You Belong to Me (8 page)

I
t was a long first day on the road, exceedingly so. The stallion in Vasili’s party turned out to be his and was a high-strung animal that refused to keep to the sedate pace of the wagons, at least during the morning. Vasili was continuously forced to ride ahead of the group and back, though Alexandra was sure a few of those rides were merely to demonstrate his impatience with the slow progress they were making.

Her two stallions were much better behaved. They yearned for some brisk exercise themselves, but when denied, they didn’t make a fuss about it. Even when Vasili drew abreast of her in the early afternoon, to inform her that they wouldn’t be stopping for lunch or even to rest, Sultan’s Pride ignored the big roan he was riding, while Vasili had to fight to keep his horse from nipping at hers.

As for their not stopping, Vasili had delivered the news smugly, and Alexandra received it with a good deal of amusement, which she managed to keep to herself. She
had been informed that they needed that extra time to reach the first posting house. They should have arrived by early evening. As it was now, even without the stop for lunch, they wouldn’t arrive until late that night.

It wasn’t difficult for Alexandra to figure out that Vasili thought he was getting even with her for the delay the wagons were causing them, but she had planned for just such a contingency. All of her people had packed food that didn’t require cooking, but Vasili’s group hadn’t been given the same. His own empty belly wouldn’t let him keep up that ploy for more than a day or two, she didn’t doubt.

As far as Alexandra was concerned, she had won the first round hands down and was feeling pleased about that, which was fortunate, because she needed some positive feelings to counteract the tight knot of misery her leave-taking was causing. Her last glimpse of her father had been all too brief, but her memory of it was engraved in her mind.

She’d paused momentarily in front of the house, where he’d been standing on the porch, but only to give him one last opportunity to prevent her from leaving home. She hadn’t even drawn close, had remained on the road, and when it was apparent that he wasn’t going to say the words that she needed to hear, she said, “Good-bye, Papa,” so softly that it was doubtful he’d heard. And that had been all she’d said, no hug, no kiss, no pleading for him to change his mind.

Her father had been hurt by her unforgiving attitude. She’d seen it in his face before she had ridden on, and it had brought such a tightness to her chest that she’d thought she would suffocate from it. But her own hurt had forbidden her to soften and bid him a proper good-bye.

And her own hurt was making her decide that she would never see him again after today. She’d get the count to end the damn betrothal in order to satisfy her honor, but she wouldn’t go back home. She’d go to England instead. That was what she should have done three years ago.

Alexandra was tired by the time they finally reached the posting house. It was late at night, just as Vasili had predicted it would be, and although she was satisfied with the way the day had gone, she wasn’t going to repeat the arduous pace tomorrow.

The wagons were supposed to delay the trip, not keep everyone in the saddle longer to make up for lost time. Besides, she didn’t like her animals traveling in the dark, where unseen potholes might crop up to cause injury. If they couldn’t reach the next posting house, town, or village before dark tomorrow, they would camp beside the road, with or without her betrothed’s permission or presence.

She didn’t wait for his presence now before entering the posting house. She’d been there before on a trip west to purchase one of her mares, so she knew the proprietor and took it upon herself to order the necessary number of
rooms for the night. She’d be sharing hers with Nina. The men could divide the remaining four however they liked.

Since Vasili would be paying the bill, she would have ordered more rooms if they had been available. As it was, with twelve in her party, he had a lot more mouths to feed than he’d counted on, and she also took it upon herself to order food for everyone. She didn’t go overboard there, because she couldn’t see food going to waste. But how nice it would be if Vasili ran out of money before he got home.

She waited for the others in the common room. Nina was the first to join her there. The maid had ridden on one of the wagons because she was not as comfortable riding for long hours on horseback as Alexandra was. So they hadn’t had a chance to talk all day, but Alexandra wasn’t all that surprised by what was prominently on her friend’s mind.

“You didn’t tell me he’s the most handsome man you’ve ever seen in your life,” Nina said accusingly as she sat down at Alexandra’s table.

Alexandra raised a brow. “How do you know I haven’t seen better?”

