“Comfortable?”
Brianna snuggled closer to Felix. “Very.”
The two of them were seated in the back of a black SUV being driven by the man who minutes ago had identified himself to her as Nikolai Volkov.
Well…both of them being seated was stretching it a bit, Brianna allowed ruefully.
Felix was sitting on the leather seat with Brianna’s legs straddling his hips, her chest molded against his, her arms still entwined tightly about his neck. She had adamantly refused to be put down onto her own feet, even though Felix had assured her Anthony Bart and his son really were both dead.
“Don’t look,” Felix had warned as they left the room that had been her prison. He’d pressed his hand against the back of her head as he carried her through the hallways of the house, out the front door, and into the waiting SUV.
If Felix’s bloodied appearance was any indication, then the Bart house was full of dead bodies and the walls and floors were covered in their blood too.
Felix was right. Brianna hadn’t needed to see that to know it was so.
Nikolai had climbed behind the wheel of the vehicle seconds later and then driven rapidly out of the gates and into the flow of the London traffic.
Brianna was still in awe of the man behind the wheel being Nikolai Volkov.
The Wolf.
Brianna had known him as the bogeyman when she was growing up. Used, she believed, to frighten all children of the different criminal factions into behaving, in England and Ireland, possibly even his native Russia too.
The Wolf will come for you if you don’t do as you’re told.
The Wolf will find you if you don’t come in and go to bed.
The Wolf will gobble you up if you don’t eat your food.
The list of misdemeanors that would bring the Wolf to your door had been endless.
Brianna turned her head slightly to look at the man driving them so capably through the busy London streets.
He didn’t look like a bogeyman. He was tall and imposing, yes, but otherwise, he looked like any other handsome man aged in his midforties and wearing a bespoke suit.
He’d also been very kind to her since they met a short time ago, causing Brianna to wonder if perhaps his reputation had been exaggerated.
Until, obviously sensing her stare, he glanced at her in the driving mirror with the palest and deadliest gray eyes she had ever seen.
Brianna felt a shiver run down the length of her spine, warning her this man was like an iceberg, where only ten per cent of him was visible. That beneath his calm demeanor there lurked the ruthless killer who had earned himself the title of the Wolf in both Russia and Europe.
She gave a shiver as she turned back to Felix. “I’m really glad he’s on our side.”
Volkov gave a hard chuckle, as evidence he had heard her remark. “I am always on the side of maintaining order within the world in which my pakhan rules.”
In other words, he wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help Felix or her if it had been in conflict with his own interests or those of his pakhan. No doubt those interests were a dislike of an alliance between the Barts and the Irish Mob.
“Don’t let him fool you with that tough-guy exterior,” Felix whispered, deliberately loud enough for the other man to be able to hear him perfectly. “Last month, I actually witnessed him petting a dog.”
“I had an ulterior motive, if you recall,” Volkov derided.
“Now don’t go spoiling the moment,” Felix taunted. “You petted the dog, and you also reunited my now sister-in-law, Mia, with her father.”
The Russian sobered. “I did the latter for Mia because I am well aware of how hard it is to grow up without parents who give a fuck about you,” Nikolai bit out. “Please, excuse my language.” He gave Brianna an apologetic glance.
“He also claims to have several men as friends who can turn into dragons,” Felix confided in Brianna with a skeptical glance at the other man. “So you have to ask yourself, how dangerous can he really be?”
“Very dangerous,” the Russian assured in a hard voice. “And let us hope that your twin can be more discreet when he returns from Wales than you are being right now.”
“Hey, it’s dragons,” Felix reasoned.
One blond eyebrow arched. “You believe me now?”
“Well, the precision and accuracy of your plan and behavior just now proves you aren’t delusional or mad, so for the moment, I’ve decided to give you the benefit of the doubt.”
“Very magnanimous of you,” the Russian mocked.
“I thought so.”
Brianna didn’t understand what the two men were even talking about, nor did she care. All that mattered to her, here in Felix’s strong arms, was that she felt completely safe for the first time since her father died. Which, considering Felix’s bloody appearance and the dead bodies they had left in the Bart mansion, was pretty screwed up of her.
As screwed up as it was that Felix’s erection was pressing so intimately against her abdomen. The same hardness that had been pressing against her since the moment she launched herself into Felix’s arms and his hands instinctively gripped the cheeks of her bottom to keep her from falling.
Brianna told herself not to read too much into this obvious physical reaction, knowing it often happened to men who had fought a battle and triumphed.
