Carole Mortimer - One Christmas Night In...

‘You could have fooled me!’ An angry flush darkened her cheeks. ‘And, whatever Felix may or may not have done, he will always be my twin brother, and I love him.’

They were well on their way to having another disagreement, Dmitri recognised impatiently, when all he had meant to do was apologise for his earlier abruptness by paying her a compliment. Added to which, his comment had been sincere; he was certain that her no-nonsense attitude made her an excellent teacher.

He sighed. ‘I am not about to engage in another argument with you, Lily.’

‘The only way that isn’t going to happen is if we don’t speak to each other again before I leave!’ Her eyes flashed her annoyance at him.

A nerve pulsed in his cheek above his tightly clenched jaw. ‘Did you remember to return your telephone call this morning?’

She looked at him blankly. ‘Sorry?’

‘I seem to remember that last night you promised your friend Danny that you would call him back today.’ He raised dark brows.

Lily frowned; if this was his way of avoiding an argument then he was failing miserably. ‘I don’t think that’s any of your business, Dmitri, do you?’ she challenged, having no intention of telling him that she wasn’t going to return Danny’s call—today or any other day. That relationship was definitely over.

‘As the man who was interrupted in the middle of making love to you on this table last night when you received Danny’s telephone call, I think my curiosity is understandable,’ he shot back.

‘Would you keep your voice down?’ Lily seethed across the table at him, very aware of the fact that there were two other men in the room, and that at least one of them understood English. ‘I think the important word in that statement is “interrupted”,’ she continued with hushed fierceness. ‘And it doesn’t give you the right to question me about any of my friends!’

Dmitri dearly wished he had never begun this conversation. He had no idea why he had done so—except that he’d been annoyed, coming down the stairs a few minutes ago, to hear the sound of Lily’s laughter mingled with the two workmen’s. A light and flirtatious laugh that she had never been at ease enough to share with him.

His eyes narrowed. ‘Then what does it give me the right to do?’

‘Nothing. Absolutely nothing,’ she repeated firmly, angry colour high in her cheeks. ‘Now perhaps we could change the subject and you could tell me whether or not you’ve managed to make any progress with your telephone calls?’

He recognised her method of averting the argument by changing the subject back to Claudia and Felix. Sensible, perhaps; it had been a senseless argument in any case—one he had allowed himself to be provoked into inciting because of his curiosity about the man who had telephoned Lily so inconveniently the night before. If they had not been interrupted then Dmitri knew that he would have taken Lily on top of this table without a second thought. Without a first one, in fact.

Which perhaps explained why he was now taking his physical frustration out on her …

Perhaps. But it was not the cool, logical behaviour he usually expected of himself …

‘Dmitri?’

His attention returned to Lily where she sat across the table, looking at him curiously. ‘I managed to find out that Claudia hired a car at Milano airport. After that nothing has been seen of either her or your brother,’ he added grimly.

Lily sighed as she slowly leant back in her chair. ‘Which means they could still be in Milan.’

‘Or not.’

Or not …

Lily was going to personally throttle her little brother when they finally caught up with him! If Dmitri didn’t beat her to it …

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