“Because no man can be more handsome than that,” Nina said with absolute conviction.

Alexandra had already drawn that conclusion for herself, so she didn’t bother to argue about it. “Is that supposed to make some sort of difference?”

“It would to me.”

Alexandra sighed. “Nina, the man is
too
handsome. If you haven’t realized what significance that has, then I’ll be pleased to tell you. It’s already got you looking on him favorably again, when last I heard, you were on my side. And it got one, two, or all three of the housemaids to sleep with him last night, even though they knew he was my betrothed.”

Nina gasped. “How do you know that?”

“Because I found all three of them crawling all over him this morning.”

“Which doesn’t mean he slept with them,” Nina was quick to point out.

“No, but it proves he’s irresistible to women, at least to most woman. It also proves that even if he’s married, women will still be chasing him. Am I supposed to
live
with that? I don’t think so.”

Nina still wasn’t convinced. “Chasing doesn’t mean catching.”

“But it does mean constant temptation coming his way,” Alexandra replied. “And I don’t intend to turn into a jealous shrew for any man.”

Nina grinned. “You’re saying you
could
love him if you gave it a try.”

“I’m saying no such thing, and be quiet, your brothers are coming.”

Stenka took the chair next to Alexandra and, like his sister, skipped a greeting in order to get straight to his own complaint. “It would have been simpler and less exhausting to beat him up and warn him off, Alex.”

Timofee arrived to catch only the end of that comment. As he took his seat, he asked, “Are we going to beat the Cardinian up? We should have done it this morning, before I developed saddle sores.”

And Konrad, the last to arrive, addressed only the portion he caught. “Saddle sores, Alex? You? Your arse should be tough as—”

“That’s enough,” Alexandra interrupted, and she looked at each of them separately as she said, “No, no, and no,” in answer to their remarks. “I’ve already explained my plan to you, and you agreed it’s a good one. We’ll give it a chance before I consider any other options. But beating him up isn’t going to be one of them.”

“A shame,” Stenka said with a sigh.

She gave him a stern look before continuing. “Rest assured, we won’t have another day like today. He’s trying to keep us on
his
schedule, and even if we can manage it much easier than he can, I won’t wait for him to give it up, not with my babies along. Speaking of which, have they been settled in for the night?”

“They’re rigging up a separate corral for the mares, since they aren’t equipped for so many horses here,” Timofee told her. “It will do for one night.”

They went on to discuss a few other matters pertinent to traveling, but were interrupted when Vasili finally made an appearance with his friend, Lazar Dimitrieff. That one had approached Alexandra earlier in the day to intro
duce himself. She hadn’t been a bit surprised to find out that he’d purchased one of her father’s whites and was riding him, a gelding she knew to be of easy temperament.

Ordinarily she would have discussed the merits of the animal with him, would have enjoyed doing so and at length, but she had decided not to be friendly to
anyone
in Vasili’s group, and that included Count Dimitrieff, which was a shame, because he seemed quite likable, and they obviously had a love of fine horseflesh in common. It didn’t take him long, though, to give up trying to instigate a conversation with her when she all but ignored him.

She had deigned to share a few words with him only because he’d asked about Nina. “Who’s the little cherub?” had been his exact question.

“My maid, Nina Razin.”

“Related to those Cossacks?”

“Their only sister,” she had told him.

Her reply had produced a drawn-out sigh. “And here I thought I just might enjoy the trip home.”

She had wanted to laugh at his forlorn expression, it was so funny. Instead she had warned him, “You’ll stay away from Nina—unless she wants to be bothered.” And she had said no more.

She wondered now if he had informed Vasili of her rudeness. She certainly hoped so. She wanted him to know that her contempt wasn’t reserved just for him, and that his
friends and family weren’t going to be immune from it.

Vasili gave her only a cursory glance upon his entrance. There was one seat left at her table, but she was sure he wouldn’t take it. But then, as long as he could witness her table manners, which were going to be atrocious for his benefit, it didn’t matter where he sat.

