“Stay, then.” He turned to leave, motioning for Cooper and his bodyguards to follow. “Feel free to visit our son next Christmas.”
Precisely as he’d expected, Anna grabbed his arm.
“Wait. I’m coming with you. You know I am. But I can’t just abandon Natalie.”
He tried to shake off her grip, but she wouldn’t let go. He looked into those beautiful blue-green eyes, wet with unshed tears. What was it about women and tears? How were they able to instantly manufacture them to get what they wanted? Well, it wouldn’t work on him. He wouldn’t be manipulated in this way. He wouldn’t let her…
“You might have to go with him, Anna,” Natalie said defiantly. “But I don’t. I’m staying.”
Nikos glanced at Anna’s sister. The girl had fought like a crazed harpy to protect her nephew. Now, she just looked heartbreakingly young.
Something like guilt went through him. Angrily, he pushed it aside. If the Rostoffs were penniless, it wasn’t his fault. As his secretary, Anna had been paid a six-figure salary for the last five years—enough to support her whole family in decent comfort.
So where had that money gone? He’d never seen Anna splurge on clothes or jewelry or cars. She bought things that were simple and well made but, unlike his current secretary, she avoided flashy luxury.
Anna’s sister didn’t look terribly royal either. In her bulky sweatsuit, covered by an artist’s smock, she stood by the frost-lined window with a bowed head. She was staring wistfully at the broken pieces of the blue china teacup he’d smashed against the fireplace.
His jaw tightened.
He gestured to Cooper, who instantly came forward. “Yes?”
“See that the girl has all the money and assistance she requires to live here or return to New York, as she wishes.” In a lower voice, he added, “And find a replacement for that damn cup. At any price.”
Cooper gave a single efficient nod. Nikos turned to Anna. “Satisfied?”
Anna raised her chin. Even now, when he’d given her far more than she deserved, she was defiant. “But how do I know you’ll keep your word?”
That one small question made fury rise tight against his throat. He always kept his word. Always. And yet she dared insinuate that he was the one who was untrustworthy. After her father had stolen his money. After she herself had stolen his child.
He hated her so much at that moment he almost did leave her behind. He wanted to do it. But not at the cost of hurting his son. Damn her.
Gritting his teeth, he said, “Call your sister when we reach Las Vegas. You’ll see I’ve kept my word.”
“Very well.” Anna’s face was pale as she knelt beside her sister. “You’ll accept his help, won’t you, Natalie? Please.”
The girl hesitated, and for a moment Nikos thought she would refuse. Then her expression hardened. “All right. Since he’s only paying back what he took from Father.”
What the hell had Anna told her? Surrounded by bodyguards, he didn’t have the time or inclination to find out. He’d tried to spare Anna the truth about her father, but he was done coddling her. It was time she knew the kind of man he really was. He would enjoy telling her.
And more than that, Nikos promised himself as they left the palace. Once they’d returned to his own private fiefdom in Las Vegas he would make her pay for her crimes. In private. In ways she couldn’t even imagine.
Oh, yes, he promised himself grimly. She’d pay.
CHAPTER TWO
RIDING in the limo from the Las Vegas airport to Nikos’s desert estate twenty miles outside the city gave Anna an odd sense of unreality.
In one long night she’d left darkness and winter behind. But it wasn’t just the bright morning light that threw her. It wasn’t just the harsh blue sky, or the dried sagebrush tumbling across the long private road, or the feel of the hot Nevada sun on her face.
It was the fact that nothing had changed. And yet everything had changed.
“Hello, miss,” the housekeeper said as they entered the grand foyer.
“Welcome back, miss,” a maid said, smiling shyly at the baby in Anna’s arms.
The moment their limo had arrived inside the guarded gate the house steward and a small army of assistants had descended upon Nikos. He walked ahead with them now, signing papers and giving orders as he led them through the luxurious fortress he called a home. Members of his house staff had already spirited away her luggage.
Where had they taken it? Anna wondered. A guestroom? A dungeon?
Nikos’s bedroom?
