Replica (2 page)

Nate plucked the champagne cocktail from her hand and downed it in three swallows, handing the empty glass to a passing waiter. Nadia shook her head.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” she told him. “I’m coming down with a cold.”

Nate shrugged it off. “Will you dance with me, or won’t you?”

Despite all her natural caution, she found herself taking his elbow and allowing him to lead her to the dance floor. If people were going to talk no matter what she did, then she’d rather dance with Nate than endure the Trio.

Nadia was painfully aware of the eyes following their progress. She imagined every whisper of conversation was about her, about the breach of etiquette she was about to commit. An exaggeration, of course. Most of the partygoers were no doubt oblivious, locked in their choreographed pleasantries or Machiavellian scheming. Until Nate swept her into the dance, that is. The background mutter of conversation faded for a moment, then came back at renewed volume.

“I’m never going to hear the end of this,” she murmured, already second-guessing her decision. But then, if she’d refused to dance, he might have asked Jewel instead. Nadia knew he despised Jewel almost as much as she did, but that wouldn’t have made it any more fun to watch him dancing with her.

Nate smiled down at her. “People would be disappointed if I didn’t do something shocking and inappropriate at least once this evening. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Your father would be over the moon with joy,” she countered. Nathaniel Sr., Chairman of Paxco, was humorless and unyielding, Nate’s exact opposite. She was glad that she would one day be Nate’s wife, but the prospect of having Nathaniel Sr. as a father-in-law was considerably less appealing.

“My father is off somewhere meeting with his cronies. You don’t think he’d waste his precious time enjoying himself at a party, do you?”

That was probably true. The heads of over a dozen of the Corporate States had gathered to celebrate this wedding, and they weren’t here because of their affection for the happy couple. The whole grand affair was merely a pretty façade masking a bunch of political and business meetings. The alliance with Synchrony had major implications for Paxco’s technology division, making it possible to incorporate Synchrony’s more advanced microprocessors into Paxco’s currently second-rate hardware. If Nate were acting like a proper heir, he’d be sitting in on those meetings, learning the ropes, instead of making a stir on the dance floor.

“So, were you really so impatient to dance, or did you have some other reason for making a spectacle of yourself?” Nadia asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a few other couples edging toward the dance floor indecisively.

“You looked like you could use a rescue,” Nate said, and Nadia felt a flash of gratitude. “Besides,” he continued, “I don’t need an ulterior motive to dance with the most beautiful girl in the room.”

Nadia snorted, an undignified sound she was glad no one but Nate could hear. “Yeah, because you’re such a ladies’ man.”

Nate laughed, and she smiled at him ruefully. He played at being a ladies’ man whenever he was in public, flirting shamelessly. Most of the unmarried Executive girls would swoon if he so much as looked at them, and Nadia was very much aware that not all of the jealousy aimed her way was because of her future husband’s status. What girl
wouldn’t
dream of having someone so handsome and charming in her bed? But any girl who shared his bed would spend a lot more time sleeping than she expected.

Nadia tried to ignore the sudden tightness in her chest. In just a few short years,
she
would be that any girl, lying untouched by Nate’s side. Or lying alone in bed while Nate cavorted with someone more to his taste.

“Cheer up,” Nate said into her ear, no doubt appearing to onlookers as if he were whispering sweet nothings. “Not only did I rescue you from death by gossip, I made sure we stole all the attention. You know how the Trio hate that.”

Nadia couldn’t help laughing. She glanced at the Trio and saw them huddled together like witches over a cauldron. They were all smiling, but the expression rang slightly false. Other couples were venturing out onto the dance floor, but the Trio would be too worried about their reputations to join in the fun. In one fell swoop, Nate had deprived them of their prey, their fun, and the attention of the state-approved photographers in discreet attendance. And he’d made her laugh when she felt miserable. All in all, it was probably worth the parental disapproval she was sure to face.

Nate and Nadia were no longer the only couple on the dance floor. The bride and groom had ventured out first, and then the other couples found their courage. The music came to an end, and Nate spun Nadia to a finish. The next song started up almost immediately, but it seemed Nate had lost interest in dancing once the shock value was used up.

