Bad Nerd Rising (14 page)

“Did you really know my name?” she whispered
when he freed her lips again.

“Of course. Most of the men
in my classes knew who you were.”

“I was a freshman,” she
argued. A frown formed between her brows and he kissed the lines
away.

“That didn’t matter. You
were still the most beautiful girl on campus.”

“Aleksi, how long have you needed
glasses?”

Tia couldn’t believe she
was in Aleksi de Leos’s arms,
kissing
him. And he was kissing her
back. In fact, if she was correct, and she was pretty sure she
was,
he
initiated
the kiss.

Wow.
Those were her insides quivering like a plate of gelatin. Her
breathing came a little too fast for comfort. Her knees were shaky
and her thoughts dreamy.

Dreams did actually come
true.
Imagine that.
The prince of her dreams had kissed her. He even looked like
he enjoyed the experience and came back for more. Would wonders
never cease?

But then visions of pink
and makeup and high heels danced in her head and Tia drew back a
step. His arms prevented her from moving away from him. This man
might be worth the effort of heels and pink. He’d have to deal with
her no makeup policy though. ‘Cause no man was worth the itching
and tearing eyes makeup caused her.

Still...
what an impressive specimen
.

What a wonderful kisser.
She would be perfectly content to remain in his arms the rest of
the day. “What’s in this for you?” she asked on a gasp, when he
finished kissing her for the third time.

“What do you mean what’s in
it for me? You are the most beautiful woman I have ever
seen.”

“Aleksi, I tripped at my
high school prom and broke my nose. There was blood everywhere. If
you ask any of my high school classmates about me, that’s only one
of many such stories they could tell you.
Beautiful
and
Tia
do not go together.” She
frowned, this information shouldn’t be rocket science. So why
didn’t he appear to care?

“You broke your nose?” His
lips twitched and he leaned forward to inspect it.

“Yes,” she answered,
bending over his arms to try to place distance between them. But he
held her wrapped tightly against him, so she couldn’t go far. Not
that she tried very hard.

“Your nose is cute,” he finally decided and
leaned down to kiss it.

She sighed. This man was
beyond wonderful. Her six-year-old Halloween costume rose to the
foreground of her mind, and she sighed again. She could be a
princess.

“What? Doesn’t The
Princess like my dirty socks?”
Bryan’s
voice, shortly after she’d worn that costume, bellowed through her
mind again, and with a totally different type of sigh, Tia stared
up at Aleksi and finally managed to place some room between them.
Not that she wanted to be far from him, but she knew what she
couldn’t have, and all the signs (contrary to the gorgeous man in
her arms, and looking like he even wanted to kiss her again)
pointed in the direction of her not getting this particular prince.
Even if she did, her brothers would be intolerable.

Of course, Rurikstan was
thousands of miles from Hershey, Pennsylvania, so there might be
something to be said about that. And since she’d be the princess,
maybe she could put forth a decree banning the Apes.

Now there was a thought.

“Aleksi, Tia?” A familiar
voice called and with a guilty start, she and Aleksi separated. He
grinned sheepishly at her and ran a hand over the back of his head.
Tia was sure her cheeks reddened, because she could feel the heat
there.

“We’re here, Aunt Emma,”
she called, and gathered up the paper pieces from Aleksi’s
bandage.
Oh, that was
clo
se.

“Here you are. I was
wondering how our first wounded was doing?”

“He’s fine,” Tia said at
the same time Aleksi said, “I couldn’t be better.” His eyes told
her exactly why as those gorgeous dark brown orbs dipped to her
lips and lazily inspected her face.

Her heart jumped and Tia
swallowed, dropping her eyes to the roll of gauze she held in her
hand. Why was she holding gauze? Why was her heart racing so hard
she could hear it?

Why did Aleksi have to be so sexy and kiss
so well?

Why did
he
have to kiss
her
?

“How are they doing out there?” Aleksi asked
her aunt.

Emma waved a negligent
hand. “They appear to be doing fine, but didn’t want to launch the
rocket without you.”

A new type of interest
flared in his eyes, and with a last, searching, sweeping look at
her, one that made her hot all over, he left the room. Tia barely
suppressed a groan. The man should be illegal. Or should come with
warning signs.
Burns
ahead
.

General Emma’s eyes also
swept knowingly over her, and Tia knew her aunt saw more than she
should. “So, you took care of his wound, did you?”

“That’s why we came in
here,” Tia answered. She was darned if she was giving away what
else they’d been doing. She hurriedly placed the gauze roll inside
the antique armoire.

“Kissed and made it better,
did you?” Emma’s voice dripped with interest, teasing, and
something Tia couldn’t identify.

“I did my part,” Tia said,
trying to keep her lips,
lips Aleksi had
thoroughly kissed
, from
twitching.

“I see.” Emma drawled out the second
word.

Tia refused to meet her
eyes. That would incriminate her, and this way, Emma couldn’t tell
her mother definitely what Tia was up to here in Rurikstan. No need
to raise her mother’s hopes of marrying off her chick. No need for
that whatsoever.

Her brothers would be
impossible
. Tia suppressed a
groan.

“I can’t date this man,” she all but wailed
and sank into the chair behind her.

Emma dropped onto the
twelfth century bench nearby. “Why not?” She soothed a hand up and
down Tia’s spine, just as she had when her brothers had been
particularly trying.

“Because the Apes will make
my life miserable. Plus, he’s a prince, what would he do with me?
And I have no desire to marry into a royal family.”

