Page 24

S he wears black to our wedding.

Kaz laughs behind me as I watch my bride and my sister walk down the winding staircase together. Elana has a worried smile on her lips while my bride stares me down as she steps onto the landing in the foyer.

“I guess we know how the bride feels about the wedding.” Kaz smacks my back, then walks over to Elana to get her out of the line of fire.

If she thinks a little wardrobe tantrum will alter the plans, she’s about to be disappointed.

Megan makes her way to me with a smug smile firmly on her lips.

“Do you like it?” She runs her hands over the black beading of the bodice that gives way to a large skirt. None of her curves are noticeable in this black tent she’s wearing. The neckline is basically up to her chin.

“Where did you find it?” The dresses I had brought over from Vira Wang Bridal for her to choose from did not have this monstrosity among them.

“You don’t like it?” She feigns a frown and looks down at the dress. “The beads are so pretty, though.” One of them pops off as she plays with it, and it rolls across the floor. “Oops.”

“If this is the dress you want to get married in, who am I to say anything about it?” Another ping sounds as a bead falls to the floor at my feet.

“She still has time to change,” Elana says. “Maybe we should look at the rack again.”

“No.” Megan keeps her eyes trained on me as she shakes her head. “I like this one.”

“If this is what she wants to wear, I’ll allow it.” I’m gifted with the fire only her eyes can burn at my words. She couldn’t have thought I would stop the wedding because of a repulsive dress. The woman beneath the mountain of fabric is anything but, and once the vows are spoken, I’ll get her out of it.

“You’ll allow it?” The fake excitement is a bit much, even for her. “Oh, gee, thanks, daddy.”

Leaning down so only she can hear me, I say, “Keep it up, and I’ll put you over daddy’s knee and spank you right here. Then you can spend the rest of the day in the corner like a naughty little girl should.”

Fuck. What had started out as a way to deter her from letting her attitude get any more out of hand, has turned into a raging hard-on.

I think she’s going to have to spend some time in the corner when I get rid of my siblings. Just for good measure.

“What a beautiful bride,” Judge Slovene pipes up from his position near the fireplace after our glaring match continues. “If you’re both ready?”

“We are.” I step to her side and cup her elbow, trying not to step on the puddle of fabric at her feet.

“I’m not sure. I might need more time.” She tugs slightly, but I firm my grip. If I have to chase this woman anymore, I’m going to tie her to me.

“She doesn’t,” I assure him, half dragging her across the living room. His eyebrows rise slightly, but one shake of my head and he settles his features. His consent to this marriage isn’t needed, and I can only fight one battle at a time.

“You should know, he’s threatened to shoot me if I don’t marry him,” she announces once we’re standing in front of him.

The judge schools his features, but I can see his throat work as he swallows back his conscience.

“You can begin.” I gesture to him.

He clears his throat and begins.

“Marriage is a commitment to share your life together and to grow with each other in a lifelong partnership. Today, you are committing to that union, to love, honor, and cherish one another.”

Her body goes rigid as the judge speaks. She believes marriages can’t work, and ours isn’t exactly starting off with any sort of fairy-tale romance.

“Do you, Alexander Volkov, take Megan Reed to be your lawfully wedded wife, to live together in marriage, to honor her and to protect her with your very life if needed, in sickness and in health for as long as you both shall live?”

Her brow wrinkles when she hears the vows I altered for our wedding. The standard commitment didn’t fit for us, and she needs to know I mean what I say when I speak these words.

I wait until she brings those sparkly blue eyes of hers to meet mine before answering.

“I do.”

“And do you, Megan Reed, take Alexander Volkov, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to live together in marriage, to honor him, to cherish him, and to obey him, in sickness and in health for as long as you both shall live?”

Her lips pinch together.

“Obey him?” She starts to pull away again, but I bring her back, steadying her before she can trip on that god-awful dress.

“Say the words, Megan,” I warn.

She blows out a heavy sigh with an added eye roll.

“Fine.”

