The Silver Fox and the Red-Hot Dove Read Online Free PDF Page A

of the barrel made her flinch at the thought of what it could do. Mrs. Nilly had taught her how to shoot the device, and Elena was convinced then that Americans were, indeed, very worried about crime.
    When she heard steps on the back porch, she moaned under her breath, and, leveling the harpoon gun in front of her, went down a hallway strewn with farm tools.
    Slow footsteps crossed the porch and entered the kitchen through the warped screen door. She halted, trembling, her ears alert to catch the sound of the slightest movement. But there were no more sounds. She squinted in the bright light filling the end of the hallway from a large window that faced the western sky.
    When T. S. Audubon stepped silently into the hall, she jumped. He was barefoot. He stopped, legs apart, hands hanging calmly by his sides, the window’s light turning him into an unnerving masculine silhouette of power and drama. “I’m not here to hurt you, Elena.” He spoke in English, his voice low and coaxing. “I know you’re here alone, but you don’t have to be afraid of me. I’ve come to take you to a safe place.”
    The liquid richness of his voice played on her cold skin, but she was certain now that he worked for his government. What ordinary citizen would have followed her so diligently and known how to spy on Mrs. Nilly’s schedule? “Get out,” she commanded. “I’m not leaving this island.”
    “You speak excellent English, even when you’re upset. I’m glad you can understand me. And I know you can see me, even if you’re not wearing your fake glasses. Now, listen. I can help you.”
    “Why?”
    “I enjoy helping people.”
    “Why?”
    “Explaining would take longer than you’d like. But if you want to stay in the United States, you’re going about it the wrong way. I can change that.”
    “I just want to be free. I don’t need your help.” She clutched the harpoon. “I’m only a secretary. What do you want with me?”
    “Tell me why you’re so important to Kriloff. He accused me of stealing you. He’s causing an uproar with our State Department. I don’t think the loss of a secretary would be worth an ugly break in diplomacy. Do you?”
    “I will find help on my own. I don’t trust you.”
    “You trusted me the other night. You wanted to be as close to me as you could get.”
    “A dance. The spell of the music. We Russians are warm-blooded and impetuous. It meant nothing.”
    “I’ve danced with a lot of women. The communication between you and me was not nothing.”
    “I won’t go back! I’m hurting no one! Why can’t all of you let me alone?”
    “Why are you so important to Dr. Kriloff? Are you his lover?”
    The breath burst from her in a yelp of disgust. “No! He has a wife and daughter in Moscow! And I would
never
let him—oh! What a dreadful thing to suspect of me! Do you think I’m so ugly that I’d—oh!”
    “Hmmm. Why does he treat you like a slave?”
    “Because I
was
a slave! But now I’m free! And I’ll never cooperate with anyone again! I’d rather die!”
    The silhouette’s hands, raised in gentle supplication, struck a deep chord in her. “You don’t have to die,” T. S. Audubon said with a kindness that added to her confusion. “I’ll take you to my home. You’ll be safe there.”
    A new thought chilled her. She had never had much contact with the world outside Kriloff’s institute, and therefore little experience with the motivations of men, either Russian or American. She couldn’t begin to fathom the enigmatic Audubon’s interest in her, but she had been treated to a terrible lesson in men’s motivations by Pavel. “If you’re not with the government, and you don’t want to give me back to my own people, then there is only one reason you came to capture me. For sex!”
    He coughed, caught a sound deep in his throat, and suddenly she realized he was suppressing a laugh. He looked toward heaven. “A dirty, skinny, shaggy-haired, weapon-toting woman in a