Page 75 of You Belong to Me
“What duty? He’s no more than—”
“One of the king’s personal bodyguards, his elite guard, and quite deadly with numerous weapons, which you can see for yourself if you care to take a stroll by the training field before you leave. You know”—Tanya took a moment to reflect—“Vasili didn’t like me either when we first met. He thought I wasn’t good enough for Stefan. But when he could have let me escape—I tried to more than once—he didn’t. ‘Duty before preference’ was how he put it, and he meant it. And there’s something else you probably don’t know. He’s also incredibly charming when he’s nottryingto be nasty.”
“You’re right, I wouldn’t know,” Alexandra said in a hollow tone.
“Please, you weren’t supposed to be hurt by what I’ve told you.”
“I’m not,” Alexandra insisted, if a little stiffly.
“If Vasili has shown you the worst he can be, it’s because he didn’t want to get married. He was very upset when he learned of this betrothal. He went to Russia to—”
“Get rid of me.”
Tanya winced. “He told you?”
“Yes; he’s been quite honest about that at least.”
“But the point I was trying to make was, I’m not so sure he still feels that way. Yet he’s locked himself into this role he’s playing for you—just as you have.”
Alexandra wasn’t so sure Vasiliwasplaying a role, but if she was to believe it, then that made the whole thing even worse. He was so against marriage he had to pretend—just as she did. And what would happen if she showed her true self? Would it matter? No, he had been against marriage before he’d met her, and again after, and Tanya might not be sure, but she was—he was still against it. And hewasa lecher. The queen hadn’t contradicted that. Andshehad to be crazy even to think about it.
“Vasili might have some noble virtues I would never have guessed at,” Alexandra said. “But he’s still a lecher.”
“Yes, and probably will be—until he falls in love.”
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Alexandra decided she wasn’t going to wait for Vasili to collect her from the receiving chamber. She would use his carriage, then send it back for him, and hopefully she wouldn’t see him again for a while. She needed time to digest everything she’d been told before she spoke with him again—ifshe ever spoke with him again. At the moment, she couldn’t imagine her reaction if she had to listen to another taunting, derisive remark from him, when she knew now that it was all for effect, because hewantedher to despise him.
But it wasn’t all lies. What he’d told her about the way their marriage would be was undoubtedly the truth. As Nina had pointed out, most aristocratic marriages were exactly like that, though usually the terms weren’t spelled out, just mutually understood. And every time he’d pushed her to break the betrothal, he’d been expressing his true feelings. And his lecherous inclinations were also all true.
She did stop by the training field before she left the palace. She’d been unable to resist, and in the space of minutes, she watched Vasili defeat one opponent after another with his sword skill. Some court dandy, she thought in disgust. And yet the signs that he was really quite different from that had been there all along, the military physique and bearing, the way he rode a horse, his quick reflexes, how easily he’d ended that fight with Pavel when he’d got fed up, even the way he’d gallantly declined the use of swords, because he’d known Pavel wouldn’t have stood a chance with them. She’d seen only what she’d wanted to see because she hadn’twantedto be impressed.
She really wished the queen hadn’t felt the need for confessions. On the return trip to the Petroff home, she recalled their parting words.
“I’d like you to be one of my ladies,” the queen had told her.
“I thank you for the offer, but I couldn’t possibly accept. I have an image to maintain for Vasili, and it isn’t exactly ladylike.”
Tanya had frowned. “Then you’re not going to tell him the truth?”
“I don’t see any point in doing so. It would cause one hell of a fight. He’d be furious with me; then I’d throw it back at him that he hasn’t been honest either. And we’d still be right where we are now, neither of us wanting to marry the other.”
The queen hadn’t been very happy with herdecision, but Alexandra wasn’t going to be budged from it. Nor was she going to delve any further into her own feelings. How she felt about Vasili simply didn’t matter when he still didn’t want to marry her. It occurred to her that there was one more thing she could do to help them both get out of this approaching marriage. She could refuse to cooperate with his mother’s training program.
Maria was already displeased with her. “Disgusted” might be a better word. And it was Vasili’s mother who’d told him he couldn’t go against his father’s wishes. That was the reason he’d given for being unable to break the betrothal. But if Maria changed her mind…
Vasili received yet another summons from his mother. He’d managed to ignore it for a day and a half, but Maria’s messengers kept showing up at his house, and finally one was sent to the palace and caught him when he was with his cousin. And Stefan’s saying, “I hope she’s not going to appeal to me again,” told him he’d better take care of it before she did.
But he knew what the countess wanted this time. After her first note of complaint had been delivered to him two weeks ago, telling him, “The girl is impossible,” and, “You’re going to have to talk to her,” he hadn’t bothered to read the others that had been sent nearly every other day. He’d merely jotted off encouraging replies such as “You can do it,Mother,” and “I’m counting on you, Mother.” And once, still without reading the message, but because heknewAlexandra and he was starting to be amused by the whole thing, he’d advised, “Ignore her temper, it’s mostly hot air.”
His only surprise was that Alexandra hadn’t sent him some complaints as well. But expecting them was one of the reasons he had decided to stay away from her until her transformation was complete—or had failed. Having to deal with her temper would most likely provoke his own, which would lead to his wanting her again—and he was having enough difficulty dealing with thatwithoutseeing her. Fate was going to decide this thing, one way or another.
But his mother was determined to interfere with what he’d thought was an excellent plan. Still, it was possible that he might be able to see his mother, listen to her harangue, convince her that she couldn’t expect miracles in only two weeks, then leave before running into Alexandra. Now, if he could just resist theurgeto see her…
At least his mother was alone when she joined him in her drawing room. He’d half expected her to have Alexandra in tow, dressed in one of her new gowns that she would hate wearing. But the scene was more reminiscent of the night he’d first learned of the betrothal, except it was afternoon and Maria wasn’t dressed for a social engagement—and she definitely wasn’t smiling this time.
He tried to forestall his mother’s complaints by asking, “How is the new wardrobe coming along?”