“Let’s give our audience even more to talk about,” Nate said as he led her off the dance floor.

Nadia didn’t know what he meant until she realized he was leading her toward a doorway at the back of the ballroom. A pair of security guards flanked the doorway, and as if their presence wasn’t enough to clue everyone in that the rooms behind were off-limits, the lights in the hallway were off. Once again, Nadia had to suppress a groan.
Everyone
would notice the two of them sneaking off into the residential part of the mansion, and
everyone
would draw conclusions about what they were doing back there. Conclusions that would help Nate’s camouflage, to be sure, but that wouldn’t do her reputation a whole lot of good.

“I’d like another glass of punch,” Nadia said, though she’d barely taken two sips of her first and hadn’t enjoyed them.

Nate gave her his most wicked grin. “What’s the matter? Afraid to be alone with me?”

The problem with Nate was that once you gave him the inch, he went for the mile every time. Sometimes Nadia just wanted to shake him. She stopped moving toward the shadowed hallway, forcing Nate to stop with her.

“One scandal a night is all you get.” She said it with a smile, keeping her voice down so that no one watching them would know they were arguing. If that was what they were doing.

“You don’t want to mingle any more than I do,” Nate countered, “so let’s not.”

“What I want doesn’t really matter,” she said, hoping he didn’t hear the hint of bitterness in her voice.

“You said you were coming down with a cold. I’m sure polite society will forgive you for not spreading it around.”

Nadia wavered. The fact that she was sick wouldn’t protect her from scandal. But her nose
was
feeling stuffier, and the thought of spending the rest of the evening forcing smiles exhausted her.

Nate reached up and tucked one finger under his collar, pulling at the bow tie like it was choking him. “I’ve been on my best behavior for hours,” he said, sounding truly put upon. “I spent all morning schmoozing with my father and his cronies, and I even managed not to make more than one or two rude and inappropriate jokes. I dressed up, I showed up to the ceremony on time, and I’ve had only one drink. If I don’t let off some steam, I’ll probably end up doing something truly shocking in front of all these people. Far more shocking than leaving the room with my bride-to-be.”

She suppressed a shudder. When it came to making trouble, Nate could be remarkably creative. And because he was Chairman Heir, his bad behavior would reflect poorly not just on him and his family but on Paxco itself. Nadia might hate politics, but she cared enough about her state not to want Nate causing an international incident.

“This is blackmail,” she muttered, giving him a narrow-eyed glare that failed to make an impression.

His eyes twinkled. “Is it working?”

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “Of course it’s working,” she grumped. Not for the first time, she wondered what her life would be like if she weren’t destined to be Nate’s bride, if the Chairman had chosen some other family to honor. And, as she had every time she’d questioned her fate before, she dismissed the thought. Nadia’s role in life as her father’s second daughter, and therefore not his heir, was to marry well and bring even greater wealth, prestige, and power to her family. Nate was far and away better than most of the men she was likely to be paired with.

Nate put his hand on her shoulder blade and guided her toward the hallway. She kept her chin up, not glancing right or left, trying to pretend she wasn’t doing anything improper and that she didn’t notice people watching her every move. Wandering off alone with Nate in such a public setting was an epic risk. Executive society operated on a set of social conventions that hearkened back to the nineteenth century, and though girls were able to inherit and hold power the same as boys, they were held to very different standards of behavior. If her engagement to Nate should fall through, she would be forever tainted in the eyes of Executive society. Damaged goods, sloppy seconds. All because of false assumptions about what she and Nate were doing when they were out of the public eye.

The guards pretended not to notice as Nate and Nadia slipped into the darkened hallway. Within a few steps, it was so dark Nadia couldn’t see a thing, but Nate guided her with complete confidence, turning two corners before reaching a hallway in which a few dim lights glowed.

Nadia’s eyes were drawn immediately to the figure who stood artfully posed in the halo of one of those lights, and her heart sank even lower as she realized exactly why Nate had dragged her away from the party.

