Page 6 of Rebellion

It was ridiculous, yet so darn sweet, that she almost teared up. Why did he care so much about her safety?

“Your cousin shouldn’t allow it,” he added stubbornly.

And now that warm feeling was gone. The man was impossible.

“You really think Aleksandr should ban me from climbing step stools?” she asked incredulously.

“No,” he said, his Scottish accent growing thicker.

Lord, a Scottish accent was hot.

Colm often popped into Solynshko for dinner or a drink. And sometimes, when he talked to her, he’d let his accent slip free. Sofia liked to think it was because he felt relaxed around her.

However, that was probably wishful thinking.

“Good,” she said. He must have been joking.

“I think he should ban you from climbing anything at all,” he added.

Or he was just batshit crazy.

Sofia placed her hands on her hips. “From anything at all?”

“Yep.”

“Have you lost your mind?” she asked.

He stepped closer to her. “Have you lost yours? You shouldn’t be carrying around heavy crates. Or using step stools that you could slip off. Oleg needs to take better care of you.”

Oleg? Take care of her? Ha, that was a laugh.

Oleg only knew how to take care of Oleg.

And the less she saw of Oleg, the better. All he gave her was pain.

“Why do you look like that?” Colm demanded. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong. Why would anything be wrong?” she asked with a false smile.

Sofia turned away toward the door. She had to get away from him before she lost what was left of her control and threw herself at him.

And confessed the whole truth.

That she hated Oleg.

And wanted Colm.

2

Colm’s anger stirred as she turned away from him.

He reined it in. Barely.

He wasn’t angry at her. Not really. It was at the fact that she thought she had to lie to him.

Colm hated secrets.

Of course, he held a number of them. Things he could never tell anyone. But that was different. Those were things he had to keep secret.

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