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"Nikky."

"There is no reason to wait," he reassured her. No longer a reason. Igroek had rejected Tatyana, eliminating any complications. The old man was an idiot. It was clear to everyone in the room the two were family. They were alike, right down to that hair trigger temper.

Nik was not an idiot. As long as Igroek denied his connection with Tatyana, he could have no say about whom she married. Nik would take advantage of this temporary reprieve to secure her. "We marry tonight." She'd be his wife. He'd deal with the consequences tomorrow.

"Not tonight, Nikolay," Grandfather advised. "You'll have a proper wedding."

"I don't need a proper wedding, Grandfather," Tatyana piped up, never shy about offering her opinion. "As they say 'Love and bread are best when they are fresh.'"

"Eggs, the proverb is love and eggs," Igroek amended. The way he stared at Tatyana, doubt etched on his face, made Nik nervous. "My daughter always got that wrong."

Tatyana frowned. "No, she had it right. My mom said bread, too."

"If you flatter the mother, you will hug the daughter," Igroek said quietly.

That wasn't a random comment. Igroek was fishing. Nik squeezed her hand, warning her to stay quiet. It was a trap.

Tatyana didn't heed the warning. "Kiss the daughter." She never followed instructions. The brat.

She turned to Nik, puckering, tilting her chin up. He sighed and obliged her with a kiss. He couldn't stay upset with her. She didn't know the game they played.

"I get my own kisses." She smiled, appearing quite pleased with herself. "I need to fix my hair before we go down to the chapel, Nikky. Time's ticking."

"Nikolay." Grandfather shook his head.

Grandfather wanted them to wait. Nik glanced at Igroek. The old man's eyes were glassy as he watched Tatyana as though she might disappear. Nik didn't want to wait. If he waited, he could lose her.

But what was best for Tatyana? She frowned, her hands running over the hideous white lace concoction, trying to smooth out the flounces. She planned to fix her hair. She asked Grandfather to stand up with her. She wanted to be a proper bride.

Nik inhaled until his lungs were full, counted to ten, then released his breath. He'd do it.

He'd give her a day to get ready, risking it all to make her happy. "Grandfather is right, Brat.

We should have a proper wedding."

Eleven

"A man who betrays family will betray anyone."ȄSergei Kaerta

"What are you thinking about for flowers?" Nikky's mom quietly asked.

She wasn't thinking about flowers at all. She was thinking about Nikky and the wedding night. Tatyana's face heated. "I was hoping you'd help me with that. Since my own momȄ"

"Your mother knew a lot about flowers?" Mrs. Kaerta's eyes glowed.

"Well, no." She had to be honest. "My dad used to say she could kill plastic plants." It was just as well. They moved too often to keep a garden.

Igroek snorted. Tatyana did not appreciate his listening in, and narrowed her eyes at him.

He narrowed his right back and her hands balled into fists. She was trying to be civil to the old geezer. The only way to do that was to ignore him, but he made it difficult.

She leaned closer to Nikky. "Your grandfather's friend is staring at me." He had watched her all through dinner as though waiting for her to mess up. "It's freaking me out."

"Does he look familiar?" her fiance murmured back.

Not Nikky, too. Did everyone think they were related? They weren't. Tatyana didn't believe in those types of coincidences. She tilted her head, studying the man. "He does look a little like Yoda, doesn't he?" Pointed ears, bald, wrinkled head. "A fraud, you are." She did her best impression. "Crazy, I am."

Nikky laughed. She loved hearing him laugh. "How I love you, Brat."

She inhaled sharply. "You love me?"

"How did your mother die?" That blunt question came from the crazy gnome.

"I'm sure the girl doesn't want to talk about it," added the crazy gnome's taller and even older brother.

"She doesn't mind," Tatyana lied. She did mind. Very much. Under the cover of the tabletop, Nikky took her hand in his, the contact comforting. "The girl slept over at a friend's house."

It had been her parent's anniversary and her gift to them was a night alone. "She returned to the apartment to find them, face up on the living room carpet, a bullet square between each of their eyes." She tapped the spot on her own skull. The blood was everywhere, the stench overwhelming. "They were holding hands, their feet tucked beneath them." As though they were kneeling, knowing death was coming. "They loved each other, you see."

Silence at the table.

Igroek's fist pounded on the table. "That was not my daughter."