“I see.” Emma chewed on her
bottom lip. “I’m not sure you have a choice in the matter,
lovey.”

Tia’s head sprang up and
she stared at her aunt. “Why not?” She would not
panic
,
she
would not
panic
, she would not
panic...

“Rarely do we choose who we
fall in love with. That’s often not our choice. Love simply happens
where it may, Tia.”

“Who said anything about
love?” Tia sounded belligerent, but she didn’t care. Pink was not
her best color.

Emma chuckled. “Ah, it
might already be too late for you, baby girl. But that’s
okay.”

I will not
panic
. “What are you saying?”

“He’s an honorable man.
Comes from an excellent family, and he’ll take exceptional care of
you. That’s all we want for our nieces and daughters.”

“I’m not marrying a prince.”

“Don’t let your brothers
stop you. You might not have noticed – but they have grown
up.”

Tia frowned at her aunt.
“I’m sure last time I was home, a month ago, Josh held me down and
gave me a noogie,” she refuted.

Emma sighed. “Okay, so
they’re still working on that, but think about it this
way...”

“Yes?”

“Hershey, PA is a long way from
Rurikstan.”

Tia nodded and sighed.
“Yeah, I already thought of that.”

Chapter
11

“We have been to the first
appointment,” his Aunt Loletta stated in their native language –
her voice not at all muted by the distance between them.

He leaned back in his desk
chair. “How did it go?” Aleksi was almost scared to ask. His mother
had been acting so oddly he almost wished to hear she had a problem
that created her strangeness.

“It was a physical today,
and they believe she is fine. Although they are planning to run
some tests.”

“How is she emotionally?”

Loletta sighed. “I’d say
the change of scenery has done her the most good. She’s excited and
happy to be here.”

“I wish I had realized
sooner.” He regretted that he hadn’t thought to do something more
for his mother’s increasingly strange behavior.

“I’ve heard all about
this
American
who’s come to Rurikstan to overthrow things.” The humor in
Loletta’s voice kept her statement from sounding like it had come
directly from his mother’s lips which he was sure it
had.

“Tia is here to save our
wells,” Aleksi corrected.

Loletta’s laughter bubbled
over the phone. “Yes, love, I know. Without this American, you’d be
in deep trouble.”

“Yes. We still might be.”
He tapped his pen against the blotter, wishing they had more
information.

“Are more people falling
ill?” The concern in his aunt’s voice made him swallow.

“Not nearly as many, but
yes, a few are still coming down with the same illness. We can’t
determine what is making them so ill. Everyone should be diligent
about boiling the water now.”

“I hope this young lady
figures out the problem.”

“So do I, Aunt Loletta. So
do I. I also hope these doctors can figure out what’s wrong with
Mother.”

“I believe they will. She’s certainly not
herself.”

“You picked up on that?”

“Of course. I’ve heard it
in her voice for the past year. Since losing your father, she
hasn’t been the same.”

“You don’t recall her
acting strangely before he died?”

Loletta sighed. “I don’t
know. That was such a tumultuous time, I’m afraid I don’t
remember.”

“Neither do I. I wish I
did.”

“Aleksi, you had plenty to
contend with at that time. No one is going to blame you for not
remembering every detail. Your responsibilities went from learning
and ceremonial to running the principality. All while you were
grieving for your father.”

He shoved a hand through
his hair and thought about that. “I barely remember the funeral or
the first few weeks afterwards.”

“I don’t doubt that. You
were saddled with all this responsibility you hadn’t thought to
have for years. His death was rather sudden.”

“That’s something I don’t understand
either.”

“What don’t you understand,
love?”

“Father sickened rapidly
and he died nearly as quickly. Didn’t it seem...
abrupt
to you?”

“It did. But sometimes
that’s what happens.”

“He wasn’t that old
though.”

“He was in his mid
seventies. That’s plenty old enough, Aleksi. He was a man with
responsibilities, which might have contributed.”

“But he took care of himself.”

“Yes, but doesn’t mean long
life.”

“Usually it does.”

“What’s worrying you?”

“I can’t get the idea out
of my head that he was poisoned.”

He heard her gasp. “Aleksi,
you haven’t mentioned this theory to anyone else, have
you?”

“No. I’ve more sense than
that. But you are the most levelheaded person I know, so I wanted
to mention my theory to you first.”

“I think I need to think
about that. I was there in his last days...” When she trailed off,
Aleksi breathed a little easier. His aunt Loletta wasn’t one for
conspiracy theories, but she would think about his worries and give
him a well thought out answer.

“I was also there when the
illness started. I didn’t think about it at first, but since
conducting some basic research about wells, I’ve grown rather
concerned.” Aleksi stared at the picture over his mantel, hating
the thought that someone wanted his father dead. Enough to actually
kill him.

“Aleksi,” Loletta
whispered, “You’re scared your
mother
killed your
father
.”

He cringed when he heard
his private fears spoken aloud. “Yes. She loved him, so I can’t
figure out why she’d do it. But there is no doubt she’s been acting
oddly all year.”

“That’s a heavy charge.”
Loletta sounded shell-shocked.

“I know,” he sighed. “I
don’t really believe it, but I’ve been concerned. You know how she
is. She’s a little...”

“Odd. I know. I guess I
hadn’t thought about her actually murdering your father. That
doesn’t seem right to me.”

“It’s against the law,” he
sputtered. His heart weighed heavy in his chest.

“I know that.” She offered
a heavy, weary sigh of her own. “What I mean is like you said, your
mother loved your father. I can’t imagine her doing anything to
hurt him.”