Page 34 of Defiled Innocence

“No more delay.” He drops his hand from my chin and steps back, sweeping his arm toward my office.

“You said the marriage first.” I swallow hard.

He’s got that look in his eye like he did at his club. He wants to punish me. And as much as I want to think I can stop him, I can be honest with at least myself that there’s no possibility that I can stop him once he touches me.

“We are.” He stares at me, not even blinking.

“You brought the judge with you?” I step past him and hurry into the office to see who’s all inside.

Sarah was right. Two men just as big as Dmitri stand inside talking with each other. I recognize Nikolai, but the other man is new to me. His resemblance to Nikolai tells me he’s related though.

Then there’s the judge. A smaller man by stature, but just as foreboding as the other men. He frowns when he notices me.

“Ah! We can get started.” Nikolai claps his hands together with a grin aimed at Dmitri as he walks in behind me. “Just a nervous bride?”

“I had something to deal with,” I explain. “A pipe burst downstairs. Actually, I still need to get a few things dealt with. Maybe we should—” My words die when I twist and catch Dmitri’s glare.

“Everything’s already being taken care of,” he states. “My men are on their way to take care of the carpets. You’ll have new carpeting once everything’s done. The drywall that’s been damaged will be replaced by Monday.”

“But I have people?—”

“It’s being taken care of. All you need to do right now is repeat the words the judge gives you.” He comes to stand beside me.

“He’s not even going to introduce me,” the man standing beside Nikolai says with pretend offense.

Dmitri rolls his eyes.

“That is my cousin, Arman. We needed two witnesses,” Dmitri explains then grabs my hand in his and turns me to face the judge.

His thumb runs over my fingertips. Moving things out of the water has left my fingers tender and wrinkled. A low growl rumbles through his chest, but it’s so quiet I’m not sure anyone but me heard it. The man doesn’t even bother to hide his displeasure.

“I’m fine,” I assure him, and he grunts.

“Your fingers are like prunes. You have a full staff here, including a maintenance staff. You shouldn’t have been down there working in the water.” He doesn’t even look at me while trying to chastise me for doing my job.

“And they were helping, too. Just because I’m in charge doesn’t mean I don’t have to do the work here.”

He shoots me a glare that I think means he doesn’t want to talk about it now. Or it means my answer has only fueled his irritation, and I should stop talking.

I haven’t learned all his cues yet.

Dmitri points to the judge who’s now standing in front of us with a little black booklet in his hands. “Go.”

“Are you sure you want to do this here?” I question. “I’m not even wearing a dress.”

Dmitri squeezes my hand, a signal to be silent, I’m sure.

“I mean my shoes are soaked. My clothes are wet, and my hair isn’t even neat. Maybe we should wait until I can change into something more appropriate.” Like a straitjacket for going along with this craziness.

“You might want to get on with it, Judge. This is about as patient as he’s ever been.” Arman moves to stand on Dmitri’s left and Nikolai flanks me on my right.

Are they thinking I might bolt?

Hell, I’m thinking I might bolt.

“Yes. Alright.” The judge opens his booklet and starts to read the first part about what marriage means, but a simple clearing of the throat from Dmitri has him skip straight to the vows.

After he’s read off mine, I stare at him like he’s grown a second head with horns and a furry beard.

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