Oceans of Fire by Christine Feehan Read Free Book Online Page B

vulnerable and he had taken advantage. Damn Jonas Harrington for having the inside track.
    Carol showed him to the door. “I’ll take good care of her,” she assured him, “no need to worry about Abbey. As soon as Libby is feeling better, she’ll attend to her sister.”
    Carol closed the door and immediately hurried over to Abigail. “Are you all right, dear? Shall I call your mother?” Her expression betrayed her anxiety. “How bad are your injuries?” She glanced toward the door. “And that fiancé of yours has the sexiest accent. When he was speaking in Russian I nearly fell on the floor.”
    Abigail didn’t want to agree with her aunt, but she was grateful she was already on the floor. No matter how many nightmares, no matter how often she relived Aleksandr’s behavior, the moment she saw him, heard his voice, touched him, she knew she would have to be very careful. “I’ll be fine, Aunt Carol,” Abbey assured her. “I just want to go to sleep.”
    “Not before you talk to me,” Jonas decreed, depositing Joley in a chair beside Kate. He suddenly crouched down beside Abigail and took the hand Aleksandr had held. He took a breath. It seemed the first he’d taken in several long hours. “I was really scared for you, Abbey. I saw him standing over you. I saw the gun and the two men down. There was blood everywhere and I thought for a moment we lost you.” He sighed and rubbed his chin, his eyes avoiding hers. “I came close to killing him with no warning. I was that scared.” He hung his head for a moment. “I nearly pulled the trigger just to get him the hell off of you.”
    “Jonas.” Abigail let her breath out. “It was horrible, of course you would have thought he was trying to hurt me.”
    “I almost killed a man in cold blood, Abbey. I never want to feel like that again.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “I’ve done a lot of things in my life, but I’ve never killed an innocent man.”
    She tightened her fingers around his. Without warning her skin prickled and she looked up to see Aleksandr watching them from outside the window. His expression hardened and his eyes grew even colder, if that were possible. Her heart jumped and began a wild beat she couldn’t control. He held her stare for a moment then turned and disappeared from sight. Abbey cleared her throat and tore her gaze away from the window. “It’s not going to happen again, Jonas. I’ll be careful.”
    “You’d better be.” He took the cup of tea Carol handed to him and immediately sipped the hot, rejuvenating drink. “Thanks, Aunt Carol. It’s been a hell of a night.” He sank back, resting his head against the sofa, and looked around him at the Drake sisters. “Abigail witnessed a murder tonight and I’m afraid the Russian mafia may be involved. They’re a very violent and messy bunch. I don’t want any of you involved in this, and Abbey, you stay the hell away from Volstov. I don’t know why he’s claiming to be engaged to you and I don’t have a clue if you knew him somewhere before this, but he’s a very dangerous man and he’s up to his neck in the mess.”
    Sarah roused herself to wave her hand. “He’s claiming he’s engaged to Abbey?”
    Abigail could feel color sweeping into her neck and face as all of her sisters, her aunt Carol, and Jonas stared at her. She drank more tea to give herself time to think up an answer.
    “Abbey?” Kate prompted.
    “Well,” Abbey hedged. “Yes. I mean no. Not really. Maybe.” She drew up her legs. “I’m confused.”
    “Just how long have you known that man?” Jonas demanded.
    Abigail clenched her teeth. She detested being the center of attention. “I don’t want to talk about it, Jonas.”
    He was silent for a moment as he drained the rest of the tea from the mug Carol had given him. “Tell me what happened tonight, Abbey. And don’t leave out anything, even a small detail you think may be insignificant.“
    Abbey set the teacup on the floor between