Red Heat by Nina Bruhns Read Free Book Online Page A

one.”
    Shock went through her. Even she didn’t need a translation for that word. Her heart pounded in her throat.
    She forced a scoff. “Are you really accusing me of being a spy , Captain Romanov?” Lord, she didn’t know what she’d do if he actually said yes.
    He leaned in, putting his lips to her ear. “Think about it. Stay here and seduce me. No one has to know. With such an incentive, I might voluntarily tell you everything you’ve been sent to find out. Hell, I may even want to defect to your country. Imagine what a coup that would be for you, back at Langley.”
    So much for any doubts that he knew exactly what she was and who had sent her.
    For a second she was too stunned to speak. More bait. Obviously for a trap. But cripes. Talk about getting nailed! And not in the good way, either.
    Somehow she found her voice, and she picked the easiest part of his dangled bait to address. “Defect? Don’t be absurd. Russia is a democracy now. If you want to move to the United States, just get yourself a passport.”
    He chuckled, his breath caressing her cheek, stirring stray hairs against her skin. “Ah, milaya moya . You seem to be a worthy opponent. I believe I shall enjoy our upcoming game of matching wits.” His jacket grazed the tips of her breasts, zinging them to painful attention. “And I especially look forward to the part where you seduce me.”
    She swallowed.
    Ho-boy . This was so not good.
    “But, in the meantime . . .” He reached behind her, opened the tall locker, and pulled out a dark blue coverall. He pushed it into her hands. “Get dressed.” He gave her a drowning look. “Or I may forget that I am not a pirate captain after all.”
    Unable to form a comeback—for any of it—she watched him grab an old, Hogan’s Heroes –style pilot’s cap from a peg on the wall, tug it on, and leave the stateroom.
    The door snicked shut.
    With a long, unsteady exhale, she fought a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
    Oh. Mygod.
    She was in such big trouble.

4

    There was much to do to steer podvodnaya lodka B-403 Ostrov safely out of Petropavlovsk Harbor, through Avachinskaya Bay and past the Three Brothers rock formation that guarded the narrow mouth of the bay, and into the open waters of the North Pacific. But Nikolai did it all with a smile on his face.
    He could see his men wondering at the change in him. For the past month, since being assigned as Ostrov ’s commander, Nikolai’s behavior had been reminiscent of the snarling Russian wolves that stalked the family’s winter dacha. He resented his demotion, was mortified by the charges of negligence and rogue hotheadedness that had landed him here, and frustrated by a political system that condemned good, loyal men without a fair hearing. Чёрт возьми. Devil take it . With no hearing at all .
    But the arrival on his very doorstep of an enemy shpion had given him new hope to redeem a career that had just yesterday seemed more than a shade beyond salvage. And what a shpion !
    There was no doubt in his mind that Julie Severin worked for U.S. intelligence. Though shocked by his accusation, she’d never actually denied it. Was it mere coincidence that she was tantalizingly beautiful and seemed as attracted to him as he was to her? Nikolai did not think so. But it didn’t matter whether her attraction was real or fabricated as part of her covert mission. Either way, he could turn it to his advantage.
    He’d whispered in her ear what benefit she might gain over him if she remained in his stateroom, if she used her body to tempt him into treason, but in reality he planned to turn the tables on her. He would use their sizzling connection to find out what she was up to, all right. And then he would do his damnedest to coax her into becoming an agent for Russia—using whatever means necessary, just as Cherenkov had ordered. If he succeeded, even the navy diviziya admirals would be forced to reconsider their unjust treatment of him.