Seized by Love (26 page)

To hell with them all! He'd
take Alisa away tonight to Mon Plaisir, his estate north of Lake Ladoga.
Remote, sequestered, irrevocably off the beaten path, the thought of a summer
with Alisa in that distant fastness of forest and kallio brought his blood up.

"You've permitted
every whoremaster here tonight to ogle your bounteous charms. I think it's my
turn," Nikki said, his face contorted in fury, his breathing deep and
heavy.

"Come now, dear, we
go. Your flirtatious days in society are over. I've put up with all the interference
from Father I'll tolerate. My independence from his control began years
ago."

"He'll stop you!"
Alisa warned, a rising note of hysteria in her voice as Nikki took her arm and
began forcing her toward the door.

"I wish him luck in
that endeavor," he coldly replied, and then unexpectedly broke into a warm
chuckle. An exhilaration raced through him. The inaction and restraint, the
stifling protocol of society he'd labored under for weeks, were cast aside. He
was his own man again! His old mad recklessness invigorated him. One could be
prudent only so long and then must break away.

Taking Alisa's hand in a
vicious grip, Nikki pulled her protesting through the conservatory, thankfully
empty of people at the moment. He slammed through double French doors, dashing
them aside with a powerful sweep of his arm, causing them to shudder
indignantly on their metal frames. Oblivious of the shocked stares of
partygoers on the ter-race, he tossed up the kicking, screaming Alisa and flung
her over his shoulder. In this embarrassing position her pummeling fists
uselessly bombarded Nikki's strong back while he held her feet firmly in his
left hand, concerned with protecting his manhood from her kicking toes.

"Put me down, you
monster, you brute!" Alisa screamed, beating ineffectually against the
broad back, cursing him furiously.

Blandly ignoring her
screams of outrage, he didn't even break stride as his long legs carried him
and his rambunctious burden across the sweeping lawn toward his waiting
carriage.

Walking purposefully down
the long row of carriages, Nikki found his equipage, opened the door, and
unceremoniously dumped Alisa onto the floor. Climbing in behind her, he curtly
directed Feodor to drive back to the palace and slammed the door shut with a
crack.

Immediately he was set upon
by a scratching, clawing, screaming wildcat. For days now, he'd been forced to
contain his fury, his resentment, his frustration. There was a limit.
Diable,
there was a limit! his mind thundered.

The horses had hardly begun
to move, when Nikki seized Alisa in one sweeping motion and shook her viciously
by the shoulders, leaving bruises on her flesh.

"I will not tolerate
having you trifled with by other men!" he roared, the suppressed vexation
of watching Alisa flirt and laugh and dance and posture before other men's
frankly lustful gaze finally released.

"You're mine!" he
thundered. "No man will trespass on my property! Do you understand?"
He gripped her tighter and, struggling to regain his composure, spoke in a low,
hard voice. "Do you understand?"

Alisa's eyes narrowed, her
nostrils distended in anger. He shook her again.

"Answer!" he
roared, the brief moment of control snapped.

Alisa spat on him and
laughed at his discomfiture.

"Christ's blood,"
he growled, wiping his face with his sleeve. "I'll have the taming of you
yet."

Grabbing a handful of her
copper curls, he pulled her head back until her eyes were wide with fear. Then
he stuffed his silk handkerchief into her mouth, muffling her whimpering to a
whisper, and tied his neckcloth around her head as a gag. Her wild eyes watched
him rip the blue ruffles from the hem of her gown and truss her hands and feet
together.

When the carriage reached
the pink marble palace, he grimly alighted from the carriage, closed the door,
and issued orders rapidly to Feodor.

"Mrs. Forseus fell
asleep, please don't disturb her. Make ready a second carriage, bring along
another coachman and four grooms; two outriders on mounts are also needed. Have
everything ready in fifteen minutes."

Being neither deaf nor
blind, Feodor didn't believe for a minute that Mrs. Forseus was sleeping, but,
inured to the idiocies of his young master, he only presented an impassive face
and an affirmative response to his orders.

