Page 26 of Mercenary Princess

Chapter 10

London, England

Viktor took a long pull from the vodka in his hand as he gazed out the window to the courtyard patio of his London home. The soft glow of the moon lit the garden and stone fountains beyond the glass. The mansion had several levels and private gardens, but this one lay outside his private suite of rooms. He had enough business in the city to keep a London residence, and he had to admit it was one of his favorite homes.

The comfortable sitting area was large, with a fireplace, several tables and chairs, and dark wood walls adorned with priceless art. One side held the wet bar he used more often than not while in residence. This was the one place he allowed only his closest friends, but it had the privacy and security needed to meet his princess. He turned at the tread of footsteps on the hardwood floors.

Ivan stalked forward, the door clicking shut behind him. “She’s here. Her woman demands to be allowed to clear the room before the princess comes in.”

Viktor wondered what else the woman had said that set Ivan’s tattooed fingers flexing at his side. He didn’t ask, too eager to see his prey to wait any longer than necessary. “Fine.”

Ivan grumbled something and opened the door wider. The woman who entered had a dark look in her eyes as she pulled out a small handheld device.

He stilled at the sight, his hand tightening on his glass, yet he showed no other reaction to the equipment she held. “This will block all signals in here while you speak to Her Royal Highness.” It would do more than jam his audio and video systems, but he kept that knowledge to himself for the moment.

Instead of reacting to the device, he raised an eyebrow at her tone and challenging look. It was very brave considering where she was. Not to mention her nerve at entering his home with that particular jammer.

Without awaiting an answer from him, she turned on the device and moved to the windows, drawing the curtains with swift, practiced moves, visually cutting the room off from the outside. The woman made her way through the space, missing little. Her training was obviously as good as his reports indicated, but her protective tone suggested she was more than a hired guard.

His eyes flickered to the small piece of equipment as she set it on his table. A jamming device would be standard protocol in a clandestine meeting with a royal or anyone of wealth wishing to discuss sensitive or less than legal topics. He was fine with that process, having implemented it himself often enough.

But what the guard had brought into his domain was a sleek, high-powered device designed by his and Titian’s company. They’d just rolled it out, and it had only gone to the first of their elite clientele and any covert organizations personally vetted by Daire, their figurehead. That meant only his people and a few select groups and agencies had access to it. It was more than the audio and video blocker she’d made it out to be. No, that particular product had the ability to pull precious security data from all wireless feeds running within the walls of this room.

Viktor avoided any obvious reaction to its use, but Ivan had glanced over at him the second the female pulled it out.

Very few people knew the companies Viktor backed, and he’d taken great pains to hide his affiliation to Rath Tech Industries for exactly this reason. The blocking device would have been far more dangerous if his feeds weren’t programmed to shut down upon interaction with its kind. The little guard would be very disappointed when she didn’t get anything from this venture. Even his cell phone had a protective casing.

He considered the situation carefully. A threat to his security was not one he dealt with lightly, and he was not known for being kind to those who attempted to cross him. Yet he had no desire to divulge his knowledge of the equipment. It only added another element of intrigue to his princess, as he was fairly certain there were no Porenza contacts on the list of clients who were permitted early access to equipment, or any access, for that matter. It was something he intended to look into. At that moment, he was far more interested in seeing his princess, so he was willing to make a concession about the equipment for now. He’d thought far too much about this meeting over the last week to end it before it began.

The female nodded to the jammer on the coffee table with a warning look. “It stays on.” Then she headed to the door. His lips twitched at her bravado, and when she pushed the door wider, he caught a glimpse of his prey. With her head held high and a fierce glint in her chocolate eyes, his princess made no secret of her anger.

He tightened his grip on the forgotten tumbler in his hand, the sight of her more tempting than that of any other women he’d encountered.

She ensnared him with a glare as she tossed orders to both Ivan and her guard. “You can both wait outside.”

Viktor suppressed a grin. He didn’t have to look at Ivan to know the man was frowning. His man had been dismissed with all the regal authority of one furious royal. He nodded to Ivan, indicating he should leave. He didn’t need to tell Ivan to watch the princess’s guard.

The door shut, and all the sexual tension surging between them flooded the room.

She was stunning, and her anger only made her more rousing.

Her graceful strides ate up the distance between them.

He took his time raking his gaze from the shiny dark waves of her hair to the sweeping curves of what he knew to be soft, smooth skin lurking beneath her conservative dress. His princess had perfected the ability to cover everything while hiding little. He’d noticed that at the nightclub as well. His cock twitched at the idea of peeling the material off her silky, tan flesh, revealing every inch she hid from him.

His reaction to her was swift and encompassing. It wasn’t just her beauty, though in that, she was incomparable. It was the fire in her gaze as she came within feet of touching him.

“Are you finished?” The words held a hint of steely reprimand at his slow perusal. He hadn’t hidden the desire he felt for her, and he could see her fighting her own need.

“For now,” he allowed. “Would you like a drink?”

“I’d rather you get to the point, Mr. Popov. Why am I here?”

He stalked forward, noticing she’d stopped shy of the first chair of the sitting area, likely trying to maintain some distance. Attraction sizzled between them, and the way she rocked back a fraction before glaring harder at him said she felt it just as strongly. He wanted to see just how hot it burned.

“I told you we weren’t done.”

“You also told me you didn’t break into my hotel to blackmail me.”

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