Chapter 5

 

“So that was Vlad,” Tia murmured as Helena struggled to slow her heartbeat.

Unfortunately, her efforts weren’t effective.

“That was Vlad.” Her voice was far too dreamy. Combined with her rapid heart rate, she was definitely in trouble.

“He’s…” Tia frowned. “I’m not certain there’s a way to describe him.”

“I’ve never come up with anything suitable.” Not besides Mine, but she didn’t share that with other people. It sounded so possessive. The main problem in that little scenario was that Vlad did get free will and so far he didn’t sound like he was committed to their relationship. Such as it was.

“The thing is, Vlad reminds me of someone I know.” Tia chewed on the inside of her cheek.

“Maybe Aleksi,” she ventured with a bratty grin.

Tia swatted her. “Yes, he reminds me of Aleksi. They could be brothers. Vlad also reminds me of Maks, obviously. But I’m thinking of someone who doesn’t live in Rurikstan.”

Her eyebrows soared. “Oh, right. Who?”

“I don’t know. That’s why it’s bugging me.”

“Maria at three o’clock.” She barely managed to warn Tia before Maria halted in front of them.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me you’re dating my son,” she alleged instead of the usual greeting.

“Maria, again, I don’t know if I’m dating your son. I’d like to know myself.”

Some of Maria’s fire abated. “Okay, I can understand that. Vlad is my simplest child, and yet he’s very much my most complicated.” Maria flopped onto a stool, her shoulders hunched.

“Try dating him.” She dropped beside her.

“I’m engaged,” Tia piped up. She and Maria both turned baleful stares on her. She grinned. “Don’t you think the two of you are making this more complicated than it is?”

“No,” she and Maria answered at the same time.

“I think you are.”

“Who cares what you think?” She tapped the benchtop. “I’m not certain if I have a boyfriend, but I’m desperately attracted to a man who might or might not be attracted to me.”

“He’s attracted to you.”

She turned abruptly to Maria. “How do you know that?”

“He’s my son. Vlad has been attracted to you since you hit puberty.”

“Explain, Maria,” she demanded.

“I might not know him well, but he is my son.”

Tia frowned. “How can you not know your own son?”

“If your sons turn out like Vlad, which could happen since you’re marrying a de Leos and Vlad is also of that line, you’ll know.”

“Maria, it would help if you spoke English,” Tia replied.

“I did.”

“What Maria is trying to say, but isn’t doing very well, is that there’s a weird gene or something in the de Leos line that every once in a while produces men like Vlad.”

“It pops up randomly?” Tilting her head like that, Tia looked more like a model at a photo shoot than a scientist, but there was no doubt the woman was all brains at the moment. She recognized that deep-thinking face.

“That’s what genes do, love.” Maria smoothed a hand through her already sleek hair.

“So you think Vlad is a throwback from another generation?”

“Oh no.” She shook her head. “He’s definitely a man of this era. His skills are probably pretty impressive—it’s just that he’s so complicated.”

“I’ve never understood Vlad. He’s very different from my other children.”

Her stomach twisted. “The problem is he’s always been aware of the fact he didn’t quite fit in here.”

“And Graham and I worked very hard to make him feel like a part of the family.” Maria’s voice was so sad her stomach twisted again.

“Did Vlad know?” Tia’s innocent question didn’t ease the pain.

Maria’s smile tried to wrench her stomach or heart, she couldn’t figure out which organ, right from her body. “Of course he knew.”

“Wow, and I thought growing up with the Apes was bad,” Tia said, referring to her three older brothers.

***

Tapping out another command at the main computer, Vlad watched the screen. Helena’s face filled it. Then she turned and headed to the huge sterile hood. There were no cameras there, because he didn’t want to compromise the sterility and use of the hood.

The entire purpose of the cameras was to maintain the safety of the personnel who worked there. Not spy on the lab staff, even if one of them was the woman he wanted above all others. He yanked his attention from her and moved on.

He clicked another series of keys and another camera scene popped up. Emerson was in the kitchen, speaking with one of the many employees. No matter what time of day, it seemed someone was up and about in the palace. It was a vast place with as many priceless antiques as prestigious museums. Most of these antiques had been passed down from generation to generation, and yet were in pristine condition.

Just these items, not to mention their gems—some of the best in the world—made Rurikstan a very tasty morsel. If you factored in all those and added his brother Maks’ genius with investments you had a formula for disaster. Thinking of Maks caused more key tappings. Vlad next watched kids playing together in the nursery.