She shivered at the thought. No, surely not his bedroom. But for most of her pregnancy his room had been her home. She’d slept naked in his arms on hot summer nights. She’d caressed his body and kissed him with her heart on her lips. She’d dreamed of wearing his engagement ring and prayed to God that it would last. She’d been so sure that if he left her she would die.
But in the end she’d been the one who left.
Because the moment he’d found out she was pregnant he’d fired her. She’d gone from being his powerful, trusted assistant to a prisoner in this gilded cage. He’d ordered her to take her leisure, practically forcing her into bedrest, although she’d had a normal, healthy pregnancy.
Nikos had taken the job she loved and given it to a young, gorgeous blonde with no secretarial skills. He’d ordered the household staff to block the calls of her mother and sister. Then, during her final trimester, he’d suddenly refused to touch her. He’d abandoned her to go and stay, with his secretary Lindsey on hand, at the newly finished penthouse at L’Hermitage Casino Resort.
That should have been enough to make Anna leave him. That should have been more than enough. But it hadn’t been until she’d found those papers showing that Nikos had deliberately destroyed her father’s textiles company that she’d finally been fed up. Anna’s hands tightened. Running away had been an act of self-defense for her and her child.
But now they were back. As Anna entered a wide gallery lined with old portraits, she could smell the flowers of the high desert. Spring was swift in southern Nevada, sometimes lasting only weeks. Wind and light cascaded through high open windows, oscillating the curtains. Her footsteps echoed in the wide hall as she followed Nikos and his men.
But a woman was with them, too: the perfect blonde who’d replaced Anna in Nikos’s office, and in his bed. Anna watched Lindsey lean forward eagerly, touching his arm. She blinked, surprised at how much it hurt to see them together.
Nikos was impeccably gorgeous, as always. He’d showered and changed on the plane, and now wore dark designer slacks and a crisp white shirt that showed off his tanned olive skin. It wasn’t just his height that made him stand out from the rest of his men, but his aura of power, worn as casually as his shirt.
Nikos had always stood out for her. Even now, looking at him, Anna felt her heart ache. It was too easy to remember the years they’d spent working together. In spite of his arrogance, she’d admired him. He’d seemed so straightforward and honest, so different from her former employer, Victor. Plus, Nikos had never tried to make a pass at her. For five years he’d taken time not just to teach her about the business, but also to rely upon her advice. At least until that night thirteen months ago when he’d shown up wild-eyed on her doorstep, and everything had changed between them forever.
But her job had meant everything to her. For the first time in her life she’d felt strong. Capable. Valued. Was it any wonder that, even knowing her boss was a playboy, she’d fallen so totally under his spell?
As if he felt her gaze, Nikos glanced back to where she trailed behind with the baby. His eyes were dark, and a shiver went through her.
“He hates you, you know.”
Anna glanced up at Lindsey, who was standing next to her. She had a scowl on her pouting pink lips, though she looked chic in a dark pinstriped suit with a tucked-in waist and miniskirt. Her tanned legs stretched forever into impossibly high heels.
Anna felt dowdy in comparison, wearing
the same T-shirt and jeans from last night, with a sweater tied around her waist. Her hair, which hadn’t been washed or combed since yesterday, was pulled back in a ponytail. She’d been afraid to leave her baby alone on the plane, even for the few minutes it would have taken to shower.
Next to Lindsey, Anna felt a million years old, worn out from running away, working odd jobs, trying to get by, raising her child. Lindsey was fresh and young, glossy and free. No wonder Nikos preferred her. The thought stung, even though she told herself that it didn’t hurt.
“I don’t care if he hates me.” Anna nervously twisted her great-grandmother’s wedding ring around her finger, fiddling with its bent-back tines and empty setting. She couldn’t let Lindsey know how vulnerable she felt on the inside, how scared she was that the younger woman would soon take everything Anna cared about. She already had Nikos and her job. Would Misha be next?
Lindsey lifted a perfectly groomed eyebrow in disbelief. “You really think you’ve gotten away with it, don’t you? You actually think Nikos will take you back.”
