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Igroek shook Chan until he nodded.

"They marry, they give me great-grandchildren and they both live to a ripe old age. If they don't, you don't, understand?" The two were nose to nose.

Another nod.

"Good." Igroek gave Chan a tight smile as he released him, dusting off his shoulders. "You'll want to take your seat now, Chan, or you'll have to stand. The church isn't large enough to hold all those supporting this marriage."

Nik studied Igroek as Chan slinked away. He looked weak as though restraining the rival groom had taken everything in him. But he had earned Nik's respect. He was worthy of Tatyana.

"Thank you for that." Nik stepped out from the shadows.

"For what? Choosing you?" Igroek snarled. "Don't flatter yourself, boy. Chan killed his last wife. Despite what my granddaughter thinks, I'm not a demonic bastard."

Igroek had been protecting Tatyana. "She doesn't think you're a demonic bastard." She thought he was a crazy gnome.

"She does." Lines deepened on the old man's face. "And I'll prove her right if you ever hurt her. I'll kill you with a smile on my face, understand?"

"Understood." Igroek wouldn't make that threat if he didn't care. "And I'll be happy for that death because once Tatyana gets through with me..." His life wouldn't be worth shit.

"She's a hellion." Igroek grinned proudly. "Like her mother." His humor faded. "I won't lose her, too."

"I'll protect her." Silence stretched before Nik realized that wasn't what the old man feared.

"It'll take time, but once she gives her loyalty, it is for life. She'd defend her parents to the death." Igroek would do well not to insult them.

"And you. You have her loyalty."

Did he? He vowed never to do anything to lose it. Music drifted through the air. Nik's stomach fluttered. "It's time." He paused. Tatyana's grandfather was alone. No one should be alone today. "Will you walk with me to the vestibule?" They would wait for his bride there, for the blessing of the rings.

"No." Igroek looked back at the closed door, yearning on his face. "I'll stay here. She might need me."

Down or up? Tatyana stared at her tulle hazed reflection. Down was traditional and good luck. She'd look more mysterious and there'd be that big dramatic moment when her veil was lifted. Up, she flipped the veil; she'd be able to see Nikky's expression when he first spotted her. She could properly pause for full effect. She could mouth sinful thoughts to her groom while Father Kaerta droned on and on about redemption.

"I'm leaving my veil up," she announced to the room. The aunties buzzed around her.

Nikky's mom, usually the calm in the storm, was missing. There'd been some sort of boutonniere emergency. Damn men. Didn't they know the bride needed her?

"A wise choice, granddaughter." Nikky's grandfather entered the room, dressed even more dapper than usual, rings on every finger. "You look beautiful."

"You think so?" Tatyana took his hands, kissed his cheeks, then twirled for him, her dress billowing out like a bell.

"I know so, but if you wish, we could ask for a second opinion. Igroek is waiting outside."

The crazy gnome. Tatyana's smile faded. "I doubt his opinion would be favorable."

"Granddaughter."

"No." She turned to stare at herself in the mirror. She was the bride. "This is my day. I want it to be happy."

"Leave us," Nikky's grandfather barked. Everyone left without a murmur of protest. She may be the bride, but Sergei Kaerta ruled the family.

Tatyana straightened her shoulders. He didn't rule her. She would not be bossed around. "I don't want him in here. He isn't happy for Nikky and me."

"He's concerned. I would be, also." Nikky's grandfather pulled a cigar out of his jacket pocket. "His enemy arranged a wedding between the heirs."

"You didn't." When Nikky gave her the stunning pendant, she fingered the tiny egg, he mumbled some nonsense about his grandfather not wanting the engagement.

"No, I didn't." Nikky's grandfather flicked his lighter. Was smoking in the church allowed?

"But Igroek wonders why I didn't stop Nikolay. I suspected who you were, Granddaughter.

Yet I allowed the engagement to go ahead."

"You couldn't stop it." They were meant to be together, like her parents were meant to be together. A destined love. To last for all time.

Nikky's grandfather puffed on his cigar. "I know that, you know that. Igroek does not. He sees his only granddaughter being tricked into a marriage."

"And he worries about my feelings?" Tatyana laughed without humor. Never had Igroek asked her what she wanted. Never. "He doesn't care about feelings. He disowned his own daughter."

