34
“She left her horses with me, even the two stallions,” Vasili said, his voice still expressing disbelief. “They mean everything to her. How could she leave them?”
Stefan led Vasili to a chair in the audience room, where his closest friends were gathered; he even pushed him down into it, but this was the second time he had done so, and he doubted his cousin would remain there for long this time either.
Vasili was angry, yet he was bewildered, too, and it wasn’t a combination that sat well with him.
“Try thinking about it logically,” Stefan suggested. “She would leave them because she does care so much for them, and it’s the middle of winter.”
Stefan had been allowed to read the note Alexandra had left; he’d had it thrust into his hands, actually. They had all read it, though Vasili hadn’t noticed it being passed between Serge and Lazar, he’d been pacing so hard.
“Besides the weather,” Lazar added, “the reason she gives is a sound one. It’s too soon to take them on another long, grueling trip.”
Vasili shot back to his feet for some more pacing. “Then she would have stayed with them until they could travel with her.”
“When your mother told her that there would be no marriage?” Serge reminded him. “The girl probably assumed she was no longer welcome.”
“Then perhaps she didn’t go far,” Stefan said. “She could still be in the city.”
Vasili shook his head. “No, her man, Bulavin, said she left Cardinia, that she won’t be back, not even to collect the horses. She’s going to send for them.”
Tanya had just finished reading the note and looked up. “Obviously Alexandra trusts you to keep them safe for her, Vasili.”
He snorted. “She doesn’t.”
“I have reason to believe she does,” Tanya said.
That arrested him, and his golden eyes settled on her intently. “What reason?”
“It’s just an…impression I got, after talking to her,” she said evasively.
“You mean she didn’t drag my name through the mud?” he asked sarcastically.
She smiled gently at his remark. “Actually, your name might have gotten a few sprinkles of dirt on it. After all, she can’t help thinking you’re a lecher, when it’s a well-established fact that you are.”
His reply was indignant. “I’ll have you know I haven’t touched another woman since I met her.”
It was Serge who caught the implication in that. “Another woman?”
“Oh, Vasili.” Tanya sighed now in disappointment. “Don’t tell me you seduced that innocent girl when you had no intention of marrying her.”
And from Lazar: “Jesus, Vasili, when did you manage that, as cramped as the accommodations were on the whole trip?”
Vasili was flushing with heat by then. “It was hardly a seduction when—never mind. It doesn’t matter, since I am going to marry her.”
“You are?” more than one of them asked incredulously.
And Stefan said calmly, if a bit dryly, “I suppose this means you’re leaving again.”
Vasili nodded. “Within the hour. I only came here to tell you.”
“It’s late afternoon,” Lazar said. “Shouldn’t we wait until morning?”
“Not when she left early yesterday—and I wasn’t inviting you,” Vasili retorted.
“But you’ll take him,” Stefan said in a tone that would brook no argument, “and an extra complement of men with him. There’s no point in inviting more trouble from our annoying friends in the mountains.”
“That’s if she’s gone home,” Vasili said.
“What makes you think she hasn’t?” Serge asked.
“Because her groom wouldn’t give me a straight answer about it, even after I threatened to rearrange his face for him. And she left her trunks behind, every one of them. She’s traveling light this time, taking only the Cossacks and her maid with her.”
“Which could mean she’s merely in a hurry to get home,” Serge said.
“Then why not make arrangements to have the wagons follow her?”
“I wouldn’t say that’s conclusive,” Stefan pointed out.
“I know,” Vasili agreed. “Which is why I’ll be looking for her trail. I wish she had taken the stallions, though. At least people notice and remember them.”
“You’re not suggesting she knew you would follow her, are you?” Lazar asked in surprise. “That she’s going to be covering her tracks?”
“She knows we’re not finished. Maybe she won’t admit it, but deep down she—”
“Vasili, she doesn’t want to marry you,” Lazar cut in to remind him. “And she assumed you felt the same way, since that’s the only impression you’ve given her. If she’s thinking anything, it’s that your mother did you both a favor. That’s what you were counting on, if you’ll recall.”
The reminder just got Lazar a glower, at which point Tanya asked, “Vasili, do you know why she didn’t want to marry you, even before she met you? I asked her, but she said the reason was too embarrassing for her to mention.”
Vasili was shaking his head, but Lazar supplied the answer. “She’s in love with some Englishman she met on her coming out in St. Petersburg—or at least she says she is.”
Vasili received that news with a mixture of incredulity and raging jealousy, and both had him shouting, “How the hell do you know that?”
“Unlike you, I was curious why she didn’t fall at your feet the way most women do, so I asked.”
“She told you that?”
“Of course not,” Lazar replied. “You know she rarely even spoke to me in passing. No, I asked her maid, Nina, one day, and she treated the subject as if it were a long-standing point of contention.”
“Meaning?”
“Her disgust was pretty obvious. Nina thinks that whatever it is Alexandra feels for this Christopher Leighton, it certainly can’t be true love. And she’s of the opinion that it’s only Alexandra’s stubbornness that has had her maintaining loyalty to this fellow after so many years.”
“Did the maid give a reason for these opinions, Lazar?” Stefan questioned.
“Because Alexandra simply went on with her life, without a single bit of pining.”
“Just how many years are we talking about?” Serge asked next.
“Seven.”
“Jesus,” Vasili groaned.
“Well, that explains her embarrassment,” Tanya said. “And I’m inclined to agree with the maid.”
Vasili glanced her way. “Why?”
“Oh, just the impression I got,” Tanya said evasively once again.
“Now, don’t be giving my wife hot looks, cousin,” Stefan said, trying not to find any humor in Vasili’s predicament, though it really was priceless.
The man who could have almost any woman he wanted couldn’t keep track of the one he had decided to settle down with, or get a declaration from her other than that she didn’t want him.
“If Tanya found out something in confidence, you can’t expect her to tell you about it. ”
The hell he couldn’t. Vasili demanded, “Whose side is she on, anyway?”
“Yours,” Tanya assured him with a grin. “Which is why I’m delighted that you’ve decided you want to marry her. I think she’ll make you a splendid wife, Vasili.”
He gave her a reproachful look. “But you aren’t going to tell me why you think so, are you?”
“No. But I’m sure it won’t take you long to find out from Alexandra—if you can find her.”