Behind the Palace Walls Read online

  “You are Mr. Valishnikov?”

  He shook his head. “I am the other V.”

  If anything, her eyes grew bigger. Her fingers flew to her mouth, pressed against her lips. When her hand dropped away, her face was pale.

  “Oh my God,” she said. “You’re Prince Voronov.”

  It was snowing as the Mercedes moved through the city. Fat flakes that ghosted down and gathered on the pavement. Paige stared wide-eyed out the window. She’d never seen so much snow in her life, and it was April! Dallas was balmy this time of year, and Atkinsville, on the Gulf Coast where she’d grown up, had always been temperate.

  She wanted to turn to the man sitting beside her, to thank him for taking her back to the hotel so early when the meeting wasn’t for another two and a half hours, but she couldn’t look at him.

  Alexei Voronov. A prince. She’d been kissing a prince. Trying to seduce him when her feelings were hurt, and he’d turned her down flat. Of course he had! Not only was he a Russian prince, but he was also gorgeous on top of that. Not at all the sort of man to be interested in her.

  Paige’s face grew hot as she thought about how he’d kissed her in Red Square, the way his body ground against hers, the way she’d nearly splintered apart simply from the delicious pressure.

  A game, she reminded herself. A necessary act to save them both.

  But the man who’d rescued her wasn’t just any prince. He was Prince Voronov—and Chad seemed to hate him. According to Chad, Prince Voronov was determined to absorb Russell Tech into his vast operations—which he would be in a prime position to do if he acquired Valishnikov’s land.

  If he succeeded in his quest, Russell Tech would cease to exist.

  Jobs would be lost, people displaced—including herself. She wasn’t unemployable, but in this current economic climate, how long would it take to find a new job? And how would she make her rent and utilities until then?

  Worse, would she find new work in time to make Emma’s tuition payment next semester?

  Last night, she’d had plenty of time to think as she’d tossed and turned in the guest room Alexei had shown her to, and she’d realized that though she was hurt, it wasn’t Emma’s fault at all. Paige had never said she had a crush on Chad, and it wasn’t fair to be mad at Emma. Her sister couldn’t help being beautiful and vivacious; of course Chad had been attracted to her!

  “You are very quiet, Paige.”

  She turned her head slowly, steeling herself to meet Alexei’s gaze. Would she still see pity in his eyes? It was nothing but wishful thinking to hope he’d forgotten how she’d thrown herself at him after he’d told her about Chad and Emma. She wanted to sink into the leather cushions and disappear, but since that wasn’t happening, she forced herself to be cool under pressure.

  “I’m just thinking,” she said. “We don’t get snow in April where I’m from.”

  His smile made her heart thump. “Ah yes, it is quite tropical where you live.”

  “I wouldn’t say tropical.”

  He shrugged. “Compared to Moscow?”

  Paige swallowed. He was too handsome, this man. Too easy to look at. She found herself wondering what it would have been like if he hadn’t pushed her away.

  Mind-blowing, no doubt.

  “I see your point.”

  “You should see my home in St. Petersburg,” he continued. “It is an old estate dating back several hundred years in my family. The snow is pristine, undisturbed. There are wolves that howl during the night, and the stars shine so brightly you cannot believe. It is perfect for a troika ride.”

  She had a vision from a movie, of a couple bundled under a fur and riding through the snow in a sleigh with jingling bells. It seemed so romantic, though of course he hadn’t mentioned it for that reason.

  “That sounds lovely,” she replied.

  “Perhaps I will show it to you someday,” he said, and her heart thumped harder.

  Was he flirting with her?

  Impossible. A man like him dated movie stars and models, not plain secretaries who were so pitiful they could only admire a man from afar.

  “I don’t see how,” she replied truthfully, “though it’s a nice thought. We are leaving in a few days, and St. Petersburg is not on our itinerary.”

  His gaze glittered strangely. “Do you intend to take your lover back after what he did?”

  Shock zapped her like an electrical current. “Chad Russell is my boss, not my lover.”

