Page 37 of You Belong to Me
And he wasn’t about to let her camp in the countryside without his being there to protect her. Hedidhave a duty to her, after all, whether he wanted it or not.
Vasili added in disgust, “Either that, or shewillshow up and tear the town apart until shefinds whichever wench I bedded so she can cut her ears off.”
Lazar burst out laughing. Vasili scowled, because it wasn’t the least bit funny.
“Actually,” Lazar said, “I’ve heard she does much better with a horsewhip than a knife.”
“Who told you that?”
“One of her grooms. Something about a young lieutenant who abused one of her horses.”
Vasili groaned. “So she really is prone to violence.”
“Only in defense of what’s hers.” Lazar started laughing again before he got out, “And you, my friend, she considers hers.”
Vasili gave that remark the silence it deserved, but a while later, he wondered aloud, “Have you had any luck yourself, Lazar?”
As usual, Lazar had no difficulty following the drift of Vasili’s thoughts, even when they weren’t fully expressed. “I’ve been turned down twice due to association,” Lazar admitted, since it was women they were still discussing. “Mind you, I’m not complaining. I’m having more fun watching you pulling hairs anyway.”
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed,” Vasili replied dryly. “For a friend, your good cheer warms my heart, it’s so offensive.”
Lazar grinned unrepentantly. “At least one of us is beginning to enjoy this trip.”
Vasili waited a while before he asked, “And is my nemesis enjoying herself tonight?”
“Why don’t you look for yourself?”
“Because it turns my stomach to watch her when she’s eating,” Vasili lied.
The truth was, the way Alexandra fed herself with her fingers, then licked them afterward, was too damn erotic for him to watch without becoming aroused every time. He’d stopped watching.
“Actually, those musicians who wandered in a few minutes ago have her full attention now.”
Vasili’s eyes immediately sought the musicians setting up in a corner of the room. He relaxed only after noting that all three of them were beyond their middle years, with nothing about them to interest a young woman other than the entertainment they could offer…
Vasili slumped in his chair, incredulous over what he’d just done. What the hell did he care whom Alexandra might be attracted to? He didn’t care.
To prove it, he turned to Lazar and said, “Why don’t you seduce her?”
“Why don’t Iwhat?”
“Not so loud, dammit,” Vasili complained. “I wasn’t joking.”
“Yes, you were,” Lazar replied emphatically.
“When it would give me legitimate grounds to take her back to her father, you know I’m not joking. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner.”
“But this is not one of your forget-the-next-day women you don’t mind sharing, Vasili. We’re talking about your betrothed, chosen byyour father, approved by your mother—at least until she meets her—your soon-to-be wife.”
“A fact I’m trying to change with a little cooperation from afriend.”
“That’s dirty. Next you’ll tell me you’d do the same thing for me.”
“You know I would.”
Lazar did know it. He also knew Vasili didn’t have a jealous bone in his body, at least where women were concerned, so that wasn’t what bothered him. It was that Alexandra wasn’t like all those other women, even though Vasili was determined to give her no special distinction.
“It would never work, when she knows she can have you instead,” Lazar pointed out. “She doesn’t even look at me, and if she looks at me, she doesn’tseeme. I’ve never been quite so uniquely ignored by a woman before.”
