The Gift-Wrapped Groom Read Online Free PDF

Baranov.”
    â€œI have spent winters in Siberia.”
    â€œDon’t be taken in by my grandfather’s home and all its expensive comforts and modern devices. He’s wealthy. I’m not. Nor are my neighbors in this small rural village. You’ll find no helicopter pads, servants, faxes or microwaves at your disposal. We don’t even have a doctor. My grandfather’s part-time nurse, Jean, is one of only two paramedics in the valley. You’ll have few conveniences.”
    â€œI am not used to many.”
    â€œThere will be wood to cut, snow to shovel. I will not wait on you. I will expect you to pitch in and do your share.”
    With much difficulty, Nicholas kept the growing anger out of his voice. “I have always done my share.”
    â€œI will be working at my store most days. How do you plan to spend your time?”
    â€œI intend to apply for work at the Idaho National Engineering Lab. They are involved in nuclear waste disposal.”
    Her scribbling paused. Her head came up again. “How do you know about the Idaho lab and the work they do?”
    â€œAmerican nuclear facilities are well known to Russian scientists, just as Russian nuclear facilities are well known to American scientists.”
    â€œYou assume they’re going to hire you?”
    â€œYou assume they are not?”
    A small frown creased her forehead before her eyes dropped once more. The pen was coming to the end of the paper.
    â€œEven if you get work at the facility in Idaho, it’s quite a distance from here. Maybe as much as two, even two-and-a-half hours’ travel time in bad weather.”
    â€œThat travel time would not be objectionable.”
    She stopped scribbling. She raised her head. This time, she met his eyes squarely. Nicholas felt the intensity of this look. A question swam in the Siberian seas of those icy, silver-green eyes. Why wasn’t she asking it?
    As she leaned across the desk, she brought a faint, sweet scent with her. Nicholas was reminded of spring flowers, buried beneath the frost of a stubborn winter. For a moment, he did not notice that the piece of paper on which she’d been so diligently writing had been firmly but surreptitiously shoved in front of him.
    â€œDr. Baranov, you’re obviously educated, intelligent, healthy and not unattractive. I wonder if you have explored all opportunities to exploit these considerable assets in your homeland.”
    â€œAre you asking me a question, Miss Winsome?”
    Her index finger thumbed impatiently on the piece of paper between them. Nicholas caught on and looked down at it.
    She spoke rapidly as he read. “I think perhaps your decision to come to this country and be a part of this arranged marriage may be one you are beginning to have cause to regret. Please take a moment to think about what I’m asking you. I must be absolutely certain of the sincerity of your answer. Do you want to go ahead with this marriage?”
    It wasn’t the real question she was asking, of course. The real question was written on the paper she had pushed toward him, the sheet she was still trying to keep away from the prying eyes of her grandfather, pacing not five feet away.
    Nicholas Baranov found it a very surprising and interesting question indeed.

Chapter Three
    â€œW hat is that?” Winsome demanded, having finally spied the paper Noel had tried to slip past his searching eyes.
    Noel made a snatch for the sheet before her grandfather could beat her to it, but Nicholas proved to have the fastest reflexes of the three.
    He held the sheet of paper in front of him without any attempt to hide it from her now-hovering grandfather.
    â€œMr. Winsome, your granddaughter has asked a very personal question of me about something that concerns her.”
    Noel’s heart sank. She began to choke on the breath stalled in her lungs. Neither man paid her any attention.
    â€œWhat?” her grandfather