Russian Enforcer's Reluctant Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

pulled away into a snarl. The face was gaunt and elongated, and she couldn’t help but notice a row of snaggleteeth protruding beneath his upturned lip. The man was hideous, and Vitaly’s words now came home to her.
    As he raised his hand to deal her a vicious punch, she yelled out, “You can’t do this to me! I’m Vitaly’s. Vitaly Loganov’s.”
    The man’s cruel smile vanished and was exchanged for an expression of suspicion. Like a dog being denied a juicy bone, he frowned. “What are you talking about?”
    She swallowed convulsively, the grip on her collar choking her. She tried to wrench his hands away from her, but it was to no avail. He had an iron grip. “I’m Vitaly Loganov’s… fiancée,” she gulped. “We’re engaged to be married.”
    His eyes narrowed. “That is impossible.”
    “It’s true!” she yelled out. “Ask Vitaly. Just… ask him!”
    The grip relaxed, but only for a moment. The next moment he’d reeled her in again, this time bringing her so close she could smell his breath. It reeked of cigarettes and vodka. “Don’t think I won’t. And if I find out you’re lying…”
    He abruptly released her, his meaning clear. She was dunked to the floor and lay panting for a moment, before scrambling back to the wall, desperately putting some distance between herself and the man.
    As his eyes remained on hers, twin obsidian pinpricks, he picked out his cell and brought it to his ear. Mere seconds later, he was speaking Russian in a soft voice to whoever was his correspondent. Joanna hoped it was Vitaly. What was more, she hoped he would confirm her story…
    The man’s eyes shot bolts of menace at her, his hand disappearing into his pocket and coming out with a switchblade. As he waited for an answer, he pressed a button, and the blade snapped free. Absentmindedly, he toyed with the knife, throwing it up into the air and expertly catching it by the handle before repeating the procedure, the message clear: if he didn’t like what he heard, her life was over.
    The seconds ticked by ever so slowly, sweat dripping down her back and between her breasts. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, her heart beating so fast she thought the man must hear it, and take pleasure in the effect he had on her.
    Finally, he nodded once and disconnected the call. The knife pointed at her, he approached her slowly, and stopped short when his feet touched hers. After a long glance down at her huddled form, he shook his head and uttered but a single word.
    “Pity.”

CHAPTER 8

    Joanna shrank back from the man’s chilling scrutiny, his murderous intent clear, even though he hadn’t uttered a word of menace. Then, as abruptly as he had spirited it from his pocket, he flicked the knife closed and returned it. With a frown, he regarded her contemptuously.
    “I thought Vitaly had better taste,” he offered, then tapped an imaginary cap and strode to the door and was swallowed up by the night in a matter of seconds. When she heard the thunder of a motorbike rumbling into the distance, she heaved a sigh of relief, and when next the cab she’d ordered finally arrived, the predicament she was in came home to her with a sickening clarity.
    She’d plighted her troth to a man she didn’t even know. And what was worse, there was no escape for her now, for that he would find her, she knew with certainty.
    With a sinking heart, she apologized to the cab driver, handed him a wad of notes, and watched him drive off with trepidation. Only moments later, her fears became reality when Vitaly’s van materialized before her fearful gaze, and when he opened the door and came ambling up to her, she gave him a curt nod, embracing herself to ward off both the nocturnal chill and the feeling of despair.
    “Thank you,” she muttered when he joined her on the porch. Then she flicked her eyes up, the one question burning on her lips finding utterance. “How long? How long do we need to keep up this charade?”
    It was a