‘There were four of us who grew up in the orphanage,’ Daniil explained. ‘Sev looked out for all of us. He would try to halt an argument or tell us when to pull back. He would also read to us,’ Daniil said. ‘Sometimes it was a book on cooking that he had found, or gardening. One time a carer had left a sexy book...’ The guests all started to laugh as Daniil explained how the boys had kept getting him to read it again and again.
Rachel looked at Nikolai but his expression gave nothing away, even when Daniil spoke about how they had all hoped for a family.
Had Nikolai hoped? Rachel wondered.
But suddenly Rachel had no choice but to lose focus on Nikolai.
‘Rachel...’ Libby whispered, and she dragged her mind to the reason she was here—her very pregnant friend.
‘Are you okay?’ Rachel checked, and then saw that Libby’s eyes held urgent appeal.
‘No!’ Libby said. ‘Follow me out in a couple of moments but, please, Rachel don’t make it obvious.’
‘Okay.’
She glanced at Anya, who appeared not to care—she was picking a tiny flake of chocolate off the top of a mousse and trying not to eat it!
Rachel watched as Libby attempted a subtle exit but then, just as she went to stand, a low, deep voice asked her a question. ‘Did you bring gloves with you?’
Rachel found herself smiling as she turned to him.
‘Er, no.’
‘But you have toffees,’ he pointed out.
‘I do,’ Rachel said. ‘She can bite down on them.’
‘You’d better go.’
Rachel stood, and just before heading out she bent over and whispered into his ear. ‘If you hear screams—it’s me.’ And made her discreet exit.
Only it wasn’t discreet to Nikolai.
A blaze of orange, her hair had just brushed against his cheek in their whispered conversation and it was as if he could still feel it as her scent lingered.
He watched her hitch her dress down her thighs as she walked out on very high heels.
It would be foolish to get involved, even for one night, Nikolai told himself. Women came and went with ease in his life, but Rachel was connected to the people from his past and that complication he did not need.
Daniil, having seen his wife leave, wrapped up the speeches and soon the dancing would start.
‘I have to go,’ Anya said to Nikolai. ‘You can walk me out.’
He did, and gladly so, because now that the speeches were over he knew that soon Sev would be looking to speak with him and he was considering making his own getaway.
They came out to the sight of Rachel holding Libby up and Daniil on the phone. ‘Daniil’s calling the hospital,’ Rachel explained, uninvited. ‘And his driver’s on his way.’
‘I’m just calling for mine,’ Anya said, and took out her own phone.
They were so reserved, Rachel thought. Most people she knew would be panicking and as flustered as she was.
Daniil looked a bit grey but that was as far as it went. Nikolai and Anya were chatting in Russian, as if a heavily pregnant woman wasn’t moaning close by them.
‘So,’ Anya asked, ‘do you think back to those days?’
‘I do all I can not to think of those days,’ Nikolai said. ‘Why did Sev think I had died?’
‘A body was dragged from the river a couple of weeks after you disappeared. Your bag had been found further upstream, with that wooden ship you built and the sexy book...’
Nikolai swallowed.
‘Sev was devastated,’ Anya admitted. ‘He blamed himself.’
‘Why would he blame himself?’
‘That is what tends to happen when your closest friend throws themselves into a cold river rather than tell you there is something wrong.’
It was a difficult conversation but it did not look like it to an outsider. Rachel couldn’t believe how easily Anya and Nikolai appeared to be chatting as Libby started to groan again. ‘You have the oddest friends,’ Rachel said as she rubbed Libby’s back.
‘I know they are.’ Libby came out of the contraction and they both shared a smile as Anya waved over to them as her car arrived. ‘I hope it goes well, Libby,’ Anya said, as her chauffeur got out and opened the car door.
Libby nodded but once Anya was in the car her face moved into a snarl, which was most unlike Libby, especially what she said next. ‘Tough bitch.’
‘Oh, God!’ Rachel exclaimed. ‘You’re going to have it now, aren’t you? On one of the shows I watch they start swearing...’ Her voice trailed off and she saw that Daniil was waving to his driver, who was stuck at traffic lights, to hurry, and that Nikolai was walking back inside.
‘Nikolai,’ Rachel called out to him. ‘Get here.’
He came over.
‘How could you leave?’ she asked.
‘I am sure Libby would prefer—’
‘It’s not about what she might prefer,’ Rachel interrupted. ‘I might need some help.’
‘Do you want to push?’ he calmly asked Libby.
‘No.’
‘Then she has plenty of time till the baby arrives,’ Nikolai said.
He just stood there calmly, as if slightly bored, until Daniil’s driver pulled up and then asked, ‘How far away is the hospital?’
‘It’s just five minutes away,’ Libby said. ‘Without traffic!’
The streets were packed.
‘You’ll be fine,’ Nikolai said.
Daniil seemed to think so too and he shook his head when Rachel offered to climb in the back with them. ‘There’s no need.’
‘But what if she has it on the way?’ Rachel asked as she protested her dismissal.
‘How many babies have you delivered, Rachel?’ Daniil asked.
