Dimitri frowned. He wished she would be more than merely curious about him. Her question had reminded him of Tatiana, and he made a mental note never to take that one traveling with him. If this evening had been difficult, with him having to carry the conversation, evenings with Tatiana would be much worse since she dominated a conversation by talking about nothing but herself. But there was one great difference in his preference of companion. Tatiana didn’t excite him. Little Katherine did. Even her annoying frankness didn’t change that. Nor her haughty indifference. And especially her unpredictable temper.
She didn’t have the kind of superficial beauty that made men worship at Tatiana’s feet, but Katherine was fascinating nonetheless. Her unusual eyes, which he could only think of now as sexy, the sensual lips, her hard, stubborn chin. There was character in every line of her face. And since she had been carried into the room, he had been unable to take his eyes off her.
The new dress was a definite improvement. A blue patterned organdy with tight sleeves and scooped neckline that curved to the edge of her shoulders. Those were creamy white, as was her lovely neck. Sweet Christ, he wanted to taste her! But here she was as standoffish as she had been that morning. There was no provocative entreaty now, unlike last night. And yet he couldn’t stop remembering.
He wanted her in his bed. He didn’t care at the moment how he accomplished it, as long as he didn’t have to force her physically. The plan he had come up with was perfect in that it would make succumbing to him easy for her to accept. As long as she didn’t desert the role she was playing, it would work. If he was annoyed with her current abruptness, it was because he had hoped to win her by seduction instead, but that door had been closed to him all evening.
“Princess Anastasia is my sister,” Dimitri told Katherine now.
She didn’t even blink, though that little fact made her feel—what? Relief? How absurd. It was nothing more than surprise. She had thought mistress first, wife second, sister not at all.
“So?”
“If you recall meeting her, then you’ll recall also that she finds herself in supposedly dire need of a new lady’s maid, at least until we reach Russia.”
“Come to the point.”
“I just have.”
She stared at him, not a muscle moving in her face to indicate shock, surprise, anger. He stared at her, eyes studying, intense, waiting.
Easy, Katherine. Don’t fly off the handle yet. He’s up to something. He must know how you would react to such a suggestion, and yet he made it anyway. Why?
“You mentioned two choices, Alexandrov. Is the second as ingenious?”
Much as she had hoped to sound unaffected, sarcasm had crept into her tone. Dimitri detected it, delighted in it, and relaxed considerably. He felt suddenly like the hunter closing in for an assured kill. She would refuse the first suggestion, and that left only the second.
He stood up. Katherine tensed. He rounded the table, stopping at her side. She didn’t look up, not even when his hands closed on her upper arms and gently lifted her to her feet. Breathing became impossible as her throat closed off in panic. His arm came around her. The other hand raised her chin. She kept her eyes lowered.
“I want you.”
Oh, God, God, God! You didn’t hear that, Katherine. He didn’t say that.
“Look at me, Katya.” His voice was mesmerizing, his breath caressing her lips. “We are not strangers. You already know me intimately. Say you will share my bed, my cabin, and I will treat you like a queen. I will love you so thoroughly you will not notice the passing weeks. Look at me!”
She closed her eyes tighter. His passion was devastating her senses. In another moment he would kiss her and she would die.
“Will you at least answer me? We both know you found pleasure in my arms. Let me be your lover again, little one.”
This isn’t happening, Katherine. It’s just a fantasy, more real than others, but fantasy nonetheless. So what harm in playing along with it? If you don’t do something fast, you’re lost anyway.
“What if there is a child?”
That was not what Dimitri was waiting to hear, but he was not displeased by the question. So she was cautious. She could be as cautious as she liked, as long as she said yes in the end. But he had never been asked about children before. In Russia, it was taken for granted that the father would provide for his bastards. It was not something that he thought about, as careful as he always was aboutnotfathering any unwanted offspring. Unlike his father and brother, he wanted no child of his labeled bastard. And yet he hadn’t been careful last night. He would not so forget himself again, but that was neither here nor there. She wanted the truth.
“If there is a child, he will lack for nothing. I will support you both for the rest of your life. Or if you prefer, I will take the child and raise him myself. It would be your choice, Katya.”
“That’s very generous, I suppose, but I wonder why you don’t mention marriage. But then you never got around to answering if you were married or not, did you?”
“What has that to do with it?”
The sudden sharpness in his voice broke the fantasy. “You forget who I am.”
“Yes, I forget who yousayyou are. A lady would expect marriage, wouldn’t she? But that, my dear, I must decline. Now give me your answer.”
The dam on her temper broke and a full flood was released by these latest insults. “No and no and no andno!” She shoved away from him and flew around the table until she could look back with that safe barrier between them. “No to everything! My God, I knew you were up to something with that first suggestion of yours, but I didn’t think you were this contemptible. And to think I believed you were sincere in offering an ‘acceptable arrangement.’”
Frustration cut a keen edge through Dimitri’s own temper. His body throbbed in need while she indulged in another tantrum. Damn her, and damn this charade of hers.
