An Heiress for His Empire (Ruthless Russians 1)

Hers might not have been to her physical needs, but Jeremy Archer had let Maddie starve emotionally.

“I cannot promise to make every Little League game or sit-in your daughters organize, but I will make our children a priority.”

“My daughters?”

“Mine will be too busy trying to take over the corporate world for social activism.”

Tickled, she laughed like she hadn’t with him in too long, but grew serious again quickly enough. “I won’t have my child forced into dedicating his or her life to AIH. That has to be a personal decision.”

“Agreed.” But clearly Vik had no problem believing his children would be as dedicated to AIH as he was.

Who knew? Maddie herself might have wanted a career in AIH, at least in some capacity, if she’d had a different relationship with her father.

“I think we will have to accept that our children will be influenced by both of us,” she told him.

“I can think of much worse things.”

“I’m glad you said so,” she replied cheekily, secretly touched by his sincerity.

“Open the box,” Vik instructed.

“Are you done making promises?”

“Any other commitment I make to you would fall under the three I’ve already made.”

“Three?”

“Fidelity. Dedication. Family.”

Inexplicable emotion clogged her throat, but he was right. He’d promised the things that mattered most to her. With a few words he’d committed to building a family with her and all that entailed.

She took the lid off the box, incapable of hiding the way her fingers trembled.

Inside, nestled in a bed of black silk, were two rings. One she recognized as a traditionally inspired Russian three-strand wedding band. Each diamond-encrusted ring interwoven with the others was a different shade of gold: yellow, white and rose.

It was beautiful, but not ostentatious. Perfect for her. Beside it rested a diamond engagement ring set in the pink-tinted gold that would sit flush against the curved wedding band when he put it on her hand.

She didn’t ask how he knew the rose tint that used to be known as Russian gold was her favorite. Vik was scary like that.

She didn’t ask if she would be able to wear the ring beside the wedding ring after they were married. She could see the curve in the band that would make that possible.

He’d melded the traditions of his homeland with that of his grandparents and taken her own preferences into consideration. It was so Vik. She might not still be in love with him, but it was no wonder she’d never been able to accept a substitute.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, the moment feeling unexpectedly profound.

“As is the woman it was designed for.”

“You didn’t have this designed for me.” He couldn’t possibly have.

This kind of custom work wasn’t done in a few hours.

He cupped her hands with his own. “You will have to accept that my plans for the future have included you for much longer than you considered me in the same regard.”

“I sincerely doubt that.” He’d been it for her since she’d had her first real thought about boys and girls and how their lives came together.

Even when she hadn’t realized she was still comparing every man to Viktor Beck. Darn Romi being right all these years anyway.

He shook his head. “You had a schoolgirl crush, but have not thought of me in that way for six years.”

So, he wasn’t all-knowing. “That shows how much you know. Romi always says I hold other men up to your example and they pale in comparison.”

“And what do you say?”

“I always denied it.”

“See, I told you.”

“I’ve begun to realize she might have been right.” No other man had a chance with Maddie.

Not Perry, not anyone.

Vik’s expression dismissed her words as an exaggeration.

“I never forgot you.” He’d been too deeply embedded in her psyche, if not her heart.

Maddie had honestly believed her issues with trust had prevented intimacy with another man, but now realized memories of that guy had been enough to keep others at bay.

“You avoided me like the plague.”

“You did your own avoidance.”

“For about a year,” he acknowledged. “I missed our friendship. I thought enough time had passed that we’d gotten past the awkward incident.”

And he’d approached her. She’d rebuffed him, doing her best to never be put in a position where they could speak privately again. She’d stopped coming home unless her father demanded her attendance and that happened rarely enough.

For at least two years, Maddie had turned down every invite that might put her and Vik in the same sphere.

“I wasn’t on the same page.” What had been awkward for him had been humiliating for her.

“You made that unmistakable.”

“I was angry with you.” She’d felt betrayed.

Perry’s treachery hurt; Vik’s rejection had devastated her.

“And now?” Vik asked.

What did he want her to say? She’d stopped avoiding him at social functions before she graduated from university, but she’d still made sure there was no opportunity for them to renew the old friendship.

“The world looks like a different place from twenty-four than eighteen.” It was the best she could do.

“You will forgive me for hurting you?” he asked, like it really mattered.

So, she told him the truth. “I forgave you a long time ago, Vik.”

“It did not feel like it.”

She looked up into his espresso-brown eyes. “Do you forgive me?”

“For kissing me?” he asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Not a usual circumstance for him. She would take a moment to savor it and even tease him if the discussion wasn’t so important.

She explained, “For mistaking your kindness for something more and making our friendship impossible.”

“I never held it against you.” His tone implied something else altogether.

“You thought you should have known I was falling in love with you,” she realized.

“That wasn’t the way I termed it, but yes.”

Right. He’d thought her love was a crush. But if it had been only a crush, it would have taken months, not years, to get over.

“You’re not omniscient, Vik.”

?

?If I’d been paying better attention, I could have headed you off gently.”

She wasn’t sure that was true. Vik was right that she and her father shared a stubbornness that resulted in a tenacity of purpose almost impossible to derail.

“If we’d remained friends, Perry would never have gotten the hold on you he did.”

“You think you would have stopped us becoming friends.”

“I would have prevented him from using you as his personal bank and he would have known that you had people looking out for you.”

“People scary enough to abandon his plans for the phony exposé before he ever put feelers out for the first reporter?” she asked with a smile.

“You think I’m scary.”

“To men like Perry? Oh, yes, definitely.”

“But not to you.”

“No, Vik, you don’t scare me.”

“Good.”

He frowned. “Perhaps you would not have taken the chances you have in the past years if you’d had the stability of my presence in your life.”

“You’re pretty arrogant.”

“Do you deny it?”

“Actually yes,” she said firmly. “My actions are not your fault, or your responsibility.”

He shrugged, clearly disagreeing.

“You really have a God complex.”

“No, but I know my responsibilities.”

“And I’m one of them?” she demanded, frustrated more with herself for seeing that as romantic than Vik for his arrogance.

His smile sent heat through her, reminding her of that lack-of-celibacy thing he’d taken pains to make clear. “I hope more than that.”

“Friends again?”

“Yes, definitely.”

“But you want more.” Maybe not passionately and personally, though she was beginning to see that Vik did desire her, but to make his dreams come true, Vik was going to marry her.

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“To?”

“Everything.”

His expression turned even more heated and predatory. “Be careful what you promise.”

“This is a special place. Promises made here stick, right?”

“Yes.” No doubts.

“Then I promise to do my best to make both our dreams come true.”

“I make this promise as well.”

That was way better than him promising to build AIH into some world superpower, in her opinion. “Thank you.”