Page 17 of Marrying the Silver Fox

He puts his arm around me, furrowing his brow slightly, resting his hand on my waist as though this kind of thing is natural to us.

“Ah, I see you’ve met my brother,” he remarks. His voice has an edge to it, pulled taut, and I can instantly sense some tension in the room.

I glance between them and nod, but Max seems more interested in what’s going on with his brother than anything else. “You didn’t come down together,” he points out.

Nikolai replies without missing a beat. “I was up early,” he says calmly. “I wanted to burn off some energy at the gym. Didn’t want to wake Andie, since she had such a long trip.” He tightens his grip on me slightly, as though making it clear that he’s staking his claim.

I press my hand against his chest, smiling at Max, doing everything I can to convince him that we are real.

“You were only married yesterday, weren’t you?” Max points out, cocking an eyebrow. “You didn’t want to spend your wedding night together?”

“There are other ways of celebrating,” Nikolai replies coolly.

Max’s jaw tightens. It’s like he’s trying to punch holes in our union any way he can, and I guess it won’t be too difficult for him to find some kind of weakness, given that we barely know one another. We just need to present a united front for as long as it takes to get him out of here, then I can interrogate Nikolai on everything I need to know in order to fit into this family the way I want to.

“I’ll have to take your word for it,” Max replies, and he tips the rest of his coffee into the sink. “Have you seen Dad?”

“Not yet,” Nikolai replies. “I know he takes his mornings slow. Wanted to give him a chance to have breakfast before I dropped in on him.”

“Avoiding him, huh?” Max remarks, shaking his head. “After you came all this way to introduce us to your new wife?”

“Not avoiding him,” Nikolai replies. “Respecting him.”

Silence hangs in the air between them. I can feel history brimming just beneath the surface, neither of them quite willing to come out and admit it, though I get the feeling it’s only a matter of time before it stills over. Nikolai tightens his grip on me as though he thinks his brother might make a move to get his hands on me.

“Well,” Max remarks. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Andie. Even if I’m not sure what you see in my brother…” He lets out a bark of laughter, though I can tell he’s only covering his ass to try and sound like less of a jerk after coming out with something as judgmental as that.

I half expect Nikolai to lash back at him and tell him to back the hell off, but he doesn’t. Knows better, maybe. Rising to his bait is only going to make things even tenser than they already are, and that’s the last thing we need right now.

“I’ll see you at dinner later,” Max says, and he walks out of the kitchen, brushing past his brother on the way out.

What the hell is this? I look up at Nikolai, but he’s still staring straight ahead, not saying a word. Does he think I haven’t noticed? That I could have ignored the ridiculous tension between them? It’s clear that there’s something going on here, whether he wants to acknowledge it or not, and I’m not just going to stand by and let it go⁠—

“Ah, Nikolai!” Marta’s voice cuts through the quiet a moment later, and both of us turn to see her bustling in once more.

Nikolai’s mood seems to shift at once, and he greets her with a smile. It’s clear he’s fond of this woman. I wonder how long she has worked for them, or if she’s married into the family as well. She referred to his father using some kind of title—pakhan—so I guess she’s not directly part of this clan, but the two of them obviously have history.

“I told your father that you and your wife had arrived safely,” she announces, as she makes her way over to the sink to wash her hands. “He was pleased to hear it. And looking forward to seeing you both in person.”

“Is he up?”

“He’s still having his breakfast,” she replies, shaking her head. “And you know how he is in the mornings, Nikolai. Better to let him eat before you speak to him, hmm?”

She glances at me with a pealing laugh. “I wonder if your new wife already knows how you can be in the mornings,” she remarks with a light humor. “I remember, when you were a young man…”

As she begins spinning a story of Nikolai from back in the day, I do my best to listen, figuring that every bit of intel I can get my hands on here is going to be useful. Because there is so much I need to learn about this place, about where I fit into it, and why Nikolai was willing to marry me the way he did with next to no notice.

But right now, the only thing I can focus on is the way his arm feels around my waist.

At least there’s one part of being married that I don’t think I’ll have to fake, as crazy as all of this is.

I reach for my coffee, praying that the caffeine will carry me through the rest of the day—because I’m not sure I can make it through this minefield without putting a foot wrong.

Or what will happen if I do wind up making some mistake I can’t take back.

8

NIKOLAI