by Dani Collins
“Are you coming to Mirrus?” he asked.
“In a week.” Maybe. “Nikolai, we need to think about how best to handle this and it might not be me coming to Mirrus in the near future.” Or at all.
Demyan made a sound of disagreement.
Nikolai cursed again and then said, “I will see you in a few hours.”
“But, Nikolai, there’s no need.” How was she supposed to make her mind up to break things off if he was there, tempting her?
“I know what you are thinking, Nataliya moy, and it is not going to happen. We are not breaking the contract. You are not backing out of this marriage.” There was not a bit of give in Nikolai’s aristocratic tones. “Prince Demyan?”
“I’ll keep her inside, Your Highness.”
Nataliya gave her cousin a look, but he just shrugged. “It makes sense, Nataliya, and you know it.”
“Nikolai, you must realize that my uncle will want me to cancel the wedding to avoid further scandal,” Nataliya said.
Demyan’s grimace said he agreed.
“I repeat, we are not canceling our wedding,” Nikolai said forcefully. “Any attempt to make you pay for your father’s actions will be met with not only my disapproval, but retaliation.”
Instead of looking annoyed by Nikolai’s threat, Demyan grinned. “Good.”
Nataliya was still trying to process that her fiancé was not looking for the easy way out of the scandal. Would not even hear of Nataliya backing away from their betrothal.
He’d been pretty adamant all along, but she found it incomprehensible Nikolai wasn’t even considering it in the face of her father’s behavior and the potential ugliness to come.
“I will see you in a few hours, Nataliya.”
* * *
Nikolai and his larger-than-normal security team stepped off the elevator on the top floor of the Yurkovich-Tanner building in Seattle.
Prince Demyan was waiting, no doubt having been apprised of Nikolai’s arrival. “She’s in her office. Working.”
The other man’s tone let Nikolai know what he thought of that state of affairs and it wasn’t approval.
“That sounds like Nataliya.”
The Prince grimaced, but nodded. “My cousin has a full ration of our family’s stubbornness.”
“I have noticed.”
“She’ll pretend she’s fine, but she’s taking this hard,” Prince Demyan warned as he turned to go down a soft carpeted hall. “Follow me.”
Nikolai’s security team took up different positions in the hall until only one remained at his side.
“That is to be expected,” Nikolai said to Prince Demyan as they walked. “It is her father after all.”
“Trying to ruin her life. The bastard.”
“Indeed.”
The Prince stopped outside a door and turned to face Nikolai. “You won’t let her down, will you? She’s going to try to sacrifice her own future for the greater good. I know her.”
Prince Demyan’s expression didn’t bode well for Nikolai if his answer was anything but no. It didn’t worry Nikolai because he had no intention of letting the very special woman be hurt any more than she had already been by her father’s reprehensible behavior.
And she was going to be his Princess.
“You mean like she did ten years ago when she signed that contract.”
“Yes.”
“She wants to marry me.” Of that Nikolai was entirely convinced.
“I agree, but are you going to let her go?”
“Never,” Nikolai assured the other man. “I will stand by her as her own family did not all those years ago.”
Prince Demyan nodded, his expression grim, nothing to indicate he had taken offense at Nikolai’s words. “Our King did not do well by her or the Countess.”
“No, he did not.”
The Prince’s demeanor stiffened. “Fedir and Oxana have made decisions that were difficult for the good of our country.” As their unofficially adopted son, Demyan had always had leave to use the familiar address for the King and Queen.
“Even so, it is not a decision you would have made.” Prince Demyan could be entirely ruthless, hence his marriage to the one woman who could have destabilized the economy of Volyarus, but he was fiercely loyal.
And Nikolai had learned that the Prince had ensured his wife-to-be was more than adequately protected with their prenuptial agreement. He was not the type of man to allow someone else to suffer unfairly.
Prince Demyan inclined his head and offered more truth than Nikolai was expecting. “Or that my adopted brother would make as sovereign.”
“I believe that.” Nikolai had done his homework on the entire family when he became King and his brother’s betrothal became his responsibility and not that of their father.
“But that does not mean our King acted out of anything but duty and the belief that he was doing what was best for Volyarus.”
“It would seem loyalty is a family trait.”
“Nataliya is very loyal,” Prince Demyan said, proving he knew exactly what Nikolai had meant.
Nikolai nodded. “It is one of the many things I admire about her.”
“Good.” The Prince opened the door and stood back to allow Nikolai entry.
Nataliya looked up from her computer, her face pale, her eyes haunted. “Nikolai! You’re here.”
“I told you I would be.” He could only hope that his stubborn fiancée would cooperate with Nikolai’s plan for dealing with the problem of her father.
“But you must have gotten on a jet almost immediately.”
“I did.” He instructed his remaining guard to wait outside the door and then closed it on him and her cousin.