Apparently Tia had been surprised to learn there was no formal childcare program here and she quickly established a daycare like he had seen often in America. Now most of the staff with children participated and it worked very well. Emerson and Maks both had kids in the program. That left their wives free to work or attend to other things on the days they chose to participate. Emerson’s wife, Karis, was a nurse practitioner and Sara, Maks’ wife, was a college professor. Sara returned to teaching on a part-time basis.

He typed the commands to return to the lab cameras. One area of concern was the lab. In an attack, there weren’t many escape routes for the lab personnel. They had to flee across the hall for the nearest route. That wasn’t acceptable. Frowning at the screen, he checked out each camera’s view and reassessed every area of the lab. In the back corner there was a storage closet that none of them much used because there was a stainless steel table in front of the door.

But one of the closet walls contained a secret panel that emptied onto a small antechamber that in turn offered at least two, but possibly three different escape routes. Over the last week or so Vlad had seen every one of them use that table, so the table was more important than the storage closet. Yet hadn’t he seen at least one hazard in the current storage closet? It was a lot smaller and cramped, and subsequently crowded with reagents and supplies.

Why did they use that area rather than the much larger one? He scanned both areas again. Ah, that was why. The smaller one was located closer to the center of the room, while the larger was on the outskirts of the lab. It would take more effort to use the larger. Still, the table they all used would work better in the center of the lab.

Now all he had to do was convince the four of them that they needed to use the larger closet, and somehow show, without showing, the secret escape route. His mother, girlfriend, and the soon-to-be princess all worked in this space.

It was ripe with potential to unscrupulous men who needed money. How much would Aleksi pay to get Tia back?

His heart dropped. A lot. How much would he pay to get his mother or Helena back? A lot.

Operation Closet Changing suddenly became his top priority.

***

Helena’s heart stuttered when Vlad entered the lab again. Twice in one day. Once this morning and now again this afternoon. Her palms turned sweaty as she swung around to stare at him head on.

“Can we help you?” Her voice was a little too eager she decided.

“Vlad, love, what are you doing here again?” His mother’s voice was every bit as eager.

“Hello, Mother, Helena.”

Vlad didn’t seem to mind in the least that they were eager. In fact, his eyes crinkled at the corners just the way she liked. His lips kicked up and she discovered that was because she was grinning like an idiot.

He glanced around the room. “Where are Jorge and Tia?”

Oh, too bad. He hadn’t come to ask her on a date.

“They’re out taking water samples.” Maria had the presence of mind to answer, thankfully.

She swallowed, since her mouth seemed to have filled with a lot of saliva. Once she accomplished this she smiled at him again.

“I see.” Vlad sent her a slightly searching look.

To cover herself, Helena hurried to the supply closet. She needed a moment to gain control of herself. This was ridiculous. She was nearly thirty years old. There was no reason to be an idiot about all of this. She was an adult.

Maybe she should start acting like one.

Anyway, she did need more pipets so she opened the closet and paced to where they were stored on the top shelf. Since she couldn’t brag about her height, Helena grabbed the step stool and crawled on top. From the top step she could just reach the shelf. Snagging the box she saw it was empty.

“Hey, who used all the 1 ml pipets?” She stared dubiously inside the box but it was still empty.

“Is that bad?” Vlad asked from below her.

With a shriek she jumped, because she didn’t know he had followed her into the closet. Oh, a closet, and Vlad. All she had to do was close the door and she could jump him. Except that his mother hovered in the doorway.

“That box was full yesterday. I only took one package from it.”

She upended the box. “It’s not full now.”

“And I just got that box from the big closet yesterday. We use a lot of that size so I’m not surprised.”

“We do use a lot of these. And we already moved that table yesterday.” She glared at the door across the way.

“I’ll help,” Vlad offered and she turned a beguiling smile on him.

“Thank you.”

Maria offered her own effusive thanks.

“Let’s move that table.” Then without any warning whatsoever, Vlad circled her waist and easily lifted her off the stool. No easy feat because she was curvy. She was too surprised to shriek again. That was just as well, because it wasn’t all that ladylike.

Instead he floated her to the floor and she was hard pressed to say she didn’t enjoy the ride. To brace herself, she placed a hand at each of his shoulders and enjoyed the bulging muscles there.

For some reason her mouth filled with too much saliva again.