  “Is that so?”

  She thrust her chin forward. “Yes, it is.”

  He laced his fingers between hers, brought her hand to his mouth. She was too stunned to pull away as his lips touched the back of her hand. “Then that is really too bad for him, isn’t it? But it’s excellent for me.”

  When he released her, she clamped her hands together in her lap. Her skin still tingled from his touch. “I don’t know why,” she said as the blood roared in her ears. “You had your chance last night and you didn’t take it.”

  Had she really just said that to him?

  His laugh was not what she expected. “When I take you, maya krasavitsa, it will not be as you cry over another man.”

  Her face flamed. “I wasn’t crying over Chad.”

  His expression said he didn’t believe it. She turned her head to watch the snow again. Damn him for seeing so deeply into her. Her shattered romantic fantasy hadn’t been the only thing she’d cried over, but she wasn’t planning to share everything about her life with this man in order to correct his impression.

  He was nothing to her, in spite of the heat of attraction she felt. After he dropped her off, she would never talk to him again.

  “I think perhaps you are in love with Chad Russell,” he said from behind her, “even if he is not your lover. And I think you are bitterly disappointed to learn he has chosen your sister over you.”

  Paige whirled, both stunned and furious. “You have no idea what you’re talking about!”

  “I am not a blind man, Paige.”

  Her breath stabbed in her chest. Was she that transparent? Had Chad always known it, too? Was that why he’d taken her to lunch? To try to let her down easily?

  My God.

  “Leave me alone, Prince Voronov,” she said coldly. “I appreciate your help, but that doesn’t give you the right to pick my life apart for your amusement. You don’t know anything about me, so save your rude speculation.”

  The car drew to a halt, but she couldn’t seem to look away from the man staring so intently back at her. His icy gray eyes weren’t cold like she expected—they were hot, boring beneath her skin.

  “Then I apologize,” he said after what seemed an eternity of them staring at each other in silence. “I would never want to hurt you.”

  The door swung open and she realized they were at the hotel, that a valet waited for her to exit. But everything in the car was surreal, and she found it hard to break away. The next time she saw this man, it would be at a meeting of corporate bigwigs. He would not notice her—nor did she want him to.

  If Chad knew she’d spent the night with Prince Alexei Voronov, even though it was innocent, he’d go through the roof.

  And she’d definitely be out of a job.

  “Thank you for your help,” she said again. She felt like a broken recording, but what else could she say? Paige tried her best to smile as if she wasn’t still raw inside. “I suppose this is goodbye then.”

  Alexei’s smile was wolfish. “Ah, but this is not goodbye, is it? We will see each other again, Paige Barnes. We will see a lot of each other, I promise you.”

  Paige hurried from the car and dashed inside the hotel lobby without looking back. Her skin was hot, in spite of the frigid weather, and she stripped off her coat in the elevator as it sped to her floor.

  Why did Alexei Voronov rattle her so much? Yes, they’d skipped a few steps with that meeting in Red Square, but a kiss was a kiss. Wasn’t it?

  Paige’s ears were hot. No, it definitely was
n’t. That kiss had been molten hot, and so had the kisses later, in his apartment.

  That didn’t make the kisses extraordinary, however. And, really, how would she know? She had very little to base it on.

  Paige fished her key from her coat and slipped into the room she shared with Emma. A pang of feeling pierced her heart, but she pushed it aside. So what if Emma was with Chad? Paige was so over it.

  “Oh my God, where have you been? I’ve been so worried!”

  Paige stopped dead in the midst of trying to close the door silently, in case Emma was in bed after all, and turned very slowly to face her sister.

  Emma’s pretty face was lined with worry. Paige’s heart squeezed in her chest.

  “I’m sorry, Emma. I couldn’t sleep and went for a walk.” The lie slipped from her tongue with ease, but guilt followed in its wake. She didn’t like lying to her sister, but it was easier than explaining what had really happened.

