Chapter 1: The Flight

Tatiana Nikolaevna Primikov stood in sub-zero weather outside the terminal building of Zukov regional airport, waiting. Wrapped in furs, the young woman was stamping her feet in an effort to keep them warm when a silver Lear Jet screamed into view, high over the Keroz forest. She watched it circle the field once, then swoop down for a smooth landing.

She looked composed and elegant standing there, but anyone who could see below the surface would have found a nervous little girl, shivering in mingled fear and excitement.

Watching the man alight from the plane, the events of the past two weeks raced through her mind in a confused jumble. Nikki (her family had always called her that) still couldn't believe she was on her way to America. Who could have ever thought such a thing could happen? She certainly could not have done.

It had all started when her father suggested that she apply for the job of modeling the new Krackoff Group uniform for the company magazine. She had done so, and defeated many other young women to win the assignment.

Somehow a rich American from a big New York modeling agency had seen her pictures in the magazine, and he wanted her. Things moved fast after that.

Her father came and told her that she had been offered a job in America, and that she would make a lot of money.

The family had always been poor, especially now that the Krackoff Group was owned by some shady investment company based in faraway Moscow (or so her father thought). Her family encouraged her to take this wonderful opportunity, and Nikki couldn't refuse, could she?

The man who had emerged from the Learjet looked round him. What he saw was a rustic village in a white land- scape, and a ramshackle building that must be the airport control building.

He'd been in the air almost continuously for more than forty hours and was tired as hell. When he'd received a call from the company president to go to Russia and pick up the company's new asset, he hadn't been too happy about it. He'd had plans to take his latest conquest to a nice little hideaway in a small New England hamlet, and this trip was a huge inconvenience.

He couldn't see what all the fuss was about, anyway. Pretty girls were a dime a dozen in the fashion world. However, he hadn't been given a choice; it was do it or get his ass canned.

Stepping into the biting cold of the Russian winter, he noticed the woman standing alone outside the build- ing and walked briskly in her direction. As he came nearer, virtually all he could see was a big fur coat, and steam from the woman's breath emerging into the frozen air from under a large furry hat.

He looked around and saw no one else, so he asked, "Are you Ms. Primikov?"

Nikki was too nervous to do more than nod her head. He looked around the field again, thinking that there must surely be more than just the one woman to meet him, then asked: "Where is everybody? Aren't your folks going to see you off?"

Nikki had studied English in school from a very early age, hoping to become an interpreter some day (it was one of the best ways to get to a big city) and she understood the man, in spite of his funny accent.

"It is a work day, sir, and both my mother and father have to work at the foundry. They wished to see me off, but the director would not give them leave."

"So you're here all on your own?" The man still looked as if he expected someone else to pop out from behind a snowdrift.

"Yes sir." Nikki wasn't sure what to do next, and just waited for the man to tell her.

"Okay, well let's get going then. Where's your luggage?"

"Here, sir." Nikki reached behind her to a rack bolted to the rustic building and lifted a duffel bag to her shoulder.

"Let me take that. C'mon, let's get going. I'm freezing out here." Without another word the man turned and started to walk briskly toward the plane. Nikki fol- lowed, looking around the field as she walked.

Zukov was the only home she'd ever known, and even though it was every young woman's dream to leave for the big city, she was sad to go. Nevertheless, she followed the man obediently to the plane.

As they climbed the three steps to the doorway, she turned around to look one last time. She took a deep breath, taking in all the smells of home. Then, with a sigh, she turned and stepped into the shiny airplane.

The man showed her where to sit, and the pilot closed the door and went into the small instrument cabin, leaving the two of them alone as the only passengers.

It wasn't more than a few moments before they were airborne, and Nikki was looking down in wonder at her small village, and at the big foundry that supplied her family and the whole town with a livelihood. She had never flown before and found it very exciting.

"Well, sweetheart, you can take all those dead animals off now; you won't be needing them where we're heading. I don't suppose you know how politically incorrect wearing furs is in this day and age," he added drily.

"Politically? Fur is political in America? In Russia, the winters are severe, and fur warms the body so we can live outside. Fur is necessary for survival. I don't understand what you mean, sir."

"Never mind, honey. Just take them off and get com- fortable. We got a long ride ahead of us." He held his hand out, ready to take her coat.

He watched as the young woman unbuttoned the animal bone clips holding the coat in place and shrugged the thing off her shoulders. He took her coat and hat - and stared...

NOW he could understand what the big deal was. She was gorgeous! No, not gorgeous - she was spectacular! He hadn't really seen her face under the big fur cap, but with all the animal skins removed she had grace and beauty like he'd never seen before - and he'd seen a lot.

As the young woman settled into her seat, he kept staring at her, noticing for the first time that she was as tall as himself, almost six feet, with sandy blonde hair and the bluest eyes he'd ever seen. She also had a perfect complexion. He was impressed, and he suddenly wanted her.

He tried to push the thought from his mind; he always got into trouble when he let the brain between his legs do his thinking for him. He only had to screw up one more time and he was out of a job.

He pulled himself together sufficiently to introduce himself. "My name is Mike, and we'll be flying partners for the next 40 hours or so. You got any questions you wanna ask?"

"Michael? That is an angel's name, is it not?" Nikki giggled as she thought about the village priest and his Easter sermon about the Archangel Michael, and how he had saved humanity by flying in the face of the devil. "Are you an angel?"

"Far from it, baby." Mike sat down next to the beauty and patted her knee as he leaned close and added: "Though you could take me to heaven with you if you wanted..."

"Pardon, Michael. I do not understand you," Nikki said.

"Yeah, right, and next you'll be telling me you're a virgin." He smiled suggestively.

"Please, Michael, what you said is so rude. Do not be mean to me, please!" She was embarrassed by the man's reference to sex. They did not talk like that in her village. They might do it, but they never talked about it. She didn't understand this strange man.

"Listen, sweetheart, you'll have to get over that prudish attitude in America, 'cause it won't wash in the fashion industry. You'll be modeling with little or no clothes on, and you'll have guys hitting on you all the time. You have to make the men happy if you want to get ahead in fashion."

He patted Nikki's knee again and mimed a kiss at her.

Nikki was disturbed by his words. She was beginning to wonder if she had made a mistake in coming. But, no matter what, she couldn't turn back now. Her family needed the money she could earn in America. She wanted to make lots of money for herself too, and become rich.

Mike was beginning to think about the long flight in front of them. He was thinking that this whole trip had messed up his weekend with Sharon - his very sexy girl- friend - and here he was, alone with a knockout babe, with no one to bother them.

He knew he shouldn't, but the thought of having sex with this fabulous Russian babe made him say: "Nikki baby, you need to think about your future, and how you're gonna get ahead once you get to New York."