The Russian Seduction by Nikki Navarre Read Free Book Online Page A

observing social courtesies. Much more of this, and I’ll suspect you of being human after all.”
    “That would be a mistake, Ms. Castle.” He smiled, the convulsive tightening of his lips that didn’t denote humor. “I can see you’re determined to sandbag me with that damned demarche. Better do it now, before the intermission’s over.”
    Though she couldn’t help feeling a bit off-balance—which had to be what he’d intended, right?—Alexis drew on her years of diplomatic experience and felt she made a credible job of it. The captain listened with narrowed eyes, accepted the U.S. documents with a flicker of scorn for the political niceties, and rapped out a few points in response.
    Predictably, the Russians continued to deploy the fiction that their navy occupied Ukrainian waters while they conducted training exercises with the host nation. When in fact the Ukrainian president had declared the exercises over a week ago, and politely asked the Russians to get out.
    As an aggravating factor, Ukraine’s reform-minded president was now threatening to expel the Russians from their shared Soviet-era naval base in Sevastopol if the blockade wasn’t broken. Clearly, little Ukraine was scared shitless, but Alexis privately considered the threat a mistake. Evicting the Russians from their rented base in Ukraine would eviscerate the Russian naval presence in the Black Sea—a blow Moscow would never tolerate.
    Instead of dissuading the Russians with the threatened expulsion, Ukraine was forcing their hand.
    Alexis jotted down Kostenko’s arguments, paying careful attention to the diplomatic hedge-words he pronounced with such disdain. Of course, the Russians were taking advantage of the fact that Ukraine wasn’t yet a NATO ally, despite strong U.S. support. Unfortunately for Ukraine, the European allies were reluctant to risk their troops on behalf of a struggling democracy with profound economic challenges. Not to mention an environmental disaster like Chernobyl still oozing radionuclides over broad swaths of its terrain.
    By the time the lights dimmed for the second act, Alexis was satisfied that she’d carried out her instructions. Better yet, she’d made such a performance of passing the documents that no one watching could possibly construe this cozy tete-a-tete as anything but an official meeting.
    Now she was itching to make her excuses and get out of there. She had a reporting cable to write, and she needed it on Geoff’s desk by start-of-business tomorrow to head off any more unsubtle hints about her precarious position. But Kostenko was just wrapping up, as if he’d timed it that way, when the curtain rose on the second act. Not Swan Lake as she’d thought, but rather Giselle , another classic ballet, the tragic tale of two lovers parted by death.
    Her diplomat’s sense of dignity wouldn’t permit her to cause a disruption by rushing out like a frightened virgin just because he’d hit on her—especially when she distrusted his motives so thoroughly. Before leaving, she would send a strong message to Victor Kostenko: it would take far more than an inappropriate sexual come-on to disconcert or divert her.
    Maybe she needed to prove something to herself as well. She’d never run away from a professional challenge. She’d certainly never needed to run from a man whose sex appeal held any danger of overwhelming her perennial self-control. And she damn well wasn’t going to start running now.
    Even if she knew she was playing with fire. She’d been a woman playing in a man’s world her entire career. She’d always been able to handle the heat without getting scorched.
    Though she’d seen the ballet before, Alexis had to admire the exceptional dancing, the breathtaking scenery, and the classic traditional choreography. As she tucked away her notebook, she paused to savor the unobstructed view—a novelty in the Bolshoi from any seat. Certainly her unruffled calm must be sending the right message,