He paced to where she sat on the leather chesterfield, stood inches away from her knees, six- foot-three inches of muscled menace in an evening suit. Sabrina tilted her neck back to see the hollowed planes of his face. His jaw had hardened, and his voice took on a lethally flat tone.
“In case you need another clue—I know what I’m talking about because I’m a bastard myself. I could say an orphan as well, but my parents are probably alive and well somewhere. I wouldn’t know. I wouldn’t wish it on Alex, and I certainly didn’t wish it on the kids I left behind when I left Russia. But you have to face facts.”
Sabrina swallowed her shock. Of course, it made complete sense now that he should be so sensitive to the court of public opinion as regards to his relationship with her and Alex. And she could hear her own thinking in that last phrase. How many times had she told herself she had to face facts, face the harsh reality of her life as a sole provider to her little brother?
“Alex is mine. I’m his family. We just…” Her voice broke as she sought to explain how she knew, she just knew that if they had a little financial cushion, when she finished college and she got an even better job, then life would be good. But oh, it was so scary doing it alone.
She looked down at her hands on her lap as she fought for control and a clear head. Saw the enormous
emerald and its circle of diamonds gracing her right ring finger.
Vlad offered them, above all, security. And hadn’t that been her main goal, her entire reason for working these past years?
She raised her head and pushed back the hair that had tumbled onto her face.
“I will say okay, if I can add a couple of conditions of my own.”
Vlad inclined his head. He looked cautious, curious. “What are they?”
“The money should all go to Alex. I don’t want it, so my portion should be earmarked for his education. And after I complete my degree, I want to find employment. Nothing that would mean I would be separated from him but soon, if he’s happy and secure in school, I can work during those hours.” Her chin lifted and her eyes dared him to find fault.
“Sabrina that’s completely unnecessary…”
“I’m not finished yet. My final addition is that if one of us falls in love with somebody, we can divorce.”
“That’s unacceptable.”
She folded her arms across her chest, mimicking him. “You’re being unreasonable.”
“Falling in love is too ephemeral of an idea. If one of us truly wants out, the other one should agree. We’re not teenagers. I don’t believe in love, but I do believe that a child should have two parents.”
“But—” Why couldn’t he see that he might feel differently if some fictional Ms. Right came along?
He shook his head again. “Nyet. We can’t put emotion into a contract. I agree to add the other terms but not that one. No more negotiation. I have been more than generous. Sign.” He consulted his watch again. “I don’t want to be late.”
****
Watching at his side as Vlad delivered the keynote speech at the Gala for the foundation, one of the many she had learned this evening he had either founded or supported, Sabrina had to admit the man she was living with, sleeping with, and engaged to marry was a complete enigma.
He spoke eloquently in two languages about the plight of the children of his homeland. He thanked all for their generosity and managed to lift spirits and deflect the curious murmur that surrounded his appearance at this event with Sabrina by his self- deprecating remarks about their own engagement. He raised Sabrina’s ring-clad fingers to his lips and bade the audience to wish them well. Champagne glasses and vodka shots were lifted in their honor, and Sabrina could almost have believed they were the parents of Alex and a happy, newly engaged couple.
If she had known that she would have to play such a public role at the event, she might have been paralyzed with nerves beforehand. As it was, she had once again enjoyed choosing another couture gown to wear, this time a high-necked, Asian-inspired, deep green satin sheath, leaving her hair down as usual, because that was what Vlad preferred.
She had ceased being self-conscious of the wayward waves when she had gotten a professional trim and a lesson in keeping the long mass of it sleek and somewhat under control. She’d learned how to pull a smooth swathe of it to the side with a bejeweled barrette and was rewarded by the long, frankly lustful look Vlad gave her as he settled back in the town car as Sergei drove them to the Waldorf. She turned away from his indecent gaze, because the effect of it was all too visible as her nipples hardened into tight points.
“Stop that,” she said.
He let out a throaty chuckle. “Make me.”
In spite of her presence or maybe because of it, the event had generated a ton of excitement and record amount of additional contributions.
She congratulated him. Regardless of everything else between them, he was doing well. It was an aspect of his character that was completely outside of her expectation, and her innate honesty demanded that she say something.
****
He shook his head at her thanks. How to tell her, and why would he want to, that the need to give back was, in part, a guilty compulsion. He had managed to leave that sad life far behind and so many hadn’t.
When they’d reentered the penthouse afterwards, he walked straight into his office. He stared down into the late night cityscape of lower Manhattan, at the lights of a thousand cars motoring along the darkened streets. But once again he was seeing the dingy quarters in the cinderblock building on the outskirts of St. Petersburg where he lived with one hundred and fifty other boys, the squalid place that either smelled of urine or antiseptic. The ‘home’ he couldn’t wait to escape.
Then he turned to where Sabrina was poised at the
door characteristically ready for a quick escape, and his mouth quirked in what he knew was a grim farce of a smile.
“No one really knows the full story of my journey to where I am today. What I told you about myself is not in the public domain, and I revealed it only so that you would understand my belief that what Alex needs are two married parents. Whether you want that for him or not.”
At that last sentence, Sabrina’s chin jerked up and then she shook her head. “I wasn’t about to tell anyone your secrets, Vlad, but it looks like you’re never gonna get that. And of course I want Alex to have two parents. Why wouldn’t I? Sometimes things just don’t work out the way a person wants.”
She raised her hand as if to push her hair away and then let it flutter back to her side, thereby denying him access to whatever thoughts were swirling behind her mercurial eyes.
Some devil made him press.
“Did you think you loved him? The guy who fathered Alex? Are you waiting for him to reappear to claim him? Claim you? Oh that’s right.” He heard his voice take on an ugly edge. “Who knows who that guy might be? I guess you decided I’m your best option, so you’ll settle?”
Fast as light, her hand winged toward his cheek, but he guessed her intent and grabbed her wrist before she could make contact.
“You think you know all about me, Vlad, but you haven’t gotten any of it right! How is it okay to make those terrible accusations? What planet are you on that you think I would ever willingly do something that wasn’t in Alex’s best interests?
“Let’s face it Sabrina. You saw a chance to sell me out, and you took it so…”
“Really? Why wouldn’t I want to sell myself to you? Is that what you figured? Why wouldn’t I want to be a rich man’s whore, a bastard’s wife? Gee, let me see.” Sarcasm dripped.
His vision went red as her words sank in. He tugged her wrist and in a moment she was in his arms. “You don’t complain in my bed. And whore or wife, that’s where I want you.”
He put one possessive hand to the back of her head and one on her rear and dragged her into hot contact with his raging arousal. He didn’t kiss her lips but put his mouth, his teeth to the side of her neck where the thin satin neck of her gown covered the quivering cord that lay there. He bit down lightly and she let out a keening moan that he quickly silenced with his mouth on hers.