Kurt Bishop was possibly the most inappropriate boyfriend Nate could have chosen—which was no doubt part of his appeal. Born and raised in the Basement, Bishop had been rescued from his life of depravity and squalor when Nate had accompanied his father on one of his routine recruitment campaigns there. Twice a year, a handful of young Basement-dwellers were given a chance for a better life, being brought into the ranks of the Employees, generally as menial laborers. Nate had taken an instant liking to Bishop and had hired him as his valet.

Even dressed in his formal livery, Bishop looked like a barbarian. His hair was a scraggly mane he refused to cut. A multitude of silver rings pierced one of his ears from top to bottom. Another pierced his eyebrow. And then there was the little silver ball in his tongue. Nadia couldn’t imagine letting someone jab a needle through her tongue. Every time she saw that piercing, she had to fight a cringe.

Bishop wasn’t wearing his livery tonight, Nadia noted, as an embarrassed blush rose to her cheeks. Tonight, he looked like the Basement-dweller he was, wearing skin-tight black leather pants and a mesh shirt that displayed his tattoos to all the world. He looked like a predator on the hunt, and Nate was his more-than-eager prey.

Nadia shook her head. “No,” she said firmly as Nate and Bishop met each other’s eyes, their gazes hot enough to scorch her.

Bishop raised his pierced eyebrow at her and smiled. “Nate didn’t tell you he was coming to meet me?”

“Of course not,” she snapped. “If he’d told me, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Nadia—” Nate started in a coaxing tone, but there were limits to how far she would allow herself to be pushed.

“I said no, and I mean it.” Earlier, she’d thought she wanted to shake him; now, she wanted to slap him.

“We’ll make it quick,” he promised. “All you have to do is stand guard for a few minutes, let us know if someone is coming.”

Bishop snickered at the double entendre, but Nadia was far from amused. She shook her head at Nate, amazed at his gall, though maybe she shouldn’t have been.

“You mean you’re so desperate to get laid you can’t even wait until after the reception?” she asked in a furious undertone.

“Where would the fun be in that?” Nate asked with a hard glint in his eye, and Nadia realized that there was more to this liaison than just a little mischievous fun. As much as he might enjoy provoking people, Nate never quite dared stage a full-scale rebellion against his father and the rules of Executive society. But sneaking off to screw his Basement-dweller boyfriend during a state event must have seemed a pretty satisfying substitute.

Nate had told her the truth about his sexual preferences when she was fourteen, when she was old enough that he could trust her to appreciate the importance of keeping it secret. Homosexuality was all right for the Employees and the Basement-dwellers, but it was an inexcusable flaw in an Executive. If anyone learned of Nate’s practices, he’d be subjected to an extensive regimen of “reprogramming.” Nadia had no idea what that “reprogramming” entailed, except that it was draconian and it would destroy the Nate she knew.

Ever since he’d told her the truth, Nadia had fought to resign herself to a future of looking the other way. But she would
not
put herself through that until she had to.

“You didn’t really come to rescue me from the Trio after all, did you?” she asked, tears burning her eyes, though she refused to let them fall. “It was just a lead up to this.”

Nate’s eyes widened in what looked like dismay. “Of course I did! I wasn’t planning to meet Kurt until later.”

Nadia bit her tongue to stop herself from telling Nate for the millionth time not to refer to Bishop by first name. He insisted on doing it when in private, but it upped the chances that he would let it slip in public someday.

“So it’s a coincidence that he’s waiting here for you now.”

“I’ve been here for almost an hour,” Bishop interrupted. “I had no idea when he’d be able to get away.”

Maybe it was true. Maybe Nate had had mostly good intentions when he’d asked her to dance. But that didn’t change the fact that what he wanted to do now wasn’t just
reckless,
it was
dangerous
. She should never have let him talk her into leaving the party.

“You don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself, do you?” she asked, and, despite her best intentions, angry tears spilled from her cheeks. Her cold was ramping up its attack, her sinuses clogged and achy, and crying wasn’t helping things.

“Nadia—”

“You don’t care that if someone caught us, I’d be ruined and Bishop…” She shook her head. “I don’t even know what would happen to him, except that he probably wouldn’t live through it.” As a former Basement-dweller, Bishop would have no family of any consequence to stand up for him, to make a stink if he were to disappear off the face of the earth. And Nate would be too busy being “reprogrammed” to help him.