Elana giggles from somewhere behind me, matching Kaz’s laughter over the whole thing. One day he’ll find a woman who turns him inside out like this one does me, and then we’ll see who’s laughing.

“I think that’s as good as you’re getting, Judge,” Ivan says when the judge seems to be waiting for the right response from Megan. “Let’s wrap it up.”

The judge takes another peek at Megan’s glower and nods.

“Right. By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may uh… well… kiss the bride.”

He hasn’t even gotten the last word out before I wrap my hand around her neck and pull her to me. At first, her hands push against my chest, but it only takes a little nibble to her lip to get her to soften against me.

When I break the kiss, she stares up at me for a moment, and I wish I could hear her thoughts. They seem to be all jumbled together. The thing about Megan is having a clear line works best. When there’s too much at one time, she doubts herself. And then she gets herself into trouble.

She lets out a little sigh.

I release her and she turns to the judge.

“So, do I go directly to you for a divorce, or should I get an attorney?” she asks Judge Slovene. Panicked eyes meet mine when he looks over her shoulder at me.

I can’t help the little smile pulling on my lips. I fold my arms over my chest as I await his answer.

He clears his throat.

“Well, I don’t usually handle that sort of thing…” he trails off with a plea in his gaze as he sweeps the room.

“She’s kidding,” Elana assures him, rushing forward and grasping Megan by the arm.

“Not really.” Megan lifts a shoulder.

“I’ll walk you out.” Ivan steps in and gives the judge an exit strategy. He shoots me a glare as he follows the judge from the living room to the foyer.

When Megan finally turns to me, her features have softened slightly. “I should go change.”

“No. Absolutely not.” I grab her hand, bringing it up to my mouth, and kiss her knuckles. “I’ve had Mrs. Wells make a special meal for us. It’s waiting in the dining room.”

She frowns.

“It will only take a few minutes.” She glances over at Elana, looking for help I assume, but it’s not going to come from that corner of the room.

“People are waiting for us.” I firmly plant her arm through mine and pull her along.

“What does that mean?” She doubles her efforts to stop, but I’m stronger and more than willing to carry her if need be. She wanted to play games, why stop now?

When we get to the double doors of the dining room, Elana comes to stand behind my wife.

“I told you not to wear that ugly thing,” she whispers.

Megan twists her neck to look at Elana, then back at me.

“What’s going on?”

“ Pozdravlyaem !” The dining room is filled with the Volkov men and a handful of women.

I freeze at the door.

“You should have listened to me,” Elana whispers again.

“You could have told me about this,” I mutter back at her.

“What’s wrong, wife?” Alexander squeezes my hand.

“You’re trying to humiliate me,” I accuse, but there isn’t much fire behind the words. Hadn’t I just done the same thing by wearing this atrocity to the ceremony?

There’s a crush of people making their way toward us, many speaking to Alexander in Russian. I’m barely acknowledged other than a quick glance before they give their congratulations to him.

“Congratulations on your wedding.” A man hands Alexander an envelope.

Alexander takes the gift and hands it off to Kaz who holds several other envelopes. Most of the men make a quick greeting before heading away from us, but this man switches to Russian and draws Alexander into a conversation.

“Who was that?” I ask when they finally stop talking and the man rejoins a smaller group in the far corner of the room.

“His name is Oleg, one of my men.” Alexander gestures toward a waitstaff carrying a tray of champagne glasses.

“He didn’t even look at me. None of them did,” I comment when Alexander hands me a glass of champagne during a short interlude of well-wishers.

“Because if their eyes linger longer than appropriate, even for a second, I’ll have them cut from their heads.” He speaks with such sincerity, but he has to be joking. He’s not that mad, is he?

“That’s a little extreme.” I try to laugh off his ridiculous comment. “Even for you.”

After I down the champagne, he removes the flute from my hand.

“It’s my way, Megan. What’s mine is mine, and I will do whatever I have to in order to keep it safe.” His eyes are firm when he says this. He’s told me this before, but it’s different somehow this time. Like his words are heavier now that I bear his last name.