A triumph Brianna had now started to worry might be short-lived.
Her brothers would not react well once they learned how thoroughly their alliance with Anthony Bart through her marriage to Terry Bart had been so utterly destroyed now that both of the Bart men were dead.
She knew Connor and Liam well enough not to even begin to think those deaths would be the end of her brothers’ intention to use her to further their alliances within the criminal underworld.
A criminal underworld which Brianna now had no doubt was actually ruled over and orchestrated by the powerful Nikolai Volkov on behalf of his pakhan.
* * *
“What are you thinking about?” Felix prompted as he felt Brianna trembling against him.
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”
His arms tightened about her. “It matters to me.”
“Why does it?” Brianna glanced up at him. “Why does any of this matter to you? Obviously, you aren’t the sort of man who appreciates seeing a woman being held against her will, or being forced into a marriage she doesn’t want. But most men would have just walked away and told themselves it was none of their business, especially when it involved someone as ruthless as Anthony Bart. I don’t understand why you not only came back but actually killed him and his men in order to free me.”
He sensed, and ignored, Nikolai’s mocking gaze on him in the driving mirror for several second before the Russian turned his attention back to the task of navigating the vehicle out of the capital, putting distance between them and the carnage they had left behind in the Bart mansion.
Felix grimaced, his physical discomfort added to as the blood dried on his skin and clothes. God knows what he looked like. Something from a horror film, would be his guess, and Nikolai had inferred as much earlier.
“Nikolai was the one who had the complete pleasure of organizing Terry’s demise,” Felix said, avoiding answering Brianna’s question. He doubted she was ready or that this was the right time or place to tell her he’d fallen in love with her on sight.
Brianna turned to Nikolai. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” the Russian dismissed.
“And please thank your men for today for me too.”
“They weren’t all mine.” Nikolai shrugged. “There was an equal number of my men to those from Kingston Security. Plus two of Felix’s brothers.”
Brianna’s eyes widened. “Two of your brothers are here?”
“In the SUV directly behind us.” Felix nodded. “As a family, we have zero tolerance toward bullying or cruelty toward women, children, and animals.”
“They all have what might be called a white knight complex,” Nikolai mocked.
“That certainly isn’t something you could ever be accused of, that’s for sure,” Felix snapped.
“And yet here I am,” the Russian said.
“I’m sure that’s because Bart’s demise coincides with what you and your pakhan wanted too.”
“Do you really believe I value your family’s friendship so shallowly?” Nikolai’s voice was silky soft.
“No, of course not,” Felix acknowledged heavily. “I apologize. Those remarks were uncalled for.”
“We’re both very grateful for your assistance,” Brianna stated warmly.
Felix felt a burning in his chest at hearing Brianna use the word we rather than I.
“Who killed Anthony Bart?” she prompted curiously.
Felix avoided meeting her gaze. “It was all a blur after the first few minutes. I’m not sure—”
“Felix did,” Nikolai stated evenly. “I believe his words as he pushed his knife into the other man’s throat were ‘Die, motherfucker.’”
Felix shot Nikolai a silencing glare and received a mocking smile in return that clearly stated payback!
Bastard!
“Once you meet all the Kingston family, you will realize that these men all have a history of having saved their future wives from someone who wished to do them harm.” Double payback, Nikolai’s gaze in the mirror taunted.
“Then I’m very grateful they felt motivated into helping rescue me today,” Brianna said warmly.
Totally missing—thank God—Nikolai’s implication that Felix had just saved his future wife. These were not the circumstances under which Felix wished to tell Brianna the main reason why he had felt compelled to rescue her.
Although she surely had to be aware of his physical reaction to being close to her, most especially his hard and throbbing cock between them pressing against her abdomen?
He was covered in blood, on an adrenaline high from the fight, and his cock hadn’t hesitated to stand up, his brain once again shouting mine, mine, mine inside his head the moment he held Brianna in his arms.
“I— Where are we going?” She frowned as she stared out the tinted window beside them at the rapidly passing countryside.
Felix’s arms tightened about her, unsure whether or not Brianna was going to like his answer. “My family’s home in Surrey. Don’t worry,” he assured when he felt her stiffen. “You’ll be completely safe there.”
Brianna shook her head. “I’m not worried about me, I’m worried about you involving your family any more than they already have been.” She gave a shudder. “Once my brothers realize what happened today and my body isn’t found amongst the dead, they’re going to start looking for me. They certainly aren’t going to let me just walk away without a fight when they could use me for their own gain. I don’t want that fight to be brought anywhere near you or your family.”
