From Russia With Love

by Colleen Coble

  Gabe dropped into his chair. His knees felt shaky from the effort to maintain the control on his composure. “I don’t want to make you feel better. And if I lost that control you like to make fun of, I would pound you to a pulp.” He didn’t know how he was going to straighten this mess out. “I’m not telling Mother. You have to tell her yourself.”

  Mike’s eyes widened. “Not that, Gabe. Anything but that. She’ll just look at me with those sad blue eyes, and I’ll feel like an absolute heel.”

  “You are a heel. Did you for one minute stop to think about this woman and her child?” He stood to his feet and put his hands on his hips. “How they would feel when they found out they had to go back to Russia?” He forced himself to drop his hands, but he had never wanted to hit something so badly in his life.

  “I think you’ll like her,” Mike said eagerly. “The other women on the website listed their measurements and were dressed in sexy clothes with lots of makeup. She was dressed in a conservative dress that went nearly to her ankles and very little makeup. Her ad said she was interested in a stable man who loved kids and wanted a family. She’s really beautiful but in a classy way. Her hair is so blond it’s almost white, and she has the deepest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. You can see she’s suffered a lot, though. She has to be married in ninety days, or she’ll have to go back to Russia.”

  “I am not marrying some woman you’ve ordered from over the Internet! I don’t care how nice or how beautiful she is.” Gabe rose and picked up his coat. “You tell Mother what’s happened and why I have to miss dinner. I’ll go pick up this Tatterina or whatever her name is and put her back on the plane to Russia.”

  “Tatiana,” Mike corrected.

  “Whatever.” He shook his finger in Mike’s face. “But this is the last scrape I’m getting you out of!”

  Mike nodded in dejection and handed his brother a picture of a woman. A flight number was scribbled on the back. “Tatiana. Her name’s Tatiana,” he said again. “Give her a chance, Gabe. You’ll like her, I know you will. She’s just your type.”

  Gabe took the picture but didn’t look at it. He just wanted to get out of the office before he said or did something he would have to ask forgiveness for later. He didn’t know when he’d ever been so angry. He wanted to get this woman and her daughter back on the plane and forget this had ever happened. It was too bad she’d have to be disappointed, but what kind of woman would agree to marry a man she didn’t know, anyway? She’d pulled the wool over his brother’s eyes, but she wouldn’t fool him.

  two

  The plane engine whined as the pilot throttled back in preparation for the landing. Tatiana craned her head to peer through the small window for her first look at Indiana. Snow blanketed the ground, and she could see the lights of a large city spread out below. Indianapolis, she assumed.

  Her seatmate Mildred, a white-haired lady with a sweet smile, leaned toward Tatiana and patted her hand as the plane taxied to a stop at the terminal. “I wish you well, my dear,” she told Tatiana. She stood and dragged her bag from the overhead compartment. “If you’re not met, have me paged. Wabash is on my way home to Warsaw.”

  Tatiana smiled her thanks at the older woman, then stood and stretched. After plane changes in London and again in New York, she felt stiff and sore. Irina was a deadweight against her shoulder, her mouth open as she slept soundly. Kind Mr. Salinger had not seemed to mind the added expense of a little girl. Her heart warmed with hope at the thought.

  She stood and waited as the people filed past. She wasn’t in a hurry herself. She dreaded seeing Mr. Salinger again. He’d been a gentleman in Russia, but now she was on his soil. She’d heard horror stories from other families who had sent a daughter to America. The idea of meeting Gabe Salinger again sent a wave of fresh dread through her. No one here cared about her. He could do whatever he wanted, and no one would know.

  The plane was nearly empty, so she squared her shoulders, then lifted Irina into her arms and went down the aisle to the ramp. The terminal teemed with people, and Tatiana didn’t see her future husband at first. She shifted Irina to the other arm and looked around. What if he had changed his mind and didn’t come? What would she do? She had his address but not his phone number. The small amount of money she had wouldn’t get her and Irina very far.

