by Katee Robert
He pulled a box out of his jacket pocket and opened it. Despite everything, she gasped. It was a huge diamond set in a platinum band with smaller pink diamonds framing it. It looked like something a duchess would wear. Or what she imagined a duchess would wear. “I thought this would suit you.”
It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
It actually made her heart lurch to turn her face away. “I don’t want it.”
“That’s the second time you’ve lied to me during this conversation.” Dmitri took her hand, the heat of his skin against hers sparking things low in her stomach. “Truth between us—that’s all I demand of you.” He chuckled at the arch look she sent him. “You’re right. That wasn’t the full truth. We can come to terms later, but in the meantime—truth.”
Terms.
Such a cold word to encompass all that marriage should be. Then again, what did she know? Her parents seemed to like each other just fine, but her mother had essentially been sold to her father in a political marriage the same way Keira was being sold to Dmitri. She knew it was for peace. That was the only thing that would keep her here when all she wanted to do was follow in Sloan’s footsteps and flee to a far corner of the world.
Liar. The voice in her head sounded so much like Dmitri that she blinked.
Okay, there are a few reasons I’m staying.
She watched him slide the massive ring onto her finger, half-surprised the weight of it didn’t drag her off the counter. “I suppose after I pop out the requisite heir and a spare, you’ll let me come back to Boston.” It was the same deal he had offered Carrigan. She wasn’t sure what she thought about that.
“Hardly. Once we exchange those vows, moya koroleva, you’re mine.” He waited for her to meet his gaze, and then he dropped the mask. There was no ice, no pleasant gentleman-murderer there. No, there was only the monster beneath.
And that monster wanted her.
CHAPTER TEN
Aiden kept his hand on the small of Charlie’s back while he guided her through the crowd to where the Eldridge women had staked out the northern corner of the room, directly opposite the Romanov men. Romanov had been certain they would show, but Aiden still breathed a slight sigh of relief to see the matriarch of the Eldridge clan, Alethea, sitting surrounded by her men. Her daughters were nowhere to be seen, with the exception of her heir, Mae, who sat poised at her mother’s right elbow.
Alethea didn’t rise as he came to a stop in front of her, but she inclined her head slightly. “Aiden O’Malley.”
“I hope you’re enjoying your evening.” He nodded to Mae. “Both of you.” Neither woman was beautiful in the traditionally accepted way, their features too strong, their bodies built for strength rather than model-thin, but they were striking. He’d caught several of his men giving Mae long looks earlier, and he had made a point to tell Liam to keep them the hell away from her.
Alethea had made her fortune in the world dealing with the people even he avoided, and her daughter was no damsel in distress. When he’d asked Cillian to get him information on the family, it had come out that sadistic didn’t begin to cover Mae’s proclivities.
Mae was staring at Charlie like a lioness considering its next meal. “Who’s your date?”
“Mae, Alethea … I’d like you to meet my fiancée, Charlie Moreaux.” He was every inch the welcoming host, even as he mentally cursed at the situation he’d created. In all his careful planning, he’d never once stopped and considered what would happen if Alethea’s daughter looked at Charlie and saw competition. I just put a fucking target on her chest. He’d known it was a possibility, going into this, but the reality of it had changed the second he got her into his bed. It made him want her safe and as far away from the Eldridges as humanly possible.
It was his fault she was in danger to begin with.
Charlie didn’t seem to be suffering from the same distraction he was. She moved forward with a smile. “Pleasure to meet you.”
Mae glared at her outstretched hand, but Alethea beamed. “We hadn’t realized you were engaged, Aiden, but I can see why you’ve hidden her away. Look at you, girl, you’re so tiny and breakable. A woman like you doesn’t have to try hard to twist a man around her little finger.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.” Charlie’s smile didn’t waver as she extracted her hand. “I had to play dirty to get his attention in the first place.”
