Free Instinctive Male by Cait London

perversity lurked in Mikhail now, he was pleased that she bore his touch.
    He wasn’t a possessive man, or an emotional, passionate one, and now he didn’t understand himself. How perfectly Ellie.
    “I would not have you served on a platter!” Ellie’s furious retort followed Mikhail into his mother’s kitchen.
    Locked in his frustrating desire for Ellie and the past moment of fighting, carrying her to his parents’ home, while he heard exactly how she was going to bring him down, he wasn’t prepared for the scene that met him. The sprawling dinner table was filled with family and Leigh’s parents, Bliss and Ed. Mary Jo’s blueberry pancakes were on the plates and seated on Jarek’s lap, Tanya was all soft little girl, dressed in her blue-striped flannel pajamas and clutching her doll.
    Mikhail stood still, trapped by the knowledge that his family had probably heard everything. He struggled for an explanation and decided there was none; silence was his best defense; they had heard him complain about Ellie often enough. I would not have you served on a platter!
    The silence swelled and pressed and finally Mikhail felt obliged to say, “I have not seen platters big enough to accommodate me. Therefore, that is not possible.”
    Jarek exploded in laughter. “Then we’d better make one.”
    Fadey came behind Mikhail, and hugged him roughly, playfully. “So now the family is together. Ellie will be here in a minute. She is—ah, refreshing herself.”
    Mikhail fought the impulse to go to Ellie, to hold her once more against him, to feel her breath on his cheek. He reached down for Tanya, who had squirmed down to run to him. She squealed as Mikhail hefted her into the air and then enclosed her with a warm hug and a nuzzle. She leaned back in his arms, her gray eyes wide and serious, as she patted his cheek with her small hand. Mikhail’s frustration with himself and Ellie instantly turned to so much petals in the wind. Ellie was right; this little girl needed to be protected from Hillary and Paul’s coldness. She shouldn’t be used as a pawn.
    When he placed Tanya on her feet, she ran to Fadey, whose laughter ricocheted around the Mexican tile and brown glazed pots in the spacious kitchen. Fadey eased into a big Stepanov chair with the girl on his lap. “Feed me, woman,” he ordered his wife with a big grin.
    “Now, darlin’,” Mary Jo said easily in her Texas drawl as she added another two plates to the breakfast table. A leggy former beauty queen, she wore a cotton shirt tucked into light denim jeans, her blond and gray chignon perfectly elegant and in place. She stood on tiptoe to kiss her son’s cheek. There was just that narrowing of her eyes that warned him not to let his dark mood spoil a family breakfast.
    Then her smile said she understood; she knew that any time Ellie was mentioned or in the vicinity, Mikhail usually had reason to brood. “There’s the pancakes, Fadey, and you’ve been feeding yourself for years. Sit down, Mikhail. You’re just in time.”
    Mikhail was sensually on edge, badly needing to complete the sizzling kiss with Ellie. He scowled at Jarek’s big grin.
    “Ohhh,” Bliss crooned sympathetically and rose from the table. Bliss and Ed were overage flower children, loving and gentle, and settling in for their first grandchild. Bliss was particularly astute about feelings—“auras,” she called them—and Mikhail could feel her prowling around his mood as she came to study him, patting his cheek gently. “You’re bristling, Mikhail. Goodness, I can just feel those hot little vibes spearing from you. You’re upset, and—”
    Bliss frowned slightly. “Dear, it is more than upset. You’re positively humming with something else that has just been brought to the surface somehow. My goodness—”
    Just then Ellie breezed into the kitchen, shot him a furious look and started to walk around him, her head held high. “Good morning, everyone. This smells delicious.”
    Already