“Tatiana?” Her name was mostly static. “My connection’s just gotten bad. Are you still there?”

Before they were cut off, Tatiana quickly said, “Thank you, Val. For everything.”

All her life, her big sister had protected her and guided her toward making good decisions. Yet again, Valentina had helped her. More than she even knew.

Tatiana could now see that she’d been naïve to believe that she could heal Ian’s past and show him that it was safe to love her in one short week. But while she wasn’t naïve anymore...she wasn’t giving up, either.

And now, thanks to this conversation with her sister, she knew exactly what she needed to do.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

By Monday morning, the skies that had been so clear all weekend had turned a dark purple-gray. Just as dark as Ian’s mood.

All weekend long, he had firmed his resolve to keep his distance from Tatiana. Again and again, when she crept into his mind, he pushed thoughts of her away. Discipline. Determination. Focus. Work. That was all he’d ever needed to get himself back on track, he reminded himself as his driver pulled up on the tarmac behind his private plane. Surely, if he just kept his eye on the ball, he’d eventually be able to forget her. Especially now that he wouldn’t be seeing her every single day anymore. By the time they met again at a family dinner or party, he would have his head back on straight...and his life back on track with no emotional or romantic entanglements screwing with things.

And if he missed her, if the week already felt too empty, too dark, too wrong without her, well, that was just too damned bad, because—

What the hell?

He blinked hard to clear his vision, but when he looked again, Tatiana was still standing beside his plane chatting with his pilots, David and Linda. She had a medium-sized canvas bag slung over her shoulder and was wearing dark jeans, a blue and white striped sweater, and flat-heeled black boots that ended just below the knee.

Clearly, she was planning on making the trip to Alaska with him.

As soon as he stepped out of the town car, Tatiana turned to greet him. “Good morning, Ian.”

She looked truly happy to see him, her expression as bright and sunny as ever. Just as happy as the sudden leap of his heart in his chest proved he was to see her.

He’d told her to go shadow someone else, but she hadn’t listened. Talk about determination. He could learn something from her.

“Good morning, Tatiana.”

Knowing he couldn’t ask her what she was doing there in front of his pilots without embarrassing her, he turned to greet them, as well. They’d come with him to England years ago and then had followed him back to Seattle, but he hadn’t seen them since their return to the States.

“Are you both settling back in to life in Seattle all right?”

“Everything’s great,” David said.

“Thanks again for the maternity hospital recommendation you got from your mother.” Holding her husband’s hand, Linda was radiant. “We just did the tour yesterday and it looks amazing.”

“Oh, how lovely that you’re pregnant!” Tatiana exclaimed. “When are you due?”

“In five months. We’ve been trying for a while, so we’re very excited.”

“Do you know yet if you’re having a boy or a girl?”

David drew Linda closer as she said, “We want to be surprised.”

“I would, too,” Tatiana agreed. “I love surprises, and that would be one of the very best.”

Knowing Linda had had some trouble with morning sickness in her first trimester, Ian asked, “Are you feeling back to your normal self yet?”

“Pretty much. Thanks for asking, Ian.” With a look at her watch, she said, “David and I have a few final pre-flight preparations to take care of, and then we should be on our way to Alaska before the storm rolls in.”

As soon as his pilots disappeared into the cockpit, Tatiana told him, “I know you sent me a list of other CEOs to shadow this week, but I’m not here to shadow you anymore.” Before he could respond, she added, “And I’m not here to talk about Thursday or Friday night, either, I promise. You see, the character I’ll be playing next week was born and bred in Alaska, and I was hoping you’d consider letting me catch a ride with you so that I can do my final bit of research for it. Getting a feel for where my character grew up will really help me.”

In the week he’d spent with her, Tatiana had never shied away from confronting him. So then, why wasn’t she bringing up their conversation from Friday night? And why wasn’t she trying to pin him down, trying to get him to change his mind about being with her? She’d planned to give him some time to change his mind, but had hers been the feelings that ended up changing instead? Had she realized he was right when he’d told her that she was simply so overwhelmed by finally making love that she’d wrongly assumed that meant she was in love with him?

Or, was it simply that she knew him better than anyone else ever had...and understood that it was killing him to try to stay away when the very best moments of his life had been with her in his arms?

“I’m happy to give you a lift to Alaska if it will help you with your research.” Hell, he was miles beyond happy about the chance to spend more time with her when he’d missed her more with every hour that had passed since she walked away from him Friday night.

When she was buckled into the seat across from him, he let David and Linda know that they were ready for takeoff. Just as the plane began to taxi down the runway, Tatiana pulled out her script and scowled at it.