Nikki sprang up the stairs
to the front door, eager to be packed and off before his parents discovered
Alisa's absence from the party. The startled butler was the recipient of
numerous and curtly barked orders. Footmen were to carry down the luggage to
the waiting carriages outside, maids were to be sent upstairs to help with the
packing. Get Ivan his secretary immediately, he needed money and a letter sent
to his regimental commander, requesting leave. Have the chef pack some food,
vodka, and brandy, everything to be accomplished in no more than fifteen minutes.
Understood? Sergei quailed before the dangerous look in Prince Nikolai's eyes.

Nikki bounded up the stairs
to waken Katelina and whisper to her that they were going to the country. She
was, always to him, a vivid recollection of the bright freedom and wonder of
youth. Katelina, ever amiable to her favorite Nikki, had already tumbled out of
bed and was collecting her toys.

"Uncle Nikki, will you
teach me to ride a horse as you promised and take me hunting like you
said?"

"I certainly will,
lapsikulta,"
he pronounced solemnly, for he treated her with the courtesy of an equal, never
condescending to patronize her childish delights. "I'll let you ride a
horse, take you hunting with me, and even teach you to drive your own pony
cart."

"Uncle
Nikki! What fun!
I'll dress very quickly," she promised.

Nikki gave her a kiss and a
quick hug, imparted instructions to Rakeli and Maria to have Alisa's and
Katelina's clothes packed in ten minutes, and walked to his room to settle
affairs with Ivan and select some of his favorite old clothes for hunting.

Within an incredible twenty
minutes, the small caravan was on its way, Katelina, Rakeli, and Maria settled
comfortably in the second carriage, Ami riding guard outside, Nikki and Alisa
traveling in the first carriage with two outriders in the vanguard.

As the carriages left the
outskirts of the city behind, Nikki silently untied Alisa and removed her gag,
neither gentle nor repentant.

Alisa closed her eyes as
the gag was taken from her mouth. Slowly she breathed deeply, trying to gain
some semblance of composure for what she was about to say, as they eyed each
other coolly.

Finally she spoke,
pronouncing each word slowly and distinctly, having, in the angry solitude of
her wait, discarded numerous and varied epithets and invectives.

"I am not your baggage
to be trussed and ordered about," she said with a cold fury.

"You are now," he
said grimly and unequivocally, not a flicker of tenderness in his tawny eyes.
"At Mon Plaisir
I
am lord and master.
Everyone
obeys my
bidding," he continued icily, emphasizing the pronouns. "And now
we'll have our first lesson in obedience, my lovely baggage."

He felt himself harden with
lust.

"You will not flirt
with Lieutenant Bobrinski or any other man again, will you?" He reached
for Alisa and pulled her resisting body to his.

"I will if I
choose," she spat out, still defiant.

"You will not."
In swift movements he threw her facedown across his lap, tossed her skirts
back, and pulled down her lacy drawers. Her lovely bottom was exposed. Hand
poised above the soft pink flesh, he mildly asked, "Will you now?"

Alisa shook her head,
stubbornly refusing to give in to his demands.

His hand came down and
spanked her, leaving pale red marks on the smooth circles of flesh.

"Speak up, darling. I
can't hear you." His hand descended again on her tender skin.

She could feel him stiff
and rigid against her belly.

"We'll return to this
question later, my love," he sighed softly, his passion rising fast, a
throbbing stiffness hard against his trousers. "It's time for your second
lesson in obedience. The very motion of a carriage is enough to rouse my
passions, and you're so conveniently close."

"Off with your clothes
now. Let me gaze upon my property. I feel a need for your services."

Nikki turned her over and
began pushing his and her clothes aside, too much in a hurry to undress. His
large hands held her face while his lips fiercely found hers, his open mouth
demanding, insulting, his face dark with passion.

"You—you're just like
the worst of all men!" Alisa rasped breathlessly as he released her lips.

