“You think I wanted this to happen?”
“I think your concern was aptly shown when you didn’t bother to explain to your aunt why you brought me here.That, Alexandrov, sums it up nicely.”
“Look at me!”
She tossed her head back, her eyes cutting into his, bright, glassy, very close to betraying her. “Are you happy? Let me know when you’ve seen enough. I have work to do.”
“You’re coming with me, Katya.”
“Not on your life.” But Katherine wasn’t quick enough in moving back from him. Dimitri pulled her to her feet and just as swiftly had her up in his arms. “My back, you beast! Don’t touch my back!”
“Then hold onto my neck, little one, because I’m not putting you down.”
She glared at him, but it was useless. She had gone through too much pain to put up with any more if she didn’t have to. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he immediately lowered his arm to her hips, supporting her firmly there and beneath her thighs.
“I’ll have you know this means nothing,” Katherine hissed as he started out of the kitchen. “If I weren’t afraid of hurting myself, I’d clobber you.”
“When you are feeling better, I will remind you. I will even have a cane fetched and stand fast while you do your worst. It’s no more than I deserve.”
“Oh, shut up, shut up—”
Katherine didn’t finish. The tears had started again, and she squeezed Dimitri’s neck tighter, hiding her face in the curve.
He stopped by the broken door, and there was a world of difference in the tone of his voice as he rapped out an order to two maids. “I want a bath and brandy in my room immediately.”
Katherine stirred herself enough to protest that. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in your room, so if that’s for me—”
“The White Room,” Dimitri corrected himself sharply. “And a doctor here within the hour. You and you”—he fixed the two maids with his hard gaze—“come with me to assist her.”
“I can assist myself, Dimitri. I’ve been doing it long enough now to have got the hang of it nicely, thank you.”
He ignored her, as did the maids who jumped to follow his orders. There was a collective sigh in the kitchen once the Prince was gone. There were also a lot of “I told you so” expressions on those who had tended to believe the Englishwoman. Nadezhda wasn’t one of them. She demolished the lump of dough she had been kneading, incensed by the scene she had just witnessed. But ruining the dough got her a scolding from the cook, which she replied to sharply, which got her a slap, which was silently applauded by one and all, for no one particularly cared for Nadezhda and her surly ways.
Upstairs in the White Room, Dimitri gently set Katherine down on the bed, receiving no thanks for his care. The maids hurried to fill her bath, the one thing she wasn’t about to refuse, not having had a decent bath since Dimitri had gone. The brandy was refused, however, the glass shoved away with annoyance, and she was most certainly annoyed.
“I don’t know what you think you’re proving with all this attention, Alexandrov. I would just as soon you had left me where I was. After all, kitchen work is just another new experience for me, and you have pointed out how you are responsible for all my new experiences since I met you. How much I have to thank you for.”
Dimitri flinched. He could see now that in this sarcastic mood of hers, trying to talk to her would be useless. He could have told her it was his base cowardice in not wanting to face her after their night together that had led to his thoughtless flight. But that night was the last thing he wanted to remind her of now. That would only be adding fuel to the fire.
“The bath is ready, my lord,” Ludmilla offered hesitantly.
“Good, then get rid of that rag she is wearing and—”
“Not with you in here!” Katherine cut in heatedly.
“Very well, I’ll leave. But you will let the doctor examine you when he arrives.”
“It isn’t necessary.”
“Katya!”
“Oh, all right, I’ll see the blasted doctor. But don’t bother coming back yourself, Alexandrov. I have nothing more to say to you.”
Dimitri went through the connecting door to his room, but just before he closed it, a gasp from one of the maids made him look back, and he was treated to the sight of Katherine’s dress falling to her waist. Bile rose up in his throat. The full view of her back was literally a maze of blue, brown, and yellow, with deepest purple in long straight lines where each blow had welted her.
He shut the door, his head leaning against it, his eyes tightly closed. No wonder she had refused to listen to him. What she must have suffered, and all because of his neglect! And she had let him off easily. She hadn’t even screamed at him. Oh, God, he wished she had screamed at him. At least then there might have been some hope of reaching her, making her understand that he would do anything to turn back the clock, to take away her pain, that the last thing he wanted was to hurt her. Sweet Christ, all he had ever wanted to do was love her. Now he had sunk so far beneath her contempt that he wasn’t even worthy of her hate.
Dimitri found his aunt in the library. She was standing by the window looking out at the orchard, her back tense, her hands clasped tightly before her. She was expecting him. Nothing escaped her notice in this house, and he knew she had probably been told word for word everything he and Katherine had said to each other in the kitchen. She was anticipating the worst. But Dimitri’s anger was deep and self-directed. Only a small portion was reserved for his aunt.
