The Russian's Stubborn Lover (The Fedosov Family Series Book 1) (7 page)

Julia nodded, smiling at Antonia in return, “Yes. It’s nice to have a friend in such a strange place.”

Dmitry nodded, not having given any thought to how a single young woman might entertain herself in a strange country. He couldn’t fault her for finding friendship when it was offered, but he could take exception to her activities while with said friend. The board of directors needed to be satisfied that their conservative ideals were not being trampled upon.

Antonia realized that the conversation was dwindling and could only head into dangerous territory and quickly thought of an excuse to leave, “Dmitry, it was a pleasure meeting you. If you’ll excuse Julia and I. We still have a few errands to run yet this evening and I believe she has arranged with Sergei to pick her up in precisely one hour.”

Before Dmitry could think of a reason for the women to stay, Antonia had stood up from the table and pulled Julia with her. He watched as they thanked their hosts and left the restaurant. Isaldya appeared at his elbow with one of his favorite Russian meals and thoughts of the two women fled his mind as he fed his hunger and carried on a light conversation with his lifetime friends.

Chapter 9

“Wow! That was close,” Antonia told her with a laugh as the two women walked down the sidewalk.

“Don’t I know it. I don’t know how I’m going to conceal my identity for an entire year!”

Antonia shook her head, her new friend definitely had a problem. Thinking, she offered, “You could come clean with him and apologize again. Offer to be friends…”

“I don’t think so. You don’t know how hot things got between us. If there had been a bed nearby, we would have been in it.”

“That good, huh? So why didn’t you follow through and go back to his hotel with him?” Antonia didn’t understand why she had stopped things from reaching their natural conclusion.

Julia swallowed before she replied, “Well, I don’t usually sleep with strangers. And…”

“Yes? Come on, spit it out.”

“Well, I’ve actually only slept with one guy and it didn’t go that well.”

Antonia looked at her like she had two heads, “How old are you again?”

“I just turned twenty-five. Why?” Julia asked.

“Twenty-five and you’re practically a virgin. Now I get it. You were scared.”

Julia blushed, and nodded, “A little bit. I mean, I slept with this guy I’d been dating my freshmen year of college, and he promised me it would be better the second time. Well, it didn’t get better the second time or the third time. I refused to participate a fourth time.”

Antonia chuckled, “He evidently didn’t know what he was doing! Sex is great with the right person. If you had that much chemistry with Mr. Hot Boss in there, the sex would probably be off the charts. In fact, I’m jealous of you.”

“Me? Why?” Julia asked.

“I would kill to have a great chemistry with a guy that looked like your boss, and don’t get me wrong, I’ve got plenty of bed partners. It’s just that, they only want to be with me because my picture’s plastered on the cover or magazines, or they want to be seen with me in the tabloids. Most of the time the chemistry is faked on their part.”

“Wow! I’m sorry.” Julia didn’t know what else to say. It sounded like Antonia had been meeting the wrong sorts of guys.

“Look, I’ve changed my mind. If you get the chance, tell him who you are and just explain to him what you did to me. If he’s that type of guy I think he is, he’ll understand and all will be forgiven.”

Julia thought about that for a minute and then slowly nodded, “Do you think that might work? I mean, he’s really hot and I can already feel the chemistry still there. I don’t know how much longer I can pretend otherwise.”

“Tell him. As soon as you can.”

“I’ll do that,” Julia decided, grabbing hold of her backbone with both hands and hanging on for the ride. She had nothing to apologize for and she would simply explain things to him at the first opportunity.

                                                                                    *****

Dmitry was just finishing his dessert when his phone pinged, indicating he had an email. Tapping into his phone, he saw that the background check he had authorized on his newest employee had been emailed to him.

He opened the email, sipping his coffee as he waited for the files to load. The first few pages didn’t tell him anything he hadn’t already known. She was a financial whiz kid! He tapped the files to begin downloading the pictures, putting his phone on the table to finish clearing his plate.

