Russian Mobster's Princess (17 page)

She started to get excited, thinking he’d changed his mind.

Viktor looked down at her and winked. “Meaning I’m going to tuck you in and then lock up.”

“Come on, Max,” she called.

The dog had retreated to his bed during their love play. Now he followed along, leaping up into the bed before Viktor laid Katie down. She snuggled into her covers and Max curled up around her legs.

“Sleep tight, sweetheart,” Viktor whispered. “You’ll hear from me tomorrow.”

“How?”

“You just will.”

Chapter Six

You just will
? Katie rehashed Viktor’s words in her mind for about the millionth time that morning as she tried to focus on work. Her job wasn’t particularly difficult, but it did require her to pay attention and she was making a muck of things.

“You’re certainly out of it today,” Anne commented. She handed Katie a file she had been trying to find for at least ten minutes. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this before. Late night?”

“Oh you know me,” Katie said with a guarded smile. “I just love to go out drinking on a school night and then go to bed late and wake up feeling exhausted.”

Anne gave Katie a critical once-over. “I’m going to suggest it was more like a date followed by you getting some, if you know what I mean.”

Katie threw a surreptitious glance out toward the reception area where they had three patients absently skimming magazines while waiting for their appointments. “I might have had dinner with a friend last night. Yes.”

“Friend?” Anne said dubiously. “I’m not buying it. Unless your friend was male and super hot.”

“Maybe.”

Anne clapped her hands eagerly. “Girl, I am so glad to hear that! You need to get out there and date. I know you don’t talk much about your past, but I can tell you’ve got some boy drama going on. So that makes it even more important to find someone new and have some fun.” Anne leaned forward eagerly. “So, tell me his name.”

Katie realized her dilemma, but it was really too late to backpedal out of it now. She cleared her throat. “Viktor.”

Anne’s face paled a few shades. “Are you serious? Tell me you’re not. You cannot seriously be thinking about dating Viktor Urevich.”

“I’ve known him practically all my life, Anne,” Katie said in a reasonable tone of voice. “He’s not the devil. Everyone makes him seem like he’s some bloodthirsty pirate or something. He’s not. He’s just a regular guy with a great sense of humor and a good heart.”

“Only you would say that Viktor Urevich has a good heart.” Anne shook her head and went back to her computer, getting ready to check out a patient who had just walked up to the counter.

Katie hadn’t really expected Anne to understand. If their positions were reversed, Katie would have like to think she would be more accepting, but it was impossible to say.

“Excuse me?” Someone approached the counter in front of Katie’s workstation. “I need to see the dentist, please.”

“Do you have an appointment?” Katie asked, and then she looked up. Viktor’s friend Sasha was standing at the counter. A huge lump formed inside her throat and she could hardly breathe. What was Sasha doing here?

“No. I don’t have an appointment, but my back tooth is killing me.” He was holding the right side of his jaw as though he were in excruciating pain.

Katie couldn’t turn him away. No matter how badly she might have personally wanted to tell him to take a hike, he needed help from the dentist. And it sounded as if he needed a root canal.

She offered him a pleasant smile and kept her heavy sigh of irritation to herself. “Let me see if we can squeeze you in. Have you ever been to our office before?”

“Once or twice maybe,” Sasha said with a careless shrug. “It’s been a while.”

Katie was trying to decide if she could just put him in an operatory and have Dr. Torres take a look when Sasha seemed to recognize her.

“You’re that chick who has Viktor all tied in knots, aren’t you?” Sasha leaned over the counter and looked at her with obvious interest.

Katie forced herself not to react. “I suppose that’s one way of putting it.”

“If you really like him, you should stay away,” he told her.

“Excuse me?”

“I said that if you care anything about Viktor, you need to stay away from him,” Sasha said again. “My uncle doesn’t like anything that gets him distracted from his job.”

“But he doesn’t work for your uncle,” Katie pointed out.

Sasha shrugged. “He’s not a full member, no. But my uncle is the only one who will give him work. You don’t want to ruin that for him, do you?”

