Page 5 of Fergus

Fergus narrowed his eyes. “You said his father and Jessica had a prenuptial agreement.”

Thea nodded. “Which Lev threatened to legally challenge within days of my mother’s death on the basis his father was suffering from the beginnings of dementia when he signed the agreement and that his condition had noticeably worsened by the time he died.”

“Had it?”

She shrugged. “With a man like Andrei, it was hard to tell.”

His eyes narrowed. “How much money are we talking about?”

“Fifty million pounds.”

His brows rose. “And that wasn’t the majority of Yegorov’s fortune?”

“About one percent of it,” she acknowledged heavily. “I actually offered to give Lev the money back, but he’s now decided he wants more from me than that.”

Fergus’s eyes narrowed on the increased pallor of her cheeks. “Such as?”

She released a heavy sigh. “He says the money can be returned to him as some sort of dowry when the two of us marry.”

Fergus glanced at her ringless left hand. A hand, he noted with self-derisive admiration, that was as slender and graceful as the rest of her. “I don’t see an engagement ring?”

“Because I have no intention of becoming Lev’s fourth wife!” She gave him an exasperated glare. “He’sthe one saying I’m going to be his wife. I wouldn’t willingly marry him if he was the last man on earth.”

“Isn’t that denial a little overkill?” Fergus mocked. “After all, you’ve just said the man is a billionaire.”

She snorted. “Have you met Lev?”

“I try to avoid being in the same vicinity as Russian gangsters.” Which, Fergus immediately realized, wasn’t completely true.

Because he and the rest of his family were now friends with Nikolai Volkov, the man who was second to thepakhanof the London bratva.

Nikolai had been instrumental in reuniting Fergus’s cousin Rufus with his daughter, whom they had all thought had been killed in a car accident with her mother when she was a baby. For years, Rufus and the rest of the Wynter family had all believed Emily to be forever lost to them.

The truth of that situation was far more convoluted than that, but the only thing that really mattered was that Rufus had his fully grown-up daughter returned to him. Nikolai Volkov and his wife, Daisy, were now godparents to Rufus’s granddaughter, Lily.

As a consequence, the rest of the Wynter family were now also acquainted with Daisy and Nikolai.

The cold and lethal Russian was known and feared as the Wolf in his home country and by the rest of the world. His lack of mercy when dealing with his enemies said he more than lived up to that name.

But if Nikolai decided he liked you and became your friend, and he seemed to have decided he liked and wanted to be a friend of the Wynter family, then he became your ally for life.

Thea glared impatiently at his dismissive answer. “Lev is almost sixty and for years has overindulged in vodka and donuts.” She grimaced when Fergus smiled. “Yes, I’m aware it’s a strange combination, but apparently, he’s always liked Russian vodka, and he discovered his liking for donuts after moving to the States when he left Russia with his father thirty years ago. Andrei moved to England fifteen years ago. Lev didn’t move here until after his father died.”

“When you were twenty-two?”

“That would be correct.”

“And he was already in his midfifties?”

“Yes.”

“And now the two of you are going to be married?”

She gave an obviously impatient shake of her head. “Will you please at least give me the courtesy of listening to what I’m telling you?”

“But you said?—”

“What Isaidwas I wouldn’twillinglymarry him.”

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