Nataliya looked at the closed door with a worried expression. “I think Demyan wanted to talk strategy.”
“You and I will do so. After.”
“After?”
He crossed the room and pulled Nataliya from her chair and right into his body. “After we have greeted properly, and I have assured myself that you are all right.”
“I’m fine.”
He just shook his head and then kissed her.
She melted into him, no resistance whatsoever, kissing him back, her arms coming up and around his neck. Passion flared between them as it always did when they were this close, but he could sense a fragility in her that was not usually there.
And it was that fragility that allowed Nikolai to lift his head. “You are such a temptation, but I do not think you are fine at all.”
“He said horrible things about me. I never did anything to him, but he never loved me.” Nataliya snuggled into Nikolai, seeking comfort in a way that was both surprising and welcome. “I thought he couldn’t hurt me anymore, but he can, and I don’t like it. Mama will be so hurt. She’s moved on with her life, but he’s going to dredge everything up again. All the old pain while heaping on a new dose. It’s just not fair.”
“You have not spoken to her?” Nikolai knew the Countess had planned to call her daughter.
Nataliya shook her head. “I couldn’t. She’ll be devastated and it’s all my fault.”
“None of this is your fault,” Nikolai argued, fury filling him that his sweet and loyal fiancée could take the blame for her reprobate of a father’s actions. “All culpability lies one hundred percent with the Count.”
Nataliya didn’t answer, just leaned more securely into Nikolai, as if seeking strength. “I can’t believe you came.”
He was more than happy to share his with her, but knew she had plenty of her own. “I cannot believe you would think I would do anything else.”
“But your schedule.” Her head tucked perfectly under his chin, like she was made to fit against him like this.
“Can be adjusted,” he reminded her. Nikolai rubbed her back, finding the a
ction soothing and hoping she did too. “Just as yours must be.”
Her head came up at that. “You’re going to insist I return to Mirrus with you, aren’t you?”
“I am hoping you have reconsidered that course of action on your own.”
“And if I haven’t?” she tested.
“I will leave it up to you to explain to my cabinet and my company why I am in Seattle when I am supposed to be in the palace for several important meetings prior to our wedding.”
“You can’t stay here!”
“I will not leave you alone to face the vultures of the press.”
Nataliya sighed. “Demyan already told me that I didn’t have a job to come to anymore.”
“Did he?”
Her cousin went up a notch in Nikolai’s estimation and he already respected the Prince.
“He said I was being recklessly stubborn.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think you’re both ignoring the most expedient course of action and I cannot figure out why. And in any case, I don’t want to feel like a coward.”
“There is nothing cowardly about coming home.” He completely ignored her reference to expediency.
Their definition of that course of action wasn’t going to match.
“And Mirrus is my home now?” she asked, her expression unreadable.
“You know it is.”
She nodded and something in his chest loosened. “It is.” She looked away from him. “I never thought I was weak, but I want to go back with you. I want to go through with the wedding.”
Hearing the last loosened the remaining fear he had not wanted to acknowledge. She was not going to walk away from him. “No one could make the mistake of thinking you are weak,” he promised her.
“You don’t think so?” Nataliya was looking at him again, her lovely brown eyes shiny with emotion.
“No, but if they do, they are idiots.”
“Why would a father be so cruel to his only child?” she asked, like she expected Nikolai to have the answer.
He didn’t; he only had the truth he knew. “I am sorry, kiska, but your father is a cruel man all around. As to why the articles and why now, I do not think it is as simple as him wanting revenge for his continued exile.”
That seemed to startle her. “What then?”
“Money.”
“You think he hopes to extort money from us? But if that was the case, wouldn’t he have threatened before going to the tabloids with his ugly allegations about my character?” Wasn’t that how blackmail worked?
“He has done one interview in print, an interview that has forced everyone involved to sit up and take notice. As you said earlier, he could do much more, but right now he believes his bargaining position is strong.”
“But blackmail? He couldn’t think he’d get away with it. With King Fedir, that might even fly. After all, there’s a reason my father has been able to draw his allowance from the family coffers annually, but with you? He must know you will never pay him a penny.”
Nikolai liked very much that she knew him that well. “You do not think so?”
“No.” She rolled her eyes. “He’d have better luck getting blackmail payments out of a nun who’d made a vow of poverty.”
“Interesting analogy, but you are right.” Nikolai had plans where her father was concerned and not one of them included paying a single penny to the grasping Count.
“You’re talking like you know the Count wants money.”
“I do know. He made the demand while I was en route.”
Nataliya’s natural lovely tone went paste white. “What does he want?”
“Right now? A single large payment followed by a yearly stipend to ensure his silence in the future. He’s getting none of that,” Nikolai assured her.
Before Nataliya could respond, a knock sounded at the door.
“Come,” Nikolai commanded.
It opened to reveal the Prince. “Your guests are waiting in the lobby.”
