“Your sister is willful. As well you know,” I say dryly. “If you want to hurry her out from under the water, then that’s on you.”
“Willful, ha. At least he has an accurate read on her, Camille.”
“Nessa!”
“What? The man knows he married a spoiled princess.”
How right she is…
“Like Eoghan didn’t.”
“Hey! I wasn’t spoiled. Not at the beginning.”
“Just now?”
“Definitely now.” She shoots Camille a smug smile, who rolls her eyes. When the server returns, I think her name is Miroslava, she claps her hands. “You’re a darling!”
Together, they study the tin and Miroslava beams at her when Inessa doles up nearly half the mound on her own.
With the sense that I’m about to be eaten out of house and home for the second day in a row, I sink back in my seat as Miroslava asks, “The usual, sir?”
“Please. Victoria will be down shortly. Her breakfast is ready?”
“Almost.”
“Good. Thank you.” Noticing Camille’s still-narrowed eyes, I exclaim, “Let it out, Camille. I know you want to.”
“Are you the reason she was arrested?”
“No.”
“Are you lying?”
“No.”
“Jesus, Camille. Talk about an unoriginal question.” Inessa scoops up finely diced boiled egg onto a blini and gestures at her sister with it. “As if he’d admit to lying to us.”
“I’m not lying.”
“Victoria’s never been arrested before.”
“She won’t be again.”
“But she reconnects with you and all of a sudden, she’s in a jail cell?!”
“She never saw a jail cell, but her experience in the police station is the reason she chose to marry me last night.”
“Explain.”
“Maxim,” Victoria admonishes. “You weren’t supposed to come down without me.”
I study her over my orange juice, taking in the ribbed sweater dress she poured her curves into and more of that clever makeup. She looks comfortable, at home, and sexy as fuck. “Greet your sisters,tsaritsa.”
That earns me sharp glances from the other women, but Victoria sinks into the seat opposite mine without a second look.
My god, how is this confident brat the same woman I made love to last night?
Ignoring both her siblings, she reaches for some watermelon juice. “I said I’ll deal with them.”
