“Iloveher,” Nikolai said again, his voice dangerously low. “I’m going to make her my wife. Not for the bridge—for myself.”
“I’m not stopping you,” Zavier said coldly. “But you will bring her to gala, and you will introduce her to the Ministers as your fiancée. And you’ll stop running around Moscow and get back to work.”
Nikolai was seething with anger at his father, for his disrespect of Nadia, and for the suspicions that Nikolai had yet to release, regardless of what Zavier might say.
“I’ve indulged you so far,” Zavier said. “But don’t test me.”
The unspoken threat hung in the air.
If Nikolai didn’t bring Nadia to the gala, then she would be of no use to Zavier. And at the very least, he’d tell her why Nikolai had wooed her in the first place.
Or, he might do much worse.
Swallowing down his fury, Nikolai said, “I’ll bring her.”
“Good,” his father said.
* * *
Nikolai did takeNadia to his family’s country estate a few days later. He’d been planning to take her for some time, but he wanted the trip to be absolutely perfect. Neither he nor his father had visited for several years, so he had to order the house to be cleaned top to bottom, all the dust covers stowed away, all the blinds raised, the towels and bedding changed, and the rooms filled with fresh flowers. He ordered enough food and drinks to stock an army, and he sent a box of his own personal belongings to the master suite.
When he picked Nadia up at her grandfather’s house, she had a little carpetbag of clothes and toiletries slung over her shoulder, and a scarf wrapped round her hair to keep it tied down in the convertible.
“This may be the last time we can drive with the top down,” Nikolai said. “It will be autumn soon.”
“It’s barely September!” Nadia said.
“Autumn is short, and winter is long here,” Nikolai admitted. “Do you think you can stand it?”
“Sure,” Nadia said, smiling at him. “That’s what parkas are for.”
As they travelled out into the countryside, the road grew emptier and emptier. When inside the crowded, bustling cities, it was easy to forget that they were only islands in the vast wilderness of Russia.
“How long does it take to drive there?” Nadia asked.
“About two and a half hours,” Nikolai said.
“Oh no,” Nadia said, giving him a naughty smile. “Whatever will we do with all that time?”
“Oh, I don’t know...” Nikolai said. “Talk about the weather, I suppose...”
“Good idea.”
Nadia unbuckled her seatbelt and slid a little closer to him. She let her fingers trail up his thigh, over his trousers.
“What’s the forecast?” she said.
“Warm,” Nikolai laughed. “Very warm.”
“And what about now?” she said, unzipping the front of his trousers. “Getting hotter?”
“Yes,” he said, taking in a sharp breath as she slipped her hands into his pants and found his rapidly swelling cock.
She began to stroke him hard.
Because Nadia was staying with relatives and Nikolai still lived at his father’s house, they’d mostly been confined to afternoon trysts in hotel rooms, returning to the lookout point on Sparrow Hill, and once a hectic hookup in the elevator on their way to the top of the Ostankino Tower.
So, he was very much looking forward to three days of uninterrupted sex in an entire house all to themselves.
