Prime Target (23 page)
Authors: Marquita Valentine
Tags: #Assassin, #Russia, #espionage, #romantic thriller, #action and adventure, #terrorists, #London
I bite my lip. “I can’t live without you either.” It’s the truth. I can’t expect him to be honest with me, if I can’t give him honesty in return. “But what about your shop, your name…and I have your cat.”
He throws his head back and laughs. “I bet she still doesn’t like you.”
“Not one bit.”
Giving me a side glance, he asks, “How would you feel about living here? There’s a house off Page Avenue that’s for sale. I put in an offer today.”
“That’s
my
house.”
A knowing gleam enters his blue eyes. “Really?” he says in that clipped accent I love.
I gasp in pure shock. “You’ve been planning this the entire time. Did my parents help you?”
“Perhaps.” He grins. “Your father and I have had many talks over the phone about the proper way to court a southern lady. I am expected at church service, and then Sunday dinner tomorrow.”
“How did you convince them?”
“Everly, I’m charming when I want to be,” he says cockily, reminding me of his cousin.
A light bulb goes off. “Benjamin helped you, didn’t he?”
He shrugs one shoulder. “Perhaps.”
“Tell him I said thank you.” I kiss him lightly on the lips. “I have a massage to cancel. Want to come with me, and then we can get out of here?”
“No.”
My face falls.
“I’m the one giving you the massage.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Actually, I was going to wait, knock out the original masseuse, change clothes, and surprise you.”
“Glad you changed your mind. I’d rather our reunion not be in jail.”
We start walking to the entrance of the spa, hand in hand. “It’s hard to think of such things differently. But I’ll try,” he adds quickly. “For you, the woman I love and adore, I’ll try anything.”
Stopping, I wrap my arms around him and stand on my tiptoes. “I love you, Roman Smith.” I kiss him. “Nikolai Romanov.” I kiss him again. “New identity I don’t know yet.”
“It’s Roman Smith,” he says.
“Why?”
“Because that’s the name that brought us together.”
Two years later
E
very Wednesday, at
precisely four o’clock, Everly Smith enters our bookstore to pick up her latest package of romance novels.
Our son holds out his chubby arms as soon as he sees me. He’s all of fourteen months old and keeps his mother running from sunup to sundown.
“Papa! Papa! Missed you!” he shouts, and I hold out my arms.
“Nicky, Nicky!” I shout back playfully. “Missed you, too.”
As soon as Everly puts him down, he runs to me and I grab him, throwing him up into the air. He trusts me to catch him on the way down. And I do, every time.
Sticky kisses cover my cheek.
“Go play with Ben. He’s in the back.” I set him down, and then yell for my brother. He moved to Asheville a little over a year ago to attend the university here and work for me. Though he doesn’t need to financially, emotionally, I think, he needed the normal life—the college experiences and the chance to be a kid. Something neither of us ever had.
“Got him,” Ben shouts. “Fist bump, little man. Let’s go play a new game.”
Everly comes to me, then, her emerald eyes shining. “How’s business?”
“Slow.” Boring. Tedious. But there’s no way I’d admit that to her. There are times I crave the adventure my life used to be, but my new life, with Everly and our son—the world does not possess enough treasures for me to give it up. “Yours?”
“Fun. Exciting. My newest client’s store features crocheted beards for dogs and cats to wear. They’re selling like hotcakes.”
The woman always did have a way of finding the most extraordinary people. “Excellent.” I kiss her on the nose. “Wonderful.” I kiss her cheek. But before I go any lower, the bell above my door rings and I straighten.
A man I’ve never seen before walks inside. “Mr. Smith,” he says in an English accent. “Mr. Romanov requires your services.” He nods at Everly. “Providing that Mrs. Smith is agreeable to the terms. He said that there is no one he trusts more.”
My hands curl into fists at the compliment and the enticement. “I no longer provide those services.”
The man smiles. “You’ve never before provided these services.” He hands Everly a book. Frowning, she opens it and scans what’s inside.
A moment later, she looks up at me, excitement in her eyes. “You need to read this.”
I read the coded message inside. “
A duchess has been kidnapped
? But Sebastian is not yet an earl.”
“You are correct. But his good friend, Liam Stewart, is the one in need.”
“I think you should do this,” Everly says.
“Absolutely not.”
“Is it dangerous?” This she asks of the stranger.
“Potentially, but honestly, all they want is money. You would facilitate that, and bring the duchess to the location specified in the document.”
“And that’s all?”
He nods. “Your family is welcome to stay at Mr. Romanov’s London townhome while you are…busy. In any case, you have six hours to get back to me. My information is also in the document.” He tips his hat to Everly. “Madam.”
The bell rings once more as he leaves.
“She’s right, you know.” Ben appears, holding Nicky in his arms. “I’ll go with her and little man. Watch over them while you do your thing.”
“My
thing
?”
Everly turns her hand into a mock gun. “You know.
Pew
.
Pew.
”
Slightly affronted, I begin to defend my guns and the sounds they make. “No.”
“Yes.” She marches to me. “I went into this relationship knowing what you used to do. I never wanted you to stop,
if
that’s what you had to do—I only wanted you to be honest with me and say what you were doing.”
“Roman Smith,” Ben says. “Shopkeeper by day, retrieval expert by night. I quite like the sound of that.”
“Well, then by all means, I
must
go. What with a proper job title and all that.” I roll my eyes at him. “I cannot, in good conscience—”
Everly places a finger on my lips. “Do you want to save the girl or not?”
I pull out my phone and call the number written on the front page of the book. A familiar voice answers on the first ring.
“Have you made a decision, then?” he asks pleasantly.
“Tell Mr. Romanov I’d be delighted to help.” I hang up. It feels as though everyone’s eyes are on me. “What?” Anticipation runs through me, twining with excitement. “I figured it would be nice to be the hero for once.”
My wife lets out a little sigh. “Roman, you have
always
been the hero of our story.”
Order the next book in The Target Series –
HARD TARGET
Releases
February 16, 2016
Meet Roman Smith: Shopkeeper by Day. Assassin by Night.
The undercover Russian contract killer has never turned down an assignment that rids the world of scum… until his latest job targets an innocent man. Refusing is not an option because of Everly Andrews, the sexy southern belle who saved him from dying. Completely unaware of his double life, she’s been marked as next on the kill list should he fail. Only what the Bratva doesn’t know—there’s nothing Roman won’t do to keep Everly safe.
The countdown has begun, and it won’t stop until his next target, or Everly, is terminated. Can he protect his lover until he eliminates the threat to her life, or will she be another casualty of a family grab for power in the Bratva?
Marquita Valentine is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of contemporary romance, new adult, and romantic suspense.
Since first taking the plunge in July of 2012 to self-publish, Marquita has appeared on the Top 100 Bestselling Ebooks Lists on iBooks, Amazon Kindle, and Barnes&Noble. She’s been called “one of the best new voices in romance” (Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews) and her books have been accused of being “a sexy, fun, and slightly addicting contemporary read” (The Book Queen).
When she’s not writing sexy heroes who adore their sassy heroines, she enjoys shopping, reading, and spending time with her family and friends. Married to her high school sweetheart, Marquita lives in a seriously small town in the south with her husband, two kids, and a dog.
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