Bad Nerd Falling (30 page)

“
Am I going to get to meet
this Vlad Welly?” Mark asked.

She tucked the agar plates into the
incubator. “His name is Vladimir Wolfgang Wellington.”

Mark’s eyes widened. “General Emma
said Europeans have the best names.”

“
There’s nothing wrong
with your name,” Tia said loyally.

“
I don’t have a wolf
anywhere in mine.”

Tia pursed her lips. “No, not many
people do.”

“
Vlad inherited his name.”
She started cleaning up her lab bench.

“
You inherit names over
here?”

“
Oh yes, it’s a long
tradition. There were other Vladimir Wolfgangs before ours. The
original Vlad’s last name was de Leos, not Wellington, but the same
warrior.”

Ben’s eyebrow rose. “The original Vlad
was also a warrior?”

“
Definitely. That’s why
Maria and Graham named him that. The de Leos warriors are always
named according to the first.”

“
So the de Leos line is
Aleksi’s line?” Mark appeared to assemble the pieces
effortlessly.

“
Yes, he and Vlad are
cousins.” Tia stuffed some of her unused supplies into the correct
drawer.

She smiled at her boss but continued
with her information dump. “Graham is of the de Leos line via his
mother. Aleksi and Vlad are therefore cousins.”

“
What about Emerson’s side
of the family?”

“
Emerson’s mother is also
a de Leos, but once removed. So her family follows Graham’s side.”
She paused. “Emerson is of the belief that he’ll never have to rule
and is rather happy about that.”

“
He tries to give Aleksi
lessons on how to conduct himself as a prince should.” Tia told
them this as an aside.

Ben’s lips curled up. “I think I
overheard one of those lectures.”

“
You probably did.” Helena
squirted antibacterial spray across the top of her bench. “Emerson
is quite good at them and he enjoys “educating” Aleksi, who he
believes is far too relaxed to be the prince.”

“
Aleksi
is
far too relaxed, and
we like him that way.” Ben watched as she used a cleaning cloth to
wipe down the surface.

Tia laughed. “I know I adore him just
as he is.”

“
He’s an excellent
prince.” She disposed of the cloth.

Mark ignored a beep from his phone.
“He seems very dignified.”

This quiet, strong man could give
lessons in that.

“
He is. But that’s only
out of respect for his father. Aleksi isn’t in the least bit stuffy
as some of the previous princes have been.”

“
Was Aleksandr stuffy?”
Tia asked.

“
No. Like Aleksi, he
maintained the dignified air because that was expected but I
suspect a lot of Aleksi’s laid back nature comes from his
father.”

Tia chewed on the inside of her cheek.
“I wish I could have met Prince Aleksandr.”

“
He would have loved you.
I’m guessing the sun and moon would have risen and set on you for
him, just like Aleksi believes.” This time she wasn’t as quick and
did get swatted. She laughed.

“
Aleksi definitely loved,
admired, and respected him.”

“
To know him, just look at
Aleksi. They were a lot alike.”

“
I’m glad,” Tia said with
a secret smile. Her eyes widened. “You know, I think I have a
budget meeting with the prince this morning.”

“
Maybe you should send me
to those meetings.” She danced away from her friend.

“
No way.” Tia looked
fierce.

Ben looked interested. “Budget
meetings?”

“
Yes, that’s the code name
for their make-out sessions.”

“
Oh, those kinds of budget
meetings.” Ben’s lips curled up.

“
I highly recommend them,”
Tia said with utter satisfaction and some anticipation.

Mark turned to Helena. “Can I get a
sandwich somewhere?”

She showed him to the palace kitchens
where one of the chefs whipped him up a delicious looking creation
while he waited. Tia had to run off to a meeting, although not one
of her budget meetings. Ben disappeared to wherever SEALs go. She
didn’t ask.

When she returned to the lab, it was
to find Maria and Jorge both back from wherever they had
been.

“
Where were
you?”

“
I had to deliver papers
to Graham,” Maria said. Helena had already guessed that by her
swollen lips and tousled hair.

Jorge held up his sampling toolbox. “I
left some things at the last site when I got my
samples.”

“
Ah.” Helena nodded. “You
missed Tia’s cousin Mark.”

“
Oh, he’s here already?”
Maria looked up from where she sorted through a drawer.

“
Yes, he just arrived a
few minutes ago.”

Jorge set his toolbox on the bench.
“Where is he?”

“
He was hungry, so I took
him to the kitchens for something to eat. I imagine he’ll have a
nap next.”

“
His body probably has no
idea which time zone it’s in.”

“
No. Apparently he just
left his conference in France. They fly to America the day after
tomorrow, I think.” The details escaped her.

“
Oh no, that means we’ll
be stuck back in the hospital soon.” Maria stopped rifling through
the drawer.

“
It’s only for a few days
and then that will be finished.” At least if all went well. One
never knew.

“
I’m not looking forward
to returning either.” Jorge’s mouth pulled down.

“
We’ll get through it and
then we will be together again.” She hoped.

“
I hope Tia isn’t gone
long.” Maria mentioned the thought on all their minds.

She collected her data sheet from the
printer. “Let’s not worry about that right now.”

“
It’s going to be strange
to have our little group broken up.” Maria tugged some items out of
the drawer she had messed up.

Both she and Jorge nodded. “But this
is the last time. Once we sign off on our contracts at the
hospital, we’ll be permanent here.”

“
Yes, and that’s a huge
relief.”

They all agreed and then parted to
finish up their current tasks.

