25 #2
Fully dressed now, he stalked to the door and, without breaking stride, slammed his shoulder into it. Nothing happened, of course. He must have been rather deflated. Alexandra grinned smugly to herself.
She was about to make some taunting remark when his shoulder hit the door again. To her disgust, the nailed plank gave way this time and the door wobbled open. Old wood, obviously.
“You couldn’t have thought of that sooner?” she said scathingly.
“Sorry, but I wasn’t angry enough then.”
He gritted his teeth against the blast of cold and stepped outside to have a look around. Latzko’s main hall was lit up, but none of the other buildings were. Apparently everyone was still celebrating.
Vasili came back to stand in the open doorway. “Are you coming?”
“I’m certainly not staying here with a broken door,” she said and started to throw off the blanket before she caught his eyes on her. “Do you mind?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” And he crossed his arms, leaned against the doorframe, and grinned. “Call it recompense for my getting you out of here—so unheroically.”
So that dig had struck home? Well, what did she care if he watched? He’d already done much worse.
“Have it your way,” she said with blatant unconcern and headed for her clothes, not even bringing a blanket along for partial modesty.
Before she got her drawers on, Vasili had turned away. He was going to add “No shame whatsoever” to his list of her bad points. She was forced to add one more redeeming quality to hers, but hoped that would be the last one.
Before long, they were tromping through the snow again.
The stable was easy to locate, but it was an old building, with crumbling walls that did nothing to keep out the cold.
Vasili’s roan was there. So was the horse Alexandra had borrowed, and most of the villagers’ mountain ponies. But not one of the white herd.
“Where would they have taken them?” she asked.
Vasili was still smarting over how easily his manhood had come to life again at the sight of her naked body, which was why he replied curtly, “I could not care less.”
“I’m not leaving here without my horses, Petroff,” she warned.
“Suit yourself.”
“Don’t think I won’t,” she snapped and led her mount out of the stable.
Vasili gritted his teeth and followed. “Dammit, that celebration could break up at any minute. We don’t have time to go searching.”
“Nobody’s asking you to help.”
He felt like shaking her, but knew it wouldn’t do any good. And it would take less time to find her horses than it would to argue with her, she was so damn stubborn.
“All right,” he conceded. “There will be a new stable around here somewhere. It’s doubtful that the old one is even used anymore, except for emergencies like this. Look to the outskirts—”
She’d already spotted it. “Over there, on the edge of the village farthest from the direction we entered.”
“It would be,” he grumbled, looking in the same direction. “Well, let’s at least be quick about this.”
He needn’t have bothered with the suggestion. She was already heading that way, leaving him to follow again.
The new stable was closed up tight, and a yank on the doors proved it was also barred from the inside, which meant the animals were being guarded.
So much for leaving without notice. But this time Vasili didn’t bother to point out to the stubborn woman at his side that he’d have to do some bodily harm to someone in order to get her horses back.
He knew by now that she’d just tell him to get on with it.
So he pounded on the door and called out in a tone that wouldn’t carry beyond the immediate area, “Open up.”
It took a moment before a voice came from the other side. “Who is that?”
Vasili made a guess at a common name for the area and supplied it. Apparently it worked, but it did not yield the results they wanted.
“Ain’t you heard?” the guard shouted back. “Pavel, he said I don’t open to no one but him, and you ain’t him. You’ll have to wait until morning to get a look at these beauties, just like everyone else.”
“He thinks you’re one of the villagers,” Alexandra whispered. “Play on that.”
Vasili considered it a waste of time, but made one more effort. “You’re missing the celebration,” he called out. “I’ve come to relieve you.”
There was a chuckle. “Nice try, but I’ve got my own jug of ale and my orders.”
The last words were barely heard as the guard moved farther back into the stable. “Do something,” Alexandra ordered.
“What would you suggest?”
“You got through the last door.”
Vasili snorted. “Forget it. This happens to be new wood, not old, and I’m not damaging my shoulder for your damn horses. We tried; now we’re leaving. And you can be toted out of here if you insist.”
“But—”
“Your horses aren’t going anywhere, and, I might add, they’re a hell of a lot warmer than we are.
They’ll be here in the morning, Alex. Now, we can either return to that shack they stuck us in and continue at a disadvantage, or show up tomorrow with an armed escort and get your horses back—one way or another. You choose.”
She took her time deciding, but finally said, “I don’t like leaving my babies with strangers for even one night, but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to start the bargaining tomorrow with some leverage on our side. Very well, let’s find our people.”
Vasili sighed. Considering that the cold was getting to him again, he’d almost hoped she would have chosen to return to the shack instead.