Well, if he wanted a pet, she’d look like a fucking pet—and she’d make him choke on the truth.She might have technically chosen this, but it wasn’t what she wanted.
Keira lifted her chin and headed downstairs.
She’s late.
Dmitri didn’t let his impatience show as he greeted his cousin.“Ivan, welcome.”
Ivan was a big bear of a man who had a laugh that could roll through an entire room, and was more than capable of smashing skulls with his bare hands.He covered up a clever intellect with meandering words and had been constantly underestimated when they were teenagers.He wasstillbeing underestimated, despite being in charge of Romanov operations in the South.“Hello, Dima!”He smacked Dmitri on the back hard enough that he would have stumbled forward if he hadn’t braced for it.“Where’s this wife of yours?I have to bring back a report to my Natasha and she’s going to demand details.O’Malley, was it?She’s, what, the third choice?Fourth?Not like you at all to settle for scraps.”
Dmitri kept his smile tight and unwavering.“Keira was the onlysuitablechoice.”It was the truth, even if reality was slightly more complicated.He’d originally intended to marry her older sister Carrigan, but that deal had gone sideways almost as soon as it was made—she was in love with another man, after all.The other sister, Sloan, had never really been an option for various reasons.
None of it mattered.The moment he’d met Keira and she picked his pocket, he knew that he had to have her.No one else would do.
Ivan looked past him into the obviously empty room.“Where is she?Don’t tell me she took advantage of your distraction and climbed out a window.”
Since that wasexactlythe sort of thing Dmitri expected of her, he’d stationed a man at both the front and back of the residence to ensure she didn’t do something foolish.But Keira had been closeted in her room all afternoon.He’d been assured that she picked several suitable dresses, but Dmitri couldn’t help thinking it was too easy.She hadn’t fought him, hadn’t done anything to exact revenge for his having moved her belongings into his rooms.It made him cagey.
He moved to the small bar set up against the wall and poured himself a second glass of vodka.“She’ll be down shortly.You know how these women are.”
“My Natasha takes hours.”Ivan chuckled.“The woman is as beautiful as they come, but she needs half a day to pretty herself up for company.The logic astounds me.”He stretched long arms and legs and cracked his neck with a loud pop.
His cousin was dangling the conversational thread in front of him, obviously wanting to keep to safer topics, but Dmitri wasn’t interested.He met Ivan’s gaze directly.“Where are the others?”The invitation for tonight had gone out to three men, and it appeared Ivan was the only one who’d bothered to show up.That didn’t bode well.That didn’t bode well at all.
Ivan huffed a sigh and poured himself a drink.“You know how it is, Dima.Things have not been stable for the last few years.Kirill and Sasha blame your missteps.The family back home is considering sending someone to monitor the situation.”He downed the vodka in a single gulp and poured more.“It is a good thing you have married this O’Malley woman and put some of that to rest.A very good thing.”
Dmitri had to work to keep any expression off his face.He’d known the extended family had lost confidence in him, but he hadn’t realized how far it’d gone.If he read the situation right, the only reason Ivan had shown up was to honor their friendship.If Dmitri was anyone else, Ivan would have passed on the invitation as well.Fuck.
It wasn’t the end.He still had time to fix things.The wedding reception would go a long way toward repairing the hits his reputation had taken—especially if the O’Malleys showed up.Even if they were furious, their presence would demonstrate that he had the upper hand.
The Eldridges were a different story altogether.He had to take decisive action there, and he had to do it as soon as possible.Damage control.Mikhail hadn’t gotten any satisfying answers about the package in Dmitri’s office.For all intents and purposes, it had appeared there magically without assistance.
Which meant he had a traitor.
The door leading deep into the house opened.Dmitri’s relief died a terrible death as Keira stepped into the room.She wore… It took every single ounce of control he had to keep his expression neutral.He didn’t have a damn bit left for words, and wouldn’t have been able to find them in any case.Her lips were the same color red that they’d been the first night he met her—the same night she’d rolled that decadent body against his and offered to fuck him… and then lifted his wallet and his watch.Her newly dark hair had been pinned back in some artful just-fucked look.
And the dress.
It covered her from neck to wrists to floor, except a diamond-shaped cutout that stretched from the bottom of the collar—and the thick neckline bracketing her throat couldn’t be termed anything but a collar—to just above her belly button.That cutout alone wouldn’t be enough to stop him in his tracks.The fact that the dress was completely transparentdid.The smaller diamond pattern carved out of the fabric did nothing to hide her rosy nipples or the fact that she was wearing black panties.
She looked like a caged wild thing—proud and furious and determined to punish him if given half a chance.
They stared at each other for the space of a single breath.Then her red, red lips curved into a small smile.“Hello, husband.”
Ivan shifted, and reality slammed into Dmitri.This man might be as close to a friend as Dmitri allowed himself—might be family—but he still couldn’t guarantee that Ivan wouldn’t do something to damage his power base.If Dmitri fell, it would open up a space for an ambitious man, and Ivan and the others were nothing if not ambitious.
He crossed to his treacherous wife and took her hand.This close, he could hear the dress slither as she moved, the beading in the pattern making it cling to her body.“You’re playing with fire.”
“Maybe I like the burn.”Her smile never wavered, even as her attention shifted over his shoulder to where Ivan watched them avidly.
“Mmm.”He leaned closer to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth.“And maybeIam going to cut that fucking dress off you tonight.”
“Ah-ah, Russian.You’re showing your beast.Rein it in.”Her grin brightened, and she lifted her voice.“Who is this delightful creature?Sir, you look like the proverbial Russian bear that I hear wanders Siberia.”
It was official.He was going to kill her.The littlerebenokhad known if she showed up late, she’d tie his hands.He couldn’t drag her out of the room to change without broadcasting the fact that he didn’t control his wife.This man might be a friend, but he’d take that information back to the menheanswered to, and it would be nothing good for Dmitri.And even if Ivan didn’t stab him in the back, hewouldtell Kirill and Sasha, and they’d made their alliances clear.
The only course of action was to move through the meeting while acting as if he wasn’t torn between wanting to turn her over his knee and wanting to fuck her against the wall.Both.I want both.And, damn her, Keira knew it.
Ivan walked over, his bushy eyebrows raised.“Charming creature, aren’t you?”He took her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckle for a full three seconds too long.“I am desperately in love with my Natasha, but if I were ayounger man and single, I would steal you away, married to my cousin or no.”
