Aleksei continued. “You may recall that I predicted we’d meet again.”“Yes.” Almost every word he’d spoken had engraved itself on her mind.“You’ve visited Byne House before?”Julie nodded. He was so close, so overwhelmingly attractive. She had tried to prepare herself to fight the sexual pull she’d known she’d feel. Her defenses were inadequate.“It’s fascinating. You must show me around.” So no one can listen to our conversation, she thought.“I’d be glad to.” She was about to lead the way when she turned back to him, her brown eyes lifting questioningly to his face. “Would you rather converse in Spanish? Or maybe Russian?” Cal had told her to be accommodating.The offer to continue in his native tongue was all too tempting. His English had once been excellent. But he knew from experience that subtleties of expression and word choice were easily forgotten. That meant he was going to have to keep a step ahead of the conversation, anticipating her responses and weighing the precision of his own.
