Page 67 of You Belong to Me
“My God, Vasili, that girl is barbaric,” Maria said as soon as they were alone.
“Yes, splendidly so.”
“You can’t marry her as she is.”
“Can’t I?”
“Of course not. She’d disgrace us both. She’ll have to be taught proper behavior first.”
He wasn’t expecting that. But his surprise quickly turned to amusement. Teach Alexandra to be a lady? It would never happen.
“You don’t know what you’d be letting yourself in for, Mother. Don’t you think sending her home would be the wisest course?”
She thought for a moment, he’d give her that. But he knew the way her mind worked. This was the closest she’d ever come to getting him married. She wasn’t going to give up yet.
“No, the girl needs a little help is all. She was undoubtedly taught better at some point—she’s a baroness, after all. She’s just forgotten, as she said. Her father must have let her run wild after his wife died.”
Her father had a live-in mistress. Why hadn’tshedone something about Alexandra’s behavior?
“She swears like a drunken sailor, she wields a whip, she threatens to cut off the ears of any woman who comes near me. And you’re going to turn her into a lady?”
He could tell by his mother’s expression that she didn’t believe a word he’d just said. She wouldn’t even address it, asking instead, “Why has Alexandra gone to the stable at this time of night?”
He sighed. “Because she spends every spare moment with her horses. I wasn’t joking when I said she breeds them. She also trains them and cares for them, and she’s brought her whole herd with her.”
“Well, that will have to stop. I’ve never heard of anythingmoreunladylike.”
“Those horses mean everything to her, Mother. She gets violent where they’re concerned. Go ahead and try to turn her into a lady, but I would advise you not to even mention keeping her from her babies.”
“We’ll see about that,” Maria huffed, but only to maintain her position. She would take his warning to heart and work around the animals for the time being. But she wasn’t going to work around him, so she added sternly, “And you, my boy, will stay out of her bedroom. Don’t think I didn’t understand that byplay between you.”
He smiled, remembering her aborted “on second thought.” “If you haven’t seen her dog yet, Mother, I assure you, I’m not going to tangle with it.”
“See that you don’t.” And then she sighed. “Dogs in my house. The things I do to…”
She didn’t finish. She didn’t have to.
30
Vasili had not intended to go to the stable. Alexandra had said not to bother if he wasn’t going to tell her what she wanted to hear, and he wasn’t. But instead of sending a servant around to collect his horse as he always did, he went himself.
It was a large stable, though it still wouldn’t have been able to accommodate all of Alexandra’s whites, plus her servants’ mounts, if his mother didn’t keep so few animals herself, no more than her carriage horses, and a few extras for running errands. The stable was so large that, standing just inside the door, he couldn’t see anyone down the dimly lit aisle, and could barely hear voices deep inside, then laughter.
Following the sound, he soon realized the laughter was Alexandra’s, and it gave him a warm feeling, just as it had earlier at dinner. He had so rarely heard her laugh, and usually she did so only in mockery. But this was a sweet sound, full of real humor, and he wished…
Vasili turned around abruptly when he realized the direction of his thoughts. He had to be crazy to come in here to see her when he didn’t have to. And she was enjoying herself. He would only ruin that and…who the hell was she enjoying herself with?
He turned around again and, taking long, angry strides, reached the large, well-lit stall in moments. What he found, however, deflated the hot emotions that had just assailed him.
Four of her mares were in the stall, and Alexandra was applying a poultice to the foreleg of one of them, on a scratch that appeared too minor to fool with. Of course, this was one of her babies and she treated them all as such. And helping her was the Cossack Stenka, who was doing anything but helping, which was why she was laughing. He was lifting the mare’s leg, but maneuvering it so that every time she tried to place the poultice, the leg would move out of her way.
“Enough, Stenka,” Alexandra said, still chuckling. “Go away now, or I will put this on you instead, and then you will stink so bad, none of the maids will—”
She didn’t finish. One of the mares had greeted Vasili with a nicker, and she turned in that direction and saw him standing at the entrance to the stall. Her entire demeanor changed, as he’d known it would, the humor gone, her expression becoming carefully blank.
“It’s over, then?” she asked.
It hadn’t occurred to him that she would immediately assume that by his presence. “Sorry, sweetheart, but we’re still very much betrothed.”
