just to be on the safe side, he grabbed the T-shirt he had discarded before getting into bed and pulled it on.
He exited the bedroom to find her on the phone, a furrow of worry across her forehead. Again there was little doubt who was on the other end, and what the call was about.
“Yes, Mother, I understand. Don’t worry, there was nothing going on you need to worry about.”
Not really the truth, but her parents didn’t need to know.
“Yes, he’s a good man. I like him.”
Score one for me , he thought, although guilt instantly sank its claws into him, as did fear. Her parents would recognize him in the photo for sure. They had met him more than once when they had visited Alexander at boarding school. They were therefore well aware of who he was, but he wasn’t sure just how much of their family history his father had shared with them. He braced for the revelation just in case.
“Don’t worry,” she said again in response and finally noticed his return. The smile she gave him was unrestrained and full of patience for her parents.
“There is nothing to be concerned about, Mom,” she replied with the tones typically reserved for mother-daughter frustration. She ended the call and faced him. “They saw the pictures on the Internet and were a little worried about our relationship being turned into a public spectacle.”
But they hadn’t said anything about his mother’s illness, judging from the conversation, giving him hope that maybe his father hadn’t shared that difficult history.
Having dodged that bullet, he said, “How about breakfast before it gets too cold?”
“I’d like that,” she said, but before he could start to serve as he had offered, she was at the cart, spooning a good portion of each item onto his plate.
She winked at him and said, “You’re a growing boy, right?”
The look that followed as she swept her gaze across his body was hot enough to sear his nerve endings. “Thank you for remembering,” he said, and waited until she had scooped some of the eggs and strawberries onto her plate.
He poured them both coffee and juice, and the rest of the meal passed in companionable chatter about the casino and hotel, and how the Ivanovs had come to own them nearly a decade earlier.
“So you purchased the Jewel of Russia from Prince Dmitri?” he asked after she had told him about Alexander’s plans to expand the family holdings.
“We did. Dimitri in turn had purchased it from Grand Duke Veodoravich, despite the objections of another family member, Prince Sergei.” She gave a slight wrinkle of her nose.
“I guess you don’t like him.”
“I really don’t know him well enough to either like or dislike. It’s just that he’s stayed at the hotel a number of times and I always find him examining everything with this…this look . Almost as though he thought it was his.” Peter was familiar with the other man, although to his knowledge, the “prince” wasn’t generally welcomed by most of the other Russian royals since he was the bastard son of the current Grand Duke’s father. He had not been recognized by either of the two men, and his bid before the Russian courts to have the Veodoravich properties returned to the family after the break-up of the Soviet Republic had not only lacked the support of the Russian royals, but had the additional sting of the courts indicating that he did not have sufficient proof of his lineage for his claim of ownership. Absent a DNA test, which the current Grand Duke refused to provide, Prince Sergei had failed in his quest to be acknowledged as a rightful heir.
Tatiana’s comment niggled at the edges of Peter’s brain. “Is Prince Sergei involved with the charity event? Did he provide any of the jewelry pieces for the show?”
Tatiana shook her head. “No. I’m not sure he has any Veodoravich heirlooms. But I think he purchased a ticket for the event. Why? Is something wrong?”
Peter couldn’t really put a finger on his sudden
He exited the bedroom to find her on the phone, a furrow of worry across her forehead. Again there was little doubt who was on the other end, and what the call was about.
“Yes, Mother, I understand. Don’t worry, there was nothing going on you need to worry about.”
Not really the truth, but her parents didn’t need to know.
“Yes, he’s a good man. I like him.”
Score one for me , he thought, although guilt instantly sank its claws into him, as did fear. Her parents would recognize him in the photo for sure. They had met him more than once when they had visited Alexander at boarding school. They were therefore well aware of who he was, but he wasn’t sure just how much of their family history his father had shared with them. He braced for the revelation just in case.
“Don’t worry,” she said again in response and finally noticed his return. The smile she gave him was unrestrained and full of patience for her parents.
“There is nothing to be concerned about, Mom,” she replied with the tones typically reserved for mother-daughter frustration. She ended the call and faced him. “They saw the pictures on the Internet and were a little worried about our relationship being turned into a public spectacle.”
But they hadn’t said anything about his mother’s illness, judging from the conversation, giving him hope that maybe his father hadn’t shared that difficult history.
Having dodged that bullet, he said, “How about breakfast before it gets too cold?”
“I’d like that,” she said, but before he could start to serve as he had offered, she was at the cart, spooning a good portion of each item onto his plate.
She winked at him and said, “You’re a growing boy, right?”
The look that followed as she swept her gaze across his body was hot enough to sear his nerve endings. “Thank you for remembering,” he said, and waited until she had scooped some of the eggs and strawberries onto her plate.
He poured them both coffee and juice, and the rest of the meal passed in companionable chatter about the casino and hotel, and how the Ivanovs had come to own them nearly a decade earlier.
“So you purchased the Jewel of Russia from Prince Dmitri?” he asked after she had told him about Alexander’s plans to expand the family holdings.
“We did. Dimitri in turn had purchased it from Grand Duke Veodoravich, despite the objections of another family member, Prince Sergei.” She gave a slight wrinkle of her nose.
“I guess you don’t like him.”
“I really don’t know him well enough to either like or dislike. It’s just that he’s stayed at the hotel a number of times and I always find him examining everything with this…this look . Almost as though he thought it was his.” Peter was familiar with the other man, although to his knowledge, the “prince” wasn’t generally welcomed by most of the other Russian royals since he was the bastard son of the current Grand Duke’s father. He had not been recognized by either of the two men, and his bid before the Russian courts to have the Veodoravich properties returned to the family after the break-up of the Soviet Republic had not only lacked the support of the Russian royals, but had the additional sting of the courts indicating that he did not have sufficient proof of his lineage for his claim of ownership. Absent a DNA test, which the current Grand Duke refused to provide, Prince Sergei had failed in his quest to be acknowledged as a rightful heir.
Tatiana’s comment niggled at the edges of Peter’s brain. “Is Prince Sergei involved with the charity event? Did he provide any of the jewelry pieces for the show?”
Tatiana shook her head. “No. I’m not sure he has any Veodoravich heirlooms. But I think he purchased a ticket for the event. Why? Is something wrong?”
Peter couldn’t really put a finger on his sudden
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