Red Heat Read Online Free PDF

very well about her issues, her background, and her father’s fate, the bastard. And yet, Thurman had picked her to do this. Why?
    This is the kind of assignment that comes once a lifetime. It can make or break a career, Miss Severin.
    Yeah. Fuck you very much, Mr. Thurman .
    Clamping her chattering teeth, she grabbed the slick metal rails of the ladder and swung onto it. Descending down through the round hatch felt like descending straight into the seventh circle of her own personal hell. Despite the frigid rain and chilly outside temperature, her palms were clammy with sweat.
    Making her day complete, a clutch of grinning Russian submariners in dark blue coveralls peered up at her as she endeavored to maintain a modicum of decorum on her way down. Between the skirt and the heels, it wasn’t easy.
    Suddenly an order was barked in a deep, authoritative voice and the men snapped to, scattering like balls on a pool table. Thank God for small favors .
    She reached the bottom of the ladder and felt a strong hand grasp her elbow, supporting her as her high heels found balance on the rocking deck.
    “Steady on, there. Are you okay?”
    “Yes, thank you. I’m just—”
    She turned to her rescuer. And almost fell over. Her words froze in her throat.
    Oh. My. God .
    It was him .
    Tall, chisel jawed, blue eyed, with hair the color of golden honey peeking out from under his wide, distinctive black officer’s hat, killer handsome in his uniform of black and gold .
    Smiling down at her was the other Stupid Thing She’d Done Lately.
    Well, almost done.
    The man holding her elbow was the sexy, arrogant hunk from the hotel last night. The one with the ego as vast as Siberia, but who’d been such an amazing kisser she’d nearly overlooked that slight character flaw—and his bigger sin of being a Russian.
    She gaped in shock, clutching her laptop case to her sodden chest. Despite the welcome warmth of the air inside the submarine, she shivered violently. This was so not good.
    “Miss Severin,” he said, peeling one of her hands from its grip on the case. He bowed over it formally. “Welcome aboard podvodnaya lodka Ostrov . I am Kapitan Nikolai Kirillovich Romanov.”
    Kapitan .
    Ho-boy.
    The man she’d almost slept with last night was the commander of the vessel she’d been sent to covertly search for top-secret material. The same commander who, if he caught her at it, would without hesitation have her arrested for espionage. And probably shot.
    This could be . . . interesting.
    Especially since the knowing smile presently creasing his lips and his unprompted use of her last name told her he’d known exactly who she was last night when he’d tried to seduce her. The bastard . She’d known she shouldn’t trust a damned Russian.
    But did he know he couldn’t trust her ? Had her mission already been compromised? She felt a knot tighten in her stomach. How could it not be? Not if he knew who she was. . . .
    “Captain,” she managed, striving desperately to sound a whole lot cooler and calmer than she felt inside. Please, God, let me wake up from this nightmare . “You should have introduced yourself properly last night.”
    He looked down at her from under the brim of his uniform hat through distractingly thick and tawny lashes. The sexy little crinkles at the corners of his eyes nearly sabotaged her concentration. “Would it have changed your mind about me?” he asked, as though they were discussing what to have for breakfast.
    She thinned her lips. “No.”
    “Well, then. No harm, no foul.”
    Only to her equilibrium . And possibly to her mission. She’d really have to watch herself around the good captain.
    Speaking of which. The submariners at their posts were starting to stare at them speculatively. Nikolai—Captain Romanov, she corrected herself—was still holding her hand.
    She yanked it back.
    He just smiled. Then his eyes narrowed as he took note of her rain-streaked face and sodden hair and clothes. “Good