Anna smoothed back a tuft of Misha’s dark hair. “I don’t want to be taken back. I’m here for my son. Nikos can rot in hell for all I care.”
The girl gave Misha a crocodile smile that made Anna’s skin crawl. “Yeah, right. As if anyone would believe that.” Her perfectly made-up eyes narrowed. “But Nikos doesn’t want you. He’s got me now, and I keep him very satisfied, trust me. We’ll be getting married soon.”
Anna couldn’t keep herself from glancing at Lindsey’s left hand. It was bare. Remembering Nikos’s wandering eye when she’d been just his secretary, Anna almost felt sorry for the girl. “Has he proposed?”
“No, but he—”
“Then you’re kidding yourself,” she said. “He’ll never propose to you or anyone else. He’s not the marrying kind.”
Grinding her white teeth, Lindsey stopped in the hallway, and grabbed Anna’s wrist. Her long acrylic nails bit into Anna’s skin.
“Listen to me, you little bitch,” Lindsey said softly. “Nikos is mine. Don’t think for a second you can come back with your little brat and—”
Nikos spoke from behind her. “This is cozy. Catching up on office gossip?”
Lindsey whirled around, spots of hot color on her cheeks. “We…uh, that is…”
Anna hid a smile. But her pleasure at the blonde’s discomfiture was short-lived as Nikos turned to her, reaching for the diaper bag on her shoulder.
“I need this.”
“What? Why?” Anna stammered. The diaper bag held her whole life. Bought at a secondhand shop, it was overflowing with documents, diapers, wipes and snacks. It was the one item that Anna had taken with her everywhere since Misha’s birth.
“For my son.” As he took the bag, he brushed her shoulder carelessly with his hand. An electric shock reverberated across her body. For a single second it stopped her heart.
Then she realized that Nikos was taking Misha away from her.
And handing both bag and baby to her replacement.
“No!” Anna cried out, shaking herself out of her stupor. “Not to her!”
Nikos stared straight back at her, as if he were marking her over the barrel of a gun. “Good. Fight me. Give me a reason to throw you out of my house. I’m begging you.”
Anna opened her mouth. And closed it.
“I thought so.” He turned back to Lindsey. “Take my son to the nursery. I’ll follow in a moment.”
She tossed Anna a look of venomous triumph. “With pleasure.”
As they passed him, Nikos kissed the baby on the forehead. “Welcome home, my son,” he said tenderly.
Anna watched as Lindsey disappeared down the hall toward the nursery. She could see her baby’s sweet little head bobble dangerously with every swaying step and clackety-clack of the girl’s four-inch heels against the marble floor. She wondered if Nikos had destroyed all of Natalie’s hand-painted murals and her own carefully chosen antique baby furniture. He probably ordered Lindsey to redecorate the nursery from a catalog, she thought, and her heart broke a little more.
As much as she’d hated being on the run, this was worse. Here, every hallway, every corner, held a memory of the past. Even looking at Nikos was a cruel reminder of the man she’d once thought him to be, the man she’d respected, the man she’d loved. That was the cruelest trick of all.
“You don’t like Lindsey, do you?” Nikos said, watching her.
“No.”
“Why?”
Did he want her to spell it out? To admit that she still had feelings for him in spite of everything he’d done? Not in this lifetime.
“I told you. After you fired me, I got calls at the house from vendors and managers at the worksite, complaining about her cutting off half your calls and screwing up your messages. Her mistakes probably cost the company thousands of dollars. It nearly caused a delay in the liquor license.”
Nikos pressed his lips together, looking tense. “But you said those complaints stopped.”
“Yes,” she retorted. “When you had the house staff block all my calls. Even from my mother and sister!”
“That was for your own good. The calls were causing you stress. It was bad for the baby.”
“My mother and sister needed me. My father had just died!”
“Your mother and sister need to stand on their own feet and learn to solve their own problems, rather than always running to you first. You had a new family to care for.”
