Whispers on the Ice Read Online Free PDF Page B

life. She can teach you a lot if you let her.”
    “It doesn’t seem right somehow that a kid can teach me about intimacy. I’ve been intimate with plenty of women.”
    “There’s a difference between being intimate with a woman and having intimacy, Aleksei. And I think that kid is going to show you the difference,” Whittaker decided, nodding his head in affirmation as he watched the subject of their discussion come through the kitchen door with a tray full of cake.
    Aleksei watched his new partner push her way through the door, bottom first, stepping to the side and letting the door close behind her. Carefully she held a tray full of slices of celebratory cake. She looked at him tentatively, a small smile gracing her soft lips. His expression was dark, a scowl causing his eyes to narrow and the corners of his mouth to pull down slightly. Her smile slid away to be replaced by teeth that worried her full lower lip. Still, she remained motionless, until Dee pushed unknowingly through the door and shoved Jordan, and the tray of cake abruptly forward. With a shriek, the tray flew forward as Jordan tried to catch her balance on her overly high heels, failed miserably, and fell toward Aleksei.
    People dodged flying cake slices, knocking over the few remaining light reflectors and assorted suitcases of equipment. Aleksei, at the mercy of his broken leg, could only wait for the dust to settle. As he watched, Jordan sailed toward him, tripping over one of the reporters who had had the misfortune of stumbling over his video camera, and now lay shielding it from destruction, Jordan hurtled past him and directly into Aleksei’s lap.
    Aleksei grunted as Jordan landed across his lap, one elbow dangerously close to his groin. Jordan’s breath caught at the hard impact, and she dropped her forehead to the cushion as she regained her breath. The sudden realization that she was laying across Aleksei’s lap had her face turning three shades of red and she slowly slid from his lap until her knees rested on the carpet, then finally cast a glance up at Aleksei.
    “Is this your typical landing or are you just having a bad day?” he asked, his tone serious, but his eyes sparkled devilishly.
    “I’ve had better,” Jordan stated softly.
    “Landings or days?”
    “Both,” Jordan answered, the hint of smile gracing her soft mouth.
    “Glad to hear it,” Aleksei answered, one eyebrow raising sardonically. “So, where’s my piece of cake?”
    Jordan shook the remaining cobwebs from her mind and glanced about her, her eyes widening as she viewed the scattered pieces of cake all about her. With a final look at Aleksei’s arrogant smile, she plucked a piece of cake from where it landed on the ottoman beside Aleksei’s cast leg, held it in her opened palm and sweetly stated. “Here’s your cake!” and smeared the sticky cake over his face. Cameras clicked and flashed as pictures of Jordan Jamison on her knees before Aleksei Rocmanov smearing chocolate cake over his face joyfully was captured forever on film.
    Aleksei’s deep growl caused Jordan to push to her feet and take a quick step out of his reach. Bravely she stood three feet away from him, hands on her hips, chin raised defiantly, her eyes flashing fire and glared at Aleksei, silently daring him to say something.
    “Fire and Ice,” Frank whispered to Dee, shaking his head in worry as he thought about the road ahead of them. It didn’t promise to be an easy one.
    “Finding gold has never been an easy journey,” Dee stated confidently. “When was the last time you saw a miner not covered in mud?”
    “Trouble is, my dear, we won’t be wallowing in mud. It’s starting to look like blood is going to be our chosen cover.”
    “Just in the beginning,” Dee stated with finality, smiling at the look of surprise Whittaker threw her. “They’re establishing boundaries. They’ll come to an understanding.”
    “Boundaries, huh?” Whittaker’s look was one of pure