smile, hoping it came through. “Most people wouldn’t own up to being afraid. You’re pretty brave, lady.” Leaning over, he scooped her legs up onto his lap and untied her shoes. “How are your ankles? I saw you rubbing them in the office?”
“Ah, they're fine, thank you.” She watched him. “Thanks for helping with these crazy boots. I’m trying to shake the memories from earlier.”
He wanted to touch her hair spilling around that long lean neck down over her shoulders. Damn the woman was hot.
Shake it off. You have a job to do.
“Stressful situations feel differently depending on which side of the gun you’re on.” He worked on the boots. “I see you and Mr. Shamochernyi patched things up in the bathroom,” or had he taken her against the wall or shoved her to her knees the way he wanted to the longer he stared at that bottom lip. That mouth around my… her voice broke off his thoughts not his hard on.
“Some relationships deserve a second chance.”
He went still. “Then you don’t need a guard.”
“Yes I do. Mikhail can’t help his family run the winter games and be my partner at the same time, so you’re stuck keeping me out of trouble.”
She adjusted the goggles on her head releasing a soft coconut scent coming off her hair. Visions of palm trees, white sand, and a string bikini barely holding back all the curves straining under that ski jacket had his cock rigid behind his zipper. He’d take his time with this one play with her some.