Isaldya came over and sat down with him, “So, you are full?”

“I couldn’t eat another bite.”

Seeing his phone on the table, she scolded him, “You need to eat without being bothered by business so much. It’s not good for the digestion.”

Dmitry smiled at her, “It wasn’t really work. Just checking up on a few things.”

He conversed with her another moment and then grabbed his phone as she excused herself to help her husband once again. Dmitry turned his phone over and stared at the picture that peered back at him from the screen.
It was the woman from the nightclub! What in the hell!

Cursing beneath his breath in Russian, he scrolled through the pictures, finding several more of the young woman with brown hair, blue eyes, and glasses. Then suddenly, the pictures changed to that of the young woman who currently worked for him. He pulled two of the pictures up and placed them on the screen side-by-side and suddenly he could see the resemblance.
They were one and the same person!

The next thought had his anger back full force.
I might not have known who she was, but there’s no way she could have not known who I am! What game is she playing!

Dmitry sat for a few minutes, going over the various ways he could play this knew knowledge. Not one for procrastinating, he decided that dealing with this sooner, rather than later, was in everyone’s best interest.

He placed a call to Sergei who informed him he was on his way back to the family estate with the lovely Miss Thompson in tow.
Sergei is her champion!
Why that upset him, he didn’t even want to ponder.

He gave Sergei instructions to let the household staff know that he was on his way and would be visiting his mother over the weekend. Leaving the restaurant, he stopped a few blocks over and packed a few changes of clothes and then started the drive to his mother’s house.

He was due to visit her soon anyway. This way, he could kill two birds with one stone. He could visit his mother and assure himself that she was doing fine. And he could confront the little American tease and find out what game she was playing with him. Before Monday morning, he would have his answers.

Chapter 10

Julia arrived back at the estate and wondered at the flurry of activity. It was unusual for the household staff to be up and around much after 7 o’clock in the evening. It was now closing in on 9 o’clock and everyone was busy doing something. She thought about finding Mrs. Padrov and asking, but then decided that she would simply head to bed.  There would be time enough for those questions tomorrow.

Antonia had a photo shoot scheduled for the entire weekend, so Julia was not planning on going out with her until the following Thursday. Another art exhibit, Antonia had assured her the paintings would not be erotic in nature.

Sergei had offered to have her bags brought up to her room and Julia had nodded her acceptance. She didn’t need anything from them tonight and she told him tomorrow morning was soon enough.

Julia entered her suite and decided to take a shower before turning in for bed. As she exited the bathroom, she could hear voices outside in the hallway, but was already in her pajamas and didn’t think to go investigate.

If she had she would have seen Dmitry going into his rooms, directly across the hall from the Catherine suite. A few members of the household staff were following behind with his luggage and a tray of snacks and another tray with a bottle of Vodka and a shot glass.

Dmitry had inquired as to the American’s location and been pleased to hear that she was residing in the Catherine suite. His mother occupied the eastern portion of the house, and the Catherine suite, along with his own rooms, were located at the opposite side.

That would definitely be to his advantage when dealing with Julia’s deception. But for now, he would let her get a good night’s sleep. He intended to make sure it was her last until he got some answers. He needed to focus on the company come Monday morning so this distraction needed to be gone by then.

                                                                                    *****

Julia awoke the next morning actually looking forward to having a few days to do nothing. Her earlier ideas about sightseeing didn’t seem so important now, and she decided that after breakfast she would head out and explore the gardens she could see out her window.

After dressing in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, she grabbed a sweatshirt and headed downstairs to find breakfast and Sergei. She wanted to make sure that she wouldn’t be trespassing if she were to walk around a bit.

Sergei was at his usual post in the small room off the front door, and Julia greeted him with a smile, “Good morning. Is there any reason I cannot walk around the grounds after breakfast?”

