by S. E. Smith
“Dimitri,” a voice behind him called out.
Dimitri turned with a curse of his own as Sergei came down the stairs behind him. “Intruder!” Dimitri growled out in Russian before he turned and rushed down the stairs.
The figure at the bottom of the stairs jerked around, staring up at them with shadowed eyes before twirling around to race back the way he had come. The loud stomp of his boots echoed as he ran clumsily down the corridor. Muffled curses followed when he stumbled on a step.
“Damn it all to hell,” the muffled voice cursed. “Sorry ass sons-of-bitches. Why couldn’t he have at least put some shoes on me?”
*.*.*
Dimitri jumped down the last few steps. He had called out a terse warning for Sergei to stay back but he should have known he wouldn’t. He knew Sergei held a seventh degree black belt in judo but Dimitri didn’t care, it was his job to protect his friend and surrogate brother.
Until the kidnapping attempt, he never thought Sergei had the inner discipline to kill someone if he had to. He knew now that Sergei was not only capable, but highly skilled in how to kill. That didn’t mean he wanted his friend anywhere near danger if he could help it. In his mind, he still saw the scared boy he had found in the alley behind a rundown hotel.
Dimitri slowed and held his hand up to Sergei when the figure paused for a moment at the end of the corridor. He watched as the shadow bent over before quickly straightening. He cursed when he saw the figure turn and glare back at them before tossing something toward them.
“Cover!” Dimitri yelled, pushing Sergei behind him and covering his body with his broader frame.
“Will you get off me?” Sergei growled impatiently.
Dimitri glanced down at the object behind him. A furious oath ripped from him when he saw one of the intruder’s boots behind him. He stepped back, turning to look back where the man had been. The space was empty now.
“Why would he throw his boot at us?” Sergei asked, puzzled.
“Stay here,” Dimitri growled.
Sergei grabbed Dimitri’s arm as he turned to head down the hallway. “No. We capture him together. I want to know who he is, who he works for and what he wants,” he bit out. “Then, we kill him.”
“You are sure,” Dimitri asked. “I can do this alone.”
“Not anymore,” Sergei said touching the scar that ran under his eye. “This corridor leads to the laundry room. You go through the servants’ entrance, I’ll go through the kitchen. Oh, and try not to kill him before we get the information we want,” Sergei added with a cold smile before he turned away.
“Since when did you become so tough?” Dimitri grumbled out under his breath.
Sergei’s husky chuckle echoed in the darkness before fading. Dimitri waited a fraction of a second before he moved carefully down the corridor. He drew out the floor plan in his mind. He moved slowly, methodically down the narrow passage making sure the intruder had not left behind any explosive devices that might be triggered by those coming up behind him.
He stepped down the single step where the floor was lower. In the center of the corridor was the second boot. He knelt, carefully turning it over. Raising it up, he looked at it. It looked like a men’s size twelve. It was old, scuffed and had dried mud on the side. He frowned and stood up.
Why would the intruder remove his boots? He could see removing them so he was quieter but to leave them behind was suicidal! He would be trapped in the house as he would freeze to death before he got halfway to the perimeter. Another frown darkened Dimitri’s face.
“How in the hell did he get into the house undetected?” Dimitri muttered. “He would have had to scale the perimeter fence which has infrared sensors and motion detection, not to mention an advance heat-signature video detection system then make his way over a quarter mile though snow and ice past the guards and more cameras before reaching the house which is secured at every possible entrance.”
Fury burned though Dimitri. He would break every bone in the bastard’s body until the man told him how he had gained entry not only onto the property but into the house. If he found that someone was helping him on the inside, he would make them regret ever having been born.
Stepping up to the door leading into the huge laundry room, he pushed the door quietly open. The shadow of the man stood outlined against the narrow window that he was struggling to open. Satisfaction coursed through him when he saw Sergei’s dark form step into the room on the other side. Their wayward intruder was too busy trying to pry the window open to realize he had company.
Dimitri nodded to Sergei and they both silently stepped forward. It was time to make the bastard talk. He hoped that the man would not confess to who he was working for too quickly. He was looking forward to having a little fun first.
*.*.*
Rune wanted to bang her head against the window in frustration but she figured the only thing that would do is give her a bigger headache than the one that was building. She had gotten lost in the maze of corridors as she tried to find an exit. She had gone through one door only to find herself in another long hallway. After almost two hours of wandering in the dark she was ready to start screaming.
She thought she might have actually been on the right track when she stumbled through the last doorway and saw light at the end of the corridor. She headed for the tall windows at the end of the long passage only to realize as she got closer that they were solid. She had turned to go back when the man from the auction called out to someone. She had swiveled around to find the other man from the atrium staring down at her with cold, merciless eyes. She knew what death looked like and the man staring at her had it in his eyes.
“Stupid, sorry ass window! Open, damn it,” Rune muttered as she adjusted her position on the large washing machine.
“It is sealed,” a deep voice commented behind her.
Rune turned so quickly she almost fell off her perch. She did fall onto her ass. Seeing both men staring coldly at her sent her backing up as far as she could until her back was pressed against the cold window. She hit it with her elbow, hoping it would magically pop open so she could just tumble out of it backwards.
