Page 41 of You Belong to Me
It was Lazar, looking extremely uncomfortable, who had apparently been chosen to tell her, “Vasili has already departed.”
“Has he indeed. How long ago?”
“Ten minutes.”
She didn’t doubt that Lazar had a number of excuses ready to explain this change in routine if she cared to hear any of them. She didn’t. She looked to Konrad for confirmation of the time that had passed since Vasili had left. At his affirmative nod, she simply smiled and rode out of town.
She decided she would give Vasili twenty minutes and no more. If he didn’t show up to join them by then, she would return and find him, because she didn’t believe for a second that he was on the road, merely riding ahead of them, as had become his habit.
Vasili was at that very moment knocking on the door of the redhead who had entertained him so well the first time he’d passed through this town. And as his luck was holding, she happened to be the one to open the door, instead of one of her servants—and slammed it abruptly in his face.
“Go away!” he heard her shout hysterically from the other side of that solid, and nowlocked, barrier. “I like my ears just as they are!”
For the briefest moment, he doubted his hearing. But then his fingers slowly curled into fists, his face suffused with heat, and a low growl rumbled from his chest.
And he reached Alexandra in much less than the twenty minutes she’d figured on.
She heard him galloping up behind her and swung Sultan’s Pride about to face him. They nearly collided. It was damn close.
“Over there,” he said ominously. “Now! Or there will be hell to pay.”
He’d pointed to a lone tree that was at least a quarter mile away, and he rode directly to it without waiting to see if she would follow. As angry as he appeared, she considered staying right where she was—but no, she was too hopeful that this was it, the end she had been working toward. Her friends weren’t as optimistic. She had to order them to remain with the wagons.
On Sultan’s Pride, she reached Vasili in no time at all. He had already dismounted and was pacing beneath the tree. He didn’t give her a chance to dismount herself, but dragged her off her horse, then let go of her instantly to resume his pacing.
She’d never seen him like this, never imagined that a popinjay like him was capable of such fury. And there was no mistaking that he was furious.
Warily, she tried to put some distance between them, deciding she could wait to hearwhatever he had to say. But as soon as she moved, he closed the distance in a flash and was towering over her, and his eyes—heaven help her—seemed aglow with an inner fire.
“I won’t stand for it any longer,” he said, and he was just short of shouting. “There will be no more threats from you, Alexandra. I will bed any woman I please, when I please, and if you cause one more to hide from me in terror, I’ll bed you instead.”
That wasn’t what she had hoped to hear, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been either. So she crossed her arms and replied calmly, “No, you won’t. As long as you belong to me, you’ll be faithful to me. I don’t know why you keep making me repeat that. And youwon’tbe bedding me until after we have a wedding. If you want your women back, Vasili, you know what you have to do.”
“And you think I’ll abide by that?” This time he was shouting, and quite loudly.
She knew it would be an insult to him if she continued calmly in the face of his fury, but that was what she did. “No one says you have to abide by it, Petroff. You’ll just have to accept the consequences if you don’t.”
That started him pacing again. He was really quite fascinating like this, so volatile, even unpredictable. She ought to be frightened, but she wasn’t. Nervous, yes, but that was all—until it occurred to her that they wouldn’t be having this discussion if he hadn’t gone to that woman. And he’d gone to her to bed her,andwould have done so if Alexandra hadn’t been told about her and sent along that little message. He was guilty by intent. What she felt about that didn’t bear describing.
Suddenly he demanded, “How the hell did you find out about—about—?”
“Claudia?” she prompted.
“Yes, Claudia, or whatever her name is.”
That he wasn’t sure what the woman’s name was should have appeased Alexandra somewhat, but it merely disgusted her all the more. The man obviously had so many women that he couldn’t keep track of them. She’d already figured as much, but hated seeing proof of it.
But he wasn’t going to know how disturbed she was, so she shrugged before answering. “You’d be amazed at the kind of information you can gain with a few coins placed in the right pockets.”
“And you paid her a visit? When? You didn’t leave the inn.”
Apparently his spies hadn’t gotten much sleep last night either. “I didn’t bother seeing to it myself,” she said, striving for a tone of indifference. “I sent someone with my message. It must have been delivered accurately.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” he sneered. “Your people are thorough.”
“It’s called loyalty.”
“Are you implying that I have none?”
