Bad Nerd Falling (23 page)

When she looked up, it was Karis the
nurse practitioner speaking, not her sister. “That’s
true.”

“
Yes. No one is exempt
from vehicular accidents, disease, or just bad luck. Death comes
whether we like it or not.”

She sighed. “It just seems like a
stockbroker would be far less risky.”

“
Yeah, except their blood
pressure is usually really high, their waist bands keep expanding,
and they shoot into the high risk category for stroke.”

“
You know, it occurs to me
that Emerson isn’t the only know-it-all in the family.”

Karis laughed, but she also patted her
hand. “There are no guarantees. We only get so much time here. No
one knows when their time is up. You need to decide whether Vlad is
worth your time. Can you live without him? Would that be
easier?”

The thoughts swirling like hurricane
winds through her brain weren’t welcome. She couldn’t make heads or
tails of any of them and it was driving her crazy. She picked up
her coffee cup and took a long, fortifying sip.

“
I don’t know.”

“
Maybe you’ll have more
answers if you think about this for a while.” Karis’s eyes were
soft with sympathy. It was a look she did well.

“
Whether I’d be better off
without Vlad than with him?” Even saying those words caused the
knot in her stomach to grow.

“
Yes. Decide how important
he is to you before you make any rash decisions.”

While that was good advice, she had no
idea how to follow through. It might be safer to just go crawl back
into bed and forget about life for a while.

Only that would set her free to dream
and one man recurred in her dreams on a regular basis. There would
be no rest if Vlad invaded her dreamscapes and he had already
proven he was quite comfortable there.

She sighed again. Why hadn’t anyone
warned her that men were dangerous to her mental health?

***

She trailed into the lab after lunch,
her thoughts uncertain, and her mood… surly. She said hello to her
lab mates before locating her toolbox to collect water samples.
That would allow her time to think while keeping her out of the
lab. Besides, it needed done.

“
I’m off,” she announced
once she packed up the bottles she needed, sterile wipes, and
various other items necessary for the collection
process.

“
I have a meeting later.”
Tia indicated the appointments calendar with her head. She nodded.
That’s right, Tia was meeting with Graham at the
hospital.

“
Is Maria going with
you?”

They both turned to Vlad’s mother. “I
don’t think I can. I have to process all my water samples.” Maria
was busy plating some things Tia needed.

“
I’ll process those when I
return,” she offered. “I’ll have all mine to do, so it won’t make
any difference if I do yours as well.”

Jorge pushed away from the bench where
he was cleaning up his work station. “In that case, should I go
collect my samples and Tia’s?”

They all looked at each other before
voting in favor of that. Processing the samples would keep her busy
for the rest of the afternoon. That made her happy as she waved
goodbye and exited the lab.

She hadn’t seen Vlad and wondered
where he was occupying himself. As though her thoughts conjured him
up, he appeared at her side before she rounded the last corner to
the hallway that led outside. “Where have you been?”

“
I had lunch with my
sister.” She craned her neck so she could peer up at
him.

“
She’s been gone a few
days.”

“
Yes, so Emerson has been
hogging her time. I managed to talk her into meeting me
instead.”

Vlad nodded. He was so handsome her
heart clenched as she peered into those dark eyes.

“
I suppose he should learn
to share her.” He didn’t sound like he liked that idea.

Her heart clenched again as she
thought about that. This man wanted her. She could see that. She
wanted him. More than ever before. Maybe she needed more
faith.

“
He should. They have
children, so sharing is something they
should
be teaching their
children.”

His lips curled up. “True.” Again, he
didn’t sound convinced.

“
It is.”

It was then he noticed the toolbox in
her hand. “Why are you carrying a toolbox?”

“
This is my water sampling
kit.”

“
You have to take samples
this afternoon?”

“
No, I don’t have to, but
I thought I should get them out of the way.”

“
You choose whenever you
want to take them?” He frowned, like that seemed far too lenient.
Maybe it was, to a military man.

“
Things are pretty loose
in our lab. We don’t much care for rules and
regulations.”

“
I see.”

She guessed he didn’t. “Civilians have
a lot more leeway than you guys in the military.”

He wasn’t impressed. “How long will
this sampling take you?”

“
Probably an hour.
Fortunately my samples are close together. Then I’ll run all of
them when I return.”

His brows drew together. “There will
be that many to run?”

That required a brief explanation on
processing everyone’s samples.

“
The longest part of any
task is the preparation.”

She regarded him, wondering about that
statement. Except that his face gave nothing away. They probably
needed to talk about it because Vladimir Wellington had definitely
mastered concealing his emotions.

Then another, scarier thought welled.
What if he had simply trained himself not to feel his emotions?
What if he had become such a super soldier that now he simply
didn’t feel?

His lips quirked and she squirmed at
being caught staring instead of replying to his comment. “Yes, the
prep time takes far longer than the task sometimes. Although with
all these samples, the actual processing will also take
time.”

Vlad reached out and tenderly ran a
finger down her cheek. “You are beautiful.”

She shook her head. “It’s obvious you
haven’t lunched with Karis recently.”

“
I’ve never lunched with
Karis.”

“
See, if you had, you
would know then that she’s the beauty.”

“
I disagree.
You
are the
beauty.”

“
You
are biased.”

“
Yes,” he agreed as though
that was obvious, but it did lighten her heart to know that he
thought so. “You are the most beautiful woman in the world.” Then
he leaned forward and kissed her.