  Then she spied his blond head towering over a rotund man. Her mouth dry, she started toward him. He still hadn’t seen her as he scanned the crowd. She stopped a few feet from him and waited for him to see her. His shoulders were broader than she remembered, but he was just as handsome. His square jaw seemed more trustworthy and dependable than she’d remembered. There was a strength and purpose about him that surprised her. In Russia, she’d thought him a bit flighty and irresponsible. Her gaze paused on his cleft chin, and she wondered again why such a handsome man found it necessary to find a wife on the Internet.

  He shifted from one foot to the next as he scanned the crowd. His gaze met hers, and his gray eyes widened. He cleared his throat. “Tat—uh?” he asked uncertainly.

  Had he forgotten her name already? She stared at him for a long moment. “Of course. You did not recognize me?”

  Tatiana stared up into the stormy gray eyes of the man she’d agreed to marry. Still puzzled at the differences she saw in him, she took a step closer. It was in the way he held his shoulders and the firm line of his lips. Maybe things would be all right, after all. Maybe he would be someone she could lean on and depend on. She smiled tentatively. “Glad I am to see you.” Should she kiss him? She studied his eyes and took a step back.

  He frowned and took her arm abruptly. “We need to talk.” He steered her to a secluded corner and sat her in an empty seat. As he stood towering above her, she settled Irina against her shoulder and rubbed her aching arm muscles. She longed for a warm shower and a place to rest. The long trip and the time difference had taken their toll.

  “Please. Can you sit? My neck aches to look up at you so high.”

  He stared at her a moment, then nodded and sat in the seat beside her. Why did he stare at her so? It was as if he’d never seen her before.

  “What’s your daughter’s name? I’ve forgotten.”

  He’d forgotten? Tatiana didn’t like the sound of that. She wanted a husband who would love Irina, too. So far, this meeting hadn’t turned out at all like she’d hoped. “Irina. Her name is Irina Natalia Lazarenk.”

  He nodded. “I, uh, I need to talk to you.”

  She nodded. “Yes. Already you say this.” A growing feeling of unease constricted her throat.

  He cleared his throat. “I know you think you came here to marry me, but I’ve never seen you before in my life.”

  Tatiana frowned. What did he mean? Of course, he’d seen her. They’d had a lovely lunch in St. Petersburg. “I–I do not understand,” she stammered. She was too tired to think. The hustle of the airport terminal distracted her, and she couldn’t get her thoughts corralled enough to understand what he was getting at.

  He sighed and pressed his lips together firmly. “My crazy brother wants to see me get married. He was the one you met in Russia. He gave you my name and filled out all the paperwork with my name on it. I didn’t know you were coming until four hours ago.”

  Tatiana gulped. A shaky foreboding started deep within her. This wasn’t the man she met in Russia? How could that be?

  “Mike and I are twins. Not many people can tell us apart.” He answered the unspoken question before she could ask it.

  Tatiana’s stomach churned, and she felt suddenly faint. He was about to send her back to Russia. She knew it was so by the look on his face. There was a touch of contempt in his eyes mixed with an unwilling pity. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

  “Have you had anything to eat? The least I can do is feed you before you go back.”

  Go back. He intended to send her back. Back to deprivation and hunger for Irina. Back to the cold one-room apartment. She laid a hand on his arm. “This is
—this some kind of joke?” she asked. “I cannot go back, Mr. Salinger. I came here to be married. My job and my home, both are gone. There is nothing to go back to.” She wrapped her anger around her like a blanket. She must fight, for Irina she must be strong. Gathering her strength, she straightened her shoulders. She must not let him intimidate her. Their entire future hung in the balance.

  Gabe frowned, and she saw a touch of uncertainty race over his features. The sight gave her hope, but then he stared at her and shook his head.

  His glance softened when he looked at the sleeping child, then hardened again when he met Tatiana’s gaze. “I don’t know what to say. I have no intention of marrying a woman I don’t know, despite my brother’s whims. Of course, I’ll help you get back and pay to get you started again. But I don’t even know you. How could we marry?”

