Replica

wanted.

Always happy to play the role of the charming rake, Nate glanced downward and smiled, and though Nadia knew he was only playacting, she couldn’t help bristling. If Nadia or her family were to commit some gaffe and the Chairman were to choose another bride for Nate, Jewel would be one of the top candidates.

“Shouldn’t you be off talking to important dignitaries instead of flirting?” Nadia asked Nate.

Nate frowned, but at least he stopped looking down Jewel’s dress. “I believe that’s my father’s job. I’m the ne’er-do-well son, remember?”

How could she forget? While she painstakingly navigated the protocol and etiquette of Executive society, careful never to set a foot wrong lest disaster strike, Nate barreled through life as though he were invincible.

But in many ways, he was.

“Shall we dance?” he asked, holding out his elbow to Nadia.

Uh-oh, she thought. There was a reason no one else was dancing, and Nate knew that as well as she did. “I don’t think the bride and groom have danced yet,” she said cautiously, hoping that didn’t sound like a rebuke. She knew from experience how Nate reacted to even subtle rebukes. “But I’ll be sure to save you a dance later.”

His exaggerated pout told Nadia immediately that she’d made a tactical error. There was nothing like telling Nate he shouldn’t do something to make him stubbornly determined to do it. “This is supposed to be a party,” he said. “There’s supposed to be dancing.”

His elbow was still raised, as if he couldn’t conceive of the possibility that she might turn him down. Nadia was painfully aware of the Terrible Trio watching her, enjoying her dilemma.

Nate didn’t give a damn about protocol, but the rest of Executive society did. Protocol demanded that the bride and groom be allowed the first dance. Protocol also demanded that Nadia dance with her future husband when he asked her to. No matter which option she chose, people would talk, and her parents would later critique her decision. Nadia’s mother would invariably decide that Nadia had made the wrong choice, and her father would agree because that was the path of least resistance.

Nate dropped the grin, his eyes filling with earnestness. “Dance with me,” he said more softly. “Please.”

Internally, Nadia sighed. She was never any good at saying no to Nate, and he knew that. She really should put her foot down. The more she gave in, the more he would take. Plus, she had the uneasy suspicion there was something more to this invitation to dance than met the eye. Some deeper trouble Nate planned to get into, dragging her along for the ride.

Nate plucked the champagne cocktail from her hand and downed it in three swallows, handing the empty glass to a passing waiter. Nadia shook her head.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” she told him. “I’m coming down with a cold.”

Nate shrugged it off. “Will you dance with me, or won’t you?”

Despite all her natural caution, she found herself taking his elbow and allowing him to lead her to the dance floor. If people were going to talk no matter what she did, then she’d rather dance with Nate than endure the Trio.

Nadia was painfully aware of the eyes following their progress. She imagined every whisper of conversation was about her, about the breach of etiquette she was about to commit. An exaggeration, of course. Most of the partygoers were no doubt oblivious, locked in their choreographed pleasantries or Machiavellian scheming. Until Nate swept her into the dance, that is. The background mutter of conversation faded for a moment, then came back at renewed volume.

“I’m never going to hear the end of this,” she murmured, already second-guessing her decision. But then, if she’d refused to dance, he might have asked Jewel instead. Nadia knew he despised Jewel almost as much as she did, but that wouldn’t have made it any more fun to watch him dancing with her.

Nate smiled down at her. “People would be disappointed if I didn’t do something shocking and inappropriate at least once this evening. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Your father would be over the moon with joy,” she countered. Nathaniel Sr., Chairman of Paxco, was humorless and unyielding, Nate’s exact opposite. She was glad that she would one day be Nate’s wife, but the prospect of having Nathaniel Sr. as a father-in-law was considerably less appealing.

“My father is off somewhere meeting with his cronies. You don’t think he’d waste his precious time enjoying himself at a party, do you?”

That was probably true. The heads of over a dozen of the Corporate States had gathered to celebrate this wedding, and they weren’t here because of their affection for the happy couple. The whole grand affair was merely a pretty facade masking a bunch of political and business meetings. The alliance with Synchrony had major implications for Paxco’s technology division, making it possible to incorporate Synchrony’s more advanced microprocessors into Paxco’s currently second-rate hardware. If Nate were acting like a proper heir, he’d be sitting in on those meetings, learning the ropes, instead of making a stir on the dance floor.

“So, were you really so impatient to dance, or did you have some other reason for making a spectacle of yourself?” Nadia asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a few other couples edging toward the dance floor indecisively.

“You looked like you could use a rescue,” Nate said, and Nadia felt a flash of gratitude. “Besides,” he continued, “I don’t need an ulterior motive to dance with the most beautiful girl in the room.”

Nadia snorted, an undignified sound she was glad no one but Nate could hear. “Yeah, because you’re such a ladies’ man.”

Nate laughed, and she smiled at him ruefully. He played at being a ladies’ man whenever he was in public, flirting shamelessly. Most of the unmarried Executive girls would swoon if he so much as looked at them, and Nadia was very much aware that not all of the jealousy aimed her way was because of her future husband’s status. What girl wouldn’t dream of having someone so handsome and charming in her bed? But any girl who shared his bed would spend a lot more time sleeping than she expected.

Nadia tried to ignore the sudden tightness in her chest. In just a few short years, she would be that any girl, lying untouched by Nate’s side. Or lying alone in bed while Nate cavorted with someone more to his taste.

“Cheer up,” Nate said into her ear, no doubt appearing to onlookers as if he were whispering sweet nothings. “Not only did I rescue you from death by gossip, I made sure we stole all the attention. You know how the Trio hate that.”

Nadia couldn’t help laughing. She glanced at the Trio and saw them huddled together like witches over a cauldron. They were all smiling, but the expression rang slightly false. Other couples were venturing out onto the dance floor, but the Trio would be too worried about their reputations to join in the fun. In one fell swoop, Nate had deprived them of their prey, their fun, and the attention of the state-approved photographers in discreet attendance. And he’d made her laugh when she felt miserable. All in all, it was probably worth the parental disapproval she was sure to face.

Nate and Nadia were no longer the only couple on the dance floor. The bride and groom had ventured out first, and then the other couples found their courage. The music came to an end, and Nate spun Nadia to a finish. The next song started up almost immediately, but it seemed Nate had lost interest in dancing once the shock value was used up.

“Let’s give our audience even more to talk about,” Nate said as he led her off the dance floor.

Nadia didn’t know what he meant until she realized he was leading her toward a doorway at the back of the ballroom. A pair of security guards flanked the doorway, and as if their presence wasn’t enough to clue everyone in that the rooms behind were off-limits, the lights in the hallway were off. Once again, Nadia had to suppress a groan. Everyone would notice the two of them sneaking off into the residential part of the mansion, and everyone would draw conclusions about what they were doing back there. Conclusions that would help Nate’s camouflage, to be sure, but that wouldn’t do her reputation a whole lot of good.

“I’d like another glass of punch,” Nadia said, though she’d barely taken two sips of her first and hadn’t enjoyed them.

Nate gave her his most wicked grin. “What’s the matter? Afraid to be alone with me?”

The problem with Nate was that once you gave him the inch, he went for the mile every time. Sometimes