Page 99 of Emerald Malice

“Alright, alright,” she mumbles. “No need to get your panties in a bunch.”

I accelerate hard, causing her to clutch the corners of her seat. Did I really think snappy, feisty Natalia was better?

I stand corrected.

By the time I pull up outside the manor, Natalia is all nerves again. Her eyes keep skirting around the property like she’s waiting for something to jump out at her.

“He should be waiting with Leonty by the pool house.”

“Who should be waiting with Leonty?”

I ignore her and walk briskly through the house.

“Slow down, will you?” She pauses at the threshold to kick off her heels and then follows me, barefoot, into the garden. “Pregnant woman walking here. I never walked this fast even when I wasn’t knocked up.”

I take the steps down to the pool two at a time. Natalia follows, complaining under her breath until Leonty tears around the pool house with a leash in hand.

“… just cleaned your damn poop and this is the thanks I get. Ungrateful little fucker.” He glances down at the beast by his side. “Ungrateful big fucker, actually.”

Natalia stops, breathless, at my side.

Staring at her parted, perfectly plump lips, I realize I’m actually nervous about how this reveal is going to go down.

“What is…?” She trails off as a German Shepherd leaps into the air, grabs his leash with his teeth, and shakes Leonty off. Free, he bounds in big circles through the grass.

Natalia laughs, clapping a hand over her mouth when the dog turns to her, ears pricked.

He drops the leash and sniffs at the air as though he can smell Natalia in the wind. He should be able to. It’s why I brought one of Natalia’s shirts for him to sleep with on the flight back from Russia.

Shura wanted to kill me when he found out I left him in charge so I could go pick up a dog. Mostly because it meant he had to deal with Misha’s latest outburst solo. When Shura went to check on the boy, Misha tried to attack him. My response was to give the boy a little more freedom.

“A woman rejects you, you buy her gifts,” he muttered. “A boy attacks me, we set him loose in the house. It makes no sense.”

Shura would change his mind if he could see Natalia’s face right now.

She drops to her knees, wearing the most magnificent smile. “Who are you, you beautiful boy?”

The dog approaches her slowly—cautious, but not in the least bit aggressive.

“Careful now,” I instruct her. “Make sure he has the chance to check you out.”

Natalia sits cross-legged on the grass and waits for him to come to her. He observes her coolly for several seconds and then, decision reached, he bounds happily right into her extended arms.

“Hey, handsome,” she coos. “You’re such a sweet boy, yes, you are, such a sweet boy.”

Leonty stares at the scene, open-mouthed. Clearly, he had about as much luck with Remi as I did.

Natalia seems to have forgotten that anyone apart from her and the dog exists. She plucks the leash from Leonty’s grasp and unhooks the other end from his collar. “You don’t need this, do you? No, you don’t. You’re too good of a boy to need that.”

The dog is whining happily, licking Natalia’s face and rubbing himself up against her.

Lucky little runt.

“Does he have a name?”

“Remington.”

“Remington,” she croons, kissing him between the eyes. “What a lovely name.”

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