  And safer, too, since Emma could be a chatterbox. She would innocently let slip the information that Paige had been with the evil head of Voronov Exploration, and that would be the end of Paige Barnes’s career at Russell Tech. She’d be on the next plane home with her tail tucked between her legs and no reference to find a new job.

  She couldn’t even think about the potential repercussions to Emma and her budding romance, if that’s what it was, with Chad.

  Emma tossed her glorious blond hair, her face shifting into a pout that Paige knew only too well. “You could have left a note.”

  “Why would I do that?” Paige asked. “You never wake up before eight anyway.”

  Emma had the grace to look sheepish. “Well, I did today. And you weren’t here. I was about to call Chad to help me find you.”

  Déjà vu. Paige casually laid her coat over the back of the couch in their suite, thanking her lucky stars she’d returned when she did. The last thing she needed was Chad trying to find her.

  “I’m here now, so you can stop worrying.”

  “You’re wearing the same clothes as yesterday,” Emma pointed out.

  Paige felt her face grow hot. “I put them back on when I woke up. Now I’m going to shower and get ready for the meeting.” She was almost to the bedroom door when she stopped and turned back. “You didn’t come home last night, Emma. Where were you?”

  Emma’s face split into a grin. Typical of her sister that she wouldn’t see a parallel between her actions and Paige’s. It simply didn’t occur to her that Paige might have panicked when she hadn’t returned. She expected Paige to always be there for her, but she didn’t seem to think it was a two-way street.

  “I was with someone,” Emma said. “And I think I’m in love.”

  Paige forced herself to remain calm even though her heart was pounding a million miles an hour. “That’s fast,” she said. “You can hardly know this man.”

  “Oh, Paige,” Emma said, her face glowing with happiness. “I wasn’t going to tell you just yet, because I knew you’d worry, but it’s Chad.”

  Paige blinked. “You’re in love with Chad? But you barely know him—”

  “I’ve been seeing him for a month.”

  Paige sank onto the closest chair. A month. One month of lies, obfuscations and going behind her back. No wonder Chad hadn’t needed her to send flowers or make reservations.

  And she was beginning to understand why he’d taken her for lunch.

  “I had no idea,” she said numbly.

  Emma came over and knelt before her, took both of Paige’s hands in her long-fingered elegant ones. “I’m sorry, but Chad thought you might be upset if you knew. We wanted to keep it a secret until we knew how we felt about each other.”

  Paige’s hands were so cold inside Emma’s warm ones. One sister had all the life and heat while the other was cold and empty. It didn’t seem fair. “Isn’t a month awfully quick to know if you love someone or not?”

  Emma’s smile said that it clearly was not. “Sometimes you just know.”

  In spite of her pain, it warmed Paige to see her sister so happy. She’d always wanted the best for Emma. Though there were only five years between them, she often felt more like Emma’s mother than her sister.

  But Emma’s beatific smile worried her, too. Paige squeezed her hands. “I’ve worked for Chad Russell for two years, Emma. He dates a lot of women.”

  “I know that. But he loves me. He wants to marry me.”

  Her heart was splintering into a million jagged pieces around her. She hadn’t realized until that moment that she’d been living for Emma. What would she do when Emma was gone?

  And what should she say now? Emma was looking at her so hopefully, but all Paige could do was worry. Was Chad serious? Would he really put aside his playboy ways and make her sister happy? Or was he merely leading Emma along with no intention of marrying her? He was so rich. He moved in different social circles, circles that Emma had never been in before. Was this real, or was it simply another affair?

  “Have you set a date?”

  Emma shook her head as she stood. “When we get back to Dallas, we’ll start discussing it. He’s just so worried with this deal right now.”

  Paige’s heart flipped. But whether it was from her misgivings about Chad’s true intentions or about the deal that held Russell Tech’s future in the balance, she wasn’t sure. Because when she thought of the reason they were here in Moscow, she also thought of Alexei. He’d helped her when she needed it, held her while she cried, and kissed her so expertly that she’d practically begged him to take her to his bed—though of course she hadn’t done it right since he had not complied.