‘Er, that would be none.’
‘How about you, Nikolai?’
‘Two,’ Nikolai answered, and smothered a smile at Rachel’s pout. ‘Do you want me to come with you?’ he offered.
‘God, no!’ Libby said.
‘You’ll let me know when she has it,’ Rachel checked. ‘I don’t care what time it is!’
‘Of course.’ Daniil gave her a nod and then got in the back with his wife and as they drove off she turned to Nikolai.
‘You took all the drama out of that, didn’t you?’ Rachel accused.
And then, then she got his smile.
His full one.
It was like a wave rushing in unexpectedly—with no buffer. He was absolutely beautiful and his smile welcomed her, for the very first time, into his space.
She stood there, late in the afternoon on a busy street, as if finally alone with him, and smiled back.
‘How come you’ve delivered two babies?’ Rachel asked, moving one step closer. ‘Are you a doctor?’
‘No.’
‘A nurse, then?’
‘Please, no.’
‘Then how—?’
‘I worked on ships,’ Nikolai said. ‘The first baby I delivered, the mother was a stowaway and they don’t tend to declare they are pregnant and neither do they come with health insurance.’
‘Oh, my God!’ He was utterly fascinating, Rachel decided. She simply had to know more. ‘Tell me!’
‘The mother and baby were fine.’
‘What about the other one? Was she a stowaway as well?’
‘No, she was a colleague and didn’t know she was pregnant. That baby was very small.’
‘Did it live?’
‘Yes.’
Rachel wanted to snap her fingers for more information but he told her no more.
Nikolai could feel her curiosity and impatience and he cast another slow smile in her direction.
Oh, his mouth was like a magnet because wit
h just a small shift of his lips Rachel took a step towards him.
‘I’m going to find out,’ she warned him.
‘No,’ he said. ‘You’re not.’
‘I’m very persistent. Just watch me.’
‘I am watching you.’
She was tall. It had been a bane career-wise but it was a pleasure now because it meant that in high heels she was close to eye level with him. Nikolai did not move from her proximity and rare was the man who wasn’t just a little bit intimidated by Rachel in seductive mode.
He was far from intimidated.
‘I think the music might have started,’ she said.
‘Probably.’ Nikolai responded, though he made no move to head back inside.
‘So,’ she asked, ‘are you going to ask me to dance?’
She was a flirt and a very skilled one at that, but, she fast realised, she was no match for Nikolai. She expected him to shrug, or say maybe, or even to agree and ask her to dance. Instead, he answered her with a truth.
‘I don’t need to ask.’ He took her hands and moved them so they came around his neck, then he placed his hands on her hips. ‘Do I?’
They were out on the street, standing to the side of the red carpet that led to the hotel, and she swayed to no music as he stood still.
She tried to move her body in but he held her so that she could not, all she could do was look into his eyes.
He stared back at her and she had never met anybody so good at eye contact. It wasn’t invasive or uncomfortable; instead, their eyes told each other secrets.
His gaze told her of his desire, and hers told Nikolai that he could kiss her now.
Please.
Yet he did not.
Instead, his eyes told her he would make her wait for that pleasure.
She moved her mouth in, just a little.
He moved his face back.
His hands were warm through her dress but nothing compared to the heat between her legs. Perhaps it was better that they did not kiss because if his mouth met hers now, she might ignite.
‘We should go inside,’ he said.
‘Why?’ Rachel asked, because she rather liked being out here with him. ‘I’m not on baby watch any more.’
‘We need to talk.’
‘I thought you didn’t want to talk.’
Usually he didn’t. Their lips were almost touching but it wasn’t just the feel of a mouth that he wanted—he wanted to hear her words.
‘I want to talk about you—I want to know just who it is that André is marrying.’
And she smiled because it would seem that, despite his apparent indifference, he had been paying attention after all.
‘That’s not very fair,’ she teased. ‘Why would I tell you about myself when I know nothing about you?’
‘I don’t play fair,’ he said, and she felt her heart rate quicken as he looked right into her eyes and told her that he made his own rules. ‘Come on, let’s go in.’
‘It’s going to be very loud in there,’ she pointed out, more than happy to stay outside for a while longer. She wanted to find a seat, to be alone with him, rather than be dragged back into the crowd. ‘Not very good for conversation.’
‘We’ll manage,’ Nikolai said. ‘We just need to get close.’
CHAPTER THREE
NIKOLAI TOOK RACHEL by the hand and they headed back inside.
The doors were held open for them as they entered the ballroom. Indeed, the music had started and, though there was an ache for physical contact, there was a need to be close on a different level.
Nikolai was not used to needing to know more about somebody. He usually preferred minimal exchange of information, yet somehow she intrigued him just as much as he fascinated her.
Why, Rachel wondered as he led her to a dark corner, was she considering telling this man something that she was struggling to tell her very best friend? Maybe it was because, unlike Libby, he had seen her discomfort about the topic of André’s wedding. Rachel didn’t blame Libby a bit—clearly her mind had been on other things this afternoon. Still, Rachel could just imagine Libby’s reaction if, or rather when, she found out that it was her cousin Shona that André was marrying.
