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

his arms. But he’d made so many promises to his father, to the White Army, and all he could think of was that moment his mother had been killed and how it had driven his father into a death spiral of his own. If Dimitri stopped it now before he and Elena grew any more attached, that might be the safest course of action for both of them.

“I can’t,” Dimitri murmured. He stepped out the front door into the chilly darkness. Elena was safe for now, and he needed time to raise a wall around his heart.

He walked all the way to the riverbank and stared out at the black expanse of the plateau, drinking in the starlight. His mind replayed Elena lying beside him, her eyes reflecting the vast expanse of the Milky Way. Fate was cruel, offering him the only dream he had ever truly wanted, and then pulling it away.

13

Dimitri didn’t return to the house for nearly half an hour. He stood beneath the stars near the blanket and pillows he’d brought out for him and Elena to stargaze on. It was strange to think that a mere hour before he’d believed these stars held all the answers, that he and Elena were blessed to have found each other. Now the stars were once again out of reach. He’d never imagined he’d face being torn between duty and love in this way, yet here he was, being pulled apart.

He picked up the blanket and pillows and began the walk back to the lodge. When he stepped through the doorway, he found his friends gathered in the kitchen, talking softly to one another as they drank a few beers. It seemed they had brought their own groceries. Nicholas offered him a beer. He shook his head.

“Did you handle the body?” he asked them. It was easier to focus on work than his forbidden desires.

“Yes,” Maxim replied grimly. “You owe me for that.”

“We found his boat anchored half a mile out to sea.” Nicholas leaned back against the kitchen counter. “He must have swum to shore, which is why Leo didn’t get any hits on the facial recognition software. We also found his burner phone in a waterproof pouch in his wet suit.”

“Find anything on it?” Dimitri asked.

Leo nodded. “I made a call to his handler and used old voice records we had on file to simulate his voice. Told him the mission was complete. It wasn’t easy, but I think the handler bought it. He was ordered to return home to Moscow. My guess is this is his usual routine for foreign missions.”

“So we bought ourselves maybe two days,” Dimitri guessed. Two days wasn’t much, but it gave them a little time to regroup and plan how they would handle this.

“I think so, but we have to be careful. They have pictures of you kissing her, Dimitri. From what I could tell, he’s already shared those pictures with his handler. They’ll dive into every file they’ve got on you to figure out why you’re here with her. They don’t believe in coincidences. Once they learn their agent is dead, they’ll start piecing things together. I’ve kept your online presence clean, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be watching you closely.”

They were both targets now. There was no place to hide that they would not eventually be tracked down. Dimitri dragged his hands through his hair so hard that it hurt. “She’ll be on the run for the rest of her life.”

“There is one option.” Nicholas set his beer down, all humor gone for the moment. Leo and Maxim looked confused. Dimitri had no idea what Nicholas meant either.

“You guys are way too introverted,” Nicholas muttered. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and tapped on his screen, then let them see.

“The United Nations is having a massive gala. It’s their annual humanitarian awards. The event is coming up.”

“Are you serious, Nick?” Maxim growled. “Just put a target on her forehead and feed her to the wolves?”

“No, of course not. Think about it—you bring the last true Romanov out to a United Nations event, you make her so public that she becomes—”

“Untouchable,” Dimitri finished. His heart was beating harder than usual. The four of them fell into a moment of silence.

“Every leader in the world will see her, meet her, and love her,” Nicholas added.

“All but one,” Maxim said, his eyes dark. “And he won’t be able to touch her.”

“It’s not the most insane plan we’ve ever had,” Leo mused. “But we would need reinforcements. We need to light the signal fires, so to speak.”

Dimitri could almost see it now. The White Army stepping out of the darkness, shedding the ashes of the past and heralding a brighter, better future with Elena at the forefront. She could never rule Russia, nor would he want her to, but her existence and reemergence would be of huge cultural significance. She could change the world if she wanted to.

“It might be possible . . .” Dimitri reached for the nearest unopened beer, but a sudden scream shattered the quiet.

He ran up to the master bedroom to find Elena shivering in her bed, arms wrapped tight around her body. The other three men barreled into him from behind.

“Elena, are you all right?” Dimitri approached the bed, his eyes sweeping the room. There was no sign of an intruder, which meant her nightmares were back.

“I’m fine.” She looked away from all of them and pulled the sheets and the comforter up to her chest.

Maxim gave Dimitri a pointed look as he left the room. “I think you can handle this.”

Leo offered Elena a warm, brotherly smile before leaving as well.

Nicholas clapped a hand on Dimitri’s shoulder as he joined the others and leaned in to whisper, “Stay with her.”

Dimitri closed the door, and darkness descended in the room. He turned on the lamp by the bed, illuminating Elena’s pale face.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you guys. I just had a small freak-out.”

He