“What makes you think I can’t help him find some other job that doesn’t leave him beholden to some mafia kingpin?” Katie demanded quietly. “Viktor is better than this. And obviously you and your uncle know that, otherwise you wouldn’t be standing there obsessing over who he talks to and whether or not it will put a crimp in your plans.”

“You better watch it,” Sasha told her irritably. “You’re going to land yourself in a world of trouble.”

“And you need my help with that tooth,” she reminded him. “So how about you be nice?”

That burned him. She could tell. And Katie had a feeling that Sasha wasn’t one to forgive and forget. He would remember that she had threatened to make him suffer through his toothache, just like she would remember that Sasha and his uncle
wanted
Viktor to feel as if he had no other options.

“The doctor will see you now,” she told Sasha politely. Standing up, she grabbed a new patient chart and led the way back to the operatory.

***

Today was not a good day for Viktor. He’d been awoken at an ungodly hour by one of Karkoff’s men banging on the door of his tiny basement apartment. Now he had easily been standing in the foyer of Karkoff’s home for an hour or more. Two of Karkoff’s beefy enforcers were there. Presumably to make certain that he didn’t just wander off. They’d been glaring at him for the better part of an hour.

“You guys wouldn’t happen to know how much longer this is going to take, would you?” Viktor asked casually.

“Does it matter?” the taller man asked in Russian.

The other guy smirked. “It isn’t as though you have anything else to do.”

“That’s a pretty bold statement, don’t you think?” Viktor answered back, also in Russian. “What if I have some knitting that I’ve been working on? If I’d known that I would be waiting here for this long, I would have brought it with me. I’m working on a new line of sweaters, you know? I could have used the two of you as models for my big-and-tall line.”

There was a lot of muttering and a few dark looks before the taller guy actually balled up his fists and started heading toward Viktor as if he were spoiling for a fight. Viktor stood light on his feet, keeping his hands low at his sides and preparing to defend himself. Then a door opened at the far end of the foyer.

“Denis, leave him alone,” Karkoff shouted. “Viktor! Get in here. Now!”

Viktor smiled at Denis. “Saved by the boss. How fortunate.”

Heading for Karkoff’s study, Viktor left Denis’s wounded pride behind him. Apparently he had just made another enemy to add to the growing list of people who probably wanted him dead.

“Shut the door,” Karkoff barked.

Viktor carefully closed the heavy study doors without letting them slam. He knew exactly why he was here, and he intended to play stupid for as long as possible. That was about the only strategy he could think of that would get him out of here alive.

“Last night I sent you to retrieve a shipment,
da
?” Karkoff sat behind his desk, his fingers steepled in front of his face and his beady eyes glued to Viktor.

Viktor nodded. “That’s correct. I found the van at the docks in the same spot as usual. I got into the van, exited the wharf neighborhood, and didn’t turn on my lights until I was well away from the pickup location.”

“What did you hear inside the cargo area of the van?” Karkoff asked, his expression that of a spider carefully spinning a web to catch his prey.

Viktor knew he had to be careful here. “I heard nothing unusual, if that’s what you’re asking. You don’t tell me anything about the cargo and I don’t ask. I don’t want to know. I met Sasha at the same spot in the park exactly as normal, and we traded vans. I drove the white van to the second drop-off point and left it there. Everything went exactly as normal.”

“Except the cargo was missing!” Karkoff burst out angrily.

Viktor breathed evenly, forcing himself to remain calm and in control. He offered Karkoff a confused look and nothing more. “I’m sorry, sir, but are we talking about the cargo in the brown van or the white one?”

Regardless of the anxiety seething in the pit of Viktor’s stomach, he had apparently said the correct thing. Karkoff heaved a giant sigh. “I told them I could not believe that you would have had anything to do with the loss of the cargo. I can see that I was correct.”

“I’m terribly sorry if there was damage to the cargo, but I know nothing about it. I’m paid to drive and that’s all I do. Beyond that, I want no additional information.” Viktor held out his hands in supplication. “The less I know, the less I have to offer a law enforcement official if I’m hauled in for questioning for some reason.”

“
Da
,” Karkoff said, waving at Viktor. “I know. You are your father’s son in every way.”

