by Grady, D. R.
Bad Nerd Rising
The Morrison Family Series
Book 7
D.R. Grady
Table of Contents
Other Works by D.R. Grady
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
About the Author
Bearer of My Heart
Other works by D.R. Grady
The Morrison Family Series
The Nerd and the Marine
The Corpsman and the Nerd
The Nerd and the SEAL
The Nerd’s Pocket Pets
Shadows and Spice
Macy’s Parade
Bad Nerd Rising
The Me Series:
Treasure Me
Save Me
Trust Me
Heal Me
Love Me
The Abroad Series:
Home Song
Bearer of My Heart
Please visit my website for updates on all three series.
http://www.drgradybooks.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are all products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Known locales are also used fictitiously.
If you enjoy this book, please buy a copy for someone else to enjoy. Please do not download or buy this from anywhere except where the story is offered legitimately. All rights reserved - including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
Copyright 2012 by D.R. Grady
Smashwords Edition
Please Note: While I had help with this story from several knowledgeable sources, there are still likely mistakes on my part. Authors also like to stretch and change things to make their story work. So this book does not necessarily reflect reality. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
Dedication
To Vicky Burkholder and Victoria Smith for sticking with me through twelve books. Thank you!
To all of CPRW for offering advice, and sharing their knowledge. I couldn’t have done this without you!
To my hubby, Roy, for supporting me through all these books and offering the encouragement I needed to keep going.
To you, the reader. Thank you for reading these stories and then telling me how they touched you. Before ever being a writer, we have to be a reader first, so these stories all mean something to me, too. I’m so pleased to be able to share them with you. I hope you feel like a part of the family now!
Bad Nerd Rising
Chapter 1
Tia Morrison was confident she was one of the few females on earth who had no desire to be a princess. That urge had been tormented out of her at an early age. Being the only sister of three older brothers had squelched her eagerness for all things pink and princess-like.
She clearly remembered the first and only Halloween she had dressed up as a princess. A puffy pink taffeta skirt with a lovely matching spaghetti strapped top made of faux silk, and a tiara. A gorgeous cubic zirconium and plastic piece that sparkled in the lamplight like every girl’s fantasy. She’d been the envy of every other little girl on the block.
That one perfect costume had been the bane of her existence ever since.
Her brothers had immediately begun addressing her as The Princess. While one was holding her down to give her a whirly the others would bellow, “What? Doesn’t The Princess like whirlys?” Another flushed the toilet. While yet another held his dirty, stinky, teenaged socks to her nose. “What? Doesn’t The Princess like my socks?”
Every frog, snake, spider, or other vermin hidden in her bed was so announced, “The Princess objects to (insert creature) in her bed.” They racked up a lot of mileage with those small torments. If she didn’t take seconds and thirds at mealtimes, like they did, they’d sniff and take turns going around the table, “Since this isn’t caviar and champagne, The Princess won’t eat it.”
In the natural chemistry between siblings, they ganged up on her at every point. If her cousins were visiting, and they generally were, the male ones, anyway, that swelled the Ape numbers infinitely. (None of the female cousins visited her house, ever.) Anything the boys could use against her, they did. Thus snuffing all girlish needs to play princess.
As a matter of fact, Tia never wore pink even now. Ever.
“Macy, what am I supposed to do?” she nearly wailed to her sister-in-law as her newest, adult problem reared its ugly head. “I guess I could move.” She bit her lip and thought about what a pain that would be.
“You’re going to move because you gave a prince your phone number?” Macy’s voice raised at least two octaves. In the very next one, it would shatter glass. Tia pulled the phone from her ear and rubbed.
She heard her brother heckling, as usual, in the background. “What would a prince want with a nerd like Tia anyway? Oh, yeah, he probably needs a cafeteria lady,” Nick chortled.
“Nick, knock it off. This is probably your fault,” Macy scolded him over the noise of the latest football game.
Silence from that end, which didn’t surprise her. Nick and her other brothers all had the attention span of gorillas, so he had already lost interest in the conversation. She was a teeny bit impressed he’d managed to utter those two sentences. That was major for him, even though he was an architect.
Of course, her problem still wasn’t solved.
“Macy, what am I supposed to do?” This time her wail might have shattered glass, except she’d learned during The Princess Years to keep her voice low and relatively even. Otherwise the Apes went on forever, mimicking her.
“Let me get this straight. You’re stressing because you gave your phone number to a hot man you’re actually interested in, who just happens to be a prince?”
“Yes,” Tia nearly shouted. Macy had managed to sum up the problem pretty well. What should she do?
“Umm, Tia, I’m not seeing the problem here.” Macy’s voice, ever since she’d married Nick and taken on his four kids, had developed the “mom” cadence. A slightly superior, authoritative note usually sounded in her voice.
