Bound by Love (39 page)

The brief happiness was replaced by a jolt of panic as she pulled back to regard him with an unreadable expression. “There is something you have forgotten to offer me.”

“Leonida?”

“When we were in the garden you.

“No, my dove,” he groaned, pressing his lips to her mouth in a quick, silencing kiss. “Please do not remind me. I cannot bear to recall how I behaved. I was an ass.”

He lifted his head to discover her regarding him with a startlingly mischievous expression.

“You were, but you did offer me the full and complete use of your body.” Her hands shifted to run her fingers
through his tousled hair. “Is that no longer to be included in your proposal?”

“Christ.” He breathed out a shaky sigh of relief, resting his forehead against hers. “Tease me again and I will toss you over my shoulder and take you to the nearest priest.”

Her wicked chuckle tightened his muscles with an equally wicked pleasure. “You did not answer my question.”

Shifting to ensure his body protected her from the gazes of the gathered men, Stefan gripped her hips and pressed her hard against his rising erection.

“Do you need further proof?” he asked huskily.

Heat flooded her cheeks, assuring Stefan that he was not the only one suffering from a frustrated hunger.

Good.

It was not at all fair that he should be alone in his need. Besides, he could always hope her desire for him would urge her into a swift wedding.

A very swift wedding.

“Perhaps when we have a bit more privacy,” she said.

He groaned at her soft promise. “Does this mean you agree to be my wife?”

Like the sun breaking through the clouds, a slow smile lit her face.

“Did I ever have a choice?”

His laughter filled the air. “Never.”

T
HE WEDDING OF THE
Duke of Huntley and Miss Leonida Karkoff was a quiet, simple affair attended only by the Countess, the Emperor and Herrick Gerhardt.

There would be another wedding once they reached Surrey, of course, to satisfy the demands of the Church of England, but none who attended the ceremony could doubt that even the most lavish affair could surpass the solemn beauty of Stefan and Leonida exchanging their vows.

Had two people ever gazed at one another with such love?

At last the wedding party made their way to the ship waiting to carry the couple to England. After tearful goodbyes the Emperor returned to the Summer Palace, while the Countess entered her carriage and disappeared from the dock.

Climbing onto his waiting horse, Herrick headed toward his home, only to come to an abrupt halt mere blocks from the dock. Damn. He had hoped he could dismiss the worry that had been needling him throughout the morning. Instead, it was only becoming more persistent.

Although Nadia had appeared genuinely delighted as she watched her daughter become the Duchess of Huntley, there had been a sadness in her dark eyes that haunted him.

He would not be capable of settling down until he discovered what was troubling the Countess.

Wryly acknowledging he was worse than a meddlesome old woman, Herrick altered his route, at last halting
his horse before Nadia’s lovely home. Then, climbing the steps, he allowed the butler to show him to a back parlor.

Stepping over the threshold, he found Nadia standing next to a fire that blazed in the marble fireplace, appearing far younger than her years in a pale blue gown over a silver satin slip with a row of silver roses that trailed over her shoulders and down the low-cut back. It was little wonder that the Emperor had found her an irresistible temptation.

She glanced up at his entrance, a hint of curiosity in her dark eyes.

“Herrick. Please join me.”

With a smile he moved to stand next to her, leaning against the mantle as he folded his arms over his chest.

“A charming ceremony.”

“It was, indeed.”

He narrowed his gaze. “And, of course, Leonida made a beautiful bride.”

A wistful smile touched her lips. “Any bride is beautiful when she loves her husband as Leonida loves Stefan.”

Unease whispered through Herrick. What was plaguing the woman?

She surely could not be disappointed in the marriage? Although the Duke of Huntley was more English than Russian, he possessed a lofty position and enough wealth to make any mother swoon in delight.

“Thankfully Stefan appears equally devoted.”

“More than devoted. He is besotted.”

Herrick’s expression softened, suddenly realizing that it was not disappointment that he could sense.

“Regrets, Nadia?” he demanded softly.

“Not for myself.” She absently toyed with a lacquer box set on the mantle, her eyes distant with remembered guilt. “I made the choices that made me happy, but I do regret that I did not understand that my daughter could never be satisfied with a society marriage.”

Herrick grimaced. They had all been selfish when it came
to the sweet, all too biddable child, each using her to fill some emptiness in their lives yet giving her very little in return.

“No, Leonida has always needed love,” he admitted.

Nadia sighed. “I failed her.”

“Nonsense,” he stoutly denied. The Emperor’s dangerously brooding mood had lightened the moment of Nadia’s brilliant return to society. Herrick would not allow her to retreat back to her rooms in a need to wallow in her guilt. “Leonida has grown into a beautiful, intelligent and confident young woman who would make any mother proud. What more could you desire?”

