Bad Nerd Falling (34 page)

To his credit, Aleksi
didn’t so much as blink at her accusation. “Of course I want you
out of the country.” He wrapped an arm around her and hauled her
close. “If anything happened to you, I’d lose my mind. You
know
that. Therefore, I
need you out of the country. You have to return to Hershey right
now anyway. The timing is perfect.” He turned slightly confused
eyes on her. Like he had no idea why she was so upset.

“
My place is not in
Hershey right now,” she uttered through clenched teeth. Her hands
curled into tight fists. She couldn’t believe he didn’t understand
why she was so angry with him.

“
It is.” Aleksi disagreed
in that unbending, steel ridden voice he rarely used, but that made
even world leaders step back.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I am
not leaving you to face that alone.”

Aleksi’s lips thinned. “Yes, you are.”
Ben and his team, including Vlad, rose to flank him. An impressive
show of solidarity, not to mention testosterone.

“
You’re going to be on
that plane with Mark if it takes all of us to put you there.” Ben’s
voice sounded very much like Aleksi’s.

She turned her glare on her cousin.
“You can’t just arbitrarily decide this.”

“
Yes we can.” Ben remained
implacable, calm, and easygoing.

She swung back to Aleksi. “What about
your mother and Maria and Helena?”

“
My mother is leaving
tomorrow for additional treatment in London with my aunt. They’ll
be heavily guarded. Maria and Helena will be at the hospital where
they will be safer with the additional security there, working out
their contracts.”

Vlad turned to her. “They have to
finish at the hospital, so this is perfect timing. We’re also
keeping a tight watch on everything.”

“
So I have to leave the
country, but they’re allowed to stay?”

Ben shook his head. “We’re planning to
move as many women safely out of the country as possible, because
this terrorist faction has a known reputation for what they do to
female prisoners.”

He didn’t have to
elaborate because just the way he said it made it very obvious they
weren’t caring toward those women. She hated the very thought of
Maria or Helena in danger. “Can’t Maria and Helena just come with
me?” She refrained from adding the
since I
have to go, they might as well come along
although it was probably obvious.

“
That would be ideal, but
they must finish at the hospital,” Vlad said quietly. “It will be
much safer for them there.”

She didn’t have to strain to hear him,
yet found herself listening closely to that deep, sonorous voice.
There was something a little daunting and intimidating about
Vlad.

All Aleksi and Ben had to do was
threaten her with him and she’d probably do whatever they demanded.
Like get on the dratted plane today with Mark. She sent a frown to
Aleksi. He tightened his arm around her and she savored his
nearness.

The thought of losing him made her
swallow the huge knot in her throat and drag him closer. If she
could make him leave the country, she’d do the same. Only she
wasn’t in that position. So she understood his reasoning behind her
imminent departure, but she still didn’t like it.

While she was off safe in Hershey, he
might be killed.

Then her eyes slid to Vlad and
Ben.

Not if they could prevent it and she
realized that was why they were here.

She stared hard at Ben before
transferring her gaze to Vlad. “Don’t you dare let anything happen
to him.”

Ben’s lips curled up seconds before
Vlad’s did. “That’s why we’re here, princess.”

***

“
How long will you be
gone?” Helena stood in the lab with Maria and Jorge as they all
said goodbye to Tia.

“
I wish I knew.” Tia
looked pretty downcast, but that was to be expected.

“
Didn’t you say between
three and eight weeks?” Jorge prompted.

Tia started. “What? Oh, yes. I imagine
it will be around three, but I can’t be certain until I actually
sell my condo.”

“
We go to the hospital
tomorrow, is that correct?” Like her and Jorge, Maria didn’t sound
enthusiastic about that prospect.

“
Yes. Until you complete
all assigned tasks.”

“
I only have a couple of
those and it won’t take more than a few days to finish.” She wished
she didn’t have any.

“
As soon as we’re finished
we can return here, is that correct?” Jorge asked. They were all
feeling a little uncertain without Tia.

“
Yes. Pop in here during
the week as time allows.”

“
We’ve arranged that.”
Maria kept staring at her shoes, as though she couldn’t bear to see
Tia leave. She concurred.

A lump formed in her throat.
Swallowing didn’t begin to dislodge it. “This is going to be
awful,” she blurted before she could censor the
statement.

Everyone paused for a moment before
they all started laughing. “Yes, it is going to be awful. Although
I’m hopeful it won’t take long in Hershey and I can rush back
home.”

Despite her blithe words, it didn’t
sound like Tia was confident at all. She frowned. Why was that? It
seemed odd.

“
We hope for the same.”
Maria’s eyes sharpened as she watched Tia.

So that meant she wasn’t the only one
concerned for her. She frowned as she tried to sort out why. “Is
something wrong, Tia? I mean other than you’re leaving?”

Tia shook her head. “I’m just having a
really hard time going.”

Before any of them could answer, Mark
joined them. “We have to leave now.” He glanced at the clock on the
far wall. “Otherwise we’ll miss our flight.”

“
It’s Aleksi’s plane.
They’ll hold it for us.”

“
We pick up a commercial
flight at Heathrow, remember?”

“
Oh, that one.” All of
Tia’s sparkle appeared to have been left out in the rain and
rusted.

Tia hugged them and then waved
jauntily, but it was all faked. Like she was dragging her feet.
They accompanied the cousins to the door where they were joined by
lots of people. It looked like everyone in the palace had come to
see Tia off. That must happen when you were the
princess-to-be.