It wasn’t a bad thing. The woman got things done. That’s why Tia had called her rather than her two other sisters-in-law-to-be. Neither of them had actually accomplished marriage yet, much less mom-hood, so they hadn’t learned the same skills Macy possessed.
“Hello? How can you not see the problem? He’s a prince, Macy. He’s the ruler of his whatever.” Tia made a loopy-loop with her hand.
“Funny, I’ve never heard anyone say the word prince with such disgust before.”
Tia rolled her eyes. Maybe she should have called her mother. Nah, scratch that thought. Bad idea. Her mother would have shipped her Fed Ex to any man willing to ask for her phone number.
“Macy, what does he want with me?” She heard a choking sound. “Macy?”
“Don’t do that.” Macy gasped. Tia pictured her frantically waving a hand in front of her face.
“Don’t do what?”
“Tia, you’re nearly six feet tall, you have long blonde hair, gorgeous blue-green eyes, a perfect figure and a near genius IQ. I’d hate you if you weren’t my sister-in-law.
” Macy sounded like she admitted some dark secret.
“So what does he want from me?”
“Scratch the near genius IQ,” Macy said, sounding exasperated. “Why’d you give him your number in the first place?”
“He caught me off guard.” Tia chewed on her lip. “Maybe I should just change my phone number.”
“You know, I used to think you were adopted, but you definitely have the Morrison family stupid gene.”
“I’m a scientist. I never do my hair, I’m allergic to makeup. Princess’s wear makeup, Macy. I wear comfortable, sloppy clothes. Why did he want my phone number?”
“I’ve heard, through the news, of course, that Prince Aleksi is laid-back.”
“Of course he is. And his is only a principality. He doesn’t rule a country. But what he has, he has to rule.” Tia swallowed. She wasn’t princess material. Grace Kelly, movie star, used to Philadelphia society, was princess material. Tia Morrison, sister to three Apes, numerous cousins, and not involved in Hershey society at all made her anti-princess material.
She gulped. “Macy, I can’t do this. Maybe I’ll just flush my phone.”
“Flush your phone?” Macy sounded confused.
“I gave him my cell phone number.”
“And you were planning to move? Tia, I know you’re supposed to have a near genius intelligence. Where is it?”
“Where’s what?”
“Your intelligence. You have a Ph.D. in microbiology. You’re supposed to be smart.”
“A smart woman doesn’t give her phone number to a prince.” Panic encroached. Visions of pink danced in her head. “I can’t do this.” She rubbed her forehead and didn’t manage to squelch a moan.
“You’re insane,” Macy concluded succinctly.
***
“You asked some American woman for her telephone number?” His mother’s voice held disdain, anger, and some definite attitude. Not that he hadn’t known how she’d react.
Aleksi sighed and briefly considered making an excuse to remove her from his office. Only the knowledge that he’d have to eventually deal with her kept him from running through the various excuses he kept filed in a corner of his brain for such emergencies.
“Mother, she’s an American, yes, but she’s far more than that.”
“How can she be far more than that, you’ve only just met her. You can’t possibly know anything about her.”
“That’s not true,” he said, recognizing some attitude of his own. That tone usually quelled her, a bit.
“It isn’t?” She eyed him with suspicion. He wasn’t intimidated by her regal air, her perfect hair and makeup, or the expensive clothing she wore. She had birthed him after all. And while she’d been royalty before his father had met her, she was only minor royalty then.
“No, it isn’t. Tia Morrison has a near genius IQ, she’s beautiful, has perfect manners, and is a microbiologist.” He didn’t mention that she was so sexy she made his teeth hurt and that she had the funniest quirks. Like not being able to walk without tripping or knocking something over.
His last comment temporarily stopped his mother’s rampage. “A microbiologist, you say?” She slanted him a look of hope.
“Yes. She was several years behind me at the University of Pennsylvania. She went on to earn her Ph.D. in microbiology at Princeton.”
His mother sniffed. “That’s probably the closest to a prince she’s ever been.”
Again, he stifled a sigh. Even though she was his mother, he managed to grow tired of her rather fast these days. “She took some of the same classes I attended. I was a senior when she was a freshman. She managed to sail through the classes as though she was a senior.”
His mother frowned. The lines didn’t mar the smooth lines of her face. “She was permitted to take senior level courses while a freshman?”
“Yes. She didn’t struggle with the classes, and one of them was grueling. A high level math class. It was a difficult course.”
Aleksi smiled as he thought of the young Tia. Her hair had been as long then as it was now. She’d been rifling through her notes, trying to locate an answer for another student.