He stopped to speak to the proprietor for a few moments, probably finding out that there was nothing left for him to arrange, that she’d taken care of everything. She hoped that would annoy him, which was why she’d done it. Men did have a habit of liking to think they were in charge.

Watching him closely, she could discern no indication that he was hearing anything that might disturb him. Then there was a squeal across the room, made by one of the two serving girls, this one having just noticed him. And the girl apparently knew him, because the pleased noise was followed by her rushing across the room to him.

Alexandra’s brows went up, then came abruptly together when she saw the smile Vasili bestowed on the girl, a smile so beautiful that Alexandra drew in her breath, and she wasn’t even the recipient of it. The girl wasn’t exceptionally pretty, but the way Vasili was looking at her, you’d have thought she was the loveliest creature he’d ever seen.

When she reached him, he leaned close to whisper something in her ear. She laughed and placed a hand intimately on his chest be
fore answering him. His hand came to her derriere for a pat before she sauntered away to return to her work, though she cast more than one sultry glance back over her shoulder at him. Any half-wit could have figured out that they’d just made an assignation for later.

Alexandra left her table and caught up with the girl as she was about to leave the room for the kitchen. Without warning—Alexandra hadn’t known what she was going to do when she started across the room—she grabbed a fistful of the girl’s hair and jerked her around. The tray she was holding went flying from her fingers. If people had not been looking in their direction before, they were now.

“That’s my betrothed you were thinking about bedding,” Alexandra said, her voice actually quite casual for such a volatile subject. “Go anywhere near him again and I’ll cut off your ears and make you eat them. Or perhaps you consider him worth the loss?”

“No, Baroness,” the girl squeaked, her eyes wide and her complexion gone white.

Alexandra frowned. “You know me?”

“Y-yes, Baroness.”

“So you know I mean what I say?”

“Yes!”

“Good. Then let us hope I don’t have to speak to you again.”

Alexandra returned to her table. She didn’t glance at Vasili as she passed him. She was rather amazed at herself, not for what she’d said, but for having been able to cause a scene
like that without feeling the least bit embarrassed. Proving to her betrothed that she was far below his social stratum was going to be much easier than she’d thought.

“Was he shocked?” she whispered to Stenka as she resumed her seat.

“I couldn’t say,” he answered honestly, his eyes twinkling. “I couldn’t take my eyes off you and such a splendid display of jealousy.”

“Don’t be absurd,” she said irritably. “I only did it for his benefit.”

That got her a snort and a scoffing tone as he replied, “This is Stenka, Alex. I know just how possessive you can be. I was there, remember, when you took a horsewhip to that army lieutenant when he abused the horse you let him borrow. You never hesitated to light into Konrad with both fists whenever he made Nina cry with his teasing. You blistered my father’s ears the last time he took a strap to me—let me know when you’ve heard enough.”

That got
him
a scowl. “You and your family are different. So are my animals.”

“We are yours, and what’s yours is yours. Everyone who knows you knows that, Alex. And until one or the other of you breaks that betrothal, the Cardinian is also yours, so where is the difference?”

“The difference is, I don’t want him to be mine.” And then she looked at the rest of her friends. “Did at least one of you notice his reaction?”

“I did,” Konrad admitted, a partial grin
touching his lips. “And it wasn’t shock he was experiencing. Anger was more like it.”

Alexandra still didn’t look for herself to see it, but she sat back, quite satisfied. “That will do just as well. I warned him what to expect. Now he knows I wasn’t spouting empty threats.”

“I’d say he’s figured that out,” Timofee put in with a chuckle. “It’s going to be interesting to see what he does about it.”

“What can he do?” she countered without concern. “We aren’t married yet.”

The three men just stared at her. Nina did the opposite and looked in another direction. Alexandra began to squirm in her seat.

“What?” she demanded.

“A betrothal isn’t like your usual engagement, Alex,” Konrad told her. “It’s damn close to actually being married. Sworn oaths were made. Even you gave your word you’d marry him, and your father likely apprised him of it. That gives the man some definite authority where you’re concerned, or didn’t you know that?”