Drake Sisters 06 - Turbulent Sea

know, Joley, I've never forgotten that little pro and con list you made for Hannah when I was trying to convince her I should marry her.'
    'She did that?' Ilya asked. 'She's still doing it. She has a list for me.'
    Joley narrowed her eyes and looked down her nose at both men. 'The cons are stacking up fast, Ilya. I wouldn't get too smug. Siding with them and teasing me goes on the con side.'
    'Being the seventh son of a seventh son might just go there, too,' Jonas said.
    'Stop saying that!' Joley put down her mug and clapped her hands over her ears. 'I'm not listening to any of you until you start to make sense.'
    She might not be listening, but she was looking around the room at her family. Every sister was staring at Ilya with a shocked, apprehensive expression. There wasn't the humor Jonas seemed to find in the situation, and Joley's stomach began to tie into little knots. Her gaze jumped to Sarah's face. Sarah, who often knew things. Joley's mouth went dry.
    Sarah simply stared at the floor, impossible to see what she was thinking - and that was a bad omen. Joley looked up at Ilya. You're not.
    Ilya bent and brushed a kiss on top of her head. I told you not to rely so much on your birth control.
    If she'd been pale before, she went white now, blinking up at him, her stomach going from hard knots to a roller coaster. She could feel the blood draining from her face down her body until she was dizzy - actually dizzy. She shook her head. 'I'm going to throw up. I am. I'm really going to throw up.'
    Ilya calmly crouched beside her and laid a hand against her abdomen. The rolling immediately ceased. Joley shoved him backward, hoping to knock him on his butt, but he kept his balance.
    'You're not funny. I'm not having children, let alone seven of them. Sheesh. Everyone can just quit looking at us that way. Ilya hasn't a clue about his family, he's making it up.' She flashed him another smoldering glare. You'd better be making it up, because the sex wasn 't that great - nowhere near, in fact.
    Then I'll have to work on it, won't I?
    No amount of great sex will make me sign on for having seven sons. I mean it, Ilya. I wasn't ever going to get married, I'm certainly not going to produce seven sons. Have you seen a pregnant woman? Swollen ankles. Labor pains. Water retention. Labor pains! No way. Are you out of your freaky little mind?
    He took her hand, the one with his mark, and kissed her palm. 'We'll be fine. I can't stay, lubov moya, I have a job to do. Have a great performance this evening. Joley, you stay with security at all times. Change your dance patterns, stay away from the edge of the stage.'
    'I can't do that. I can't be thinking about where I am on the stage while I'm working.'
    'You're going to have to. And the moment you're done, you get back to your hotel room until I'm there to escort you to the next concert.' She made a face at him.
    His expression hardened. 'Jonas and Aleksandr are going to make certain you do as I've said. Whoever put that bomb on your bus wants you dead.'
    'They've arrested Lucy. Jerry called me this morning and told me they found parts she'd used in her hotel room when they searched it.'
    'Lucy Brady is not capable of making a bomb that sophisticated, Joley,' Ilya said. 'She was set up. Someone used her to get to you.' 'Nikitin?' Sarah asked.
    Ilya shook his head. 'Nikitin has his own reasons for wanting Joley alive right now. I can't see him for this. We've got another player mixed in, but it sure isn't Lucy.'
    'When she was threatening me with the bottle, she referred to "he" several times. At first I thought it was Logan, but that didn't make sense now that I really think about it,' Joley admitted. 'But I have no clue who she might have been referring to. I can ask…'
    'You don't ask anyone anything at this point,' Ilya said. 'You go out on the stage, do your job and get back to cover as soon as possible. I want your word.'
    Joley looked mutinous.
    He shrugged. 'You can always cancel tonight if you'd rather. It's your choice. Going onstage isn't the best of ideas when someone is trying to kill you.'
    'You can't stop me.'
    'The last time I looked, I was a lot bigger and stronger than you.'
    His voice was absolutely mild, not a hint that he was angry, or even getting close to getting upset, but there was resolve as well, an implacable determination that made it very clear to her that if she didn't agree, he wasn't above using physical force.
    Joley took another sip of tea, waiting