But he had actually done more than that, though unintentionally. One look at Marusia’s disapproving face told him he had also diminished Katherine’s worth in the eyes of everyone there. At the moment he didn’t care. It was just as well anyway. It was time her little game was over. Marusia and the others treated her with too much deference. They fostered her delusions, which made her think she could get away with anything. Humoring her himself hadn’t helped either. But no more.
Seeing his aunt’s bemused expression, Dimitri realized he had marched past her without a word. He greeted her properly now, but Sonya Alexandrovna Rimsky was not known for being circumspect.
“Who is she, Mitya?”
He followed Sonya’s gaze to see Katherine walking behind Vladimir up the stairs. Head held high, shoulders thrown back, skirt lifted just so high, and only the slightest sway of hips. It irritated him no end that she even walked like a lady.
“She isn’t important, just an Englishwoman returned with us.”
“But you put her in your private wing—”
“For now,” he interrupted curtly. “Don’t concern yourself, Aunt Sonya. I will find something for her to do while she’s here.”
Sonya started to protest, but thought better of it. She was a tall woman, nearly six feet, and narrow in build. A widow whose marriage had lasted less than a year, she hadn’t mourned her overbearing husband’s death and had refused to remarry and suffer the indignities of the marriage bed with yet another man. Her life, fraught with one disappointment after another, left little tolerance for the baser urges men were cursed with. Her own brother had gone so far as to marry an Englishwoman simply because he couldn’t have her any other way, and now the Alexandrov bloodline would be forever tainted. If only Misha hadn’t died, or if he had at least left an heir, a legitimate heir…
A brief look of disgust crossed Sonya’s features as she drew her own conclusions about Dimitri’s companion. So now he was bringing sluts into his home. He couldn’t be discreet like his brothers and father and just tumble a willing serf now and then. He had to bring one back from England. What was he thinking of? But she didn’t ask him. His mood was not conducive to criticism at the moment, if his terseness was any indication. And she didn’t want any more disgraceful scenes for the servants to witness.
She waited while Dimitri had a few words with everyone who had turned out to welcome him home. It was ridiculous really, this respect he paid mere servants, but his mother could be thanked for his peculiarities, and he was really too old to try and change him. Tatiana would be a good influence however. The one thing Sonya had no complaints over was Dimitri’s choice of a bride. But this long absence hadn’t helped his suit. He had no time to waste, certainly no time to waste on an English peasant.
Belatedly Sonya noticed her niece’s absence. “Didn’t Nastya return with you?”
“Yes, but I left her to visit with Varvara for a while.” The truth was she had become much too attached to Katherine, which could cause endless problems he didn’t need.
“Is that wise, Mitya? St. Petersburg is not without its social gatherings at this time of year, even if it is almost deserted. Or did I misunderstand your message when you rushed off to bring the girl home?”
“You understood. But you needn’t worry about her much longer. She has agreed to marry as soon as we can agree on a suitable husband.”
Sonya’s blue eyes flared in surprise. “You will give her a choice?”
“She’s my sister, Aunt Sonya. I would like to see her happy in a marriage. You weren’t given a choice, and look how that turned out.”
Sonya drew herself up stiffly. “We needn’t discuss that. Nastya is fortunate that you are so indulgent, but only an exceptional man will put up with her willfulness. There is no telling what ideas she has brought back with her from England. She never should have been allowed to visit there, but then you know my feelings about that.”
“Yes, Aunt,” he sighed.
He knew only too well. She had been ardently opposed to her only brother marrying a foreigner and resentful when he did so anyway. She had never forgiven Petr, and war between the two women broke out immediately when Sonya was forced to return home after her husband died. Jealousy prevented her from seeing the goodness in Anne. As far as Sonya was concerned, everything Anne did was wrong, her views outlandish, and with Anne’s death, these feelings were transferred to England in general. Dimitri was certain the only reason she kept up a correspondence with the Duchess was the pleasure she got in pointing out all of Dimitri’s and Anastasia’s faults, which she attributed solely to their mother, though she refrained from mentioningthatto Anne’s mother.
“Well, whatever scandal Nastya stirred up in England won’t follow her home, thanks be to God,” Sonya remarked as they passed into the drawing room. “She can make a good marriage here. And speaking of marriage, have you seen Tatiana Ivanova yet?”
A one-track mind. Dimitri was only surprised she hadn’t asked sooner.
“We’ve only just returned, Aunt Sonya, and I came here directly from the ship. But I have my people looking into her whereabouts.”
“You need only to have asked me. She is in Moscow presently, visiting her married sister. But she hasn’t exactly pined away while you were gone, Mitya. I have heard that Count Grigori Lysenko began paying his suit as soon as you left, and the rumor is that she favors him.”
Dimitri shrugged, not particularly concerned. He had never liked Lysenko, not since they had been in the same unit in the Caucasus and he had had the misfortune to save the Count’s life, taking a minor wound himself in the process. His gesture would have been nothing, forgotten, except that Lysenko hadn’t been in the least appreciative, had in fact resented his help, and thereafter had set out to prove himself the better man at marksmanship, hunting, everything. So he wasn’t surprised that Lysenko had set his sights on the lovely Tatiana. But he wasn’t worried. The Count had yet to prove himself anything but a fool.
“I will send word to her that I have returned.”
“Shouldn’t you go in person, Mitya?”
“And appear overanxious?”
“She will be flattered.”
“She will be amused,” Dimitri countered, becoming annoyed by her single-mindedness. “Constant attendance didn’t sway her before I left. It will not hurt to let her wonder for a while if I am still interested.”
“But—”
