Her Russian Hero (International Romance Series) Read Online Free

and a steel chest. A special man? Hadn’t she met
one a few hours ago? His sensual mouth had fanned a warm breath close to her
face, scalding her all the way to her toes.
    Cecile lowered her eyes,
recalling the feeling of his body against hers and the smell of his
after-shave. He had been gallant and courteous.
    Actually too gallant.
    His lips had lingered on her
hand, long enough to melt her apprehension and boggle her mind.
    The image of her virile savior
danced behind her closed lids, increasing her anxiety. A special man. None
other than the Major General, the hero of Belarus she’d have to impress with
her work.
    She pursed her lips in defiance.
Whether he liked it or not, the general would have to work with this woman.
    * * * * *
    Major General Sergei Fedorin sat
at his desk and pulled two pictures from the drawer. He gazed with love and
longing at the faded photo of a lively seventeen-year-old with long hair and
twinkling eyes. Sofya, his pretty neighbor, who used to meet him behind the
stairs of their building to cuddle and kiss.
    He flipped to the other picture.
His breathing caught in his throat. The image of a sick Sofya, already affected
by cancer, smiled back at him. His wife of fifteen years, blonde and pale, with
blue eyes too big for her face and a yellow dress too loose on her frail body.
    “I will keep my promise, Sofya. I
will purge our country of the Chernobyl pollution that cost you your precious
life.”
    On the day she died, five years
ago, he was detained on military duty three hundred miles away. His heart still
gnawed with the pain and guilt.
    Their country was poor, too poor
to feed its citizens, let alone start an environmental cleanup program. He
inhaled deeply. “I will decrease the rate of cancer in Belarus. Now, the
American delegation will help me,” Sergei vowed as he closed the drawer on the
pictures.
    A knock on his door jolted him
from his deep thoughts. “Come in.”
    Colonel Nicolai Nicouvitch walked
in and saluted him. “ Dobroye Pajalavat, Generalle . Welcome back. Good to
see you, Sergei.” His assistant and good friend clapped him on the back. “How
was your trip?”
    “Not bad. The return was even
more interesting. I met the American delegation. Why weren’t you at the airport
to receive them?”
    “I am sorry, Generalle .
Roussov convinced our Minister of Defense to let him go instead of me.”
    “I see. Another of Roussov’s
manipulations.” Sergei’s jaws clenched tightly as he wished his antagonist to
hell and away from the American delegation.
    “What’s your first impression?”
    His impression? Or the reactions
he would never confess to anyone? The tightening of his muscles when her
fingers had trembled on his arm. The surge of protectiveness overwhelming him
as bewildered hazel-green eyes had locked on his. The racing of his blood when
her generous breasts had crushed against his chest.
    And the shock he’d experienced at
the introduction of the tall, gorgeous American he’d held in his arms as the
Program Manager of his contract.
    She had instantly metamorphosed
from a delicate beauty to a serene ice queen—the assertive Dr. Lornier,
modestly garbed like an older woman.
    “Well?” Nicolai’s voice pulled
him out of an interesting contemplation. “What do you think of the American
scientist? Will he be amenable to a change of plans?”
    Sergei narrowed his eyes on his
officer. “The Program Manager is a woman.”
    “A what?” Nicolai’s jaw dropped.
    “Dr. Cecile Lornier is a young
and pretty woman, although she manages to project a very serious image. Nothing
like our local beauties in bright colors and heavy makeup. Colonel, how did you
allow such an error to occur?”
    Nicolai cursed. “A woman? Er…I
assumed…” A muscle twitched in his cheek. He cleared his throat. “I mean I
could not guess… The name Cecil…” Embarrassment dripped from his colonel’s
voice. “Remember, my Generalle , the first American movie we saw in
Belarus