Hell, snow is soft, she thought desperately as they both took a step closer. I’d even settle for mud.
“Get down,” the leaner of the two men demanded.
Rune shook her head back and forth and gripped the back of the cold metal device she was sitting on. They would have to pry her off it first. She was not going anywhere near either of the men. She hadn’t realized in her other form just how damn big they both were.
“It looks like I’ll get to have some fun,” the broader of the two remarked to the other man. “I was wanting to break some bones. I think I’ll start with his feet. You know there are twenty-six bones in the human foot? I know how to break each one of them, one… at… a… time,” he added slowly.
Rune’s eyes widened and she quickly pulled her feet as close to her body as possible. She wondered if there really were twenty-six bones. Personally, she didn’t want him to start counting them. She bit her lip and flashed her eyes to the other man. If she thought he might be the easier of the two, she was mistaken.
“At least he won’t be able to run away again when we start breaking the other bones in his body,” the leaner man said as he cracked his knuckles.
Rune swallowed and drew in a shaky breath. Okay, going out the window wasn’t going to work. Her eyes darted to the door behind the men. If she could make it to the door, she could possibly find her way back to the atrium and beg for Micha’s help after all. Pulling her feet up under her, she loosened her hands from the back of the metal machine and drew in one final breath.
They won’t expect me to attack, she thought. I just need to throw them off guard long enough to disappear again.
Refusing to think what would happen if she wasn’t successful, Rune tensed as both men took a step closer. It was now or never, she thought, as she launched herself off the huge metal machine. She hit the b
roader man in the chest.
She realized immediately that she would have had a better chance of escaping through a brick wall. What little breath she had disappeared as she hit him. Instead of knocking him backwards into the other man, he wrapped his huge arms around her and squeezed until she was sure he was going to break her in half. Scared, she did the only thing she could think of doing – she threw her head forward and hit him in the nose.
“сукин сын!” Son of a bitch!
Rune melted in his arms when they loosened. She didn’t understand what he said but from the viciousness in his tone, she imagined it was one of her favorite phrases when she was mad or frustrated. She dropped to her knees and started to crawl through his legs as the other man reached for her. Rolling, she brought her sock covered foot up and kicked at him. He grabbed her foot but she was able to slip free when the oversized socks slid from her foot as he pulled on it.
Looking up, she kicked the other man in the groin as he turned. He stumbled backwards with an even louder curse into the metal machine she had been sitting on just moments before. His hands gripped the front of his crotch as he bent slightly and drew in a ragged breath.
Rune didn’t wait. She rolled onto her hands and knees and tried to scramble to her feet. The long coat twisted around her making it difficult but she was finally able to stand. She had barely taken half a step when another set of strong arms wrapped around her. She tried to head butt him as well but he had obviously learned from his friend to beware of her head. She struggled to undo the two buttons holding on the coat. She shrugged free of it just as the man she had kicked in the balls stepped forward with a low, threatening growl.
Terrified, Rune went limp again leaving the man holding nothing but Micha’s old coat. She stumbled as she fell free before bolting for the door leading to the corridor. She thought for sure she would finally make it when she grabbed the door handle and started to pull it opened. She wasn’t prepared for the two hard bodies that flew into hers or being spun around so fast her head swum. Before she knew what was happening, she found herself pinned between two hot, furious male bodies.
Chapter 7
Dimitri glared at the small figure that was curled up in the chair by the fire in his study. For the last hour, they had been drilling her to find out who she was, who had sent her and how the hell she had gotten into their home undetected. Well, they had been drilling her for the last forty-five minutes. The first five minutes he and Sergei had spent trying to comprehend that their intruder wasn’t a male but a slip of a woman who was setting off fireworks inside their bodies.
“Snow works better,” she mumbled under her breath.
“What?” Dimitri bit out.
Dark brown eyes glared up at him. “I said snow works better… for your nose,” she snapped back. “Why don’t you go bury your head in a snow bank while you’re at it to cool your temper. Did anyone ever tell you that you have anger management issues?” She had heard one of the kids at the orphanage use that phrase before and fallen in love with it.
Dimitri took a step toward her. He was ready to wrap his hands around her scrawny little neck and…
“Dimitri,” Sergei said calmly. “Let me handle this.”
Dimitri’s eyes flashed to Sergei before he turned back to glare at Rune again. His eyes widened when she stuck her tongue out at him before turning her attention back to the fire burning in the fireplace. He clenched his fist, cursing as the damp washcloth he had been holding to his aching nose dripped down his leg.
“Who are you?” Sergei demanded, looking at the young woman. “Who sent you?”
*.*.*
Sergei bit back a chuckle when the woman rolled her eyes when he asked her the same questions Dimitri had been asking her. There was something about her that was just – adorable.
He shook his head in disgust. Since when did he ever think of a woman as being ‘adorable’? She was an intruder. She had attacked both Dimitri and him. Well, she had thrown herself at Dimitri which still surprised him. Even now, she didn’t act like someone out to do them harm. She acted more like she was… annoyed with them.
