Page 32 of You Belong to Me
Lazar blinked. “Four? How?”
“One can only imagine. But that certainly wasn’t what I meant about Alexandra. It takes a degree of sophistication to even think of such amusements, which we can unanimously agree she lacks. I meant individually,singly—how shall I put this?—one at a time.”
Lazar was glaring again. “Save the sarcasm for the little lady, will you? With me it’s liable to get you a bloody nose.”
Vasili was in the habit of being provocative with his friends regardless of consequences, so he ignored Lazar’s threat as he always did. However, he was too interested in the subject he had introduced to continue needling Lazar as he might have done otherwise.
“Let’s get back to my question, shall we?” he said. “Those three Cossacks might be ugly as sin, but we know how insignificant looks are when there is a need. And it would supply one more reason why she doesn’t want to marry, if she’s got her own studs working for her.”
“Dare I mention that ‘if’ is a supposition?”
“You can mention it, but I wouldn’t buy it—and neither do you.”
Lazar shrugged, inclined to agree after their tour of St. Petersburg. He didn’t think the three burly men were that ugly, however, but that was a moot point. “What does it matter if she’s slept with one of them or all?”
“It doesn’t, except that if she’s going to continue to curtail my amusements, and I have little doubt that she intends to do just that, I’m damned if I’ll allow her any of her own on this trip.”
“I suppose that’s only fair.” Then Lazar grinned, his humor restored. “Do you plan tothreaten them the way she threatened the serving wench?”
“If I have to,” Vasili growled.
And since Lazar had only been teasing, he groaned and said no more.
14
It wasn’t easy to abandon twenty-five years of refined breeding. There were times when a little dirt was acceptable, when one’s job was a dirty job. Then there were times when one had to remain spotlessly clean. Alexandra knew both times very well, but bringing the two together took constant concentration on her part. Her friends weren’t helping in that respect.
Timofee kept looking as if he were going to burst into laughter at any moment. Stenka was teasing Alexandra by copying her actions. Konrad couldn’t keep the disapproval from his expression, but fortunately, he wasn’t sitting where Vasili could see him.
Somehow she managed just fine, and only had one near blunder when she started to reach for her napkin at the end of the messy meal. But she caught herself in time and licked her fingers instead, then wiped her sticky hands on her clothes, mentally grimacing as she did so. It was a nice touch, however. She might even wear the same clothes tomorrow, possibly even longer.
Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea at all. By the end of the week, she ought to be reeking. The oh-so-impeccably groomed count from Cardinia would have to stand upwind of her if he wanted to have words with her. She could convince him that she found bathing unhealthy and never bathed more than once a month.
As for convincing, she was sure she’d done a splendid job of it with the meal. She had known to the second, without looking to confirm it, when Vasili had started watching her. It had been a disturbing sensation, to actuallyfeelthose honey-gold eyes on her. But he had to be disgusted, maybe even revolted. She knew she would have been if she’d been able to watch herself.
Perhaps she went a little too far when she left the common room with her friends, still not glancing in Vasili’s direction, passing near his table yet pointedly ignoring him. Common courtesy demanded at least an acknowledgment of his presence, which she hadn’t given him all evening. He was her betrothed, after all. But for the time being, common courtesy was on the list of prohibitions she had made for herself, and she had to be scrupulously consistent about adhering to it if she wanted her plan to work.
Yet she had to wonder, when he showed up at her door a while later, if that last bit ofrudeness on her part hadn’t goaded him to visit her.
She certainly hadn’t expected his sudden appearance. She was already dressed for bed in one of her plain white cotton nightgowns. Nina had already brushed out her hair and was still mumbling under her breath about the bath she’d ordered that Alexandra had refused to make use of. Nina was presently brushing the dust from their clothes with a few extra grumbles about the food stains she’d been told to leave alone. She didn’t even hear the knock at the door, not that Alexandra expected her to answer it.
She answered it herself, by habit pulling on the dark blue velvet robe that had been laid out for her. Modest by nature, she was grateful for the robe when she saw who stood there. She even drew the garment closer to her throat and held it there with both hands, a reflexive defense against the potent masculinity that exuded from the man who was her betrothed.
He said nothing at first, his eyes moving slowly over her—they seemed lighter in color than she remembered—finally resting on her hair, which flowed over her shoulders in shining waves. Those few moments of silence unnerved her, and she was further unsettled when it seemed he had to force his eyes away from her to scan the room.
When he saw Nina, he said to her, “Your mistress and I require a fewminutes of privacy.”
Nina responded to his commanding tone with a quick nod and headed straight for the door. Alexandra bristled at his presumptionandher friend’s defection. The last thing she wanted was to be left alone with him, especially after all those gloomy predictions the Razins had made.
So her voice was a bit sharp when she said, “You don’t have to leave, Nina.”
No one paid her the least attention. Vasili stepped into the room, held the door for Nina’s exit, and closed it behind her. Alexandra considered shouting before Nina got out of earshot, for her not to go far, but that smacked too much of cowardice.
Besides, whatever worry she felt was overridden by pure annoyance, which was unmistakable in her tone. “Couldn’t this wait until tomorrow, Petroff?”
His eyes came back to her. Were they even brighter now? Impossible.
“No, it can’t wait, not if I’m going to get any sleep,” he replied as he took the step that narrowed the distance between them and forced her to tilt her head if she wanted to maintain eye contact with him. “You do want me to get some sleep, don’t you, Alexandra?”
