The Russian's Tender Lover (The Sisterhood) (4 page)

Darcy was sad when Claire had to leave, but Claire promised to have her over for dinner to meet Mitch in the next few days so they could get to know each other better. Darcy laughed and shook her head. “If you love him, I’m sure he’s amazing.”

Claire hugged Darcy goodbye but gave her another warning before getting into her Mini Cooper. “Please be careful. I know why you do the night club scene but there has to be a better way. I get nervous each time you head out.”

Darcy smiled at her friend, truly grateful for so many wonderful people in her life who were concerned for her safety. “I know. And I promise I’m very careful. I have a full staff, body guards and drivers who are looking out for me, not to mention the night club managers who wouldn’t dare have anything bad happen that might create negative publicity for their business. I’m their advertising and stamp of approval.”

“There’s no such thing as bad publicity,” Claire warned, giving Darcy a hug before getting into her car and driving away.

“You have a phone call, Darc!” Dave called from the lobby area. “It’s Betty.” He looked at her with a shake of his head. Covering the mouthpiece, he looked at her sternly. “Don’t do this one, Darc. We don’t need the money and you lose too much weight when you have to go out. It’s too soon since the last job and you haven’t had time to recover.”

Darcy grimaced but took the phone, sitting down behind the now empty receptionist desk. “Hi Betty. I’m out of circulation for a while so whatever you’ve got for me, it will have to wait.”

She listened for a moment, her eyes widening in surprise. “Why so much?” she asked, a nervous, clammy feeling coming over her for some reason.

Dave and Matt both stopped and watched her, instantly alert, which made several dogs and the kittens also stop. The smaller ones looked around curiously while the larger ones took their cue from the humans. Within moments, everyone was on high alert, simply because of the sudden tension in Darcy.

“I don’t know, Betty. Why don’t you e-mail me the contract and I’ll look it over. This is one of those too-good-to-be-true deals that I’m always nervous of.”

She listened for a while longer then shook her head. “Are you sure my father or brother isn’t behind that ridiculous amount?”

After a few more “yeps” and “uhhuhs”, Darcy hung up the phone and looked at Matt and Dave, both of whom were waiting to hear the news while saving kittens from being trampled by the bigger dogs. The kittens were growing, but still weren’t stealthy enough to avoid some of the clumsier moves of their canine companions when they became excited or agitated.

“Don’t keep us in suspense,” Matt called out, scratching Fred’s ears to relax him since he’d started to howl his displeasure at the tension level. Fred instantly stopped, leaning against his scratcher’s legs but kept a wary eye out for anything changing. Ginger nudged Dave’s hand, demanding equal attention and even Moxie seemed a bit more alert even though he was still laying down attached to an IV on his personal doggie bed.

“They’re offering three times the normal amount,” she explained.

“Don’t do it,” Matt instantly commanded. “Your instincts are never wrong so something has to be weird with this situation.”

Dave was already nodding before Matt had even ended the sentence.

Darcy thought about it and nodded, agreeing with their assessment. “You’re right. That’s too much money for an event, and it’s even out of the country.”

“Definitely don’t go.”

Darcy agreed. “You’re right.” She called Betty back immediately and gave her the news, being firm about not participating in this contract. Betty tried to argue, but Darcy was firm. Something was fishy and there was no reason to step out on a limb when there was danger in the works.

Chapter 5

Sergei couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The mercenary piece of useless fluff Darcy DiAngelo had refused his offer! Unheard of, he thought with mild frustration, which for him was a pretty major event. He put his hands on his hips, completely oblivious to the soothing view from his office which laid out all of St. Petersburg below him.

He listened with patience as his assistant, Dorothy, explained that Darcy DiAngelo wasn’t available for possibly the next several months but would be in contact with him as soon as there was an opening in her schedule.

“Where’s Nicolai?” he demanded.

The wary assistant fiddled with her notebook, a sure sign that the impressively competent woman was nervous about answering that question.

“He’s disappeared.”

“Where has he gone?” Sergei demanded.

Again with the fiddling. “His secretary said he would be gone for the next several months. Almost the exact same wording as Ms. DiAngelo’s assistant.”

Sergei was dumbfounded that Nicolai would do something so idiotic. The younger man knew what happens when people rile Sergei’s temper and it was never good.

“Triple the offer,” Sergei commanded with grim finality. “And find Nicolai. Get Jim Wilson on it,” he ordered, referring to his international head of security. “Once he’s found, I want that idiot under guard until the wedding.” Without another word, he walked out on his assistant, leaving her flabbergasted at the amount of money she was going to offer a woman for a one night stand. She was still a bit miffed that she was acting as a sort of pimp, not understanding why she was being tasked in this way. Her skills were well and above this type of activity, but if Sergei needed something, it was her job to ensure that everything went according to plan.

She didn’t understand why he needed to pay someone for their company, she thought as she lifted the phone to make the required phone call. Sergei wasn’t handsome so much as attractive and alluring. He had that “Come here, if you dare,” type of look about him. And the women all came. Flocking to him, actually. Some of them even competing with each other in embarrassing ways to gain his attention. He had to fight them off and it wasn’t just his mind boggling bank account balance, or the astonishing power he wielded through the various companies he owned across the globe, although she was sure there was plenty of that to attract the female butterflies that flitted about him whenever he went out in public.

No, those attributes were only the icing on the cake. In fact, Sergei was tall, dark and menacing, a lethal combination to any woman’s resistance. Not hers, of course. She wanted nothing to do with Sergei personally. She’d seen too many of the women come and go in his life, and actually ordered all their presents including birthday gifts, flowers and goodbye trinkets costing sometimes more than her annual salary, which was quite hefty.