Tension rose, which was the exact opposite of what he’d wanted to accomplish. It was vital to his and their plan that the Eldridges see Aiden as a potential ally and act accordingly. If they were checking out the O’Malleys, they wouldn’t be looking over their shoulder at Romanov. If Aiden and Charlie didn’t play this initial interaction correctly, all his plans would go up in smoke. Antagonizing Alethea Eldridge was not on the agenda.
But he underestimated Charlie.
She laughed. “You know how these things are, though—easy come, easy go.”
Did she just … He shot her a look, but now wasn’t the time to haul her ass somewhere private to talk about how he felt about her changing the story without talking to him. “I wouldn’t have proposed if I wasn’t serious, Charlie.”
“I know.” She waved it away like he was an annoying gnat and winked at Mae. “I bet you know a thing or two about getting what you want. You don’t seem the type who takes no as a final answer.” She injected admiration into her tone, and the other woman relaxed, just a bit.
Mae examined her maroon nails. “I can be very convincing when provoked.”
“Oh, I’ll bet.” Charlie giggled.
What the hell is she up to?
Alethea cleared her throat, her eyes on something over Aiden’s shoulder. “Do you let your youngest sister wander unattended regularly?”
He turned in time to find Keira walking out of the women’s bathroom. He was about to comment on the fact that the restroom was the one place he didn’t demand his men follow his sister when the door opened behind her and motherfucking Dmitri Romanov walked out, looking as pleased as the cat that ate the canary. Fuck. That was not part of the goddamn plan. “Ladies, excuse me.”
“Aiden.” All warmth had disappeared from Alethea’s voice, leaving no doubt that this woman had more than earned her reputation as one of the scariest players in the underground game in New York.
The fact that Romanov had the balls to cross her baffled Aiden. The Russian didn’t seem the type to act without a reason, but hell if he could figure out what it was—even while working with the man, and with all Cillian’s hacking skills.
Alethea’s blue eyes were just as cold as her voice. “It seems we may have an interest or two in common.”
This was exactly what he’d hoped to accomplish, but he felt no victory at getting into bed with the Eldridges. Even if it was a lie. “It would seem so.”
“Come see me soon. We’ll discuss things in private.” Her gaze flicked to Charlie. “Bring your fiancée. My Mae has taken a charm to her.”
That only served to make him want to haul Charlie’s ass as far away from these two as possible. He smiled instead. “It would be my pleasure. Enjoy the rest of the party, ladies.” He looped his arm around Charlie’s waist as they walked away, and he could actually feel both the Eldridge women’s gazes pinned between his shoulder blades. He pulled Charlie closer. “What the fuck was that?”
“Playing a part, Aiden.” She sounded as sweet as pie. “That’s what we’re doing. I got you what you wanted.”
Before he could respond, she waved at Keira and stepped away from him to go talk to her. He surveyed his sister, looking for signs of shakiness or fear or something that a normal person would feel after having been cornered by Dmitri Romanov in the bathroom. She lifted her hand to brush back her long, dark hair, and Aiden froze. A giant-ass diamond glinted on her ring finger, and that sure as fuck hadn’t been there earlier.
Cillian stepped up next to him and crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell me something.”
He di
dn’t look over. “Now isn’t the time.”
They both spoke so low, someone would have had to practically be on top of them to eavesdrop. “I think it’s the perfect time.”
Obviously, his brother wasn’t going to let it go. He clenched his jaw. Was anyone going to do what they were supposed to tonight? “What?”
“If you’re so determined to marry Keira off to Romanov … why the hell are you so pissed that she’s wearing his ring?”
Aiden finally looked at his brother, finding too much knowledge on his face. So he’d figured it out. Damn. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
Cillian gave a short nod. “Excuse me. Dmitri wants to see Hadley before it’s her bedtime.” He never let the other man near Olivia and his stepdaughter without being there. Aiden didn’t blame him, though one of the few good things he could say about Romanov was that he seemed to genuinely care about his niece.
Then again, he seemed to do and say a lot of things. None of it could be trusted.