Smoke filled the small room. "He wanted the best for his daughter. He made a mistake deciphering what that best was. I almost made a similar mistake with Nikolay's father, forcing him into a role he hadn't the heart for."

Taking over the family business. "That would have been a fuck up of biblical proportions."

Tatyana opened a window.

He winced. "My wife was less restrained with her opinions." Tatyana would have liked Nikky's grandmother. "And yes, it would have been. My mistake would have killed him. I was lucky. My wife prevented it. Your grandfather wasn't as lucky. His mistake killed your mother, his only child."

Leaving him alone. As she'd been left alone. Both feeling guilt because both of them had thought themselves responsible.

"You're saying I should forgive him?" Her palm closed around the egg. She couldn't do it.

"Forgive him so he can disown me later? What's the point?"

An eyebrow lifted. Damn arrogant Kaerta men. "You're afraid he'll disown you?"

"I'm not afraid," she bit out. "I'm examining the different outcomes." She threw his own words back at him. "That is the most likely outcome. My mom was sweet and kind. He disowned her. I'm neither sweet nor kind." She was well aware of the gaps in her personality. "Him disowning me is a foregone conclusion. We might as well reach it immediately."

"He'll never disown you."

She turned to stare at him. He sounded so certain. "Why not?"

Nikky's grandfather laughed. "Because you won't allow him to. You're like my Nikolay that way. What you want, you get. If you want Igroek, that stubborn ass, as your grandfather, he'll be your grandfather, his opinions be damned."

"And if I don't?"

"If you didn't, you would have shot him today." Nikky's grandfather placed his hand on the doorknob. "Should we let him in now or let him stew some more?"

Tatyana rolled her eyes. Bossy, bossy men. "Let him in but..." Oh, damn. Nikky's grandfather had already let himself out.

Igroek entered, his eyes widening.

Tatyana pivoted away, ignoring him. It didn't mean anything that he was here. He was a stranger. Nothing more.

"You look beautiful, Granddaughter." His voice sounded strangely small. "Like your mother."

Her mother. She picked up her bouquet, sticking her face in the flowers, sniffing the roses.

She would not cry. Not in front of the crazy gnome.

"That must be whyȄ"

"Why what?" She brushed her nose against a petal.

"Why the Kaerta boy stares at you the same way your father stared at her."

"He does?" Her head rose.

"Unfortunately, yes." Igroek chuckled. "It was a living hell." He rubbed his temples. "I wanted to rip the eyeballs out of your father's head." He shook his head. "It is damn hard to watch a man lust after your little girl. God willing, your Nikolay will find that out. And Sergei will be there to ensure he doesn't make the same stupid mistakes I did."

Because he had made a mistake, disowning his daughter, her mom. "You might be there, also." Tatyana peeked out from under her lashes.

His face lit up. "I'd like that."

She'd like that, too. To have a grandfather. Not a perfect grandfather. She examined the old geezer. He was far from that. But then, she wasn't the perfect granddaughter, either.

She took a deep breath. "If we're going to do this, Igroek, we're doing this on my terms."

She lifted her chin, staring him straight in the eyes. "You will support this marriage. You may argue with Nikky, but you will not try to kill him." The two asses would argue, she knew that. "You may also disagree with me however much you want but you will not disown me. Not ever. I won't tolerate that nonsense, understand?"

Igroek swallowed. "Understood."

"Good." That was settled. She played with her pendant. Igroek, her grandfather, gawked at her. Now what? She raised her eyebrow, having mastered the art. She had to. She was about to become a Kaerta. The eyebrow raising was expected.

"That's a nice necklace, Granddaughter."

She suspected her grandfather, like Nikky's, never made casual conversation. She looked down. The pendant was very old, very valuable, and Nikky wouldn't tell her where it came from. "Was it Mom's?" A lump formed in her throat.

Igroek's eyes widened. "Her mother's. Did he...?"

"No, I figured it out." Did Grandfather think her an idiot? "Women have brains, too." Male chauvinist pig.

Igroek opened his mouth, paused, closed it. Finally, he said, "She wore it on her wedding day. She would have wanted you to..."

She was dead. He wanted her to wear it. "I will." Another awkward pause. What did he want? A hug? Like hell that was going to happen. "We should start this wedding." Before someone died. She thought she heard Chan's voice earlier. "Will you help me find Nikky's grandfather?" She took his arm.

