REGENCY: Loved by the Duke (Historical Billionaire Military Romance) (19th Century Victorian Short Stories) Read Online Free PDF Page B

frozen snow.
    She had just started to push herself up when sudden hands, strong hands, incredibly masculine hand, were on her shoulders, helping her to her feet. She looked up intending to thank the kind stranger, but the words stalled in her throat. His icy blue eyes, as cold as the snow just starting to make icy trails down the inside of her coat, stared at her, demanding she meet his gaze and refusing to let her look away.
    He was taller than her, by at least eight inches if not an entire foot, and everything about him from his height to his broad shoulders and sculpted abs had her feeling incredibly feminine. The differences between them were beautiful in their extreme contrasts. He was all light, to her dark.
    His blond hair and pale skin set off her dark brown hair and the coffee shade of her own skin. It made her wonder what they would look like together, their bodies twined around one another. Hope shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cold.
    He had smiled then, an aggressively charming, lopsided smile that her insides doing all sorts of acrobatics in her chest. There was something about him that screamed play boy, but she had ignored it. Instead focusing on the unfamiliar spark of fire that had ignited between them.
    Even though she had dated occasionally, with her line of work, she rarely had time to keep a steady relationship, let alone the fact that she almost never found anyone she was really attracted to. There just was never any chemistry.
    Suddenly, he reached down and grabbed her hand, and Hope almost jumped at the contact, even more tiny sparks erupted along her skin like an electrical current shot from his body to hers. Yep, there was plenty of chemistry there.
    That simple, chaste touch had left her standing in the snow, breathless again.
    “I’m Valentine.” His deep voice was rough, gravelly, and thick with a Russian accent proclaiming him native born to the country. The sound of his softly spoken words had her melting a little as she responded in kind.
    “I’m Hope, Hope McAllister.” She wondered if he was going to shake her hand or not, but instead he just held it, looking at the entrancing sight of her much smaller, more delicate, dark fingers that were encased by his much larger ones.
    A sudden jolt of turbulence startled Hope out of her reverie and back to reality. She grabbed the bag out of reflex, but it was fine, still nestled safely on her lap. She took a deep breath and then exhaled, relaxing slightly as they continued to fly straight and smooth through the cloudy grey sky, any signs of Moscow lost beneath the thick, pillowy barrier of clouds.
    She thought again of that auspicious moment three months ago. That had been the first time she had seen him. Certainly not the last. She could just imagine him now, and it sent a jolt of trepidation and guilt running through her. He would be angry; he would probably be hurt. After sleeping together for the past few months, Hope had just up and disappeared, and something else had disappeared with her.
    She glanced down at the satchel that contained one of the most valuable items she’d ever had in her possession, and over the years, she’d had a lot of very valuable items in her grasp.
    But she never kept them. That wasn’t her job. Her job was just to find them, and steal them. And now Valentine would know the truth about her, the one she had never been able tell him. She was a thief.

Chapter 2
    The sound of the violent bass pounded through Valentine’s chest, in perfect time with the anger bubbling just under his skin. Outwardly, he looked nonchalant, bored even, under the multicolor fluorescent lights of Chernn Kot. It meant ‘black cat’ in Russian, and it was one of the most elite nightclubs in Moscow.
    Only the wealthiest citizens, celebrities, and top social dignitaries partied there. It was one of Valentines regular spots.  He tried to let himself get lost in the tribal electronic music that was blaring through the speakers