And why do I feel like I have seen her before? Sergei wondered in frustration.
“I feel like I know her but I’ve never met her,” Sergei said in Russian, looking at Dimitri who was staring moodily at the slender figure curled up in the chair. “There is no way I would ever have forgotten her, I’m sure of that.”
Dimitri looked at Sergei and nodded. “I feel the same way. I thought I was going crazy at first but it is like I have seen her, touched her but…” his voice faded when the young woman turned to glare at them.
“You know it isn’t polite to speak about someone in a language they don’t understand,” she snapped back impatiently. “If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face or don’t say it at all.”
Dimitri straightened up and strode over to the chair. He knelt in front of it so she could see the menacing look in his eyes. He smiled in satisfaction when she leaned back in the chair, a wary look darkening in her eyes as she stared back at him.
Good, I have her attention, he thought savagely.
“We could break you into tiny pieces and scatter your remains across half of Russia and no one, and I mean no one, would ever know what happened to you,” he told her in a cold voice.
Rune swallowed over the lump that formed in her throat. She nervously glanced up at Sergei who stood over her with his arms folded across his chest. Anger flared deep inside when she thought of where she was compared to where she wanted to be. None of this would have happened if they would have just left her in the garden.
Suddenly, she was overwhelmed with grief, anger and the knowledge that it really didn’t matter anymore. Christmas rose be damned. If she was going to die anyway, why extend it? Hadn’t she said she was tired of being jerked around. What was the worst thing that they could do to her? Kill her?
Been there, done that, she thought furiously.
“Fine! Go ahead,” she growled back leaning forward until her nose was almost touching his. “Do your worst! I bet I’ve already had it done before. Want to burn me at the stake? I can tell you the best way to do it. Want to stick a knife through my gut? Piece of cake. Want to run a sword through my heart? Already done that too. You want to cut me up, go ahead,” she snarled back in a low voice. “I really don’t give a damn anymore.”
Dimitri sat back on his heels, for once shocked speechless. The fierce determination and the way she spoke made him believe every word she said. She sounded like she knew exactly what it felt like to die. The look in her eye told him she also meant what she said. She didn’t give a damn if he were to snap her neck or cut her heart out.
Unsure of what to do next, he did what felt right. He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her forward. He knew he had made the biggest mistake of his life when his lips captured hers. Heat exploded through him, pooling low in his groin until he could think of nothing else but claiming her. She froze briefly before relaxing as he moved his lips over hers, encouraging her to open for him.
Her lips parted on a soft gasp when he touched the tip of his tongue to them. He immediately took advantage and pushed forward capturing her in a fierce, possessive claim that surprised them both. He leaned further into the kiss, running his other hand up her bare arm to the curve of her neck. A sense of déjà vu swept over him as warmth flowed through his hand. An image of the statue in the atrium floated through his dazed mind, snapping him back to the present.
Disbelief washed through him as he slowly released her lips. He pulled back just far enough to gaze closely at her. Her eyes were closed. Her lashes lay like feathery crescents over flushed cheeks. When her eyelashes fluttered and she looked at him with wide, confused eyes he knew he must be going crazy. There was no way it could be the woman from the statue.
The soft sound of Sergei’s curse echoed through his consciousness. He glanced up at Sergei to see the haunted look of need in his eyes.
Dimitri rose on unsteady legs and stepped to the side with a nod. He… needed time to understand what had just happened.
*.*.*
Sergei stepped forward and knelt in front of the chair. He waited until the dazed eyes of the young woman curled in the chair, a tattered black coat draped over her legs, turned from where Dimitri stood back looking at her to him. A look of confusion made her look young and vulnerable.
He gently ran his hand over her cheek. His eyes held hers, watching as her pupils dilated as the tips of his fingers traced the soft curve. She leaned her head ever so slightly into his palm, as if she needed to feel his touch as much as he needed to touch her.
“Who are you?” Sergei whispered. “I know you but I don’t. Tell me who are you?” He repeated before he leaned in to capture her lips with his.
Time seemed to stop as he teased her lips, wanting her to open for him as a bloom did to the sun. Triumph filled him when her lips parted. He took his time as he deepened the kiss. His tongue teased hers, stoking her until he felt an answering fire flare inside her as she began kissing him back.
Sergei raised his other hand until her face was cupped between them. A moan escaped him as the taste of her flooded him with the fire of desire unlike anything he had experienced before. This was not the in-control mastery that he used with his previous lovers. This was something elusive… precious. As his fingers brushed down her cheek again the feelings of having touched her, that he knew her, flashed through his consciousness again.
He broke the kiss, breathing heavily and aching with a need to drive himself deeply into her. He wanted this unknown woman with a passion that scared him to the core of his being. Never had he let his feelings overwhelm him the way they tried to now.
“Who are you?” He demanded harshly as anger over the unfamiliar feelings coursed through him. “Who do you work for?
*.*.*
Rune blinked several times, trying to clear her mind. She remembered feeling the terrible grief and aching loneliness overwhelm her. She flushed when she remembered what she had said. She had baited the huge man in the hopes that he would end the pain with a quick snap to her neck.
