Seized by Love (31 page)

When Yukko appeared with
the brandy, he attempted to raise a question about Alisa, but Nikki was only
able to conceive her disappearance in terms of deceit. He condemned her
duplicity, censuring, damning her provocative sensuousness, castigating himself
for the thousandth time for his childish credulity. Cunt did that to him. He
forgot all else.

"Nikki, what of
Katelina? Alisa would never leave—" Yukko braved his master's wrath.

"Silence!" Nikki
bellowed, and put the bottle to his lips, draining a third of its contents in
one huge swallow. He looked up with a deadly glare and said, "Are you
championing that bitch?" He lapsed into Finnish. "I don't want to
hear that trollop's name again! Do you hear? Do you hear?" Nikki snarled.
"Now go. Leave me in peace. Bah! Women. Who needs them!"

Yukko lifted his eyebrows
in resigned disbelief at the last statement. If there was ever a man who
couldn't
do without women, it was his master.

"Very well,
Nikki," he sighed as he watched his master grasp the bottle again and pour
down another long draft. Leaving the study, Yukko resolved to look for Alisa
himself. She wouldn't run off now, when she was carrying Nikki's child.
Everyone below stairs knew that. But when Nikki's temper was up, he didn't
listen to reason.

It took Yukko no more than
twenty minutes to find why Alisa had disappeared. Racing back to the house, he
found

Nikki slumped in his chair,
his face an unreadable mask. Having finished the first bottle of brandy, Nikki
was approaching the mood when all the world was of no consequence.

Yukko jerked the second
bottle of brandy from Nikki's sullen grasp and said, "Alisa's been
abducted. Three men on horseback took her from the east shore of the lake about
three quarters of a mile down the beach."

Approximately three seconds
elapsed before the news penetrated Nikki's senses. Then he shot to his feet,
clapped a strong hand on Yukko's shoulder, and tersely questioned,
"Abducted? You're sure?" he asked sharply. "She didn't run away?
You're sure?" His eyes were eager.

"I'm sure,
Nikki," Yukko answered positively.

"Thank you."
Nikki's eyes lit with a hungry hope.

Yukko turned away in
embarrassment from his proud young master. The Finnish brotherhood of trackers
and woodsmen were by nature and training taciturn, proud, laconic of speech,
and disinclined to show emotion. Nikki for a brief moment had exposed his
vulnerability and Yukko, with a delicate courtesy, chose to avoid the sight.

When Yukko looked next,
Nikki was out the door, dashing down the outside steps, already halfway down
the path to the lakeshore. Yukko and Ami hurried to catch tip with him. The
three men ran down the soft sand, darkening now in the swiftly growing
twilight, following Alisa's small footprints.

An awful obscenity exploded
from Nikki when they reached the additional tracks around the large lakeside
boulder where Alisa's footprints abruptly terminated.

"Are you positive
there's three, Yukko?" Nikki asked curtly.

"Yes, three,"
Yukko replied decisively as he knelt to scrutinize the prints more carefully.
"Two big men, one average size."

Rising, Yukko followed the
trail into the woods to the place the horses had been tethered.

"They're carrying Mrs.
Forseus," Yukko said, glancing compassionately at Nikki striding beside
him. Yukko had been with Nikki ever since he was a small boy given as a
serf-companion to the young master. He knew all his moods, his pleasures, his
idiosyncrasies, so he'd watched with almost unbelieving amazement as Nikki had
altered his life for this young woman. Extending a sympathetic hand, he touched
Nikki's shoulder.

"We'll catch up with
them, Nikki," he solemnly promised. "They can't have more than a
four-hour start on us and won't be able to travel as rapidly with Mrs. Forseus.
She can't sustain a headlong pace."

Nikki cast a swift glance
around the small clearing that had sheltered the horses, shutting his eyes
briefly in despair. There was no doubt who'd abducted Alisa, and the knowledge
of Forseus's cruel sadism shook his composure. Resolutely dismissing the awful
visions, he started back to the house, running full out, his long legs
outdistancing both Ami and Yukko. Dashing into the stables, he ordered the
grooms to saddle six horses, then he swiftly returned to the house and
explained to a fearful Maria what had transpired. He warned her not to alarm
Katelina.

"We should be back in
two days. Tell Katelina anything, anything at all to pacify her until we
return."

He strode into his study,
lifted down an ivory-stocked Winchester model 1866, lever-action carbine, the
best in the world, purchased in Paris, as well as a serviceable Belgian Colt
Navy Model Revolver, crammed his hunting jacket pockets full of shells, and
shouted for the cook as he ran back outside to the stables.

The horses were almost
ready; the cook breathlessly appeared and Nikki ordered food to be packed for
three days' travel.