  Tatiana felt the blow to her soul, felt his utter contempt for her. How could someone marry a stranger? He had only to live in her shoes for one day. How would he feel if his child went to bed without dinner? If she cried out in the night for food? Would he be so quick to judge then? She would not accept this answer, though she longed to creep away from the disdain she saw in his eyes. For Irina’s sake, she could not slink off like a naughty child. She had done nothing wrong.

  She dug in her purse and pulled out the letter. “I was promised! I am not, how do you say, a coin scooper!” Tatiana stiffened her spine. She saw his lips twitch, and anger flooded her.

  “Gold digger,” he corrected softly. “You’re not a gold digger.”

  “That is what I say! I am glad you can finally see this.” She wanted to slap his smiling face. “I do not deceive your brother. He is one who deceived me!” How could he and his brother do this to her and her daughter?

  Gabe’s grin faded, and he stared at her then nodded. “True, he did. And I guess I owe you something for that.” He flipped open his checkbook and began writing. “How about if I give you a thousand dollars and pay for your way back to Russia?”

  Tatiana jumped to her feet with Irina in her arms. “No! I do not wish for your money. I want what I am promised! A home for Irina and me. Look at my daughter! She is only three and cries in hunger many nights. You cannot send me back without giving me the chance.”

  “She’s right.”

  They both turned at the voice. A tiny woman of about sixty with white hair and startling green eyes stood facing them. She wore green slacks with a green paisley blazer that deepened the color of her eyes. The look in those eyes told Tatiana the lady was used to having her own way.

  Gabe stood. “Mother! What are you doing here? Don’t tell me you’re in on this, too.”

  Mrs. Salinger turned her direct gaze on Tatiana. “Introduce me, please, Gabe.”

  Gabe’s shoulders sagged, and he shrugged. “Mother, this is Tatiana. Tat–Tatiana Lazarenk and her daughter, Irina. Tatiana, this is my mother, Grace Salinger.”

  Mrs. Salinger took Tatiana’s cold hand in her own. “I’m delighted to meet you, my dear. You must call me Grace. Mike told me about the situation, so I came as quickly as I could to see if I could help straighten it out. I can see I arrived just in time.”

  Tatiana searched the woman’s eyes and thought perhaps she had found an ally. Could this woman keep her son from sending her back to Russia? “Please,” she said with an outstretched hand, “can I not stay for at least the ninety days I was promised? Maybe I find a job and earn money to keep us if we must go back.”

  “Of course you can, my dear girl.” Mrs. Salinger turned to her son. “She will stay with us in the guest house, Gabe.”

  “But, Mother—” Gabe began.

  With an imperious wave of her hand, Mrs. Salinger silenced him. “You are not to bully her, Son. It is unthinkable that we would allow Mike to deceive her so and not make some effort to make amends. We can surely find someone in need of such a lovely wife.”

  Gabe stared at his mother, then back at Tatiana. When his gaze touched Irina, his face softened, and he shrugged. “I suppose you’re right.”

  He raked a hand through his hair and glanced at Tatiana again, confusion clouding his gray eyes. He obviously blamed her for the situation. But why did he blame her and not his brother? This Mike was the one who should be ashamed, not she. Could he not see she was not this gold-digger type of person?

  “Mat.”

  Tatiana looked down as Irina called for her mother in Russian. Irina’s round face was flushed from sleep, but her bright eyes looked around with interest. Tatiana smoothed the hair back from her daughter’s face tenderly. “Did you have a nice sleep?” she asked in Russian.

  Irina nodded. “Is that my new otets?” She still spoke in Russian. Staring up at Gabe, she reached out a tiny hand to grasp the brass buttons on his navy blazer.

  Gabe’s granite expression softened as he looked at the child. “Hello.”

  Tatiana was glad for the many nights this past year she’d spoken English to her daughter. Irina could speak English almost as well as she did Russian. She was quite precocious for almost four.

  Irina stared at him. “ ’ello, Daddy,” she said in English.

  The tenderness on his face vanished, but Tatiana thought there might have actually been a quick flash of longing before he whitened and stepped back. She was heartened at the thought.