“A lingering look isn’t dangerous,” I nearly whisper. His possessive glare has me captivated.

“It is for them.” He places my empty flute on the table. “Dinner will be served soon. Go up and change into something else. I think we’ve both made our points.”

I look around the large dining room with the extended table with settings for twenty. These are his men and their wives, and they’ve come to congratulate him on his marriage. It’s important, I’m sure, to make this event somewhat public so word will travel that he’s married me, but these are his men. No matter how pissed he makes me, trying to embarrass him with this dress was in bad taste.

“Thanks. I’ll be back in twenty.” I pick up the massive amount of fabric of the skirt and make my way to the doors. Elana is at my side as soon as I’m in the hall.

“I’ll help you.” She smiles and takes some of the burden of the fabric as we head through the house back up to Alexander’s bedroom.

Well, our bedroom now, I suppose.

“I can’t believe you actually wore this thing.” Elana laughs as she grapples with the antique zipper.

“If you had told me there was going to be all those other people, I wouldn’t have.” I step out of the dress once it’s pooled at my feet and head over to the rack of dresses he had brought over from Vera Wang.

VERA WANG!

I’ve never been a fashionista, but even I understand the luxury of wearing a Vera Wang wedding dress.

“I didn’t know, to be honest. I knew he asked Mrs. Wells to make a special dinner, but he didn’t mention all those people. It was only when he brought us to the larger dining room that I realized what was happening.” Elana kicks the black dress into the corner of the room.

“He’s just so… so… demanding.” I grit my teeth a little with the memory of his dictates about getting married. “I mean, he didn’t ask me to marry him, Elana. He demanded it. He said I had to. I wasn’t lying about the threat to shoot me.”

She stops sorting through the dresses to give me an exasperated look.

“He wouldn’t shoot you.”

“You don’t know that. He’s shot at me before,” I tell her. “Well, it was a shot in the air because I was running away from him, but still.”

She laughs. “That sounds like him. When I was about eight, our dad sent Alexander’s mom to Russia for the summer. He made me come stay with him for a month. Now my father never gave me the time of day, so I have no idea why he did that, especially since he didn’t even spend any time with me that month. He pawned me off on the boys.”

“That had to be hard, having a father like that.” Would Alexander be that way to our children? I shake the thought from my head. This isn’t going to last long enough for children. Once the danger passes, he has to come to his senses.

She lifts a shoulder. “I got used to it pretty quick. He at least didn’t ignore me financially. But anyway, I was so mad that I had to be here instead of home with my friends, I ran away. Or at least I tried. Alexander found me two blocks away. He didn’t say anything. The big brute just walked right up to me, picked me up, and carried me home.”

I laugh at the image of a twenty-four-year-old Alexander carrying his little sister down the street.

“Did he yell at you?”

“No.” She laughs. “He just brought me to my room and told me to stay put.”

“Well. You’re his sister, of course he was protective and overbearing to you.” I pick out an ivory strapless drop-waist A-line gown with a black horsehair sash. It’s one of the most beautiful dresses I’ve ever seen with feathered tulle flower embroidery not only on the skirt but on the bodice buttons on the back.

Elana takes the dress from my hands and lays it on the bed to start unbuttoning the back bodice.

“He’s like that with those he cares about, Megan. That’s what I’m telling you.” She slides the hanger from the dress and tosses it on the bed. “I know he forced you down there today, and it’s not what you wanted, but he only goes to these extremes for people he really cares about. If he didn’t give a shit about you, he wouldn’t have just married you.”

“Well, it’s temporary.”

She freezes and turns a raised eyebrow at me. “If you really believe that, you’re lying to yourself. Alexander took vows down there, and he takes his vows seriously.”

Before I can argue that this is all really unnecessary, my phone vibrates on the nightstand. Hoping it’s Mira finally checking in, I grab it and swipe the screen to life.

Time’s up. Where’s the drive?