The Russian's Tender Lover (The Sisterhood) (8 page)

And then the truth came out, all four of them! Tiny little puppy replicas of the adult dog and Darcy’s mouth dropped open as she watched the tiny creatures waddle behind their mother on unsteady feet, not wanting to be away from her for too long.

Darcy’s heart went out to the tiny little puppies who were too thin for their age. They should have much more puppy fat on their bodies but she could see their ribs and their eyes were much too large for their faces.

“Oh, you poor little creatures,” she cooed, petting the mother gently so she would know her touch before Darcy touched her babies. “Will you let me help you, old girl?” she asked the momma. The mother looked up once, then stuck her face back into the dish, wolfing down the unexpected meal.

Thirty minutes later, Darcy was happily carrying the puppies up the stone steps with the momma wagging her tail beside her. Once Darcy reached the house, she set the puppies down and led them over to the pool. Taking one of the cushions down off the chairs, the momma immediately sat down and the puppies curled up, each one immediately searching for a nipple to nurse from. Darcy petted each puppy as well as the momma, smiling as the dog flopped down as her ears were scratched. Darcy could see the fleas as well as the bare spots on the dog’s fur where she’d scratched.

“Don’t worry, girl. I’ll get you fixed up in no time.” Now that the momma had food, she was able to produce more milk for her babies who drank heavily, filling their tiny bellies until they too were full. Then all five of them plopped down for a much needed nap while Darcy snuck away to the kitchen once again.

“Adele, we have a flea emergency. You wouldn’t by any chance have any lavender or rosemary, would you?”

Adele immediately wiped her hands and nodded her head. “Of course. I use rosemary in some chicken dishes and grow it out back. Manuel brings in lavender from Paris for the laundry. How much do you need?”

“Probably a handful of rosemary leaves will do the trick. I’ll just mash it into the shampoo in my bathroom already so it should be a good remedy for those pesky fleas.”

Darcy spent the rest of the afternoon bathing the momma dog and brushing her fur, feeding her more rice and meat so she could feed her babies more often. By the early afternoon, all the dogs smelled lovely and were following her around adoringly as Darcy played catch with them and snuggled them down into an old blanket when they tired, which was often since they were so malnourished. It would take several days before the puppies filled out as they should be and the momma dog was already looking better, although that was most likely due to the two baths she’d gotten to rid her of the fleas.

When she went down to dinner, she had a spring in her step and a purpose in her life which was wonderful. She was smiling softly until she stepped out onto the patio for the evening meal.

“Where the hell have you been all day?”

Darcy stopped mid-stride and looked around for the evil man. When she spotted him by the pool, she glared right back at him. “Why do you care where I’ve been all day? You’ve locked yourself up in your office so I’ve found my own amusements. Just like you told me to do. Don’t get angry when I follow your silly orders!”

Sergei couldn’t believe the woman standing in front of him. Gone was the nervous, pale woman who was lovely despite her fear of him and her situation. Now, the woman was still painfully thin but her cheeks had a glow of color about her, her eyes were spitting fire at him but their sparkle was different, mysterious.

“Why didn’t you come down for lunch? I told you that you could do anything you wanted, but I must insist that you eat normal meals. Maybe even several meals,” he commanded, hands on his hips as he tried to intimidate her into following his orders. Never had he even had to try to intimidate someone before so why was she glaring right back at him as if she were about to lash out at him for his rudeness.

“Maybe I had more important things to do today? Maybe the world doesn’t revolve around your meals and your commands.”

“On this island, they do!”

“I don’t!”

“You will,” he said softly. “You will eat dinner tonight and I’m going to ensure that you eat every meal from now on!”

“Are you sure you can spare the attention away from your precious empire?”

“I’m surprisingly good at multitasking.”

Darcy was about to storm away, damned if she was going to dine with a man as horrible as this one. She’d rather starve that eat across the table from Sergei. But at that moment, Manuel brought out a steaming platter of shrimp, lobster and several other delicious smelling sides and Darcy’s stomach rebelled at the idea of walking away from the evening meal. Skipping two meals yesterday was one thing. Skipping this one, especially now that she knew what was on the menu, was almost impossible.

“As it happens, I was around food all day so there’s no need to worry about me.”

“You’re in my charge, I’ll worry if I want to,” he snapped and pulled out her chair as she sat down. “And why the hell are you wearing the same clothes you were wearing yesterday?”

Darcy almost laughed at his horrified expression as he sat down across from her. “I’m wearing the only other outfit I brought. Since I didn’t want to wear the dress I came in, having lost one of the shoes anyway, I have only my jeans and tee shirt as an option.”

“I’ll have some other clothes brought to you. I didn’t know you hadn’t packed an entire suitcase for your stay.” He grumbled as he walked around the table and sat down across from her. “What size do you wear?”

“I’m not telling you what size I wear. That’s personal. As for the other issue, the contract stated the party would only be for one night. I didn’t pack for anything other than a simple change of clothes, which I’d anticipated changing into during my flight home.”

“I would have thought women like you packed for any kind of emergency.”

Darcy took a sip of the ice water, then served herself the seafood gumbo that was making her stomach grumble in anticipation. “That’s the second time you’ve referred to me as if I were some sort of subsection of society. What kind of woman do you think I am?”

He watched her serve a heaping portion of the seafood dish, fascinated that she really didn’t intend to starve herself to maintain her silly weight. He wasn’t particularly hungry himself and instead of serving himself some of the food, he sipped his bourbon and watched her. “Aren’t you?”

“Aren’t I what?”

“A subsection of society? There aren’t many of you, but I believe you’d be classified as mercenary, spoiled, attention hounds who live off of the wealthy patrons you snare in your trap.”

