CHAPTER SIX
Moonlight flooded the bedroom casting a soft glow in the room where Talli was sleeping. Or trying to sleep. Her dreams were disturbed by flashes of the past. Tossing and turning, her nightmare grew worse as shadows invaded her dreams.
She could feel the menace growing as shadows grew and threatened to cover her memories of happier times. She whimpered in fear, as the menace she felt grew stronger. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she felt the loss of something vital in her life.
The menace was still there but she felt herself drifting closer to it than ever before. Then she felt it grip her shoulders and begin to shake her world. Talli cried out and fought to get away. Struggling against her fate, she couldn’t break free. Then she heard someone calling her name.
“Talli, wake up sweetheart. It’s only a dream. Talli, wake up.”
Talli opened her eyes and in the darkness, she felt a calm surrounding her. A calm that held the menace at bay. She leaned into it and found herself in Barshan’s arms. They encircled her giving her his strength. She felt his skin against hers and reveled in his warmth.
“Are you okay?” he whispered.
“I am now.” She clung to him. Laying her head on his chest, she could hear the echo of his heart as it beat a steady rhythm in his chest. Each beat restored her calm and after a few minutes, she felt better.
Laying his chin on the top of her head he asked, “What happened?”
“I was having a nightmare.”
“Yeah, I gathered that. I heard you calling out.”
Talli pushed away from him and gave him a stunned look. “I called out?”
Barshan nodded. “At first you were calling out for your father. You begged him to save you and your mother. You begged him to protect you then you called out for me to save you.”
Talli gasped. “I did?”
Barshan nodded. “Yes, you did.”
Talli felt something cold and wet touch her bare thigh and she screamed jumping into Barshan’s arms.
He held her briefly before he told her, “It’s only Rugar.”
She turned and saw the dog beside the bed. “Oh Rugar, I’m sorry.” She reached out and her fingers dug gently into his fur. “I forgot you were even here.” Wrapping her arms around the dog, she hugged him closer.
After a moment or so, Barshan grabbed her and pulled her back into his arms. Then he realized he was feeling more of her than he should. He ran his hands up and down her back and felt nothing but soft skin. He groaned and pulled her even closer. “What are you wearing?” he whispered.
Talli blushed deep red. “I forgot to grab some clothes this morning, so I didn’t have anything else to wear,” she whispered.
Barshan groaned louder as he imagined her naked. He pulled her closer. “I should go.” His words did not match his actions.
Talli wrapped her arms around him and pleaded, “Please don’t go.”
Barshan moaned. “I can’t stay, not if you’re naked.”
“Please don’t leave me,” she whispered.
“If I stay I can’t promise not to take you. I’m strong but I’m not that strong. I am a man after all.”
“Please help me forget the nightmares surrounding me.”
Barshan looked down at her and in the moonlight, he could see her expression. He could see the need on her face. It took every ounce of honor he had in him to turn away from her. “I can’t. This is not something you really want from me and I’m barely able to go now.”
“Please stay. I don’t want you to go.”
Barshan stopped without turning. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
Turning his head, he searched her face. “Once I take you you’ll belong to me. I won’t let you go once I have you.” He knew this to be true. Yes, he’d been with other women and he’d let them go. Not this one, he had a feeling they would be pure fire together and he would want to keep her.
Talli nodded slowly. “I can live with that.” She sat up letting the blanket that covered her drop to her lap.
The moonlight lent a soft light to illuminate the room and Barshan could see quite clearly. Her pale skin shone in the moonlight and as she raised her hand to welcome him, he couldn’t resist her invitation.
He came back to the bed and leaned toward her, searching her eyes for the answers he sought. Apparently, he found what he needed to know. He gently brushed her hair back over her shoulder. His eyes widened as he stared at her chest.
Her breasts were bigger than they appeared under her clothing. More than a handful, they were full and high on her chest. Her nipples were hard and he couldn’t wait to taste them. He pulled the blanket back to view her whole body and as he did, he gasped slightly. Her waist was narrow and it flared into full rounded hips with long legs that didn’t seem to quit despite her short stature. He never guessed that she looked like this under her semi baggy clothes.
Barshan felt himself lengthen and hard as he viewed her bare body. He reached out and ran his fingers around her left nipple.
She gasped at his touch and leaned forward. “Please…” she whimpered.
“Please what little one?” he murmured back as he licked his lips in anticipation.
“Please touch me,” she begged him. “Touch me like you mean it.”
Barshan growled and pulled her to him. “Are you sure you want that? I’m not a gentle lover but I would never hurt you.”
She closed her eyes and moaned. “Please show me how to love you.”
Barshan lowered his mouth to hers and pressed his lips to hers. When his tongue ran along her lips, she opened her mouth and he pushed his tongue into her mouth. He tasted honey and sunshine. Groaning, he pressed her down into the bed, falling on top of her.
Talli groaned. Lifting her hips, she ground her pelvis against his and felt the hardness in his boxers. She moaned and pushed herself against him again.