Olivia might claim that her half brother always kept his word, but Aiden couldn’t risk believing that. His only job was to provide for the O’Malleys and expand their power. He couldn’t do any of those things with Romanov in his way. He’d crossed the O’Malleys too many times, and now he had to be removed as a threat.
Aiden sat at an empty table and monitored the interaction between Cillian and Romanov. Olivia was tense, but the year and a half she’d been living with the O’Malleys had gone a long way to repair her relationship with Romanov. She still didn’t like him, but he hadn’t crossed the line she’d drawn in the sand when it came to her daughter.
Romanov went down on one knee, bending his head to speak at Hadley’s level. The little girl was the spitting image of her mother, her skin hinting of the Middle Eastern descent she’d inherited by way of her maternal grandmother, her hair a wild riot of dark curls. She was a solemn child, and she was serious in the extreme as she spoke to her uncle until he pulled a floppy bunny from his jacket. He couldn’t have had the thing the entire time, but he managed to make it look like a magic trick. Hadley’s trill of delight could be heard even halfway across the room.
“Cute.” Charlie sank into the chair to his left, her attention following his.
“Yes, it is.” He looked at her, searching for any signs of doubt or softening. “Still on board?”
She frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be? Even monsters have soft spots. That doesn’t make them less monstrous. He could cuddle his niece and turn around and order a person’s death without blinking.” She shook her head. “No. The kid’s young enough. She’s got a good mom. She’ll be fine if her uncle disappears off the face of the earth.”
Aiden didn’t ask whether she was looking for Romanov to end up in prison or six feet under. He didn’t have it in him for a fight—not here, not now. “It’s almost time for food—and toasts.”
“Toasts?”
He shrugged. “It’s part of the process. We’ll have a meeting to hash out the details and argue to a standstill about which ceremony will be performed.”
She stared. “You’re serious.”
“The Romanov family is Eastern Orthodox. We’re Catholic. They might not seem that different to an outsider, but they are—and neither family will be happy about compromise.”
Charlie didn’t look any more convinced. “You’re not actually planning on letting Keira marry that piece of shit, so why does it matter?”
He glanced around, but there was no one particularly close. That didn’t stop him from hooking a hand under her chair and towing her over to his side, the move putting her half in his lap. “What is it with people wanting to discuss state secrets while we’re in a room with fifty other fucking people.”
“That’s the best time to discuss secrets,” she murmured.
To anyone looking on, they were a couple in love—or at least in lust—so entwined with each other that the rest of the room didn’t matter. With Charlie’s citrus scent teasing him, it wasn’t a hard part to play. He kissed her neck. “Romanov is many things—stupid isn’t one of them. If I don’t fight and argue and bitch the same way I would in reality, he’ll know something is up. Ultimately, it’s Keira’s choice, but until she makes it, we have to proceed accordingly.” Until the deal with the Eldridges is done and she knows she has a choice at all.
“Makes sense.” She inhaled sharply as he nipped her shoulder.
“You going to tell me what the fuck was up with that game you were playing with Mae?”
“Now’s not the time.”
He growled, which only seemed to amuse the infuriating woman. She grinned at him. “But I’m more than willing to be persuaded.”
“Oh, bright eyes, I’ll persuade the fuck out of you.”
* * *
Charlie did her best to focus, but it was a lost cause. All she could feel was Aiden’s attention heavy on her, the promise of persuasion in her future. There was no mistaking what that meant—not when he’d spelled it out in the car earlier. Sex. He’d made her beg, something she’d thought was impossible. Charlie was hardly a virgin, but she liked her sex like she liked everything else since her life had gone down the shitter—without fuss. Why bother with romance when the only thing both partners were after was a pair of mutually satisfying orgasms?
Not that she could call what had happened between them in his bed romantic.
“Charlie.”
She turned, her breath coming a little too short to be totally at ease. Seeing how smug Aiden looked made her want to set him on his ass. That was her problem, though. Not his. He’d been mostly consistent up to this point. She was the one who was in danger of changing the rules. Hard to take the high ground when I don’t have a ledge to stand on. “What?”
