Page 66 of Solemn Vow

“I just want to go to bed, Viktor.” She climbs off my lap, dropping the blanket to the floor and grabs the hem of her shirt.

It falls onto the pile with the blanket.

“Bed?”

“Bed.” She nods and walks toward her bedroom.

I have her up in my arms before she gets to the kitchen.

“What sort of party is this?”I press my hand against my chest where the teardrop diamond rests. It’s too much, I tried telling Viktor it was too much, but he only spun me around and fixed the clasp.

“An associate of mine is having a party to celebrate his daughter’s engagement.” He gently brushes my hand away from the necklace. “Stop playing with it.”

“What if I lose it, Viktor?” I demand.

“Then you lose it,” he says like it’s worth nothing.

“You don’t care if I lose a twenty-five-thousand-dollar necklace?” I touch it again to be sure it’s still there.

“How can you know what it cost?” He glances at me as our driver pulls down another street. Friday night traffic in the city is busy enough, but the closer we get to the party, the thicker the traffic gets.

“I found one like it online.” I touch it once more then look out my window. The townhouses are getting more elaborate as we inch down the street. “It’s a big party?”

“There’ll be plenty of people there. We don’t need to stay long, but my friend Roman is in town from New York. He and his wife will be here.” He brakes as we file into line with the other cars waiting to park.

“When you say associate, you mean for your real estate associates?” I pull down the visor and check my lipstick in the mirror. I went with a deep red for tonight, and I’m always afraid I’ll get a bit of it on my teeth.

“Mostly,” he answers after a pause. “Finally,” he grumbles as the car comes to a stop at the front of a brownstone. My door is opened for me, but before I can swing my legs out to hop down, Viktor tells me to wait.

“I can get?—”

“Wait for me.” The way he gives his order suggests I listen to him without argument. I notice people milling around the steps leading up to the elaborate townhouse are trying to get a look at me in the SUV.

Viktor chases off the valet with a simple glare and takes his spot on the sidewalk, offering me his hand.

I grab hold of him and slide down from the SUV until my feet are on the ground. He moves his hand to the small of my back and leads me away from the car to the steps.

“Touch it again and I will glue it to you,” he warns me in a low growl when he catches me bringing my hand up to my chest again.

I shoot him a look but move my focus to the steps so I don’t fall on my face. This dress he bought for me is gorgeous, but it’s long. Even with the slit that goes clear up my left thigh, it makes me nervous of falling.

A camera flash goes off to my left.

“What was that?” I ask, turning to see where it came from.

“Press,” Viktor grouses, moving quickly to my other side to block me from the press as he leads me up the rest of the stepsand through the front door. We didn’t even have to show a ticket or anything; the doorman simply greeted Viktor as Mr. Petrov.

“Why is the press here?” I twist to look back out the door, but he sweeps me further inside.

“It’s a very high-profile engagement,” he says, pressing a little harder on my back and leading me to a room that’s nearly overflowing with people.

“Holy shit,” I gasp. “That’s Jenna Sterling.” I turn toward him. “She’s an actress, like a real movie actress.”

He chuckles. “Do you want to meet her?”

“No!” I move closer to him. “You said an associate, I didn’t think you meant movie star associates.” When I think about how I almost fought Viktor on this dress, I can’t even imagine walking in here in the black wraparound dress I would have chosen to wear. They would have laughed me out of the room.

He lifts an arm and wraps it around my shoulders, bringing me even closer to him. “I have no idea who these people are friends with. I do business with the father of the bride from time to time, that’s all.”

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