15
If Vasili accomplished anything during his visit to Alexandra’s room, it was ensuring that Alexandra shared his anticipated lack of sleep that night.
She could not stop thinking about his kiss and the unexpected feelings it had produced in her, sensations she had never known she could feel.
She also berated herself for standing there like a half-wit and letting him do that to her, regardless of the fact that she knew perfectly well she’d been too stunned to do anything but let him.
Which wouldn’t happen again, she promised herself.
Not that there would be any more kissing with him at all, she also promised herself.
Mostly, though, she spent long hours trying to figure out why Vasili had kissed her at all, because she certainly didn’t believe that it had had anything to do with keeping her awake, as he’d suggested, even if that was exactly what it had done.
And what, heaven help her, would have happened if Nina hadn’t come back when she had?
Alexandra would have liked to think she would have come to her senses and shouted for the Razin brothers, who were sleeping in the room next to hers. But she couldn’t be sure of anything last night.
This morning, however, with a lack of sleep making her irritable, she was much more sure about what she would have done.
She wouldn’t have done any shouting, but would have slapped that profligate rake soundly for his effort, then warned him graphically what would happen if he ever tried it again.
She had a new image to uphold, after all, and the new, ill-mannered, crude, outlandish Alexandra wouldn’t tolerate being trifled with by that master seducer, even if he did think he had some rights where she was concerned.
Hadn’t she proved just that the previous evening in the common room?
She had pulled that public scene off beautifully, yet she wished she hadn’t had an underlying fury goading her.
His propositioning another woman, right in front of her, shouldn’t have affected her.
She’d been warned it would happen, and it merely confirmed that he was the despicable man she had already guessed him to be.
But that, too, accounted for some tossing and turning last night.
Alexandra was the last to arrive at the stables for departure, which didn’t help her disposition any. If that golden popinjay had gotten a good night’s sleep after disturbing hers, she’d have a score to settle that had nothing to do with her plan to get rid of her betrothed.
The wagons had already been sent on their way and were far down the road, as were most of her horses.
Stenka held Prince Mischa in readiness for her.
Vasili, who was mounted on his roan stallion, was close enough to her horse that it was obvious he was waiting for her.
To have more words? She’d be happy to oblige him.
The look he gave her could have been merely inquiring, but she saw more in it than that—gloating smugness, to be exact. So the moment she mounted she turned to him and asked, “Why did you kiss me last night?”
Vasili said nothing for a moment, and not because he was waiting for Stenka to move out of hearing distance. He was gritting his teeth against his surprise. He would get used to her bluntness. The advantage it gave her by catching him off guard like this was intolerable.
Finally, tight-lipped, he gave her an answer. “The little wench I would have been kissing last night took fright and disappeared.”
When he ended there, she was forced to draw her own conclusion. “Ah, I see. If you don’t get your first choice, you settle for second? But I have a third option for you that you would be wise to consider. Keep your pants on, Petroff—at least until you break this betrothal.”
She smiled as she said the last part. He smiled right back at her and leaned forward to reach for her neck.
She knew exactly what he meant to do—draw her forward to kiss her again, to prove he wouldn’t be dictated to.
With a nudge and a yank from Alexandra, Prince Mischa reared up on his hind legs.
Vasili was forced to control his roan, which shied away.
Alexandra rode off before he had quite managed it.
She considered that round hers—for all of five minutes.
That was how long it took Vasili to catch up with her and literally lift her off her horse and onto his.
The action was too unexpected and not the least bit pleasant.
By the time he was done situating her for his comfort, she was nestled firmly between his thighs, his arms caging her sideways against his chest. And being that close to him, surrounded by him, recalled to her too many sensations of the previous night.
She pushed those feelings aside to glare up at him. “And what are you going to do now, Petroff—besides make an ass of yourself?”
“Goad me any further, sweetheart, and we’ll ride off to locate some private place to find out.”
She would as soon not, but didn’t say so. Bojik was already barking at the roan’s feet, making the stallion sidestep and dance nervously. All three Razin brothers rode up behind them to make their presence felt, Stenka having taken up Prince Micha’s reins.
They wouldn’t say anything, at least not yet. She didn’t want them interfering anyway, and getting on Vasili’s bad side. This was not an alarming situation, after all—except to her emotions.
“About my question?” she prompted.
His answer was a curt “Call off the dog.”
She would have laughed, if she were in any other position. She lied instead. “Bojik won’t listen as long as he thinks I’m in danger.”
“You have the best-trained horses I’ve ever seen. You expect me to believe you wouldn’t give the same discipline to your dog?”
He was playing unfairly, making a comment that she had to accept as a compliment.
Her horses were her pride and joy. She couldn’t help being pleased that he’d noticed how superbly they handled.
Besides, she wasn’t going to risk injury to a horse, even his, just because she’d like to get off his lap immediately.
So she said Bojik’s name in a tone the animal recognized and instantly heeded.
The barking stopped. The big stallion settled down soon after. And Vasili said, “Now you can do the same with your Cossacks.”
One concession on her part was enough as far as she was concerned. “When they start barking, I will,” she replied in a low grumble.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“And I’ll pretend you haven’t lost your mind,” she shot back.