She didn’t want to think about the
upcoming days at the hospital. It had come to the point where she
hated that job. The never-ending bodily samples that needed
processing and the mind-numbing daily drudgery. Then there were the
people there, who were even worse than the bodily
samples.

It had been an utter joy to be moved
to the palace lab to test water samples in a friendly environment.
While water testing proved tedious as well, it was still better
than what they processed at the hospital. Now with Tia bringing in
some research stuff, all of it interesting, it was like she had a
brand new job. Something interesting every day and something she
could do long term. Not to mention the fabulous people she worked
with.

Why was she suddenly thinking long
term?

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to
answer that.

If Vlad remained in Rurikstan, she
could see herself staying here at the palace lab. Even if he didn’t
stay, she could still see herself here every day. Only with a
broken heart.

She wondered how she could ask
him—without appearing to be nosy—whether he planned to stay or if
this was simply a passing-through instance.

The problem was that she feared the
answer so much she hesitated to ask.

If he said he had no intention of remaining here,
her entire world would bottom out.

Chapter 23

“
Welly, this is my cousin,
Mark. He’s the neurosurgeon.”

He turned at the sound of Ben’s voice.
After turning, he took stock of the man with Ben. Solid,
dependable, and smart were his first impressions.

Automatically, he extended his hand to
shake with this newest Morrison cousin. “I’m Vlad
Wellington.”

“
You have a great name,”
the other man said with an impressive handshake. “I’m Mark de
Vosse.”

“
Nice to meet you, de
Vosse. How did you hear my name?”

“
Helena explained all
about it.” The man waved toward the lab. He had a good sense of
direction, because he waved correctly.

“
She would know my name.”
How much interest did this man have in Helena?

“
Mark’s brother works with
Welby some.” Ben’s voice broke into his thoughts.

At the mention of Ben’s swim buddy, he
smiled. “Do you ever get to work with the great Welby?” Sam Welby
became a pediatric oncologist after a daunting cancer diagnosis
forced him to leave the SEAL teams.

“
If his patients end up
needing a brain tumor or the like removed. I mostly know him
through Shelby.”

“
Shelby is O’Riley’s
daughter?”

“
Yes, his and General
Emma’s. They’re all extremely happy,” Ben supplied with a cheeky
grin.

He sent his friend a sardonic look.
“Right, or delirious.”

“
They seem good together,”
de Vosse said, vying with Beaumont for quietness.

“
Are you married?” He
hadn’t seen a ring, but some men didn’t wear one.

“
No.” De Vosse’s tone gave
nothing away.

“
I can’t believe you don’t
have your eye on some gorgeous nurse.” Ben’s smile grew. “Like that
woman who is good friends with Leo’s
friend
?”

The neurosurgeon’s smile was faint,
but it was there. It would spell lack of interest in any other man,
but he didn’t discount this one. “Her name is Trixi and she’s a
nurse practitioner.”

“
Trixi, that’s right. Cute
lady?” Ben was all innocence.

De Vosse didn’t react. “It’s been fun
chatting with you, but I think I’ll go spend a little time with my
bed.”

“
Not certain which time
zone your body is in?” He could commiserate. It was perfectly
natural for men in his line of work.

“
Somewhere in France, I
think.”

“
Don’t sleep too long,”
Ben warned.

De Vosse sent his cousin a look and
then turned unerringly toward the guest wing.

Ben watched him leave.

“
He would have made an
excellent Special Ops or Forces operative.”

“
Yeah. He’s a little
scary. Apparently he’s a top neurosurgeon in the nation, and is
still young.”

“
Not much escapes
him.”

“
It never has.” Ben stared
down the hall where the man had disappeared. “I’d like to know more
about this Trixi. Leo says he gets all caveman-like around
her.”

“
You Morrisons are
mean.”

This elicited a laugh from Ben. “No,
we’re just really nosy and very interested in each other’s
lives.”

“
Did this happen with you
and Treeny?”

“
Oh yeah.”

“
So Tia and Aleksi missed
out because the romance happened here rather than in
Hershey.”

“
Yeah. Except General Emma
and O’Riley came. And, Nick, her oldest brother also dropped in.
They took info back home.”

“
Nosy
Morrisons.”

Ben laughed. “You don’t know the half
of it.”

They paused when de Vosse meandered
back down the hall.

“
Are you lost?” Ben nudged
him.

“
No, I wasn’t sleepy after
all.”

An uncontrollable urge to laugh tried
to snatch him up. He’d never been this interested in his own
family, but he was finding Ben’s family and their interactions
entertaining.

“
Trixi didn’t pick
up?”

“
What?”

“
When you tried to call
Trixi she didn’t pick up?”

“
No.” He frowned. “I
wanted to see if the harassment stopped. That’s why I cut my
conference short.”

Both he and Ben were suddenly alert.
“Harassment?” Ben asked softly.

De Vosse’s eyes narrowed and then he
succinctly mentioned what she was experiencing.

It was an impressive debriefing and
his esteem of de Vosse rose another notch. Ben didn’t take the
harassment of a woman lightly. He guessed the SEAL commander would
offer several suggestions to de Vosse by the time he left with Tia.
“Why not try reaching Leo or his girlfriend?”

De Vosse’s lips curled faintly. “Leo
isn’t aware he has a girlfriend yet. Besides Katy is likely in
surgery right now.”

“
Getting it or performing
it?” He didn’t even try to stop the question.

“
Performing, she’s a
general surgeon. She works a lot with Ben’s sister, Janine.” The
cousin used his chin to indicate Ben.