It was supposed to be a compliment, but the words burned instead. Viktor had no desire to be like his father. The man had been Karkoff’s creature completely. Even until his association with the Russian mobster had ended in his death.

“Viktor,” Karkoff began, his tone supercilious at best. “It has not gone unnoticed that you have served this family for years without asking anything in return.”

Viktor forced himself to give a nonchalant shrug. “You have paid me well for my services. It’s hardly a one-sided arrangement.”

“Perhaps, but I have been speaking to my lieutenants about giving you the opportunity to pledge to the family and become a full member,” Karkoff said as though he truly believed it was the highest honor he could bestow.

Viktor struggled to find an answer that would not insult the man while simultaneously preserving his freedom. “I have no complaints about the situation as it stands,” Victor told Karkoff respectfully. “I appreciate the compliment, but I find myself quite happy with the way things are.”

“And quite happy that Katie McClellan has returned to town as well?” Karkoff said offhandedly.

“Katie is a pleasant distraction, I suppose,” Viktor allowed. “Although it was she who determined long ago that there is a huge gulf between our life goals and our situations.”

“Very true.” Karkoff seemed pleased with that answer.

Viktor glanced at his watch. “I believe I’ve wasted far too much of your valuable time today.”

“Too true,” Karkoff agreed. “Next week you can expect the usual schedule.”

“Thank you.” Viktor nodded his respect to the mafia boss before turning and walking back out of the study.

He discovered that the two beefy enforcers were still standing in the foyer when he returned. Viktor couldn’t help needling them just a little. It was their own fault for being such easy targets.

“I’ll try to stop by later this week with a few sweater samples for the two of you to try on,” Viktor told them solemnly. “I’m sure you’ll both look smashing.”

They glared at him as he walked out the front door. Viktor’s relief was so acute that he couldn’t help but laugh.

Chapter Seven

Max stared at the ball Katie had brought to the park. He obviously expected her to hurry up and throw it. Unfortunately for Max, Katie was far too distracted to think about playing fetch. The most she could manage was to wander about the paved trail that circled the open field and served as a path for local joggers. Max paced next to her, stopping every few yards to sniff at the underbrush growing alongside the sidewalk.

She had no notion of how long she’d been walking when she spotted a shape hidden off to the right. Coming to a stop, she watched Max to see what his opinion was. The dog dropped obediently to his haunches, but his stubby little tail was wagging as he stared into the trees. Apparently the shadow was a friend of some kind.

“Viktor?” she called out hesitantly. “Is that you?”

He stepped clear of the shadows beneath the big trees. The broad shoulders and trim belly took shape as he moved into the early evening sunlight. His dark hair was tousled and he looked tired, but there was a smile on his face.

“Hey.” He held out his hand for Max to sniff.

Her dog abruptly stood and nosed Viktor, wagging his tail and wriggling with eagerness.

“Apparently Max has decided you’re a friend,” she commented. It seemed the only safe topic at the moment. She didn’t want to tell him about Sasha’s visit to the dental office earlier that day.

Viktor patted Max’s silky head and scratched him behind his ears. “He’s a smart dog to reserve judgment.”

“Want to walk with me?” She gestured to the path that wound through the heavily forested area of the park before turning and meandering back through the open field.

He fell into step beside her. “As long as we stay under cover.”

“Are we hiding then?” she wondered.

“Karkoff is planning something.” Viktor seemed undecided about this. He reached up and snagged a twig off one of the low-hanging branches. “I just don’t know what or why. Everyone seems obsessed with keeping you and I away from each other.”

She snorted. “Don’t you get it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Karkoff wants you dependent on him for employment.” Katie thought of Sasha’s comments earlier that morning. “He wants you to believe that the only choices you have involve working for him. You’re a convenience.”

“That’s a nice way of saying I’m an expendable resource.” He shook his head. “Thanks. I’m glad you don’t think I have any more value than that of a monkey.”

She moaned in irritation. “That’s not what I said!”

***

Viktor’s pride was feeling a little battered. First Karkoff treated him like nothing more than a lackey with no better prospects. Now Katie was insinuating more or less the same thing.