Tempted & Taken (Men of Haven #4)(24)

“And now I’m in love,” Axel muttered as he leaned forward to catch her attention. “Ye sure ye don’t want ta set w’ me, lass? I’ll match ma scotch with yer Russian brew and we’ll break all kinds o’ international barriers.”

“Can it with the brogue, you dirty Scot,” Knox said. He splayed a hand on Darya’s shoulder, scanned the rest of his crew with a warning look and headed for the bar.

He’d barely made it three steps before Vivienne twisted in her seat. “So, you’re from Russia, right? What part?”

And so it began. She’d thought long and hard since learning Knox wanted her to meet his brothers about how to handle her past, and the only thing that had felt right was to be as honest as possible without sharing much in the way of details. “Yekaterinburg, but I moved to St. Petersburg once I completed my schooling.”

Dressed in simple navy blue tank top and cutoff jeans, the pretty honey-blonde woman Knox had introduced as Gabe piped up. “How long have you lived here?”

“Almost three years. Though most of it was spent in San Diego. I’ve only been in Texas for the last nine months.”

Vivienne chuckled. “Your first Texas summer. How are you holding up?”

“It’s different. Much warmer than Russia in summer, which is nice unless you’re on a horse. I went on a trail ride a few weeks ago and realized maybe I should have waited until fall.”

The blond brother with the ponytail perked up. Of all the men, he and Beckett had been the two she’d recognized on sight—Beckett because he’d been listed in some of the articles with Knox, and Trevor because he’d been the focus of a client request several months ago. That had been the job that had given her the courage and impetus to reach out to Knox to start with. “You like to ride?”

His wife, Natalie, snickered and rolled her eyes. “Oh, now she’s done it.”

For a second, she thought perhaps she’d stepped into a topic she shouldn’t have. Then she remembered the ranch that had been included in the pre-packaged information she’d passed on to Natalie’s ex-husband at Knox’s request. “I’d never been before but always wanted to, so I treated myself.”

Trevor cocked one eyebrow. “Yeah? What’d you think?”

“It was amazing. Though I would have liked it better with fewer people and a little less structure.”

“Well, we can swing that.” He hugged Natalie closer to him. “We’ve got horses out at our place and lots of room to roam.”

Danny leaned forward and crossed both arms on the table. “Man, I’ll take a Harley to a quarter horse any day.”

“Yeah, you said pigs would fly before you did, too,” Trevor said. “Now I can’t get you out of my Cessna.”

Shrugging, Danny lifted his beer for a drink, but smirked right before he tilted it. “That was before I knew how good planes were for impressing chicks.”

Gabe twisted enough to aim a frown up at Zeke. “Are you telling me the whole flying-on-a-first-date thing is a ploy you all use?”

Unlike the rest of the men, Zeke had a certain GQ appeal. Mostly short dark hair except a little longer and tousled on top with just enough scruff on his chin to give him a sexy edge. He smiled down at his woman, not the least bit ruffled by her sass. “You’ve got my rock on your finger, so I’m thinking it worked.”

“Mmm.” Natalie set her wineglass down on the table and cocked her head toward Gabe. “I’ll give you the pilot thing being hot, but it was seeing Trevor on the back of a horse that did me in.”

“See?” Trevor said to Danny. “Don’t knock horses. Women love ’em.”

“Screw that,” Jace grumbled. “Take the direct approach and bribe ’em. It’s faster and more effective.”

Well, that was an interesting crumb of information and surprisingly in line with the approach many of the men she knew in Russia were prone to take. She was just about to open her mouth and ask if he had any Slavic ancestry when Knox ambled up behind her, leaned in and plunked a short tumbler of vodka directly in front of her. “What are you guys talking about?”

Vivienne smirked at Jace then craned her neck toward Knox. “Somehow we’ve gone from polite weather chitchat to how best to snag a woman. Not surprisingly, Beckett and Axel have stayed tight lipped.”

Knox moved in on Darya’s right, glared at Beckett until he moved his chair over enough for Knox to sit between them, then plunked himself down. “So, basically you’re rubbing your marital bliss in everyone’s faces?”

“Something like that,” Jace said. His gaze rested on Darya for all of a second before he refocused on Knox. “If you want, we can rewind and start over so you can pick up a few pointers.”

Knox scowled back at him. “JJ’s angling for a coder slot. Not a hookup or a husband.”

Not a husband, no. But if Knox was the hookup in question, she’d absolutely sign up.

Jace winked at her like he’d overheard her thoughts then smiled at Knox. “Whatever you say, brother.”

“Knox said your real name’s Jeannie, right?” This from Gabe, who seemed either blissfully unaware of the good-natured razzing bouncing back and forth between Jace and Knox, or simply too accustomed to their banter to worry about it.