Page 84 of You Belong to Me
“Then your coming to England hasn’t changed your views about honor?”
“No,” she said with more volume and a glare.
“I’m glad to hear it.”
She snorted at that. “Careful, Petroff, oryou’ll almost have me thinking youwantto get married now.”
“Perhaps I do,” he said softly.
“When pigs fly,” was her retort.
He grinned. He justknewhis Alex would say something like that.
“Actually…” He paused so she would think he was only just coming to this conclusion. “Since I have to get married eventually anyway—for an heir, you understand—it might as well be to you. After all, I’ve already devoted more effort to you than I ever have to another woman—and I absolutely adore your breasts, Alex.”
He expected another hot retort, a blush, anything except the subdued expression he was getting. And he could have kicked himself for thinking that what he’d said would be more acceptable to her than the truth.
“Alex—”
“You don’t have to explain,” she interrupted him. “I’ve always known your position on the subject. And you’ve always known mine.”
Reminding him that she hadn’t wanted to marry him because she was in love with someone else worked to bring back the anger he’d displayed earlier, and to get his mind off telling her any more about howwonderfullife was going to be with him. She could have told him about the baby now and he could start ignoring her before they were even married. But since that would probably delighthim, she decided to be perverse and keep the news to herself.
He might have come after her, but obviously nothing had changed. So why did that “for an heir, you understand” make her feel like crying?
“You’ve seen Leighton?” he asked tightly.
“Yes.”
“I’ll kill the bastard if he touched you, Alex,” he fairly growled.
What was this, jealousy by default? “Don’t bother. He never wanted to marry me. He was waiting for me to marry someone else so he could then become my lover. He thought the same thing you did, except he knew I was a virgin and he was just waiting for me to change that fact.”
“He’s dead,” Vasili said simply.
Alexandra sighed. “I’m the one who was insulted, Petroff, not you. Just because you’re thinking of me as your wife now doesn’t mean I won’t still fight my own battles.”
“He hurt you—”
“No, he didn’t—which made me realize it was rather tepid, whatever I felt for him.”
Vasili’s smug smile at those words was irritating in the extreme, making her change the subject again. “Where, exactly, are you taking me?”
“To my ship. I didn’t like this congested, overcrowded city the first time I visited it, and I still don’t. We’ll be leaving immediately.”
“No, we won’t. My people—”
“Should be aboard by now, I imagine, with some—friendly—persuasion.”
“You’re pushing it, Petroff.”
“After all the trouble you’ve put me to, sweetheart, I’d say I’m allowed.”
38
The return to Cardinia seemed to take no time at all, but then, Alexandra was so sunk in her unhappiness that she barely noticed the passing of time. On the ship, she spent the entire week near a bucket, feeling half dead. She supposed she was fortunate, though, considering the stories she’d heard from other pregnant women, that during the sea voyage was the only time she was sick.
Once she was back on land, her health bloomed. In fact, she’d never felt better—physically. She didn’t even catch the colds and coughs that the rest of her companions were suffering as they traveled through the worst part of winter, plagued by snow or freezing winds.