By the time her feet connected with the floor, Maria had already tapped her four inch heels across the lab and stood in front of the table. “Really, this time we should just take all of the 1 ml pipets and move them to the other closet. Since we use so many of them.” Her hands planted on her hips, she nodded.

She and Vlad stared at each other for a moment before she shrugged. “She’s a mother. None of us argue with her.”

“Not even Tia?”

“Of course not. We’re all happy someone makes the decisions.”

Vlad followed her across the room and he took one end of the heavy metal table while she and Maria grabbed the other. He directed them where to move it and made the process look easy. She and Maria were both puffing.

“It’s heavier today than it was yesterday.” She adjusted her grip, aware of Maria doing the same beside her.

“I think you’re right.”

Vlad ignored them to easily swing his end away from the door. After some puffing, they moved theirs, finally. He opened the door to the larger storage closet.

“This is huge.” He stepped inside and wandered around the space, checking things out. They only utilized maybe a quarter of the capacity.

“Yes, it’s a nice size,” Maria agreed. She stepped to the pipet section and selected three boxes. All of which she piled into Helena’s arms.

“Thanks.” Except she didn’t want pipets at the moment.

“I have an idea.” Vlad removed the boxes and stored them on the shelf again.

He tugged both of them from the closet and back to the smaller one. “What, love?”

“Why do you use this tiny space?” He waved at the storage closet they used.

“It’s a lot more convenient.”

“How? Wouldn’t it make more sense to store everything in the larger closet and use this smaller one as long term storage? You can park this table in front. With wheels, it would be easy to move.”

“That could work.” Maria sounded unsure.

Vlad’s eyebrows bounced. “You and Helena wouldn’t have to use a step stool all the time if you shifted everything to the larger closet.”

They were interrupted by Tia and Jorge’s return.

“What’s going on?” Tia inquired as she set her sample box on the nearest bench and trudged across the room. In order to be ready for her wedding day Maria had decreed that Tia wear high heels until the event, so of course the poor woman tripped.

One corner of Vlad’s mouth kicked up. “She’s the perfect woman for Aleski,” he murmured only to her.

She smiled. “They’re made for each other. And we love her.”

“Tia, Vlad suggested that we should use this closet and…” Maria explained Vlad’s ideas in the background as she got lost in the dark depths of his eyes.

It was a really nice place to get lost. The man was beyond dreamy.

Behind them, Tia surveyed the space. “I’ve been thinking about doing this too. It makes more sense to use the bigger closet.”

“You decided that yesterday when all those loops fell on your head.” Jorge sounded wise and very bratty.

“That’s not all she said,” she added, but Tia clapped a gentle hand over her mouth.

“I didn’t swear.” Tia narrowed her blue-green eyes.

“No, but what you said was funny. I’ve never heard the word fudge used in that particular manner before.” Her stomach growled.

“I learned words I didn’t know you could put together in the English language.” Jorge sounded musing. “Then I went home and asked for chocolate fudge.”

They laughed, and Vlad smiled at her, and she forgot all about her lab mates.

“I would be happy to help you move all these supplies.” Vlad turned toward Tia and his mother.

The little bubbles of excitement inside burst. While she’d grown all moony eyed, Vlad had been busy rearranging their storage closet in his head. And here he and Maria didn’t believe he fit into the family.

That right there was a strong Maria trait if she ever saw one.

At least she was better off than Tia, who looked horrified. She had the good sense to wear nice comfy sneakers. The dirty look Tia shot her made her smile. At least her feet were happy.

 

So far, so good, as his American friends would say.

Vlad watched the industrious activity in the two storage areas. He helped by planting himself on the step-stool in the small one and took everything off the upper shelves. Tia and his mother worked at placing lab items on the shelves in the larger storage area.

While he removed items from the various shelves and handed them to either Jorge or Helena, he reasoned out various means of showing the lab staff where the secret door was.

“Isn’t that the last box yet?” Jorge groused as he filled the lab cart with supplies.

“Not yet, but we’re close.” He handed him more items.

Helena pushed a clattering cart through the door. She exchanged a filled one for the empty. “I’m happy to report that although we’ve been at this for days now, the new storage area isn’t even halfway full yet.”

“We’ve been at this for just under an hour.” He smiled at her because he had to.

Jorge paused in stacking the latest boxes. “Not even halfway full?” He didn’t acknowledge Helena’s exaggeration of time, but instead homed in on the amount of storage.