"You've five minutes
to prepare it before we leave," he snapped. The cook scurried back to the
house, crying for the kitchen maids.

"Empty the
stables," Nikki commanded sharply. "I want every horse with us. Two
grooms will be needed to return the fatigued animals. Vite!
Vite!"
He snapped his fingers.

Ami and Yukko were checking
their harness, the mounts dancing and sidling in the nervous activity of the
stable yard. Horse after horse was led out and strung together with long
braided leads.

Nikki slammed the rifle and
revolver into his saddle holsters, took one look around to determine everyone's
readiness, and flung himself up into the saddle. Koli pawed in sensitive
anticipation, eager to be off. The cook and her helpers came flying out from
the kitchen, carrying rucksacks that were hastily fastened to the saddles.

Within seconds the party
thundered out of the stable yard, Nikki setting a dangerous pace in the
twilight shadows.

The horror of some injury
befalling Alisa kept running through Nikki's distraught mind as he leaned into
the wind. If Forseus had harmed Alisa or his child in any way, he would see him
burn in hell before another day passed, Nikki vowed as fear for Alisa's safety
rode with him. He knew Forseus's mind wasn't normal. He derived pleasure from
subjecting Alisa to indecent aberrations, from hurting her. God, what if he
killed her, what if she were dead already? His pulse rate soared while his
heart plummeted. A suffocating despair gripped him. Nikki dug in his spurs,
furiously pushing the horses, forcing them unmercifully until they were unable
to go on, their mouths foaming, their coats glistening with sweat. Without
pausing for more than three minutes, the beaten horses were unsaddled and left
with a groom, the tack transferred to fresh animals, and

Nikki, remounted, was three
hundred yards ahead, whipping his new mount to pick up the pace.

The damn fool will kill all
his horses, Yukko muttered as he threw himself onto his vigorous new mount and
put spur to horseflesh. Thousands of roubles of prime bloodstock were being
driven into the ground.

The largest horses were
needed to support Nikki's weight and they, in their brute strength, had a
stamina and endurance beyond an average horse's powers. Nikki was well ahead,
picking up and following a glaringly obvious trail. Forseus was traveling in
headlong flight; no care was taken to cover his escape. He was either confident
no one could overtake them or too frightened to take the time to be cautious.
It didn't matter. Either way, he'd die, and soon, Nikki promised himself.

They watched for signs of
change or separation.

One horse had faltered—a
light track—the horse carrying Alisa. She must have been remounted, for a
different animal was now supporting her slight weight. They were gaining on the
fugitives. At the wicked, reckless speed Nikki was urging, it was just a matter
of time. Nikki's party were all mounted on Stryelet horses now, which had been
left for last, having the stamina to cover long distances without flagging.
They counted on the fact that Forseus would have to stop for food and rest,
however briefly, and Nikki would gain valuable time, for no one in pursuit
remotely considered rest. Nikki wouldn't stop until Alisa was safely with him
once more, or—God, no, he didn't dare think.

He dug the bloody rowels
into the horse's ribs.

By four o'clock in the
morning, waves of exhaustion were sweeping over Nikki. He hung on to
wakefulness with stubborn determination. He mustn't close his eyes. Darkness
pulsed around him, the rhythm of the horse was soothing. Had he dozed
momentarily? With effort he levered his eyelids open. It wouldn't be long now.
He had to remain awake. They flew southward in the velvety night, the blackness
of the forest pines flashing by.

As the sky lightened, Nikki
knew that Forseus couldn't be far ahead. The fugitives didn't have the
advantage of fresh horses, and their mounts had to be exhausted, maintaining no
more than a slow trot.

Nikki and his trackers came
up on the encampment in the gray mists of early dawn. Frantically his eyes
searched the glen for Alisa, for some sign of her. Finally his glance caught a
glimpse of her dress lying beneath a rock outcropping, and his heart almost
stopped beating. Was he too late? Had Forseus beaten her beyond endurance?
Horrible visions of her lying in a pool of blood, losing her baby from the
terror and brutality of her abduction, flashed through his mind as he leapt
from his horse and bent to retrieve her torn gown. He barely heard the voices
of Ami and Yukko threatening Forseus and his men into submission as he prowled
from place to place, looking for Alisa.

"Alisa," he
called, beset with alarm, "Alisa…" panic tightened his stomach; there
was no sign of her anywhere. He heard a rustling in the underbrush and turned,
thinking to tell Yukko to help him in his terrible search. And then he saw her.

She was bound and gagged,
her eyes wide with terror, her chemise her only covering.

"Alisa," he
cried, relief flooding his brain. Racing to her, he quickly untied her and
pulled her, sobbing, into his arms.

"Are you all
right?" he asked anxiously.

She nodded speechlessly
against his chest.