“It’s time.”
She looked around, a little panicked at the realization that the room had emptied while she was obsessing over the thought of having sex with Aiden. You’re trained better than that, distracted to high hell or not. She tried for a smile and failed miserably. “Great.” All she wanted to do was get the hell away from here. The night had left her feeling raw and exposed in a way that had nothing to do with the physical.
She’d thought she was prepared for everything that working with Aiden would entail.
She was wrong.
She brushed past him and headed for the doors they’d come in through. She could feel him at her back, but Aiden didn’t say anything as they climbed into the waiting town car and then rode back to the O’Malley house. She stared through the window, not feeling any more welcome than she had the first time. This wasn’t her place. She’d be worse than a fool to believe otherwise, even for a second.
Aiden took her hand at the front door, the contact shocking her out of her funk. It hadn’t skipped her notice that he barely touched her unless he was looking to prove a point or there were orgasms involved. And he hadn’t come close to kissing her. Not once. That’s very Pretty Woman of him. The joke fell flat, even in her head. She knew better than to get caught up in this bullshit. She did.
But she still followed him into his room and shut the door behind her.
And her traitorous body was still primed and aching for him.
It didn’t seem to matter that she wasn’t even sure she liked Aiden—how could she when the only parts of him she knew were the ones he allowed her to see?
She wanted him despite that.
For now, that was enough.
“Take off your dress.”
She unzipped the side and let the heavy fabric fall to her feet. The only thing she wore beneath it was her panties, and she wasted no time sliding those off as well. Only then did she dare look at Aiden.
He’d taken a seat on the edge of the bed, and he watched her with an unreadable expression on his face. “How are you doing?”
“What?” She’d expected more games, or at least some kind of command. She hadn’t anticipated him asking her a frank question that she didn’t have an answer to.
“Tonight couldn’t have been easy for you.”
She stared at him. If she didn’t know better, she would think he was offering an olive branch and inviting her to talk with him. Maybe to share actual honest-to-God emotions.
But this was Aiden O’Malley, so she had to be misreading the situation.
Exhaustion rolled over her in a wave that had her eyeing the bed for purposes that had nothing to do with sex. She could jump through his hoops tomorrow. Tonight she was just done. “Aiden, we’ve been talking on and off all night. If you’re going to fuck me, fuck me. If not, I’m going to bed.” Charlie hadn’t anticipated how draining it would be to be constantly on guard and worrying about staying in character—or how twisted up she’d be about her fake fiancé in the process. Should have run faster that first night.
Something crossed his face, something she couldn’t put into words. Aiden exhaled harshly and stood. “I haven’t been doing a good job with you.”
“Uh, what?” He’d switched tracks so fast, her head spun as she tried to take the mental jump with him. “What are you talking about?”
He walked to the phone on the dresser. “Did you manage to eat anything during that shit show of a party?”
Now she was really confused. “No …” She’d been too nervous—and even if she’d wanted to, there were so many people drifting up to talk to her, she wouldn’t have had a chance.
“It’s late, so there won’t be any fancy options, but I know for a fact that Mark makes a mean turkey club.”
Her stomach chose that moment to grumble, and she pressed her hand there, as if the contact could tell it to shut the hell up. As attractive as sleep sounded, her mouth watered at the thought of a sandwich. “I could eat.”
“Thought so.” He motioned toward the bathroom without looking up from where he was dialing. “Take a shower, bright eyes. By the time you’re done, there will be food. Then we’ll talk.”
More talking.
She didn’t know if she was disappointed or relieved, but she padded into the bathroom all the same. A shower sounded like heaven, and so she wasn’t going to think too hard about the fact that they apparently weren’t going to have sex tonight. Stepping beneath the stinging spray made her gasp a little, but she welcomed the shock to her system. She gritted her teeth and scrubbed herself down, washing her hair until it was no longer stiff from the liberal amount of hair spray needed to tame it. And then she just stood there, her head ducked beneath the running water, letting it course over her until she felt a little more in control.
