vibrant with the essence of Nicholas, reaching out, enfolding
her. She could feel his heat, and her heart began to pound
harder. „There is nothing to realize.“
„You think not?“ Grimness threaded Nicholas’s voice.
„Well then, I’ll have to convince you. But not here, you’re
coming back to the Rose with me.“
„I’m not leaving here.“
„You will. I told Monteith I wanted no one sharing your
tent because these people are your friends and I didn’t want to
chance harming them.“ His voice hardened. „But I have no
intention of leaving without you, Silver. If you fight me,
someone will no doubt hear and try to help you. Do you want
to risk their being hurt?“
She stopped struggling. Nicholas’s tone was unrelenting,
and she knew he meant every word he said. She drew a deep
breath. „Monteith sent a message to you telling you I was
here?“
„He was very well paid to do so. You’ll be happy to know
you cost me a great deal of money. Monteith is an
exceptionally greedy man.“
„He’s a complete bastard.“
„I surmised as much, but it made no difference as long as I
could buy what I wanted from him.“ The muscles of his thighs
were hardening and his voice was thick. „And I want you. I
believe it will be better if we leave here immediately. Mikhail
is waiting outside the circus grounds with a hired carriage.“ He
moved off her, one hand encircling her wrist, and he pulled her
to her feet. „Are you going to fight me?“
„No,“ she said curtly. „Not here. There will be time enough
to get away from you without involving my friends.“
„Excellent reasoning.“ He pulled her toward the entrance of
the tent. „And extremely convenient for me.“
„When did you arrive in St. Louis? I thought perhaps you
would give up.“
He laughed softly. „No, you didn’t.“
He Was right. She had known he yvould never give up
something he wanted any more than she would have.
„I arrived here nearly a week ago.“ He was leading her past
the silent darkness of the tents. In the distance she could see
the glow of a carriage lantern and Mikhail’s huge form on the
coachman’s seat. „I remembered you said Monteith was no
friend of yours, so I went directly to him and struck a bargain.
Then all I had to do was wait.“ His grip suddenly tightened
with bruising force on her hand. „God, I could have strangled
you for making me sit there and wonder what had happened to
you. You could have been raped and thrown into the river and
no one would have ever known.“
„I know you’d prefer to do any raping yourself.“
„I’ve never raped you,“ Nicholas said tersely. „And we
both know it. You wanted – my God, what are you wearing?“
They had come into the pool of light formed by the lantern
on the carriage and Silver glanced down at the flame-colored
costume. „It belongs to Fatima, who performs as one of the
Caliph’s Dancing Daughters.“ Silver forwned as she
remembered something else. „I’m barefoot and now my feet
are dusty. You could have given me time to put on my shoes.“
„Your feet aren’t the only thing that’s bare.“ Nicholas’s
gaze was on the silken flesh overflowing the low square
neckline. „You don’t have much more on than you did when
you wore that damn bed curtain. For God’s sake, what do I
have to do to keep you decently covered?“ He strode toward
the carriage, dragging her along behind him. „This blasted
heathen shame-lessness has got to – “
„Hello, Silver.“ Mikhail smiled down at her from the
coachman’s seat of the carriage. „That is a pretty costume. We
have been very worried about you. I told Nicholas you would
not let anything happen to yourself, but he would not listen.“
Silver felt a sudden glowing warmth spread through her as
she gazed up at his rough-hewn face. She had not realized
until this moment how much she had missed the gentle
Cossack. „There was nothing to worry about. It was a hard trip
but – “
„Later,“ Nicholas interrupted as he opened the door of the
carriage. He lifted her and almost threw her on to the cushions
of the seat. „Let’s get back to the Rose.“ He climbed into the
coach, slammed the door closed, and dropped into the seat
opposite her. „You’re evidently glad to see Mikhail, at least.“
„I like him,“ Silver said calmly. „And I don’t like you.“
He flinched. „No, liking has nothing to do with what we
feel for each other. I have no use for so tame an emotion
anyway.“
The moon emerged from behind the clouds and the
darkness of the coach was flooded with a pale, pearly half-
light. She wished fervently that it had remained dark. She did
not want to see how the rays shimmered and frosted
Nicholas’s golden hair to silver and played upon the supple
muscles of his body. How they brought a soft luminence to his
white linen shirt and outlined the brawny muscles of his thighs
in dark tight-fitted trousers. She had a fleeting memory of how
those thighs had felt holding her effortlessly in place while he
moved wildly in and out until – No, she mustn’t remember. It
was over.
She desperately pulled her glance away from him and
looked out at the moonlit darkness beyond the window. „How
is Valentin?“
„Almost as worried about you as I was.“ Nicholas leaned
back on the seat, his eyes fixed on her with an intensity she
could feel even though she was no longer looking at him.
„And much more inclined to be charitable. Do you know what
I wanted to do with you after I found you?“
„You’ve already told me. You wanted to strangle me.“
„That was the last item on my list. The others were far
more lewd in nature. I lay in that bed on the Rose and
remembered what I’d done with you, and thought about what I
still wanted to do.“ He paused. „A hundred times I wanted to
send for a woman but I never did. You seem to have worked
some kind of spell over me. It’s not a confession that I make
with pleasure.“ His tone hardened. „I will be no woman’s
puppet ever again.“
Again? It seemed impossible that Nicholas had ever
yielded to any woman’s power, Silver thought with a strange
wrenching pang. Who had – No, she would not wonder. „You
should have sent for your whore, I wouldn’t have cared what
you did.“
She felt the savage anger vibrate from him in the close
confines of the carriage and experienced a sudden tingle of
excitement. She heard him draw a deep breath as if struggling
for control.
A few minutes passed and she could feel her nerves tighten
and the tentative excitement grow. Why didn’t he speak?
„Perhaps you weren’t so selective,“ he finally said sjlkily.
„It was an impossibly hard trip for a woman. I’m sure there
were men eager to help you for a… for compensation.“
For a moment she was tempted to lie to him, to tell him he
was not the only man who could please her. It would anger
him, it would cause that tension she felt in him to explode. The
thought excited her. Then she realized what she was doing and
was disgusted with herself. She would not lie. „I needed no
help and took none.“
She could feel a little of the tension flow out of him as he
relaxed. „That was very wise. I would have been quite
incensed with you if you’d given your favors to any other
man. So incensed I would probably have put you over my
knee and spanked your bottom until you couldn’t sit down for
a month.“ He paused. „Afterward.“