Barshan’s lips slipped down to her neck and he licked his way down to her chest, nibbling on her skin. He paused at the point where he felt her heartbeat pounding. Then he couldn’t stop himself from going to her tits. He circled her nipple with his tongue then opened his mouth and took it in. She tasted like honey and her scent surrounded him.
Barshan growled and ripped his boxers off his body. He couldn’t wait to get inside her. He nudged her legs apart and rubbed the head of his cock against her nether lips. He could feel her heat and she was wet for him. Without further ado, he rammed inside her.
Talli gasped as his penetration hit her.
Barshan halted as he raised his head. She was so tight, it was heaven and hell. She gripped him like a vise. Damn, it was irresistible.
Arching her back, she whispered, “More.”
Barshan could see the need on her face. He moved slowly inside her. He wanted to make it last. Though with her clutching his cock, this would be impossible to do.
This seemed to drive her crazy. “Harder, faster!”
He picked up the pace. She was so tight and wet, he’d never remembered a woman fitting him so well before. His hips were pounding into her and Barshan could hardly catch his breath. He could feel her body tighten as she readied herself to explode. Sweat beaded on her forehead and dripped down the side of his face. He couldn’t stop now if he wanted. She felt so good and he wanted to remain inside her for the rest of his life.
Finally, he felt the lightening zapping his spine. He ground his hips against hers and growled in her ear, “Come with me.” He felt her body tighten and then he felt her climax, as he slammed into her deeper than ever before. He felt himself pouring into her and he groaned at the feeling. He could feel her pussy gripping his and for a moment, he couldn’t move. He ground himself into her as he felt his body empty and she groaned.
“Oh my god…” she murmured. “That was awesome.”
Barshan raised his head from where it rested on her shoulder and smiled at her. Pressing his lips to hers, he whispered, “No it was better than awesome, it was magnificent.” He moved off and settled beside her. Running his hand down her body, he noticed a dark smear on her thigh. He frowned, then swung his gaze over to stare at her. “Were you a virgin?”
Talli turned her face to hide her flushed cheeks but Barshan wouldn’t let her hide. Bringing her back to face him, he noted the flushed cheeks and shamed eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me little one? I could have been gentler with you.”
Talli shook her head. “I have no complaints.”
“I hurt you when I didn’t have to. I’m sorry.” He sighed.
“It only hurt for a moment then I tasted heaven.”
Barshan smiled. “No you took me to heaven and beyond. Now you belong to me and I think I’ll keep you.” He reached out and snapped on a small lamp on the nightstand. The soft light illuminated the room and Barshan could see her much better. He took a moment to search her body.
Her skin glowed as his eyes moved from the top of her head to her toes. The only imperfection he noted was a birth mark atop her right breast. It was oblong and three peaked almost resembling a crown.
She noticed his gaze and her cheeks flushed again. Her hands raised to cover the birthmark but Barshan reached out to stop her. “I think you’re perfect. Don’t hide yourself from me.”
“I’m not perfect,” she murmured.
“I think you are.” He leaned over and kissed her skin. When he approached the birthmark, she shied away but Barshan wouldn’t let her. He kissed her birthmark and said, “It is part of you and as beautiful as you are.”
“I share this mark with my father. When I was born he said it was something he gave me, something only the two of us would share but something I could give my children as well, just as his father gave it to him.”
“What does that mean?” Barshan frowned.
Talli shrugged. “I’m not sure. When I asked him about that, he told me someday he would tell me about the mark but he never got the chance. ”
“Why would he say something like that? It’s just a birthmark isn’t it?”
Talli shrugged. “I’m not sure. My father acted like he had a secret but he would never tell me what it was. I asked my mother about it one day and she told me it was my father’s secret to tell. I asked if she knew what it was and she told me she didn’t but there were things she knew and would never speak about.”
Barshan shrugged. He reached up and snapped off the light again. Wrapping his arms around her, he settled in and asked, “Tell me about you.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything. Where did you go to school? Who were your friends? Did you love designing jewelry?”
Talli chuckled. “Where do I start? First off, my parents had me homeschooled. They looked into public schooling but didn’t think it was what they wanted for me. They wanted the very best and they didn’t mind paying for it. I was taught a variety of subjects that went well beyond public schools. I learned Russian from my father, French from my mother and Latin from my tutors. I passed my GED at the age of sixteen. At that point, I didn’t care about a diploma but my mother told me my father wanted me to have it. I’d already taken several courses in design and was working full time at the store.” Shrugging she told him, “My father set things up so we had more than enough money to maintain our way of life so that wasn’t a problem but I wanted to take my father’s designs to the world and in a few years I did that. My best friend was a woman named Julie Morgan.”
“Was?”
“She died a month ago in a car accident. She was driving my car and was involved in a hit and run accident. The police never found who hit her. She died from her injuries and the accident totaled my car. The only saving grace was that my mother never knew how close to death I was. She was too sick to be told.”
Barshan frowned and the thought popped into his mind that Russell rammed into her car thinking it was her but with no proof? He didn’t know why the thought was there but he couldn’t dismiss it entirely. “Were you supposed to be with Julie that day?”