Felix didn’t want that either, but he was also sure that once all of his family realized how important Brianna was to him, they wouldn’t allow her to be anywhere else but behind the walls of their highly secure family estate.
Brianna sighed. “Now that Anthony Bart is dead, they’re probably going to try to marry me off and form an alliance with whichever faction wins the fight between the Armenians or the Romanians.”
“You know about that?” Nikolai prompted sharply.
Brianna shrugged. “Only what I heard my brother Connor say to Liam on the day they kidnapped me and brought me to England. I know he was hoping that an alliance through marriage with the Bart family would give him more power. With that possibility now gone, he’s probably going to approach the Armenians or Romanians with an offer for the same alliance.”
Felix glanced at Nikolai, knowing Brianna had just confirmed what the other man had already suspected.
“Don’t think about any of that for now,” Felix dismissed. “You’ll be completely safe at Kingston Manor.” He smiled. “My sisters-in-law are going to love you.”
Her eyes widened. “I’m going to meet them today too?”
“One of them initially, but the rest will be returning from Wales…” He glanced at Nikolai, receiving a nod of confirmation from the other man. “I believe my other brothers and their wives will all be back on the estate very soon.”
* * *
“I don’t understand…” Brianna frowned her confusion as she pulled out of his arms to slide off his muscular thighs and onto the seat beside him.
“What are you doing?” Felix demanded.
“Sitting beside you rather than on you.” And instantly feeling the loss of his warmth and the reassurance his closeness gave her. Although she could have done without the blood that had soaked into her sweater and jeans. No doubt there were smears of it on her face and hands too. “I had assumed your family lived in London.”
“We all have apartments in London, but our main home is the family estate in Surrey,” Felix explained, still looking far from happy at their new seating arrangement.
“How big is this estate?” An estate to Brianna was a group of houses sitting so close to each other the inhabitants could reach out the window and touch the wall of the neighboring house. She had a feeling that wasn’t the same thing Felix was talking about.
“About twenty acres, including the stables, tennis courts, and medical wing with its helicopter pad on the roof,” Felix confirmed. “The house itself is an old manor house built in the sixteenth century for a loyal follower of Elizabeth I. It’s gone through a lot of renovations over the years, but currently has a large communal kitchen, a main area for all the family to gather for meals, and a sitting room and movie theater where we can all be together too. But my five brothers and I and our cousin, Adam, all have individual suites there so we can be completely private if we want to. The suites all have a bedroom, ensuite bathroom, and a sitting area. My parents have a suite there too, even though they currently prefer to live in the South of France.”
Until five days ago, Brianna had been living in a two-up, two-down cottage on the southern coast of Ireland. Before that, she had lived in Dublin with Aunt Bridget in a house that was a little bigger than that, but not by much. Brianna tried really hard not to think about the house she’d lived in and been bullied by Connor in when she was a child. Even when her mother had been alive, it hadn’t been a happy place for Brianna, and her father’s visits had been too infrequent for him to know what Connor’s behavior to his second wife and daughter was really like.
Yes, Brianna had a lot more money now from the sale of her book, and she could have bought herself a bigger house anywhere in the world that wasn’t Ireland. She hadn’t done so because apart from her privacy and wanting to feel safe, which she thought she’d had at the cottage, she hadn’t wanted to leave what was familiar.
She had a feeling it wouldn’t have mattered if she had. Connor would have still found her, regardless of where she tried to hide from him.
Felix’s description of his family estate told her it was enormous. Not that she thought Felix was boasting, he was simply stating facts and logistics.
Nevertheless, it emphasized how much from totally different worlds the two of them were.
Her world was one of hiding and living a quiet life in a small cottage by the Irish Sea, hoping her brothers would eventually forget she even existed.
And look how successful that had been!
Felix came from a background of wealth and privilege. A world which also included him being friends with a man like the Wolf and living on a huge estate in Surrey with the rest of his obviously very wealthy family.
The same man Brianna blushed to remember she had kissed so passionately just a short time ago.
A man she knew she wanted to kiss again.
And again and again.
Kissing Felix made her feel alive. Being with him made her pulse race, her heart pound, and her body become sensitized to his every touch.
All feelings and emotions she couldn’t allow herself to feel.
Not because of their different backgrounds, wealth, and status. But because she was absolutely certain her psychopath of a brother would come for her with guns blazing once he discovered where she was hiding.
Brianna would have to leave the Kingston estate before that ever happened.
Not just the estate, but Felix too…