Sergei had a funny look upon his face, but then quickly masked whatever was going through his head and slowly shook his head, “No. You will be safe enough on the grounds. Do not leave the fenced in areas. There are wild dogs in the area and I would not like to see what they could do to you.”

Julia shuddered at the thought of being torn apart by wild dogs and assured Sergei that she would indeed stay within the fences.

She headed down the hallway towards the breakfast room, startled to hear voices. Normally she was the only one who ate breakfast in the room. Eager to have company for once, she hurried into the room with a smile upon her face.

When she spied Dmitry sitting at the head of the table with his mother, she stopped and stared for several moments. When Dmitry lifted his head and stared at her hard, she gulped and moved slowly into the room.

She advanced towards the elderly woman, bussing each cheek as had become her custom since arriving in Russia. There was no reason she should be rude to the kind lady just because her son was in attendance. “
Dobroe utro,
” she murmured in greeting, pleased when the greeting was returned and sounded similar to her own.

She was trying to learn a new phrase in Russian every few days, and some of them came very easy. Others were harder and she wondered if she would ever conquer the pronunciation.

Dmitry was pleasantly surprised to hear Julia greet his mother in Russian and extend her the simplest of courtesies. The woman was once again an enigma – doing the exact opposite of what he would have expected.

“Good morning, Julia,” Dmitry offered, making sure to hold her gaze when she glanced up.

“Good morning, sir,” she replied.

“Dmitry will be fine. Even at work, we don’t stand on much formality there. Only Mrs. Rusnik has insisted that we do not use her first name.”

“Oh.” Julia didn’t have a response and busied herself with pouring a cup of coffee and adding in the appropriate sugar and cream. When Mrs. Padrov entered moments later with a fluffy cheese omelet, she thanked her in Russian, “
Spasiba.”

“
Puzhalsta
,” replied Mrs. Padrov with a beaming smile. She took Julia’s attempt at learning Russian very seriously and was as proud as a parent when she actually got it right.

Julia returned her grin and then saw Dmitry staring at her with a frown between his brows. Something was bothering him and she decided that after breakfast she would take Antonia’s advice and spill the beans – since he was already here.

“Sir…”

“Dmitry.”

Julia nodded and started again, “Dmitry, would you have a few minutes after breakfast to talk. There is something I wanted to tell you.”

Dmitry was taken aback that she actually wanted to speak to him. Nodding, he replied, “That works well as I was looking forward to speaking with you as well. Why don’t you join me in the library when you’ve finished.” Dmitry spoke to his mother in Russian, and then took his coffee cup with him and left the room.

Julia tried not to stare at his back as he departed, but when she saw Mrs. Fedosov grinning at her, she quickly returned her attention to the food in front of her. Mrs. Fedosov had a gleam in her eyes that could only be interpreted as amusement. Whether at her son or at Julia, neither mattered. Julia had been the focus of that sort of look before and was having no part of any matchmaking.

Chapter 11

Julia found the library without difficulty and tapped twice on the door before she was bade to enter. “Come.”

Julia pushed the door open, having not explored this part of the house and was astonished to see floor to ceiling bookshelves filled with every type of book possible.

Dmitry was sitting in a large leather chair and gestured to the opposite chair as she stepped farther into the room.

“Thank you for making time to speak with me.”

“Not at all. I’m impressed that you are trying to learn Russian. It is not the easiest language to learn. Is Mrs. Padrov helping you?”

“For now. My company has authorized a language tutor for me, but I haven’t had time to find one. I thought I had, but when I asked Mrs. Rusnik about him, she was adamant about me not spending time with this individual. I still don’t know why, but I’ll find someone to help me out. Eventually.”

Dmitry knew exactly why Mrs. Rusnik had turned her off the first tutor. The man was a lecher of the first order, divorced several times, with a penchant for preying on younger women. Julia would be like a lamb in a lion’s den. No, he would help find her a tutor himself.

“So, what did you want to discuss with me?” he asked, allowing her to go first.