  But he wasn’t just any man. He was Prince Voronov, and he was out to destroy Russell Tech. If he succeeded, then he also destroyed Chad and Emma’s possibility of a happy future together.

  Paige stood and hugged her sister tight. “I’m glad you’re so happy and I hope Chad realizes how lucky he is to have you. Because if he doesn’t,” she continued, pushing Emma back to look at her, “I’ll castrate him.”

  Emma laughed and hugged her back. “Don’t worry about me,” she said fiercely. “I’ll do it myself if necessary.”

  “I have no doubt you will. And now,” Paige said, “I need to get ready for this meeting.”

  As she stripped out of her clothes and stepped beneath the shower, she couldn’t shake a sense of impending doom. She was still reeling from Emma’s news, and her heart still smarted, but that wasn’t the problem at all.

  No, it was Prince Voronov who spiked her anxiety. Because she’d realized in the car, when he’d seen through her masks, that he was a very dangerous man.

  And not just to Russell Tech, but to her. In spite of her wish it were otherwise, her veins already bubbled in anticipation of seeing him again. The best thing he could do would be to ignore her.

  But she knew he wouldn’t do so. What she didn’t know was why that knowledge made her happy.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE TENSION IN THE conference room wasn’t surprising. But the tension coming from Paige Barnes was. Alexei watched her while Chad Russell spewed on and on in near flawless Russian. Since Paige didn’t understand a word that was said until Chad turned and told her to write something down in English, she spent a lot of time staring at her lap.

  Alexei willed her to look at him, but she did not. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since she’d dashed from his car this morning. She was an odd woman; beautiful, but completely unaware of her beauty.

  And innocent. That’s what compelled him. She reminded him of Katerina in a way. Katerina had only been seventeen when she’d died, and to the last she’d had that sweet air of innocence. Cancer and poverty had not been able to take it away.

  Thinking of Katerina brought his gaze back to Chad Russell. It had been nearly fifteen years since Katerina’s death. Chad could not be blamed for his father’s cruelty, true, but Chad seemed to have shouldered the mantle of dislike his father’d had for the Voronov family. Alexei hadn’t
understood until that single moment so many years ago when he’d stood before Tim Russell why the man had hated them. And though he’d known it was likely Russell’s son would follow in his father’s footsteps, Alexei still found it difficult to believe.

  Chad Russell was half Voronov, after all.

  Still, it made what Alexei had to do that much easier. If Chad had been likable, or friendly in any way, Alexei might have let it color his desire to destroy Russell Tech. He glanced at Paige again. Regrettable that he would need to use her in his quest, but he would make sure she was handsomely rewarded in the end. He shoved away the twinge of conscience that threatened to badger him and focused on the discussion.

  Alexei watched his first cousin gesticulate in an attempt to impress Valishnikov with his plans and ideas for the Siberian land and Baltic oil wells. Chad might be half Russian, but that wouldn’t be enough to convince the old man sitting so stoically across the table. Though Chad’s mother—Alexei’s Aunt Elena—had clearly taught him the language, Chad’s father had made certain his son was one hundred percent American.

  And Pyotr Valishnikov was old enough to remember what it was like to hate and distrust Americans.

  Worse, Chad looked every bit the American oilman stereotype. While he’d worn a dark suit, he also sported cowboy boots and a white Stetson that now sat on the table beside him. It was the wrong impression to make on this man.

  Valishnikov raised his hand suddenly to indicate he wanted silence. Chad sputtered to a halt.

  “I will consider your proposals,” the old man said. “Both of your proposals. Now if you will excuse me, I have another meeting to attend.”

  He levered his bulk out of the chair and, followed by his contingent of managers and accountants, he exited the room.

  Alexei noted Chad’s reaction with interest. He seemed to fold in on himself, just for a moment, before shooting a glare at Alexei and squaring his jaw in a belligerent gesture.

  “It seems as if you will be spending more time than you bargained for in our fair country,” Alexei said in English as he rose from his seat. “Perhaps you should take some time to sightsee. St. Petersburg is particularly lovely this time of year.”