“No. By the time we finish, Tia believes we’ll have at least a quarter of the storage area to add more stuff later on.”

“And you’ll still have this entire closet.” Why they hadn’t switched these closets long ago he didn’t understand…

“Yes. Tia doesn’t believe we’ll use this one much.”

“That’s the idea.” Jorge took several of the boxes and stacked them on some of the lower shelves.

“Shouldn’t those go on the cart?” He watched Jorge and Helena clear a few other things from the full cart.

“No, these stay here.”

“The things we use often will be stored in the other closet. This stuff we only use a few times a year.” Helena pointed out a few boxes. “Tia thought we should go through all the cabinets in the lab, take inventory, and then also move some of that stuff in here.”

Jorge nodded slowly. “It makes sense. If we clear out some of those cabinets, we’ll have room for the supplies we actually use.”

“That was her thought. Who knew she was so organized?” Helena’s face caught the light and he caught his breath. The most breathtaking woman on the planet, right here with him in a laboratory storage closet.

“Doing all this will really help our work flow.” His mother breezed in behind Jorge.

“What are you doing here?” Helena asked, completely unaware of the fact that he was still having trouble breathing because of her. Fortunately, he was adept at hiding his feelings. Sometimes he wondered if he even had feelings.

It was reassuring to know he did.

“Tia sent these things to be stored here.” His mom indicated a full cart.

While they figured out where to place the supplies, he quickly removed everything else from the shelves within his reach and handed them off to Jorge. Then he stepped lightly to the floor. His mom immediately piled the step-stool onto her newly empty cart and whisked it away.

He turned to Jorge and Helena. “Did my mom just steal my stool?”

“Yes,” they both said at the same time and in the same tone.

“So I shouldn’t fight her for it?”

“You’ll lose.” Jorge patted his arm.

“Dad says she fights dirty.”

His companions both nodded. “You don’t know the half of it,” Helena murmured as she peered out the doorway. “Okay, the coast is clear, I’m moving out.”

Jorge moved to the side so he could help him clear another shelf.

Without complaint, even though he really wanted to since Helena left them, he did as indicated. He wasn’t in any hurry to finish this job. Working in the lab wasn’t his life’s ambition, but he did enjoy these people and their constant teasing.

He and Jorge had nearly finished clearing the area by the time Helena returned.

Jorge glowered at her. “Where have you been?”

“What?” He noticed she was staring at him rather than Jorge and he sent her a very personal, rather warm smile.

She stared for a long moment before Jorge bumped her and repeated his question. Her cheeks suffused with color and she hastily looked away before seeming to break free of him.

Jorge patiently repeated his question again.

“Oh, Tia finally broke and changed out of those heels and into sneakers.”

He whistled. “How did my mom take that?”

“Not very well.” Helena grinned. “I had to referee.”

“Who won?” Jorge’s smile looked knowing.

“Tia and me.”

With a sad shake of his head, Jorge returned to tugging items off the shelves. “So it’s going to be a scary place to work for the next few days.”

“Don’t worry. I threatened to snap her heels off if she pushed too hard. Maria backed down. It helps that both Tia and I are taller than her.”

His eyebrows soared into his hairline. “You took on my mother and won?” Really? He had doubted that was possible.

“Of course we won. There were two of us, and even in her four inch heels, we’re still taller than her.”

Jorge snorted. “Tia is still taller than her. You’re not.”

Helena sniffed and he paused to stare at her. She looked like a disgruntled kitten. His lips curled up.

“I am taller than Maria.”

“Not when she wears those ridiculous shoes.” Jorge finished piling the cart and then steered it across the lab.

Helena turned to him and since they had a minute, he grabbed her and hugged her tight. One hand dove into her long ponytail while the other curled around her, anchoring her against him. He fused their lips, she melted, and he followed her milliseconds later.

When she moaned into his mouth, he released her. Only because he was afraid of losing his head, and he heard the familiar clatter of an empty lab cart. He fixed Helena’s hair and turned her toward a shelf before he hauled a few things off the one beside him. She worked, although her movements were jerky and she was breathing hard.

His lips curled into a satisfied male grin.

A moment later Jorge joined them and they finished in their closet. He followed them into the other storage area, or at least he loitered in the doorway and watched as the four lab personnel finished storing their precious supplies. He couldn’t help but notice how well they interacted.

The nicest part of the entire experience for him was that he didn’t feel like an outsider. That was a first here at home.