The student had commented on how difficult the class was and she’d stared blankly at him. She had no idea the other student was interested in her. Nor had it occurred to her that the class was hard. Tia had shaken her head and said this was her easiest class. She had graduated from both high school and college early and was used to tough classes, yet she hadn’t caught on that the guy was flirting. Her innocence hadn’t been faked, nor the naiveté that still clung to her.
He’d been intrigued by Tia then, but now that he met her again after all these years she had become a near obsession. More beautiful, more poised, and an accomplished microbiologist now, he’d barely refrained from kissing her when he stumbled onto her at a professional microbiological conference he attended out of desperation. She came close to knocking him over in her haste to make a seminar on time but he could overlook that, of course.
“She’s the perfect solution,” he told his mother.
She stared at him, and he could almost see her weighing his comments. Like they had anything to lose.
“I don’t know,” she said and continued to stare at him. He’d learned long ago to ignore her laser eyes.
He raised a brow. “You have a better solution?”
“Well, no,” she hedged while her cheeks tinged with pink.
“That’s what I thought,” he said. They only had one solution and she came encased in a supermodel’s body and face. Even his mother couldn’t deny her beauty and grace, once he convinced Tia to come.
“When is she due to arrive?” His mother’s tone dripped acid. Not graceful in defeat, Gracia de Leos.
“She’s not,” he admitted.
This time she raised an eyebrow.
“I still have to convince her. She hasn’t been answering her mobile phone.”
His mother looked like a specimen from the insect kingdom had skittered across the toe of her three thousand dollar shoe. “She hasn’t answered the summons of a prince?” She also sounded scandalized.
“She isn’t required to talk to me, you know,” he said dryly. And Tia wasn’t. That made his life a little more, scratch that, a lot more complicated.
Something he didn’t need since life had taken a drastic nosedive since the passing of his father a year ago. So far, life made him reluctant to climb out of bed these days.
But Tia Morrison – she could probably convince him to do a lot of things. With pleasure.
“It’s just as well. I’m sure you can find a nice male microbiologist.” His mother turned a page in her planner and forgot all about Tia, probably with the belief she’d won. “Now, I’ve arranged for the Montclairs, Wellingtons, and Carnegies to come for dinner tonight. They all have eligible daughters who would make you a fine princess. Do speak to them, Aleksi,” his mother ordered.
He refrained from rolling his eyes. Fortunately, he’d already made arrangements for the evening. “Mother, I’m due to fly back to America tonight. I informed you of my intentions at breakfast this morning.”
She paused in her page turning to glare at him. “You can cancel the flight. Or postpone it.”
He leaned forward, curious. “How? If I don’t do this immediately, how many more people will be harmed?”
She blinked at him, as though she couldn’t think of anything to say, so he pressed his advantage.
“We need a microbiologist, now, before the entire principality is affected. How many more children and senior citizens do you want to see die before we address this?”
“But darling, you have to find a wife so you can produce an heir.” Her protest fell on ears who’d heard it too often of late.
“My heir isn’t important,” he said and she gasped and raised a hand to her chest.
“Not important,” she repeated, aghast. “Now that your father is gone, it’s the most important thing in your life.”
; This time he had to curl his hands into fists and count slowly to ten, keeping his eyes closed. His jaw was set so firmly he was afraid he’d shatter his teeth. “Our people can’t drink the water. They can’t bathe, they can’t wash their clothing, they can’t cook without boiling the water. Their lives have been so profoundly impacted by this our productivity and everyday lives have been reduced to mere survival and your only concern is my heir?” He spoke through clenched teeth, afraid if he unlocked his jaw, he’d say something he might regret.
“They’ll work that problem out,” she said breezily and waved a negligent hand. As though she didn’t care.
“They’ll work it out?” he thundered, unclenching his jaw and bolting from his chair in a movement of disbelief and anger. “Who will work it out?”
She blinked and shrunk back in her chair. “There’s no need to raise your voice, dear,” she reprimanded.
“Who will work it out?” he repeated, not bothering to decrease his tone. “Finding the cure for this problem is my duty. No one else has the means, or authority to do so. It’s my responsibility. Just as it would have been Father’s if he were still living.”
“But your heir...” she said weakly.
“Isn’t as important as my people,” he said through gritted teeth again. “That means I’ll be on that plane tonight, on my way to America to convince our only hope for a cure to come home with me.” He thought maybe his apparent anger stopped whatever protest she might have made.
He would lose it completely if she kept on. His father would have discovered the cure by now. Aleksandr’s list of allies and resources had been extensive. But Aleksi didn’t have the contacts his father had made. Aleksi was starting fresh, with a brand new slate, which wasn’t bad, but in times of emergency like this, it wasn’t good, either.