Libby’s distaste she did not want to see.
Would she get that from Nikolai?
Rachel truly didn’t know.
Still, it would be nice to get someone else’s perspective. She was tired trying to work through it herself.
He called a waiter over and asked for coffee, which was served with a slice of wedding cake.
She liked it that he did not rush her to speak, that instead he watched as she peeled back the icing from the cake and picked off the marzipan.
‘You don’t like it?’ Nikolai checked.
‘No.’
He took it from her plate and as she watched his fingers tear the pale yellow dough, Rachel wondered if she might change her mind about not liking marzipan just to have him lift it to her lips.
He was shockingly attractive, not just in looks but in his measured movements and the way his eyes lifted and met hers. Instead of asking her about André, he asked about her.
‘You dance professionally?’ he asked.
‘I do,’ Rachel said. ‘Well, I’ve actually just left the company. We dancers age terribly...’
‘How old are you?’
‘Nineteen,’ Rachel said, and wondered if he’d get her little joke—the curve of his delicious mouth told her that he did. ‘I’m thirty-two,’ Rachel told him. ‘You?’
‘Thirty-one.’
‘And not dead.’
‘Nope.’
‘I’m so glad.’
‘So am I,’ Nikolai agreed with a wry smile.
‘Will you keep in touch with them?’ Rachel asked. ‘Now that—?’
‘I don’t think so.’ Nikolai interrupted. ‘I’m just here for tonight.’
She wanted to protest, but it wasn’t her place. In truth, there was also an odd comfort that tomorrow he would be gone. She could tell him her truth and not have to face him again.
‘So why are you not looking forward to the next wedding that you are to attend?’
Rachel had to pause before answering. His English, though excellent, was slightly disjointed and spoken in an accent far stronger than either Sev’s or Daniil’s.
‘You don’t have to tell me,’ Nikolai said, taking her silence as discomfort, but Rachel shook her head.
‘No, no.’ She actually wanted to tell him. ‘It’s a bit...’ she pulled a face ‘...unsavoury.’
‘Do tell.’
‘The groom is an ex-boyfriend of mine.’
‘Okay.’
‘And the bride is my cousin.’
She waited for his eyebrows to rise, or for any indication that he found that distasteful, but he just stared back at her and his impassivity allowed her to go on.
‘We broke up two years ago and they met a couple of months ago. My aunt Mary and cousin Shona came and saw the performance in Singapore. Afterwards they came backstage and it was there I introduced them.’
‘I see.’
‘No,’ Rachel said. ‘You don’t. He’s a dancer...we tour together. We’re just back from a huge tour of Australasia...’
‘Do you still have feelings for him?’
‘Not really,’ Rachel said, ‘but now and then we...’ She gave a small shrug and he nodded that he understood that they still slept together. ‘When we’re touring and things.’ Rachel gave an uncomfortable shrug. She didn’t know how best to explain how it felt to be a stranger in a new city again and again. How the hours spent dancing and performing meant you were wide awake as the rest of the world went to sleep. ‘It’s an odd kind of lonely.’
> ‘I would imagine that it is.’
His understanding without judgement was refreshing. ‘We shan’t any more, of course,’ Rachel said hurriedly, and he watched her skin burn on her neck and guessed there was something else she wasn’t telling him but did not push for her to reveal it. Instead, he asked another question.
‘Does your cousin know that the two of you have been lovers?’
‘She knows that we once dated. I just didn’t feel the need to bring Shona up to speed on my sex life during the introductions.’ Rachel let out a tense breath. ‘It just doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe he has a thing for pasty-skinned gingers.’
Nikolai frowned. ‘I don’t understand your words.’
‘Pale-skinned redheads,’ Rachel translated, and for some reason he made her smile as he nodded that he now understood.
‘I suddenly have a thing for pale-skinned redheads,’ Nikolai said.
‘Then you must meet my cousin!’
He smiled and so did she. That she could make a small joke about a subject so touchy to her was unexpected.
‘Why did you break up?’ he asked, and saw Rachel’s smile fade and her eyes narrow as she debated whether or not to tell him.
‘He cheated.’
‘And what excuse did he give for that?’
His question had her frown deepen further, because the answer exposed her. ‘Apparently I’m cold.’
‘I would disagree.’
‘I’m not very affectionate.’
‘Nor me.’
His dismissal of her faults made her smile so she told him some more.
‘He said we were never going anywhere. That I didn’t want to move in with him, which was true. I’d made it clear that I never wanted to settle down or have children and things.’
Rachel didn’t tell him why.
‘I’d call that honest.’
She liked it that he didn’t ask her to justify her reasons and so she told him some more. ‘Well, he said all I wanted from him was sex and that he felt used.’
‘Poor boy,’ Nikolai said, and now he smiled back but so close to her mouth that she felt her lips start to tingle.
‘I just find the whole situation—the thought of being at the wedding—so awkward.’
Billionaire Without a Past (Irresistible Russian Tycoons) Page 4