Suddenly she felt his chest rumbling with laughter. It hadn’t been her intention to amuse him, anything but, yet what she was hearing was the sound of genuine humor. And it had him stopping his mount.
“It’s about time,” she said, but apparently she had said this too soon.
He wasn’t putting her down, he was turning to address the Razins. “My betrothed and I are going to talk, to get to know each other better. Ride ahead. We don’t need your escort for conversation.”
They didn’t ride ahead, of course. They stared at.
Vasili for a moment, then they stared at Alexandra, and she was close to growling, she was so infuriated.
Vasili was going to force her to make this concession, too, or pit him against her men, which could have repercussions she didn’t want to find out about.
Did he know she would give in, or would he back down if she didn’t? She wasn’t going to risk it.
She gave the nod that allowed her friends to depart without worry, but she did it so imperceptibly, she hoped Vasili hadn’t noticed. And she thought he might not have when he turned to follow the Razins and the rest of their party, though at a much more leisurely pace.
But as soon as they were beyond shouting distance, he said, “A wise choice.”
Since she had no desire to find out what he meant by that, she ignored it and said instead, “You don’t want to get to know me, Petroff, any more than I want to know you any better, so what was the point of this?”
“To prove that you are subject to me, whether you like it or not.”
“Well, you certainly made your point, didn’t you?” she replied sourly. “But nothing has been proved, since your authority requires my cooperation, and my cooperation is in no way guaranteed.”
His arms closed a little tighter around her and his head bent forward until his lips were very near to her ear. “Then perhaps I should extract a few promises from you,” he said in a voice she recognized as seductive because of what it made her feel.
Her elbow to his belly worked to gain her some breathing space, but only because he wasn’t expecting it. “No promises, Petroff. Not a single one. And we’ve had enough point-proving and talk, so put me down.”
“When you say please, very, very nicely,” he said in a soft hiss.
She’d managed to make him angry, probably with her elbow. But she was just as angry that he’d made her panic enough to hit him. “Go to hell,” was her curt reply, but it didn’t get her put down.
He continued at a mere walk, still maintaining a far distance from the rest of their group. Her silence said he wasn’t going to get the “please” he’d requested, so she wondered how long he would make them suffer this uncomfortable ride before joining the others. Could he be as stubborn as she was?
“I believe it was mentioned that you have sisters,” he said suddenly, proving that he was curious about her, if only mildly. “Are they…like you?”
Curiosity? Or was he paving the way for more insults?
“They are nothing like me,” she answered hesitantly. “I was never all that close to either of them. They had their interests, and I had mine.”
“And your interest would be breeding horses.”
She detected the censure, and replied defensively. “Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean—”
“I wasn’t criticizing you,” he cut in.
“Weren’t you? I doubt that. But it certainly doesn’t matter to me what you think.”
Now his tone turned dry. “So I’ve gathered.”
When he fell silent again, she decided she might as well catch up on some lost sleep. Her back was supported by his arm. She just had to lean her head against his chest…
“Usually when a woman is this close to me, I am compelled to touch her,” Vasili remarked offhandedly. “Since most of the time you don’t look like a woman in your ridiculous attire, except for those lovely breasts of yours, I can probably restrain myself—for a while.”
Alexandra’s eyes rounded incredulously. All thoughts of sleep were gone, all thoughts of escape prevalent. But she wasn’t ready to say “Please” yet.
“That isn’t funny, Petroff.”
“Actually, it’s something of a joke, and I don’t find it amusing either, since it’s on me.”
She refused to ask for an explanation that she was sure she wouldn’t like. “Put me down.”
“Say please.”
“Dammit, put me down!”
It looked like he was going to when he put both reins in the hand whose arm was supporting her. That left his other hand free, but instead of using it to lower her to the ground, he lifted her chin so that she was staring at him as his head began to lower.
“I did try,” he said in a husky whisper.
She was mesmerized, for all of two breathless seconds. Then the fear of being lost to those same sensations she had experienced last night had her bursting out with “Please, please, please.”
For a brief moment, he looked disappointed that she’d given in. And then he found satisfaction in winning. Another moment and she was on the ground, and had to suffer that smug smile looking down at her.
“There is a lesson to be learned here, sweetheart,” he said with a heavy dose of arrogance. “It pays to give in sooner, because delay will cause nothing but unpleasantness.”
Lesson, or warning? But she didn’t have to wonder whether he had changed the subject and was talking about the betrothal now, rather than the “pleases” he’d just got.
“Then it’s a lesson you should heed yourself, Petroff,” she replied, and then called sharply, “Bojik!”
The wolfhound was at her side almost instantly, barking so loud and viciously that Vasili’s stallion took fright this time and raced off at a breakneck speed, not down the road, but across a nearby field.
Alexandra grinned as she watched Vasili try to bring the animal under control, and not very successfully.
She might have to walk a while until one of the Razins noticed she was on foot and came back for her, but she didn’t mind in the least.
She even laughed as she ruffled her dog’s hair and started down the road. “He wants to make points, Bojik, but I don’t think he’s going to like ours, is he?”