Chapter 43

Vlad was leading Jane from the restaurant with a hand under her arm when the blond man he'd been talking to stepped in front of them, blocking their path. They stopped walking. Vlad didn't give any outward impression of annoyance, but Jane felt the subtle shift in his body as he moved her slightly back, away from the other man whose sharp eyes were taking the pair in.

"It seems that I must congratulate you on the recent occasion of your marriage, Mrs Sitnikov," the man drawled, his cold blue eyes sliding from Vlad to Jane. "I was sorry to have missed the invitation."

Jane didn't like his tone of voice. He seemed insolent, something she hadn't experienced in any of Vlad's men thus far. "If you know my husband at all," she replied, her brown eyes just as cold, "then you know he acts quickly when he wants something and doesn't require the approval of others."

The emphasis she put on the word others left no doubt that she meant 'subordinates'. The man stepped toward Jane, but Vlad stopp