Page 48 of You Belong to Me
Pavel’s fist slammed down on the table. “He owes me! If he does not pay, believe me,I will be happy to send you back to him in pieces.”
Vasili had tried to be reasonable. He was tired. He was cold. Now he was angry.
He leaned forward, his arms crossed on the table, pinning Pavel’s eyes with the heat in his. And he said very softly, “You shouldn’t make threats you don’t dare follow through with, Pavel. It weakens your position.”
“And why wouldn’t I do as I say?”
“Because we both know that if anything happens to me, Stefan will come here with his soldiers and this village will be no more. Death or profit. Which was it you had in mind when you stole my horses?”
Pavel had gone red in the face, either from fury or from embarrassment, because he was going to have to back down. The power of being leader for a while might have gone to his head, but Latzko would be returning, and Latzko would demand an accounting.
Vasili decided to make it a little easier for him to back down. “Forget about Stefan, Pavel. It’s I who will pay, not Stefan, and it’s me you are dealing with, not Stefan. I would suggest you sleep on that, and perhaps we can get back to negotiations in the morning. In the meantime, the wench and I require quarters where we can dry off—in private.”
One of the other men chuckled, a reaction Vasili had counted on. Pavel was still red-faced, though, and it was a long, tense moment before he joined in the laughter, albeit with a hollow sound.
“By all means. You will want to bedrywhile the rest of us celebrate our good fortune.”
23
They were shown to a ramshackle, vacant hut that belonged to one of the men who had accompanied Latzko on his journey to Austria. It contained the basics—a few chairs and a table, a narrow bed, some dishes, and some blankets—but nothing of a personal nature, since the owner hadn’t seemed to trust his comrades enough to leave his valuables behind. It was also nearly as cold inside the one-room hut as it was outside, because the oven hadn’t been used for several weeks.
There was one window, but it was boarded up from the outside. The door had no lock, so their escort had nailed a plank to it before he departed. It wouldn’t be opened again until it was pried loose in the morning.
The best Vasili could say for the accommodations was that they were private. The one candle they’d been left with gave off a warm glow. There was a small stack of firewood in a corner, and the reason it was so small was because the oven was small. It was going to take hours for a fire to take the chill off theroom, and he didn’t intend to wait that long to get dry. But a fire was his first priority.
As soon as he was assured a guard hadn’t been left outside, Vasili headed for the firewood. A wooden bowl glanced off his shoulder before he got there.
“What the—?”
He swung about, but had to duck as a plate flew past his head. Alexandra had moved to a cupboard against the wall where she had a wide assortment of missiles at her disposal, and she gave the impression that she intended to use every one of them. Considering the distance separating them, Vasili decided to talk quickly.
“Whatever I said about your horses, Alexandra, it was merely to get Pavel’s price down. Or don’t you want your animals back?”
Her answer was a glass mug that came damn close to his cheek. So it wasn’t the horses?
He started moving slowly toward her as he tried again. “I also had to say what I did about you, and it had nothing to do with price. If Pavel thought you meant something to me, he could well decide to hurt you before selling you back to me, he’s that unpredictable and vindictive. In his mind, what hurts me would hurt Stefan, and he’ll do anything to hurt Stefan, whom he hates.”
Vasili had to duck again, but he sensed that he was getting closer to what was bothering her. However, he obviously hadn’t touched onher sore point yet, and her aim was improving.
His voice dropped to a menacing tone. “Spit it out, Alex, before I lose my patience.”
Another plate came at his head, but also the shouted reminder: “Twenty-five rubles?”
Jesus, he should have known that was what she would take exception to the most. Women and their damn sensibilities. And he’d thought hers weren’t normal—but, of course, they were only normal when he could have wished they weren’t.
“You also heard that Stefan paid only fifty for Arina,” he pointed out.
“Arina obviously gets passed around a lot, so that hardly counts. Who was the other woman, and how much did you pay for her?”
That question was accompanied by a breadboard hitting him squarely in the chest. He was so surprised by the impact, it took him several moments to realize that Alexandra had left the area of the cupboard and was heading for weightier missiles in the form of firewood.
Vasili shot across the room and caught her from behind, lifting her off her feet, his arms tight around her waist. She screeched. He shook her. She kicked backward, aiming for his knees. He shook her again. Her hat had come off, her hair spilling into his face. It was cold and silky and smelled of spring flowers.
He didn’t dare hold her for long. “What other woman are you talking about?”
“Put me down!”
“When you’ve calmed down, I will,” he replied. “What other woman?”