Talli nodded. “I was supposed to drive to the mall that day. Julie wanted to get something special for a date she had coming up but I had a call at the last minute. I told her to take my car and get what she wanted. She agreed to drop my car back off when her errand was complete. She never got to the mall that day.”
Barshan tightened his hold as she cried. Again, the thought Russell Jerome had a hand in the accident swamped his thoughts. “Can I ask you something?”
“What?”
“What would happen if both you and your mother passed away? What would happen to the store?”
“Our attorney would dissolve the business and the money he received would go to a place in New York that my family has been supporting for three generations.”
“And did Russell Jerome ever know that?” Barshan frowned.
“I have no idea what he knew or didn’t know. That would have only happened if we both died. Since I’m still alive, it never came up. I don’t know what the attorney told him after my mother died. He never came when Thomas asked him to. Once he found out he wouldn’t inherit part of the business, he walked out and wouldn’t return my calls. I finally had to have Thomas tell him I wanted him out of my mother’s house.”
Barshan felt the rage growing at the other man’s actions. There was something Russell was after and he thought Talli had it. He didn’t know what it was but the man wasn’t going to stop until he had it.
In Barshan’s mind this fact made Russell Jerome a dangerous man. But Talli belonged to him now and he would protect her from the world if he needed too. Jerome would never get close to her and he had his brothers on the job. He knew they would leave no stone unturned to find the answers he needed.
Snuggling close to her, he promised again, “I’ll keep you safe, no matter what else happens I’ll keep you safe.”
Hours later, Talli began tossing and turning again in her sleep. She was whispering something but her voice was so quiet Barshan couldn’t hear what she was saying. Wrapping his arms around her, he tried to wake her up and after a while she opened her eyes. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she held on to Barshan as she sobbed.
When she stopped crying, Barshan kissed her forehead and asked, “What were you remembering sweetheart? What memory haunts your dreams?”
“Nothing,” she murmured.
“It must have been something, you were calling out for your father.”
“I was?” Talli started. Turning to him she said, “I don’t remember that.”
“Well you did, little one.”
Talli thought for a moment then remembered her dream. Memories of that night rushed through her mind and for the first time since it happened, she remembered everything. Things she’d forgotten since then. She remembered peeking through her own doorway and watching a man join her father in his study. She remembered her father tilting his head in reference to the other man. She could see his profile but she never did see his whole face. She could remember her father greeting the other man and kissing his hand. Why would he do that? She had no idea.
“Do you remember the night I told you about before? The night those men came to our house in the middle of the night? My father greeted a stranger in his study and bowed his head to him. He even kissed his hand. I didn’t get to see more than that before he closed the door,” Talli whispered in the dark. “Why would he do that?”
Barshan frowned. “I have no idea. What else happened before he closed the door?”
“They were speaking in Russian and I couldn’t hear it all but I think my father called the other man a prince. I thought I’d only imagined that part because Russian has no more royalty, does it?” She frowned and turned her head to look at Barshan. “Russian royalty died out in the early nineteen hundreds after they executed the last Tzar didn’t it?”
“Yes it did,” Barshan agreed. “The remaining few members fled the country and disappeared. Even today, there are only a handful of people left with royal blood. They are many times removed from the true members of the Tzar family.”
“I don’t understand. Why would this man come to my father in the middle of the night in secret?”
“I don’t know but it might tie in with what and why Russell Jerome is involved. You said he claims to be a cousin to one of the last members of the royal Russian family. There is no proof other than his claim, so it cannot be confirmed or denied. Even at the time, the royals denied ties to Nicholas.”
“I don’t know. It was something my father never spoke about. I begged him to tell me but he never would. He said the world would be a better place if no one knew about the royal family. He said they had suffered enough and would never again take their place in history. They were better off to be forgotten as Russia would never again be the superpower it once was. He said Russians today would never bring back the dignity of the past or raise their heads again with the same pride they had when a Tzar ruled in the house of Romanov.”
Barshan had to agree with what she said. “That is very true. The Russia of today is vastly different than it was back then.”
Talli snuggled in his arms. “I don’t want to talk anymore. This is a never ending mystery and there is no one left alive to confirm or deny what happened eleven years ago. We must let the past stay in the past and think about it no more.”
Barshan hugged her close. “It may not be done little one. If the man you knew as Russell Jerome comes back, he may be looking for something he thinks your father had all those years ago.”
Talli turned in his arms. “You don’t think Russell had anything to do with my father’s murder do you? His killer has never been found.”
“I don’t know sweetheart.” He stayed quiet.
“Sleep now.” He kissed her temple. “This will wait. Get some rest now.”
Talli closed her eyes and let her worries drift away. This man had that effect on her, he took away her pain, made her feel hope, made her feel safe. Then the way he stormed her body. It was heaven just like she’d said. She hoped he would keep her like he’d said but really, she didn’t believe this. Men always said things they did not mean. She would just try to stay with him until this was over, she did not expect anything further than that. It would be nice to dream of having a man like him. But dreams were meant to be shattered, she of all people knew this. She snuggled in his arms and fell to sleep.