10 #2
“I hope he’ll come to his senses in only a week, but I’m not leaving anything to chance.
If I do need more time to convince him he’d be a fool to marry me, then I’ll have it.
But don’t worry about the packing. Just stuff everything in the trunks when they get here.
I’ll send him a bill for whatever is ruined because there was no time to pack properly, as soon as this betrothal is over. ”
“That will be throwing salt on an open wound,” Nina predicted.
“I’m counting on it.”
Nina left to start gathering the trunks, but Alexandra had only a few moments alone to reflect on what she had decided to do. Anna arrived, and the feelings of hurt and betrayal that Alexandra had been trying to ignore returned with a vengeance.
“Your father tells me you won’t be joining us for dinner,” Anna began.
“I’ll be too busy packing.”
Anna couldn’t miss the bitterness in her tone. “I’m sorry, Alex. I know you’re against this marriage right now, but you must admit your father picked an exceedingly handsome man for you.”
An exceedingly handsome, rotten man, whom she wasn’t going to discuss. “So you did know about the betrothal?” Alexandra said instead, as if it weren’t a foregone conclusion, considering how close Anna was to the baron.
Anna winced. “Yes, and your father listened to everything I had to say about it, which was a great deal. He just wouldn’t agree with my opinion.”
“You could have warned me, Anna.”
“I’m your friend, darling, but you know my first loyalty is to your father.”
Alexandra did know it, and she had never resented Anna’s relationship with her father.
She even hoped that Anna would give in one day and marry him, which she knew was his hope as well.
And she should have known that Anna wouldn’t have approved of something as archaic as a betrothal, that she would have been on her side.
“I believe your father was afraid you would run away if you knew beforehand,” Anna continued.
If Alexandra had known and hadn’t run away, she would be wishing right now that she had, instead of wishing she’d been given that option. But she relaxed her tone and even offered Anna a smile. It certainly wasn’t the older woman’s fault that any of this had come about.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve already accepted what I must do,” Alexandra said truthfully, since she wasn’t referring to getting married. “So take care of my papa.”
“You know I will.”
“You might also prepare him for my return.”
Anna was startled by that remark, but after a moment she laughed. “Now, why don’t I think that you are referring to a visit?”
All of the bitterness Alexandra had been feeling returned abruptly, and with an aching heart she promised, “If I do have to visit, Papa won’t be forgiven.”
“Oh, Alex.” Anna sighed. “He only wants what’s best for you.”
“Then it’s too bad we couldn’t agree on what that is, isn’t it?”
Anna shook her head sadly. “If you change your mind about dinner—”
“I won’t.”
But Alexandra did; at least she decided to make an appearance when it occurred to her that a little rudeness and a vulgar display or two, made in the presence of both the Cardinian and her father, would give Vasili the perfect excuse to protest this marriage.
Of course, she’d do nothing too outrageous, nothing she hadn’t done before, so her father couldn’t claim her behavior was out of the ordinary just for their benefit, even though it would be.
And it would also give her father the opportunity to see how Vasili disdained her and that whatever attraction Constantin had deluded himself into thinking Vasili had felt when he’d first seen her certainly wouldn’t withstand such disgust and contempt.
She couldn’t have asked for better timing.
The lavish dinner that her father had planned in order to impress the Cardinian was well under way, the main course just having been served.
Anna had donned her finest gown; Constantin looked grand himself in his formal evening wear.
And Count Petroff—she was going to have to keep her eyes off him.
One brief glance at that superb body, at that beautiful face, and she nearly forgot what she was doing there.
He was impeccably groomed, of course. She had expected nothing less from the fastidious popinjay.
So was his companion, the one with the friendly blue eyes, who happened to be the first to notice her in the doorway.
He didn’t appear shocked, merely surprised, that she hadn’t changed for dinner and was still in her work clothes, her hair even more straggly than before since she had purposely pulled loose a few more locks.
But then, she wasn’t there to have dinner.
“Don’t mind me. I’ve just come for a bite to eat, since I don’t have time for dinner tonight.”
She hoped someone was embarrassed over that remark, though she didn’t look to find out.
She strolled forward and snatched an already buttered slice of hot bread from the blue-eyed Cardinian’s plate.
That she hadn’t been introduced to him made it all the worse, but she figured he was the only one there who wouldn’t say anything about her behavior.
A glance down at him showed him more on the shocked side now than surprised.
She merely flashed him a smile in exchange for the food, then glanced across the table.
Anna had a hand over her mouth. Well, it wouldn’t do to laugh out loud, which she surely was trying to avoid.
Constantin’s cheeks had gone red, and not just with embarrassment.
Alexandra and her father would really have had a roof-raising argument over this latest unrefined display of hers—if she were around for it.
But she wouldn’t be around for any more fights with him…
“Alexandra—” Constantin managed in a choked voice.
She gave him an innocent, inquiring look, which assured him that she was hoping for a display of temper, eager for it, and quite willing to match it. Realizing that, he didn’t oblige and had to swallow his rancor and hope that she wouldn’t further embarrass him.
She would have, except her newest plan backfired on her at that point. Count Petroff, instead of taking advantage of this golden opportunity she was offering him, had risen from the table and was now standing behind her.
“I am delighted you decided to join us, Baroness, however briefly. It allows me to correct an oversight. Will you give me your hand, please?”
She turned to face him, suspicious. Give him her hand?
If he thought he was going to slap her hand for pilfering that slice of bread, as if she were some naughty child, she promised herself she’d give him back much worse.
But when she hesitantly offered her free hand, he ignored it and took up the one grasping the buttery roll.
With two fingers and an inscrutable expression that was surely hiding his disgust, he took the bread from her and set it aside; then, before she could snatch her hand back, he was slipping a ring on her finger.
It didn’t go on easily, probably wouldn’t have gone on at all if her fingers weren’t coated with butter. She stared at the ring for a moment, bemused to find it so lovely. It was an enormous sparkling diamond surrounded by a twinkling array of sapphires, emeralds, and rubies.
“Now that I’ve seen to my duty, you can run along and finish your packing,” Vasili said. “I realize it is an imposition, for which I apologize, but we really must leave tomorrow. I do hope you will get some sleep tonight, though, so do hurry with the chore.”
His apology rang as false as his hope that she would be able to get some sleep—at least to her ears.
To the others, he probably sounded sincere.
And she was even more furious with the man now, for his duplicity, for pretending in front of her father, when she knew his true feelings.
That she had come down here to do some pretending of her own was a moot point. She’d obviously wasted her time.
She picked up the slice of bread again simply because she was hungry, and left.