  “We need to go,” he growled.

  Irina’s blue eyes widened at his gruff tone, and she burst into tears. Tatiana hugged her close and soothed her. “It’s okay, my lamb,” she whispered in Russian. “He wasn’t talking to you.”

  “Gabe!” Mrs. Salinger grasped his arm and shook it. “Mind your manners. You’ve frightened that beautiful child.”

  Gabe sighed, then turned and strode away. Tatiana watched him go with tears in her eyes. She should have known things would not work out for Irina and her. They never did. Not for her.

  §

  Gabe fumed as he strode toward the concession stand. He needed coffee. He couldn’t think clearly. The events of the past four hours had totally perplexed him. How was this all his fault? He was an innocent victim, yet even his own mother looked at him like he was a villain. That woman was the one who’d agreed to sell herself to some man she didn’t even know. He could have been a murderer or a thief or some other kind of scoundrel. She had no business bringing a child halfway across the world into a situation she knew nothing about.

  A more uncomfortable thought surfaced. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Her long hair curled around her shoulders in a loving embrace. She was about five four and slim. Really too slim. He’d have to fatten her up a bit with good, nourishing food. He caught where his thoughts were drifting. He must be mad. She was just a beautiful gold digger, as were all gold diggers, most likely. But her daughter was darling. Thick blond tresses that hung in corkscrew curls down her back. Big blue eyes like her mother’s and a dimpled smile. Just the little girl any man would want for a daughter. He felt a shaft of regret and focused on his anger at her mother.

  Several minutes later, he’d calmed down. He would be polite but nothing more. Mike and his mother wanted this Tatitia or Tatiana, or whatever her name was, here, so they could dance attendance on her. He would tend to his business and keep to himself. The ninety days would be over soon. And maybe he could soothe his conscience by helping find her a husband.

  Since his mother’s diabetes had worsened, and she’d come to live with him and Mike in the family home, she had been bored. This would give her a project. Somebody he knew must be desperate enough to take the woman. As he walked back to find his mother and the Russian woman, he tried to compile a list in his head of his unmarried friends who might be interested in her. Her beauty would attract some poor sap. But it wouldn’t be him. And she didn’t really seem money hungry. After all, she’d turned down the thousand dollars he’d offered her. Maybe things were bad enough in Russia to warrant such desperation.

  His mother sat beside her and her child in the corner where he’d left them. Why
couldn’t he remember her ridiculous name? What was it again? Tat something. He glanced at the back of the picture Mike had given him. Tatiana. Tat and Anna. Tatiana. He rehearsed it in his mind a few times until he was sure he had it right, then strolled up to the women. “Are you ready to go?” He lowered his voice and smiled. He didn’t want to frighten the child again.

  Little Irina cowered against her mother’s shoulder when she heard his voice. His conscience smote him at the little girl’s fear. Kids usually loved him. He knelt and spoke softly to her. “I’m sorry I sounded so mean. I have something for you.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out a miniature candy bar. “Here.” He offered the brightly wrapped candy to her, but she hid her face.

  Tatiana searched his face, then took the candy from him. “Spasibo. Thank you.” She spoke to the child softly in their own language. She opened the wrapper, broke off a piece of chocolate, and popped it into Irina’s mouth. Tatiana smiled when her daughter’s face lit up.

  “You’re welcome,” he said. Irina reached out and touched his face with her small fingers, then hid her face against her mother’s shoulder again. Gabe grinned and stood.

  “Why don’t I bring the car around while you and Tatiana find her luggage?” Grace Salinger stood and pulled on her coat.

  Gabe nodded. “We’d better get going. I’d like to get home before it gets to late. Do you have your luggage tags?”

  Tatiana dug in her pocket and found her ticket stub with her luggage tag attached. “Here. There is only one.” She handed it to Gabe, then rose with Irina in her arms.

  Gabe felt an unwilling admiration for her poise and dignity. She’d rolled with the punches pretty well today. He’d have been happier if she’d agreed to go back to Russia immediately, but at least she didn’t seem the type to cause a lot of trouble for his mother.