She bit into a delicious spiced shrimp and closed her eyes in ecstasy. “I guess there are women out there like that. And I can definitely see why you classify me in that category.”

He waited for several moments for her to continue. But when she simply continued to eat, not offering him an explanation, his eyes narrowed. “Are you saying you’re not part of that group?”

She shrugged. “You’ll have to gather the evidence and judge me yourself. I can’t convince you of anything.” A part of her wanted to scream out that her image wasn’t real. But the more sensible part of her reminded her that he was her prison keeper and he’d given her no reason to trust him with her secret life. So instead, she skewered another tasty shrimp onto her fork and bit into it, savoring the amazing flavors as she watched his eyes.

“I believe there’s ample evidence about your behavior in the tabloids. I don’t need any other convincing. Your presence here indicates that all those tabloid stories are correct.”

“Ah, but you had to sign a contract before I would agree to come to your secret island. So if we’re to judge each other, I would have to say that all of your wealth was obtained through unethical, if not illegal means. And since I’ve had ample opportunity to deal with people of your kind, I find your lack of morals and ethics in your business dealings far below my standards.”

Sergei couldn’t believe that she was actually attacking his business acumen. He wasn’t sure if he should laugh or destroy her. In the end, he had to laugh because she sat across from him, daintily eating her meal, unaware of the danger she’d just put her world into. Oh, he’d never cause her physical harm. He drew the line at any kind of violence. But there were so many legal ways to destroy one’s enemies, he never found it hard to do it legally.

Leaning forward, he served himself some food, finding his appetite had completely recovered with a return of his humor. “I can no longer include you in a specific subset of women, Darcy DiAngelo. You’re definitely one of a kind. I don’t know if you’re are amazingly brave, or just stunningly stupid but either way, you’ve impressed me with at least your spirit.”

Darcy felt as if she’d been given a precious gift. It wasn’t respect so much as….admiration? Not the same, but close. Not that she craved respect from anyone. She had her own means of serving this world and no one could take that away from her. But she felt a bit elated, excited even, knowing that Sergei’s opinion of her had shifted slightly.

Chapter 7

Darcy woke up feeling wonderfully refreshed. The excellent food and fresh air were exactly what she needed after the previous week of stressing about when Marco might find her. She still missed all the dogs and was worried that Dave and Matt would be wondering where she was, so not all of her cares and concerns had been omitted from her life, but she felt better than she had in a long time. She hated to admit that the additional nutrition she’d been consuming over the past several days was part of it because that would prove that Sergei had been right and she’d never give him that much credit.

As she padded to the bathroom with the puppies trailing behind her, she realized that the first day here had been terrifying, but Sergei had actually done her a huge favor by hiding her here on his private island. She hadn’t even understood how much she’d let the stress get to her.

Now that she was free, her shoulders felt lose and the aches in her neck were actually gone. The room was beautiful and after those first two days she almost never saw her captor, why not just enjoy the time she had here until Sergei decided it was time for her to head back home? At that time, she’d figure out what she would do next to hide from her brother.

Right now, though, it was time for breakfast! She pulled on a pair of shorts and a soft cotton shirt, grateful that someone on his staff had sent her several new outfits for all times of the day. She was excited that none of the clothes were incredibly sexy, most were pretty comfortable and whoever had purchased them, had only gotten her size slightly wrong. The clothes were just a bit too big, but she didn’t mind, enjoying the bagginess of the clothes versus the other way around. The bathing suits, on the other hand, were a bit too risqué for her taste.

She showered and pulled her hair back, not even bothering to dry it as she tied it on top of her head with an elastic band. Because of the sun she’d gotten yesterday, her pale skin didn’t even need makeup. Maybe a touch of mascara but she ignored even that, knowing she was going to venture into the ocean today.

“Good morning, Adele!” she called out as she entered the kitchen. “What’s for breakfast this morning?” she asked, peeking into one of the pots.

“Oatmeal,” Adele snapped and patted Darcy’s hand teasingly to stop her snooping. “You go sit down and I’ll bring you some when it’s done.”

“I’m tired of sitting down. Would you mind if I helped? I’m a horrible cook but as long as you keep me away from the stove and tell me what you need, I’m very good at assisting. My friend Dave is the one that cooks most of the time at home but I grow all the herbs, which he says means I have to chop them up.”

Adele eyed her skeptically and Darcy laughed. “I know I don’t look like I eat normally, but I genuinely love food. I’m just down a few pounds because of a recent job.” She didn’t mention that this island, and her employer, were the job she’d lost the last few pounds for.

“You need nutrition. Go over to that table and slice the fruit Manuel picked this morning. It will be good for you.”

Darcy stepped over to the table Adele indicated and picked up a knife, happily slicing fruit and laying it onto the tray Adele brought her. Adele was definitely cooking up something that smelled delicious but she would only tell Darcy it was oatmeal, all the while asking Darcy questions about her life back in the United States, how she cooked, what she did. Darcy was free with her answers, finding that she trusted Adele for some reason. The motherly woman was very down to earth and friendly. Besides, Darcy doubted Adele left the island very often so it would be difficult for a reporter to find this sweet woman and interrogate her about Darcy’s true life.

Darcy sliced and chopped, asking as many questions as she answered, filling up the plate slowly since she nibbled about half of what she cut up. Twice Adele came over to judge her progress and caught Darcy nibbling on the fresh fruit but she didn’t say anything, only gave her “The Look”, something mothers and grandmothers had perfected over the years indicating the transgression had not gone unnoticed.

When the platter was full, Darcy stepped back and marveled at the beauty of the lovely fruit while Adele sliced up some toast and placed poached eggs on another tray. When Manuel arrived in the kitchen carrying another load of vegetables and fruit, Darcy smiled delightedly and peeked into the treasures.