Since she lost her breath and her
reasoning skills, she couldn’t reply.

“
Excuse me, this is a
public thoroughfare.” Emerson’s voice smashed through the love
haze.

When Vlad lifted his head, her skills
all rushed back. She glared at her brother-in-law. “Like you don’t
kiss Karis whenever and wherever you are.”

“
I didn’t get to kiss her
at lunch today.” He appeared unhappy that she usurped
him.

She rolled her eyes. “You have kids.
You’re supposed to know how to share before you can teach
them.”

“
I share.” Emerson sounded
wounded.

Beside her, she was aware of Vlad’s
amusement at this inane, but typical, conversation with
Emerson.

“
You wouldn’t if your wife
and I didn’t make you.”

“
I make him, too,” Aleksi
inserted.

She turned amused eyes on him. “Hello,
Aleksi.” She smiled at their prince. “I’m happy you can force
Emerson into being a real human being.”

“
I try, but it is
hard.”

“
We of Rurikstan are
heartened by your willingness to improve the country.” She rocked
her toolbox as she gazed at Aleksi. The contents inside
rattled.

“
That’s why we’re here.”
Emerson and Aleski both turned to Vlad.

“
Ah, you’re here for
me.”

“
Yes, we need to speak
with you.”

“
Of course.” Vlad’s eyes,
when they turned to her, were chagrined. “I had hoped to accompany
you.”

“
It’s just as well you
won’t. You’re a huge distraction.”

Emerson sniggered. “He is
huge.”

Vlad didn’t react but she turned a
scowl on Emerson. Who threw up his hands and wandered off down the
hall, not alarmed in the least. Before he got eight steps, one of
the palace staff waylaid him and Emerson hurried off to take care
of their problem.

“
He keeps this palace
running smoothly,” Vlad said, as though this was an all new concept
to him.

“
I’m convinced the place
would fall apart without him.” Aleksi fanned the papers he carried.
“He also makes it look easy.”

“
Does he ever fluster?”
she wondered.

“
In all the years I’ve
known him I can think of only one time.” Aleksi appeared deep in
thought as he now rolled the papers.

“
And that was?”

“
When your sister started
dating Fergus MacCormick.”

“
Oh, I remember that.” She
pursed her lips. “That was not a happy time in Emerson’s
life.”

“
No. He took care of the
situation with his usual aplomb but Maks and I stepped lightly
around him for a few weeks.”

“
She dated another man for
a few weeks?” Vlad sounded incredulous.

“
Oh yes. Karis doesn’t
mess around.”

“
Not at all.” Aleksi
switched hands with the papers. She hoped they weren’t
important.

Vlad’s brows rose. “What did she do to
him?”

Both she and Aleksi laughed. “Anything
and everything she could to make him suffer.”

“
There’s a ruthless streak
in Karis that Emerson learned about early on.”

She shook her head. “That
he
slammed
into.”

“
Yes.” Aleksi nodded. “I’m
very happy that Karis has not taught Tia any of her
tricks.”

“
What did Karis do to
him?” Vlad repeated patiently.

“
Emerson wanted to wait
until he finished his military stint before dating her,” Helena
began.

“
But Karis had other
ideas,” Aleksi finished. He tapped the rolled up papers against his
opposite palm.

“
She wanted to date before
Emerson finished his military duty?”

“
Yes. She let him know in
no uncertain terms she was not interested in waiting for him to
‘pull himself together,’ as she put it.” She swung her
toolbox.

Aleksi winced. “I remember her being
quite succinct.”

“
That’s Karis.”

“
Why did she wish to date
so suddenly?”

She shrugged. “We grew up with him,
but one day Karis ‘noticed’ Emerson and he had already noticed her.
After she saw him in this different light, she was ready to start
dating, but Emerson likes to control everything.”

Aleksi rolled his eyes. “Yes. He
excels at that.”

“
Karis sent him a very
clear message.” She tilted her head to stare up at Vlad.

“
That message being that
she intended to date other men if he didn’t do her
bidding?”

“
Oh yes. He needed to
realize she wasn’t going to be some little ‘yes’ woman. Karis is
smart, funny, and impressive. She was already well educated and on
her way to a responsible job. Since she was ready Karis drew the
line for Emerson.”

Aleksi nodded. “You have to do that or
he’ll steamroll you.”

“
She figured that out.
Karis is the perfect match for him. But he wanted things his way,
so she started dating other men.”

“
Other
men
?” Vlad clarified.

“
I don’t remember any men
other than Fergus.” Aleksi stared at her.

“
Fergus was the first.
Remember Tomas Carmichael? Followed by John Warren and Brad
Cloftenstein, and there was another one I can’t
remember.”

“
I do recall all of them
now. She did throw a lot of men at his head.”

“
Yes. She made her
point.”

“
What point was that?”
Vlad’s eyebrows were nearly in his hairline and for once she could
read his expression. He didn’t look happy.

“
That other men found her
attractive and she was willing and able to date as many of them as
she wished.”

Aleksi tapped the papers again as he
grinned. “There wasn’t a thing Emerson could do to stop her unless
he dated her himself.”

“
I take it he got the
picture?” A muscle ticked in Vlad’s hard jaw.

She nodded. “Oh yes. He put his foot
down and told her she couldn’t date anyone but him.”