CHAPTER TEN
NATALIYA TRIED TO step back from Nikolai, but he wasn’t having it. His arms remained firm around her as she tried to make sense of what her cousin had said.
“You never react like I expect you to,” she told Nikolai.
Her proper King, who was known for his dignified demeanor, winked at her. “Just think, you will never grow bored with me.”
There was an underlying seriousness to his teasing that Nataliya wished she understood better.
She patted his muscular chest, feeling daring with her cousin standing right there. “No chance of that happening.”
“If we could suspend this somewhat nauseating chitchat, everyone is waiting,” Demyan said sardonically from his place in the doorway.
“Give us a minute,” Nikolai instructed her cousin.
Demyan nodded and left.
“Are you ready?” Nikolai asked her.
“Ready for what exactly?”
“We’re about to give a press conference.”
“What? Why?”
“We’re going to detooth the tiger.”
“But my uncle.” No way had King Fedir agreed to such a thing.
“Is not the sovereign in charge here.”
But King Fedir could be impacted in a very detrimental way. There was a risk her uncle’s own long-hidden scandal would come out if her father decided to exact revenge, though she wasn’t sure Danilo would risk losing what income he still received from the Volyarussian royal coffers.
Either way, her former King’s actions were no more her responsibility than her father’s had been.
“What is that sound you made?” Nikolai asked her, as if they weren’t in the middle of an intense discussion.
“Surprise,” she answered, with no thought of hiding her thoughts from him. “I just thought of my uncle as my former King.”
“I am your King now.” Pure satisfaction laced Nikolai’s tone.
She smiled, her heart beating fast for no reason. Or maybe for every reason. “Yes.”
“It is my honor and my privilege to protect you and your mother as members of my family. And I will do a better job than your former King.”
“Your arrogance is showing again.”
“Perhaps. Will you do the press conference with me?”
“You’re asking me?”
“I am.”
“Yes, but I’m not sure what we are supposed to say?”
“In this one instance, I would consider it a personal favor if you would follow my lead.”
“Okay.”
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Beyond the press conference, we have two legal options open to us. We can file criminal charges against the Count for blackmail. Even if he has a good lawyer, he’ll spend some time in prison. In addition, you can sue for libel and drag him through the courts for the foreseeable future. We don’t have to win the case to bankrupt him with legal fees. He lives beyond his means as it is.”
For the first time, Nataliya had hope her father would not prevail. Why hadn’t she considered legal recourse?
Because to do so would cause scandal, and that was anathema to the Royal Family of Volyarus, but there was no way past scandal in this situation. Even paying the blackmail wouldn’t guarantee her father’s silence. He was vindictive and cruel and not always smart.
He could get angry and do something that would harm himself more than her or Mama in the end, but it would still harm them. Just as his actions had with their exile.
“He could go to prison?”
“All calls to the palace and to my personal cell phone are recorded.”
Which meant that they had recorded evidence of the attempt to extort the King. “He should have gone to prison for what he did to m
y mom when they were married. He’s broken the law again and I think he should pay the consequences of that, but I need to talk to my mother before I decide.”
“I would expect no less from you. The charge doesn’t become any less serious waiting a day or two to file.” Nikolai cupped Nataliya’s cheek. “You understand that in trying to blackmail me, that even if we do not file a complaint here in the US, he is already guilty of treason against the Mirrusian Crown. If he ever attempts to enter our country, he will be detained, tried and most likely end up incarcerated.”
Nikolai could have no idea how good that news sounded to Natalia.
Detooth the tiger indeed. “And the press conference?” she asked.
“We will set the story straight.”
Jenna arrived then, for moral support, but also to help Nataliya get ready to face the press.
Again, Nikolai had thought of everything.
* * *
When they reached the lobby, both Nikolai’s security and that for Yurkovich-Tanner were in position. There was a table covered with a cloth and bunting in the colors of the House of Merikov. The Mirrusian Royal Crest was displayed prominently on the front.
The cavernous lobby was packed. News crews from the major networks were there along with journalists for reputable entertainment shows, magazines and newspapers.
Demyan stood to one side, along with people Nataliya did not recognize.
One of those people stepped forward, introduced themself as the press liaison for King Nikolai of Mirrus, thanked everyone for coming, gave a few instructions for holding questions and the like and then introduced Nikolai and Nataliya.
“I want to thank you all for coming,” Nikolai said in confident tones. “Understandably my fiancée, Lady Nataliya of Volyarus, has been deeply saddened and upset by the spurious interview given by her father, the disgraced Count Shevchenko.”
Nikolai smiled reassuringly down at Nataliya and whether it was for show or because he cared about her feelings in that moment, she felt better.
“The one thing the Count got right was that there was in fact a contract. Neither my people, nor King Fedir has ever tried to hide that fact.”
Murmurs erupted in the room, but soon died down as it became obvious Nikolai would not continue until there was silence.
