“What did she say when you told her?”
She glowered at him for the interruption. “Told who? What?”
“Don’t be tedious, Katya,” he sighed. “Nastya. You did tell her your sad story, didn’t you?”
“Oh—actually, no.”
His brow rose sharply. “No? Why not?”
“There wasn’t time,” she replied stiffly.
“You have had weeks—”
“Oh, shut up, Dimitri. I was going to tell her, don’t think I wasn’t. She ought to know what a despicable cad you are. And I started to, but we arrived at your other sister’s home too soon, and Anastasia was excited and left so quickly… Don’t you dare laugh!”
He couldn’t help it. He hadn’t seen her like this since the beginning of the voyage, with such fire in those lovely blue-green eyes. He had forgotten how delightful she could be in her fury. And she had put his last worry to rest. Anastasia could have caused a problem if she had decided to champion Katherine’s cause. He had become too lax in thinking that if Katherine hadn’t told her by the end of the voyage, she wouldn’t tell her at all. He hadn’t realized until after the travel arrangements had been made and the two women were given a carriage to themselves that the last minute would be the opportune time to enlist his sister’s aid. But Katherine had failed. Intentionally? Sweet Christ, he would like to think so.
“It is as well you didn’t tell her, Katya,” he commented as he settled back in the luxurious seat.
“For you,” she retorted.
“Yes, it does make things easier.”
“So now what?”
“You will remain with me for a while more.”
He had attended to all his immediate business in the city that afternoon. Servants had been dispatched ahead to inform his aunt that he was back and would soon be home. Others had been sent out to locate Vasili, and of course, Tatiana. He still didn’t want to think about resuming his courtship, though he knew he would have to soon. But now his thoughts were filled with Katherine and the week ahead. He would have her more to himself with Anastasia left behind in the city. There was no telling what that might lead to.
“Can’t you just send me home now?”
The wistful note in Katherine’s voice annoyed Dimitri, but he shrugged it off. “Not until I hear that the Tzar has concluded his visit to England. But come now, surely you will want to see some of Russia as long as you are here. You will enjoy the trip to Novii Domik. It is about two hundred fifty miles east of here in the province of Vologda.”
“Dimitri! That’s practically the full length of England! Are you taking me to Siberia?”
He smiled at her natural ignorance. “My dear, Siberia is across the Ural Mountains, and the Urals are a thousand miles away. Have you really no concept of the size of my country?”
“Apparently not,” she mumbled.
“You could probably fit a hundred of your Englands into Russia. Novii Domik is hardly any distance at all in comparison and will take less than a week to reach, what with the extra daylight hours we have to travel in during this season.”
“Must I go? Can’t you leave me here?”
“Certainly, if you want to remain behind a locked door for a month or more. In the country, Katya, there are no English.” He didn’t have to explain the significance of that. “You will have much more freedom and more to do. You did say you were adept at numbers. My bookkeepers have no doubt been lax while I’ve been away.”
“You would trust me with your accounts?”
“Shouldn’t I?”
“No, actually—blast it, Dimitri, you really think you’re going to come out of this without the least consequence, don’t you? You think I’m such a fainthearted ninny that I won’t see you pay, that I won’t dosomethingto cause you grief? You never did comprehend what you’ve done to meandmy family, or rather, you don’t care. You’ve ruined my reputation by dragging me here without a proper chaperon. I’ll have to literally buy a husband when I’m ready for one, because I’m too honest not to admit what I’m now lacking, thanks to you. My sister’s life is probably ruined now too, which you are also responsible for, because I wasn’t there to prevent her from eloping with a fortune hunter. My brother wasn’t ready for the responsibility my absence has no doubt forced on him. And my father—”
Katherine’s tirade was cut off abruptly when Dimitri leaned forward, grabbed her shoulders, and dragged her across the carriage into his lap. “So I have wronged you. I am the first to admit it. But your situation is not as bad as you would make it, Katya. I will buy you a chaperon who will swear she was with you every minute and won’t change her story on threat of death. As for your lost virtue, I will give you a fortune to buy this husband you want, if you insist on having one, but it will also enable you to live independently if you would rather, without a husband or any man to answer to. And if your sister has married this fellow you object to, I can make her a widow—it is that simple. As for your brother… How old is he?”
“Twenty-three,” she answered without thinking, too stunned at the moment to do otherwise.
“Twenty-three, and you’re worried he can’t shoulder a little responsibility? Give the boy a chance, Katya. As for your father, I don’t wish to discuss him. If he misses you, he will certainly better appreciate you when you return. Let me tell you instead what else I have done to you.”
“Don’t.”