She was once again
heartily grateful she wasn’t Tia. In fact, she was quite thankful
to be ordinary, average Helena Dubrinsky. Then her eyes settled on
Vlad. Maybe she wasn’t all that normal since this man was the one
she wanted. Only an insane woman would take him on. An insane,
adventurous woman.
How had this
happened?

Once again, Tia hugged everyone,
Aleksi last, clinging to him like she never intended to let him go.
Their lips connected in a scorching kiss that must have numbed her
senses because Mark separated them and hauled her out to the
waiting car. He waved then shoveled Tia into the car, followed her
in, and they drove away.

By the time the limo disappeared, the
staff dispersed to their various tasks. Aleksi looked like he
wanted to run after the limo. A wave of sympathy washed over her
until she looked up and caught Vlad watching her.

In seconds, Vlad managed to separate
her from the others and somehow they found their way into a small
sitting room not far from the entrance hall. Or rather, he found it
and maneuvered her inside. It could be said that she didn’t
argue.

“
Did you have fun last
night?”

“
No.”

He frowned and gazed down at her like
he hadn’t heard her right. “You didn’t?”

“
You weren’t there for
supper.”

“
I couldn’t. I had to
work.”

While that made it a little easier to
bear, it was still heart-wrenching to not see him last
evening.

“
Am I ever going to get
used to your work hours?” She tugged him over to the flower
sprigged settee since it seemed silly to stand while they
talked.

Vlad didn’t answer for a few moments.
“Right now isn’t a normal business day.”

“
What’s
normal?”

“
Not this. We’ll have to
establish that at a later time.”

A nasty image formed in her brain.
Like how quickly Aleksi bundled Tia out of the country and the fact
that there were other warriors here with Vlad. Now that she thought
on it, there were more patrolling security than usual as
well.

Before those thoughts could coalesce,
Vlad leaned forward and kissed her. It was effective in smashing
all other thoughts.

They spent an enjoyable few minutes on
that flower sprigged sofa.

“
I need to get back to
work,” he murmured against her neck.

“
So do I.”

He bent and kissed her, hard, before
he headed to the door. That quickly, without another word to her,
Vlad exited the room. She was left blinking, perched on the flowery
settee, wondering what in the world had just happened.

She hoped this wasn’t what their lives
were going to be like. If indeed, they had a life together. Vlad
hadn’t mentioned that’s how he was thinking. He never mentioned the
future.

Stark fear and dismay spiraled through
her in a nasty double helix.

There had never been a conversation
between them about their future. They only seemed to live in the
present. But they did need to think about the future. They needed
to discuss it. Helena didn’t want to be his long-term girlfriend.
But she had never voiced what she wanted either, so it wasn’t just
him who wasn’t good at communicating.

Now the biggest question
was what
exactly
did she want from him?

***

“
Would you
relax?”

“
No,” Tia
decided.

“
What is wrong with you?”
Mark didn’t sound totally exasperated. Just a little.

“
He sent me home to
Hershey to get me out of the country.” Her tone was bitter mated
with despair.

Mark nodded. “Yes, Prince Aleksi is a
wise man.”

“
I should be there with
him.”

“
Why?”

“
Because… he might need
me.” That sounded stupid even to her own ears.

“
No, he needs to know
you’re safe. That’s what he needs from you right now.” Mark’s
pointed stare told her she was definitely thinking
stupid.

“
I
hate
this.”

“
That’s perfectly normal.
But right now you need to return home and take care of matters
there. Your timing was perfect.” Mark sent her a speaking look.
“Now that you’ll be safe in Hershey, he has the wherewithal to take
care of Rurikstan.”

“
You think his attention
would be divided if I was still there?” Her voice sounded really
small.

“
Yes.” Absolute conviction
wove through Mark’s affirmative.

“
I feel so helpless
though, on my way back to Hershey, when I feel I should be with
him.”

“
We just discussed this,”
he reiterated patiently.

“
I know. I have to return
to Hershey. It’s just that I left my heart in
Rurikstan.”

Mark’s face softened. “I’m sure you
did. But you’re doing what you need to do. Aleksi needs to know
you’re safe with your family right now.”

“
When can I return
home?”

He remained quiet as he stared at
her.

“
What?”

“
I guess I consider
Hershey home, but you don’t.”

She nodded. “Rurikstan is
now my home.” Her lower lip jutted out. “Actually, wherever Aleksi
is,
that’s
my
home.”

“
It’s amazing how that
happens, isn’t it?”

“
How what
happens?”

“
You meet someone and your
entire world is knocked askew.”

Mark almost sounded like he knew how
that felt. Maybe he did. When his voice trailed off, Tia glanced at
him. Ben had mentioned a certain woman he was interested in. A
nurse practitioner he met at work.

That reminded her of Leo’s news. “Tell
me about Leo’s friend Katy.”

He grinned. “The Morrison grapevine is
as fast and reliable as ever.”

“
Yes. I’ve heard all about
her and Leo.”

“
She’s a really good
friend and former roommate to Trixi, a nurse practitioner at the
hospital.” Her senses zoomed to high alert. So Mark
was
interested in this
Trixi while Leo wanted Katy.

Then she remembered what Ben said
about Leo having no clue he was in love with her. “Leo doesn’t know
he’s in love with Katy?”

Mark laughed. “They were instant best
friends. From the moment they met. Trixi and I have been amused by
them ever since.” She guessed he had no idea how much information
he gave away.