Seeming to come to a decision, Nadia squared her shoulders and flipped open the lid to the lacquer box.

“I desire to know she will always be safe.”

Herrick’s eyes widened as she pulled out the bundle of letters that had been the source of endless troubles over the past months. He had only a brief glimpse of them when he had escorted Leonida from Dimitri Tipova’s warehouse, but he easily recognized the frayed ribbon.

“Nadia?”

She laughed with mocking amusement at his surge of concern, then with a casual motion, she tossed the entire stack into the fire.

“Do not fret, Herrick. I have learned my lesson.”

Herrick stepped from the fire as it rapidly consumed the aged parchment, his brow furrowed. The last thing he had expected was for Nadia to destroy the letters. Not after Leonida had nearly lost her life to retrieve them.

“I thought you considered the letters a means to protect your future?” he accused.

Nadia shook her head, her expression somber. “I willingly placed my fate in the hands of Alexander Pavlovich. I shall stand at his side no matter what the future might hold.”

Herrick hid his astonishment as he crossed to pour two glasses of brandy. For all of Nadia’s charm, she had always been a selfish woman at heart.

Was it truly possible she had learned to put others before herself?

With a shrug, he returned to his companion and pressed a glass into her hand. All that mattered was Nadia’s continued loyalty to the Emperor.

“Leonida never did reveal what Dimitri Tipova demanded for the return of those letters,” he murmured. The Beggar Czar had occupied a great deal of his thoughts over the past days.

Herrick was not a man who allowed such a valuable asset to slip through his fingers.

“If he is as cunning as you have claimed, he will not dare trouble Leonida,” Nadia easily dismissed the threat. Like too many nobles she had no understanding of the power a man without a title could wield. “Not unless he wishes to incur the wrath of the Duke of Huntley.”

Herrick could not argue with her logic. Dimitri Tipova was not a stupid man.

“True enough. Stefan would kill him without a thought.” He abruptly chuckled, pondering the criminal’s reaction to Herrick’s determination to have him in his service. “Besides, Tipova will soon have other matters to occupy his mind.”

Nadia narrowed her gaze. “I sense you are plotting to lure the poor man into one of your nefarious schemes.”

“Not today.” Lifting his glass, Herrick offered a toast. “To Leonida.”

Nadia touched her glass to his. “Leonida.”

O
NCE SETTLED IN THEIR
elegant cabin, Leonida wandered to the deck of the ship, watching as St. Petersburg became a distant speck on the horizon.

A small smile curved her lips as she recalled the last occasion she had traveled away from St. Petersburg.

Who could ever have suspected the adventure that was awaiting her? Or the joy that she would discover?

Pondering the strange twists of fate, Leonida ignored
the brisk breeze that tugged on her green velvet pelisse edged with sable, and the crew who bustled past her. It was not until a pair of warm, muscular arms wrapped about her waist and hauled her against a broad chest that she was enticed from her private thoughts.

“You have a rather wistful expression on your face, my dove,” Stefan murmured, his lips brushing the curve of her ear. “Are you sad to leave your home?”

Leonida shivered, her body melting with a familiar heat. Over the past days it had been impossible to find a moment alone with Stefan. Now she was anxiously anticipating her wedding night.

“I will miss St. Petersburg, but my home is with you,” she assured him softly.

With gentle care he turned her in his arms, studying her with a searching gaze.

“
Our
home.”

“Yes.” A sense of utter contentment warmed her heart. “And besides, we have promised to return for Vanya’s wedding.”

Lowering his head, Stefan stroked his lips teasingly over her mouth. “Did we?”

Her arms lifted of their own accord, wrapping around his neck as a thrilling anticipation clenched her stomach.

“You are not going to distract me,” she warned.

His lips shifted to spread a line of tormenting kisses down the curve of her throat.

“No?”

“No.”

He chuckled as she ruined her threat with a shaky moan of pleasure.

“Liar.”

Pulling back, she regarded him with a stern expression. “You are very certain of yourself.”

The lean, beautiful features softened with an expression that tugged directly at her heart.

“The only thing I am certain of is my love for you.”

Framing his face in her hands, Leonida raised herself on the tips of her toes to press her lips to his mouth.

“And mine for you, my magnificent Duke. We are now bound together for all eternity.”

“Thank God.” Without warning, Stefan was sweeping her off her feet and heading directly toward the stairs leading to the private cabins. “I am too old to be pursuing my wife across the continent.”

She chuckled. “But you did it so very well.”

He gazed down at her with eyes already smoldering with passion.

“Ah, but I intend to do even better at keeping you.”