Granted this Darcy DiAngelo woman was exceptionally beautiful, but so were all the other women Sergei escorted when he wanted female companionship. The women in his life were poised, tall, immaculately dressed and ambitious, but not in the business sense, only in the Looking-For-A-Husband sense. Although many had tried, none had been able to claim him as their personal property yet. Sergei remained firmly in the bachelor category.

Dorothy spoke quickly to the other assistant, wanting this dirty business to be over with as soon as possible. She relayed the new price, telling Betty that the offer was firm and would need to be confirmed in the morning so travel arrangements could be finalized.

With that, she swished her hands together as if they were grimy and shut down her computer.

On the elevator ride down to the parking garage, Dorothy noticed a young woman reading one of the tabloid magazines and that silly Darcy DiAngelo was front and center, obviously drunk and putting something in her mouth. Dorothy guessed it was some sort of drug and she didn’t even want to know what kind. She simply couldn’t imagine what kind of woman would sleep with so many men, drink so heavily and take drugs as if they were candy. Ms. DiAngelo was young and beautiful, she probably had plenty of money from her father’s mafia business since the tabloids mention that she hadn’t worked a day in her life. In Dorothy’s mind, the obnoxious woman should be doing something worthwhile with her life. Something that would pay back society for the horrible things her father is suspected of doing.

Dorothy sighed and shook her head. It wasn’t her place to judge she knew, but she was honest enough with herself to realize that she did.

Twenty four hours later, Sergei didn’t even crack a satisfied smile as he was briefed that the woman in question had agreed to his terms. The answer was never in doubt. The price might have been negotiable, but the outcome had always been assured. No one turned down Sergei Anchova. Especially not a slip of a woman who drank her way through life, leeching off of men for entertainment and money.

The idea of spending any time alone with this woman was abhorrent, but he knew it was necessary. And perhaps he could teach her a bit of self discipline in the process. He wouldn’t hold his breath though.

He took the stairs of his private jet two at a time, then nodded as soon as he was on board, a silent approval for the pilot to take off as soon as possible. He seated himself in one of the large, leather chairs and took the file handed to him by one of his staff members.

“Are all the details worked out?” he asked, not caring about the contract, as long as the woman was on her way.

“Everything has been finalized. The contract requires that her bar tender and drivers be in attendance as well.”

Sergei raised an eyebrow at that. “And you took care of that?”

“Of course.”

Sergei didn’t ask how, he just acknowledged that it was finalized.

The flight was relatively short and he stepped off the plane only to enter a helicopter which flew him to the island where he would be spending the next week. Or as long as it took for his investigators to find the missing Nicolai.

He didn’t expect to spend any time with the woman, other than to explain the situation and how her stay with him would proceed. She would balk, but he didn’t care. He had an agenda and she could simply deal with it or not, however she chose.

The helicopter landed gently on the helipad, then took off once again after he was clear of the blades. Sergei walked into the villa and breathed in the fresh sea air while pulling his tie off at the same time. He needed a vacation, he thought. Perhaps he could cut his hours a bit this week and take a break while monitoring the silly woman.

The helicopter returned about an hour later. Sergei had meant to meet her at the helipad so there was no confusion as to the nature of her stay, but he was caught up in a conference call and didn’t feel the need to interrupt it for Darcy DiAngelo. He was in the middle of a conversation when he noticed the helicopter take off, leaving behind a slim, petite woman with long, brown hair blowing around her shoulders as the helicopter flew back over the blue ocean.

Sergei couldn’t remember his initial impression from the reports he’d read and the pictures that had accompanied the file, because he was so stunned by the beauty standing self-consciously on the helipad as she wondered where everyone was. The first thought that finally formed was that she had the most incredible legs he’d ever seen on a live human being. They were long and slender, tanned and muscular but not bulky. Just very….”long” kept coming to his mind.

He pushed the image of those legs wrapped around his waist out of his mind, almost furious with himself for being attracted to someone of her reputation. He’d always been disgusted by women whose lives revolved around parties and shopping and this woman, with her designer dress and thousand dollar stiletto heels was definitely one of those women he didn’t admire.

He supposed his body didn’t need to respect someone to be attracted to her.

“I have to go,” he said, interrupting the call, not even sure who was talking and not caring a bit. He tossed the earpiece to the desk and strode out of his office. The doors opened to a staircase and the path that would take him directly to the woman who was still standing on the helipad, a small suitcase sitting at her feet and a slim purse tucked under her arm. She looked lost and confused, even mildly concerned.

She was in for a rude awakening, he thought, relishing the idea of telling her what was to come.

Darcy watched warily as an extremely tall man with huge shoulders walked out of the house. Hopefully this was the butler, but she wasn’t sure since he was wearing black, tailored slacks and a white linen shirt that billowed loosely about his trim waist in the tropical breeze.

He was dark, she thought as he came closer. Dark and more than a little scary. She wasn’t used to men being this large or this intimidating. The men she usually associated with were only a couple of inches taller than she was. Not that there weren’t tall men at the nightclubs. There were, they just weren’t on an isolated Caribbean island alone with her.

Looking around, there was a pathway that led to a lovely Tuscan style house that spread out along the highest point on the island. The house was surrounded by lush vegetation, interspersed with jutting, white rock and a gorgeous hilltop off to the left that probably offered stunning views of the surrounding ocean. From where she stood, she could see smaller houses down a narrow street, although she could only see the rooftops of them, a church spire on the other end of the island, and long ribbon of beach surrounded by an enormous amount of ocean.