The Russian's Dangerous Game by Elizabeth Lennox Page B

the note?”
    He watched in fascination as her eyes clouded with confusion. Bingo, he thought. Those pretty green eyes couldn’t hold his gaze and she looked away. His pretty little fairy had no idea about the kind of minefield she’d seen passed along two nights ago.
    “I didn’t get a very good picture of it, unfortunately.” She hated admitting that, wishing she hadn’t been so…flustered, for lack of a better word…the night she was fleeing from his bedroom.
    Rocco considered what she’d said, trying to read between the lines. And as his mind sifted through what he knew of this woman already, he came to the obvious conclusion. “You tried to take a picture of it the night you ran away from me, didn’t you?”
    Brianna desperately wished she could stop this irritating blushing, but it just kept rising up. If only the man weren’t so…masculine. And appealing.
    No! He wasn’t appealing! He was a criminal! She was not attracted to the bad boy types, she reminded herself firmly. This man was going to jail and she was going to put him there! “Whatever the reason, I’ll figure out what’s going on. I’m going to dig into everything, find out what you’re hiding.”
    His eyebrows went up. “And what are you hoping to discover about me and my nefarious business dealings?” he chuckled. Her passion really was delightful.
    She squirmed in her chair, wondering why he was so casual about all of this. Shouldn’t he be nervous? Or was he so sure about his abilities to hide his illegal pursuits, it equated to absolute confidence? “You’re too charming,” she snapped, looking back down at her plate so she could concentrate. “You’re too well spoken, too controlled. Initially, I was trying to get the story on whether you’re really a horrible person when the cameras weren’t filming. Now I want to know what was on that paper and what you’re doing that’s going to put you in jail.”
    This was a total surprise, and yet another piece that didn’t make sense. “So you’re a reporter that was trying to get at the real Rocco Antoniv,” he said , ignoring the issue of what she perceived as illegal activities. Surprisingly he was impressed with both her tenacity and her idea that he was too charming to be real although he didn’t know why. He should probably be insulted but she was just too beautiful and he was too distracted by her lips. And her eyes. She had startlingly beautiful, green eyes. “And what did you discover? Do I have any dark secrets? Are you going to tell the world about my temper tantrums?”
    She hid her irritation at his patronizing tone. “A person can only pretend for a limited amount of time. My plan is to interview your employees, to find out what you’re like behind closed doors.”
    He chuckled and captured her green eyes with his golden ones. “You already know what I’m like behind closed doors. Would you like more information?”
    She gasped, her eyes dropping from his eyes to his mouth, her own going dry just at the thought of a repeat of the other night.
    “Tempted?” he asked softly, his voice husky as he w atched her body respond to the idea of sex with him. Damn! She was beautiful and responsive.
    She shook her head. “Not at all,” she said and looked away, picking up her glass of juice and taking a long sip. “Regardless, my story has expanded. Not only am I going to reveal to the world that you aren’t as charming as you come across, but they’re also going to find out that you’re not the knight in shining armor that they all believe of you.”
    He leaned back, the intensity of the moment broken. “Knight in shining armor, eh?” he chuckled. “I doubt anyone thinks that, but it is flattering, regardless.”
    She was getting angry, both by his tone and the fact that he wasn’t riled, not in the least. “You’re going down, Mr. Antoniv.”
    He threw back his head and laughed, delighted by her temper. “I believe, under the circumstances, that we are on