Dark Desire by Lauren Smith (an ebook reader txt) 📗

on his laptop as they entered the office and stopped at the front desk.

“We would like a room, please,” Dimitri said in a flawless American accent. He removed a wad of cash from his wallet.

“Sure thing, no problem,” the young man said. “All we have left are king-size beds. Is that okay?”

“King-size is fine,” Dimitri replied. “If number six on the back side is available, we’d like it.”

“Sure. You guys newlyweds?”

“We are.” Dimitri wrapped an arm around her waist, pulled her into his side, and pressed a kiss to her temple. Elena wanted to melt into him. In the last several hours, she had felt lost all over again, tired and defeated by the world, but his touch, his kiss, even so innocent a one, was like a strong rainfall after months of drought. She soaked him up, clinging to him in return.

“Congratulations! You guys look like you’re really in love.” The young man handed Dimitri a room key. “What name should I put down?”

“John St. Michael.”

“No problem. Have a great night.” The clerk waved at them as they left. She and Dimitri walked to the room near the car and let themselves in.

“You should rest for a bit. I will bring in our suitcases.” His accent was back. She’d actually missed it.

Elena wanted to help him, but the exhaustion was catching up to her again. She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes, but when she heard the door click shut and Dimitri moving about the room, she forced herself to sit up.

“Here, change into these.” Dimitri placed her pajamas in her arms, and on top was her toothbrush and toothpaste. He always thought of everything.

“Thanks.” She shut herself inside the small bathroom, changed, and brushed her teeth, then headed straight to bed. He had already pulled the covers back for her. The inviting nature of so small a thing made her throat tighten. He truly did care about her.

“Go to sleep, kiska. I’ll wake you in the morning,” he said.

“You’ll sleep with me tonight?” she asked as she buried her face in the pillow.

“Of course.” He bent over and pressed a light kiss to her cheek. “As long as I am with you, and you wish it, you will never sleep alone.”

Dimitri washed his face in the bathroom and stripped out of his clothes before he checked on the small cut on his head. The liquid stitches were holding well. He tried to distract himself from thinking about Leo’s message and to focus on what to do when they reached Colorado. But every one of his thoughts came back to Code 78.

He hadn’t been able to tell Elena everything. He could barely believe it himself. He had been telling the truth when he had said that her blood, her very DNA, was special. The code was reserved only for close relatives of the Romanov family. Leo must have found some matching genetic code to one of the relatives of the imperial family. She wouldn’t be the only one. There were dozens of minor relatives who had escaped Russia. The question was, which one was Elena connected to? And why was the government coming after her and not the others?

He retrieved his phone from the small desk in the bedroom and left Leo a voice mail. “Twenty-three, nine, eight, four, sixty-seven.” The code would allow Leo to know that Dimitri was on the move with Elena after having put down a threat, and they were headed northeast from Vegas through Utah and then to Colorado. He would leave another message soon, but there was no point until he decided where in Utah they would stop for the night. Leo wouldn’t bother with commercial airlines—he would use the private jet so they wouldn’t be stuck waiting on flight times. But that still left somewhere between 6 and twelve hours before he would be set up in the United States. Dimitri would have to give him a heads-up on where to rendezvous.

Dimitri peeked through the curtain to check the parking lot, and then re-locked the front door before he retrieved his gun and sat down on the edge of the bed by Elena. She was already fast asleep. He marveled at the amount of trust that had to involve. He scraped a hand over his jaw as he realized he had one more call to make. He dialed Royce on a secure line.

A sleepy voice answered after half a dozen rings. “Dimitri?”

“We had to leave Malibu.”

“What? Why?” Royce sounded more alert now.

“It’s a long story, but there’s a dead Russian agent in your basement.”

“A dead Russian . . . in my basement? You know there are better gifts to give a friend. Like an expensive bottle of scotch.” Royce was teasing, but Dimitri didn’t miss the worry in his friend’s words.

“I promise it will be handled soon. There was some damage to your place. Bullet holes, a couple of lamps . . .”

“Those are replaceable,” Royce assured him. “Are you both all right?”

“Yes, thanks to you. I borrowed the Kevlar vest and the handgun. I figured you wouldn’t mind.”

“And to think Wes gave me hell for putting a bulletproof vest in the closet of my beach house. Who’s laughing now?” Dimitri managed a smile. Wes Thorne, their mutual friend, always believed Royce overreacted, but Royce had been right this time.

“I took two shots to the chest, so you can tell Thorne I’m on your side on that issue.”

“Fuck. What about Elena?”

“He got to her. The bullets slowed me down.” He winced as his cracked ribs protested. “She’s alive, but . . .” Dimitri struggled to finish. The sight of her bruised neck replayed in his mind again and again. “She’s shaken.”

“How is she handling it? That kid has been through so much, and she’s only twenty.”

“I know.” He kept forgetting how young Elena was. She seemed so mature, so brave, an old soul, as his grandmother would have said. But she really was young. He tried to remember what he had felt like at her age.