"I'd be honored." Igroek clasped his hand over top hers, strength in the deceptively frail frame.

It was a short search. Nikky's grandfather stood right outside the door, talking to a man in a long trench coat. A trench coat at a summer wedding. Tatyana blinked. What was he carrying in that thing? A bazooka?

"Ready, Granddaughter?" Nikky's grandfather stubbed out his cigar. Igroek glared at the trench coat-clad man with unconcealed hatred.

"Ready." She tried to slip her hand away from Igroek. He held on tightly. "Igroek."

"One of my regrets is not being by my little girl's side as she got married." Igroek pulled the sentimental big guns.

"She asked me, Igroek." Nikky's grandfather wasn't stepping aside.

"Stand by your own granddaughters, Kaerta."

"Did you have a look in the church, jackass?" Tatyana had. The pews had been satisfyingly full. A pleasing turn out for a midnight ceremony. "Kaertas make boys. I don't have any granddaughters to stand by."

Tatyana closed her eyes as the men nattered away at each other. If only she had her gun. Or a time machine. Because the organ player was repeating the opening strains of a sugary sweet ballad over and over and over again. The wrong auntie had been put in charge of music.

"Enough." She broke into the bickering. "Both of you can stand by me." What was one more stubborn ass holding the crown, signing the papers, or glowering at guests from the front of the church?

The two grinned. They were a little too satisfied with her solution. She narrowed her eyes at Nikky's grandfather, suspecting his plotting. She would have told them off but then that damn music started up again.

A happy day. Her wedding day. With a hand on each grandfather's arm, she floated toward the vestibule, toward Nikky. Tatyana fixed her bride smile on her face, the one she'd practiced for the past hour. She was demure, classy, with a touch of mystery. She grinned broader at the thought of her death curse. Now that she knew the truth, she knew she could protect Nikky. And he would live.

However, maintaining the smile proved difficult to achieve as the old men continued talking.

"A historic moment, isn't it, Igroek, old friend?"

"Stuff it, Kaerta. This doesn't make us friends."

"You're absolutely right." Nikky's grandfather chuckled in amusement. "This makes us family. Things are about to get interesting."

Things did not get interesting. They got irritating. Really quickly. They were surrounded by both families, all of them looking for direction, all of them hanging off their every word.

Tatyana had enough of it. She wanted to spend time alone with her new husband. "Nikky, the wedding night starts in five minutes," she announced to the room in general, the ass in particular. "Five minutes," she repeated, tapping her bare wrist.

"I hear you, Brat." But she could tell from his distracted manner, he hadn't. Both of their grandfathers were vying for his attention and he was as exhausted as she was.

"What time is it, Boris?" she asked her bodyguard.

The young man grinned. "2:33, Boss."

That late. "Please tell me when it is 2:38."

She waited. She kissed cheeks. She cooed over babies. She nodded as the crazy gnome's people, her people now she supposed, tried to impress her with their sucking up abilities.

"It's 2:38, Boss." A group of Nikky's men circled them. Boris must have spread the word.

Because there was going to be a show. "Nikky."

"Yes, Brat." He didn't even turn his head, the ass.

"The wedding night is starting." She plucked her veil off her head and threw it to the floor.

Or tried to. It floated, ruining the effect. So she kicked off her cute little shoes, one of them flying so far it clipped him in the shins.

That got his attention. "Lose a shoe, Brat?"

"I'm going to lose a lot more, ass." She reached behind her to undo her dress. She struggled.

"Boris, unzip me."

Boris darted a quick, nervous glance at a now attentive Nikky. "Boss?"

"Don't look at that ass for direction, Boris. You work for me." She waved her finger.

"Yes, Boss." He managed to unzip the dress without touching her.

Tatyana caught the front as it fell.

"You will not get naked here, Brat." A sparkle returned to Nikky's tired eyes.

Did he think because they were married, he could boss her around? Like hell. She tilted her chin. "We're having our wedding night now, Nikky. You chose the location. Not one I would have decided upon butȄ"

"Brat." He growled in warning.

She dropped her hands.

The brat. Nik yanked up her dress. Not before she flashed the entire room, though. Yes, that silk bustier was more concealing than a swimsuit, but it was meant for his eyes and his eyes only, damn it. "RespectȄ"