"Just like?"
inquired Nikki sardonically as he settled her with a casual effortlessness
beneath him, adjusting her position precisely as he wanted her, his strong arms
holding hers against the hard carriage seat.

"Worse!" she
panted, unable to move against his powerful strength. His excitement was so
intense now, he shuddered at the second's delay. But have her he would, for
nothing else mattered.

"Or better, mayhap, my
dear?" He smiled arrogantly and faintly as he mounted her and without
preliminaries he rammed himself in clean up to the hilt.

Alisa gasped. Despite an
effort to steel herself, a cry was torn from her lips as a particularly fierce
thrust penetrated deeply. He finished in seconds, withdrew, wiped himself off
on her petticoats, and adjusted his clothes. Then he resumed his position on
the seat opposite and stretched out comfortably, leaving Alisa feeling used and
furious.

"A dog could do
better!" she said in disgust.

He turned his head with a
slow, deliberate motion, his eyes cold and blank. A brief second elapsed, and
then the familiar derisive expression played across his face.

"My dear," Nikki
replied softly in mock dismay, "I do hope you don't consider taking up
Sophie's perversions. So very vulgar, you understand." So saying, he shut
his eyes and with an infuriating, calm indifference, proceeded to fall asleep.

Alisa pulled her clothes
around her naked body, turned over on her stomach, and wept.

They traveled steadily for
the next five days with only brief stops to rest the horses and break their
fast. Nikki didn't touch her again, he barely acknowledged her existence,
further exasperating Alisa, who longed to stir up some reaction when she railed
at him in anger. For most of the journey Nikki slouched low in the seat, his
long legs propped up on the seat opposite occupied by Alisa, a bottle of brandy
his constant companion.

On the evening of the
fourth day, after having traveled with Katelina in the second carriage,
entertaining her with tales of fairies and elves most of the day, Nikki climbed
back into Alisa's carriage and lay back against the seat.

Alisa immediately began
hurling denunciations at his head, trying to ease some of her resentment at
being so arrogantly and tyrannically abducted. Further adding to her anger was
the fact that Katelina looked upon the whole journey as another delightful
adventure being supplied by her darling uncle Nikki, and even Alisa's old and
loyal servants were quietly pleased to be going back to the country; they much
preferred their familiar pine forests to the bustle and dirt of the city. Even
Rakeli and Maria seemed to be on Nikki's side, and they would look
uncomfortably away in embarrassment when Alisa would deliver some malicious
remark to Nikki in their presence.

After patiently and quietly
listening to the string of invectives for several minutes, Nikki held up his
hand wearily in an attempt to stay the tirade directed at him.

"Please, my dear, no
more." He heaved a small sigh. "Your violent sentiments do not
stimulate my interest. I am by nature a very mild man."

Like Genghis Khan was
benevolent! Alisa snorted derisively.

Nikki continued
unperturbed. "And actually, I prefer considerably more passivity in a
woman. So do try and be more silent. In fact this constant heckling may be
danger-ous, don't you see? My restraint is not unlimited, and it's been four
days now." His heavy lids rose slowly, revealing a gaze suspiciously
sardonic. "I'm surprised you have such a gift for inciting abuse. It must
be your long apprenticeship under Mr. Forseus's tutelage." He paused.
"I view as odious my brutal attentions directed at you that first evening
in the carriage. Most unprecedented; perhaps I could be excused as having been
under unique pressures and then, of course, you are decidedly provoking with
your tempestuous tantrums. Forgive me. It won't happen again."

"I suppose that's
something I have to be thankful for," Alisa snapped.

Ignoring the sarcastic
retort, Nikki continued in his calm, equable tone that explained but neither
petitioned nor beseeched its listener.

"I must warn you,
however, as soon as we arrive at Mon Plaisir, if you continue to remain
recalcitrant to my ah— demands, some methods of persuasion will be necessary,
although, rest assured, they'll be more pleasant and subtle than those I so
hastily and imprudently resorted to five days ago."