She squared her shoulders. She wasn’t going to get into that old argument with him again. “And now you have a new secretary to care for you. How’s she doing at solving all your problems? Has she even learned how to type?”
His jaw clenched, but he said only, “You seem very worried about her capabilities.”
Oh, yeah, she could just imagine what Lindsey’s capabilities were. Still shivering from Nikos’s brief touch, bereft of her baby, Anna could feel her self-control slipping away. She was tired, so tired. She hadn’t slept on the plane. She hadn’t slept in months.
The truth was, she hadn’t really slept since the day Nikos had rejected her in the last trimester of her pregnancy, leaving her to sleep alone every night since.
She rubbed her eyes.
“All right. I think she’s vicious and shallow. She’s the last person I’d entrust with Misha. Just because she’s in your bed it doesn’t make her a good caretaker for our son.”
He raised a dark eyebrow. “Doesn’t it? And yet that’s the whole reason that you are the caretaker of my son now…because you were once in my bed.”
Their eyes met, held. And that was all it took. Memories suddenly pounded through her blood and caused her body to heat five degrees. A hot flush spread across her skin as a single drop of sweat trickled between her breasts. It was as if he’d leaned across the four feet between them and touched her. As if he’d taken possession of her mouth, stroked her bare skin, and pressed his body hot and tight on hers against the wall.
One look from him and she could barely breathe.
He looked away, and she found herself able to breathe again. “And, as usual, you are jumping to the wrong conclusions,” he said. “Lindsey is my secretary, nothing more.”
Anna had been his secretary once, too. “Yeah, right.”
“And whatever her failings,” he said, looking at her with hard eyes, “at least she’s loyal. Unlike you.”
“I never—”
“Never what? Never tricked a bodyguard into taking you to the doctor’s office so you could sneak out the back? Never promised to name my son Andreas, then called him something else out of spite? I did everything I could to keep you safe, Anna. You never had to work or worry ever again. All I asked was your loyalty. To me. To our coming child. Was that too much to ask?”
His dark eyes burned through her like acid. She could feel the power of him, see it in the tension of hard muscles beneath his finely cut white shirt.
A flush burned her cheeks. The day of her
delivery, surrounded by strangers in a gray Minneapolis hospital, she’d thought of her own great-grandfather, Mikhail Ivanovich Rostov, who’d been born a prince but had fled Russia as a child, starting a difficult new life in a new land. It had seemed appropriate.
But, whatever her motives, Nikos was right. She’d broken her promise. She pressed her lips together. “I’m…sorry.”
She could feel his restraint, the way he held himself in check. “You’re sorry?”
“A-about the name.”
He was moving toward her now, like a lion stalking a doomed gazelle. “Just the name?”
She backed away, stammering, “But some might say y-you lost all rights to name him when you—” Her heels hit a wall. Nowhere to run. “When you—”
“When I what?” he demanded, his body an inch from hers.
When he’d ruined her father.
When he’d taken a mistress.
When he’d broken her heart…
“Did you ever love me?” she whispered. “Did you love me at all?”
He grabbed her wrists, causing her to gasp. But it was the intensity in his obsidian gaze that pinned her to the wall.
“You ask me that now?” he ground out. But there was a noise down the hall, and he turned his head.
Three maids stood with their arms full of linens, gawking at the sight of their employer pressing Anna against the wall. It probably looked as if they were having hot sex. Heaven knew, they’d done it before, though they’d never been caught.
He lifted a dark eyebrow, and the maids scattered.
With a growl, he grasped Anna’s wrist and pulled her into the privacy of the nearby library. He shut the heavy oak door behind him. The sound echoed against the high walls of leatherbound books, bouncing up to the frescoed ceiling, reverberating her doom.
His dark eyes were alight with a strange fire. “You really want to know if I loved you?”
She shook her head, frightened at what she’d unleashed, wishing with all her heart that she could take back the question. “It doesn’t matter.”
“But it does. To you.”
“Forget I asked.” She tried desperately to think of a change of subject—anything that would distract him, anything to show that she didn’t care. But he was relentless.
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