"No, it was not." Tatyana agreed, talking slowly and quietly as not to further aggravate the crazy gnome. "And I'm not your daughter, either. I know how it is to lose someone you love, Mr. Igroek. I know what it does to you. I thought I saw my parents everywhere after that."

She attempted a chuckle, but it ended up sounding more like a sob. "I even thought I saw my mom on a bus, once. I was so convinced I sat beside her." She stared across the room, remembering. "It wasn't her, though. Her voice wasn't the same and she didn't have..." She touched under her bottom lip.

"The scar she got when she fell off her bike," Igroek added.

Their eyes met and Tatyana's heart jumped. "Yes." Coincidences. Coincidences and wishful thinking. "I'm going to marry Nikky." She tilted her chin up, daring him to say differently.

"Properly, Granddaughter," Nikky's grandfather repeated.

"No ransom, no games," Nikky forbade that Russian tradition. "No one touches Tatyana. Not Chan, not anyone else."

"Agreed." Nikky's grandfather smiled. "But guest lists, blood tests, church wedding, two day reception, properly."

Blood tests? She didn't want to spend any more time in a hospital. "I thought blood tests weren't necessary in Vegas?"

"Nikolay is my heir," Nikky's grandfather proclaimed in his behave-or-else voice. "I will not have his marriage called into question."

"Oh." She hadn't thought of that. Nikky squeezed her hand. "We can do all that tomorrow.

The next day, we'll getȄ "

"The mailing of invitations alone," Nikky's mom protested.

"We'll hand deliver them, get the answers right there." It was a reckless use of Kaerta resources, but she had the feeling that if they didn't get married right away, something bad would happen.

"You will notȄ"

"Igroek." Nikky's grandfather shook his head.

"To order the invitations..." Nikky's mom raised another roadblock.

It was an easy one to overcome. Tatyana smiled. "We'll print them ourselves." A simple solution. "There's the loveliest card stock at Walmart."

"No Walmart." It was Nikky's turn to cause a fuss. What he had against Walmart, she didn't know.

"She still at Walmart?" Nik asked Pavel.

"Yes, Boss." His top man grinned. "Fyodor is requesting danger pay after the veil incident."

He deserved it, Fyodor and Boris had been sucked deep into the wedding planning abyss.

Nik lasted less than a half hour, beating a retreat after the third auntie 'bumped into'

Tatyana and his mom at the Walmart. There was only so much talk about tulle he could take.

And he had more serious matters to manage.

"I don't like that." Nik motioned over his shoulder to where Stepan was talking with Igroek's brother. The two acted too buddy-buddy for Nik's peace of mind.

"The great-uncle has been asking questions, Boss." There was an ominous note to Pavel's normally flat voice. "Not only about your fiancee, about security."

"Shit." That wasn't good. "No one talks to him, understand? We are rivals, not partners."

"Our men won't be a problem, Boss."

Stepan would be, was the unspoken communication. "From now on, Boris reports only to Tatyana." Although the bodyguard had fucked up, he was devoted to the brat and he was all Nik had. To assign anyone else to her now would be too suspicious. "Cut off all open contact with him. If he's approached by Igroek's team, he's to say yes to whatever they want." That would give them a man on the inside.

Pavel's eyes gleamed. "Understood, Boss." A pause. "She's Igroek'sȄ"

"Yes." If there was any doubt in his mind, it was laid to rest as Yuri motioned to him.

Grandfather needed him. "But she's my fiancee first, Pavel." He wouldn't lose her. He couldn't. Nik stalked off.

The smoke was even thicker than usual, as Igroek was also a cigar smoker. The two were puffing away in silence, power hanging around them like a cloak. Shit. Nik braced himself.

He was now a dog with two masters. "Grandfather."

"Sit, Nikolay."

Sit. Roll over. Beg. Nik sat across from them.

"This is about you and me, Kaerta." Igroek kept his gaze fixed on his rival. "Why is he here?"

"If this affects Tatyana, it affects me." She was his fiancee.

"Nikolay is closer to the situation than I am." It was as though he'd never spoken. A dog barking in the background. "We could benefit from his insights."

"His insights because this situation was arranged by you. This is all your doing." A snort from Igroek. "She's good, I'll give you that. And you did your research. Those casual memories she let drop? Brought a tear to my eye."

"You're an ass, Igroek. Some things never change."

Why were they forcing a situation they didn't want? For more power? The risk wasn't worth it. "Let him go back home, Grandfather."

"Agreed." This comment Grandfather heard. "Igroek, if you wish to stay for the wedding, you're welcome to. If not?" He shrugged.

"The wedding," Igroek scoffed. "Like that will happen. We all know you won't marry your heir to a nobody."

"Better a nobody than an Igroek," Grandfather blandly stated.

"Right." A toss back of a bald head. "Better a nobody than the heir to the east coast. Don't think I don't know your scheme."

Grandfather leaned forward. "Heir to nothing. You disowned your daughter."

"Rumor." Igroek paused. "And bluff. We had an argument. She left. I waited. When she didn't return, I sent people after her. She was dead. No bullet to the head." He twisted his lips. "Car accident."

Nik stared at the old man. Was he a simpleton? That was easy enough to fake.

"Interesting." Grandfather puffed on his cigar. "And who headed the search?"

"My brother." He raised a hand. "Before you say anything, I know you distrust Avel, so keep your suspicions to yourself."

The great-uncle. Out there talking with Stepan. Nik exchanged glances with Grandfather.

"This invitation to stay, Igroek, does not extend to your brother." Grandfather stubbed out his cigar butt. "I want him on a flight tomorrow."

The old man's face reddened. "KaertaȄ"

"This is not open for discussion. Either he is on a flight or Nikolay puts a bullet in him." Nik inclined his head in agreement. If it meant Tatyana's safety, he'd kill the bastard. "I vowed to protect your granddaughter. I'll protect your granddaughter."

"She's not my granddaughter."

"The blood tests will tell. I hope for Nikolay's sake, I'm wrong and you're right. I've seen how you treat family and wouldn't wish you as a relative on my worst enemy."

"It was a misunderstanding," Igroek ground out.

"It is interesting how your misunderstandings all have to do with who inherits your empire." Grandfather lit another cigar. "But enough about that." He waved his hand, his rings reflecting the light. "I see you've been doing some innovative things in Philadelphia."

A city Grandfather envied.

"I said, no Walmart." Nikky leaned against the doorway, hands in his pockets, eyes glinting.

She knew what he wanted. Tatyana pulled her shirt over her head. She wanted it, too. "You also said that what was yours was mine and I'm not wasting my money."

He tossed his jacket onto a chair. "Our money." His gun and holster were placed on the end table. "And my wife doesn't shop at Walmart."

His wife. She liked the sound of that. "I'll shop where I damn well wish." She tugged down her pants. "And you don't have a wife yet, ass."

"Language." Nikky stood there in white boxers and black socks. "Two days, Brat." He moved toward her, all rippling muscle. "Two days and you're mine." She yelped as he tossed her onto the bed. "Then I'll teach you respect." He landed on top of her.

She removed her bra, needing more skin to skin contact. "You'll make me wait until then?"

She arched, brushing her breasts against his bare chest.

He slipped her panties off her hips. "Hell, no."

She guided him into her, sighing in satisfaction as they joined. If she could, she'd stay like this always. Belonging. Safe in Nikky's arms.

"You will respect me now, wife. I'll earn that respect." He moved, determined to prove his point.

"Not...your...wife...yet..., ass," she gasped out.

Nikky kissed her neck. "Soon." He stared into her eyes, watching her as he maintained a relentless rhythm, an endless parade of sensations marching over her body.

"Nikky!" Tatyana clutched at his shoulders.

"Come for me, Brat," he panted, changing the angle to hit that special spot. "Show me you want me."

She did. Oh, how she did. "Nikky!" She flew upward, lifting right off the mattress as she came apart.

"Tatyana!" He thrust hard, a burst of heat filling her. "Fuck, Tatyana." He collapsed, rolling onto his back, taking her with him. "How I love you, Brat."

He loved her. It wasn't simply her imagination. He loved her and they were getting married.

For real. "I love you, too, Nikky." She draped over him, listening to his breathing slow. She wouldn't allow anything to come between them. Nothing and no one, including a crazy gnome. "Nikky?"

"Yeah?" He opened one eye.

"Are you disappointed he isn't my grandfather?" She wouldn't have those connections to benefit the family. She'd come to the marriage with nothing the Kaerta's needed.

"He is your grandfather." Nikky kissed her forehead. "The stubborn ass simply won't admit it. But if he wasn't, no, I wouldn't be disappointed. I'd be relieved."