I glared at him and he looked at me with beseeching eyes and I shoved him out of the way and stormed past him and out of the cabin, surprised to find I wasn’t nearly as angry as I pretended to be. I went up on deck and heard the sails crackling overhead and felt the gentle rocking motion and realized that we were already under way. I moved over to the railing and rested my hands on the smooth teakwood. The sun was up. The sky was a soft white. Silvery reflections shimmered on the blue-gray water. The majestic harbor of Kronstadt grew smaller and smaller, ships and white marble buildings looking like playthings in the distance.
A cool breeze stroked my bare arms, and I sighed, wrapping the cloak closer, the pale champagne mink collar touching my cheek. Of course he had slept with her. He could hardly have done otherwise, and I really couldn’t blame Catherine, either. He was a fascinating, devilishly handsome man, and Catherine of Russia was not to be judged like other women. I was wearing a fortune in diamonds she had given to me, and I wondered if that wasn’t perhaps her way of making amends to me for her little indiscretion. No, it was impossible to be angry with her—or with Jeremy either, for that matter. He was a complete rogue, but I had always known it, and that was one of the reasons I loved him.
“Feeling better?” he inquired.
I turned. Lost in thought, I hadn’t heard him approaching. He had taken off his uniform and now he was wearing tall black boots and black breeches and a white lawn shirt and—yes, the same black sheepskin coat and hat, thoroughly cleaned and refurbished. The red scarf was tied around his neck. A smile was on his lips. How could one possibly resist him? I gave him a cool look and turned back around to gaze at the receding harbor.
“I’m sorry, love,” he said.
“And well you should be.”
“It’ll never happen again,” he promised.
“You’re bloody right it won’t! You won’t have the opportunity.”
“I’m forgiven?”
“I’m not sure,” I said.
He moved behind me and wrapped both his arms around my waist and drew me up against him and kissed the side of my neck and kissed my earlobe and I relaxed, making no effort to pull away. His arms held me close. Kronstadt was a mere speck on the horizon now, shrouded in mist. I sighed, glad to be seeing the last of Russia.
“There’s champagne below,” he murmured.
“I know.”
“Caviar, too. It’d be a shame to let it go to waste.”
“A shame,” I agreed.
“There’s a glorious bed as well,” he added. “Never seen a bed quite so inviting.”
He took hold of my arms and turned me around and I looked into his eyes. They were a dark, smoldering blue now, and I felt that marvelous glow beginning to spread through me again, a delicious languor in my limbs. I reached up to caress his lean cheek with my fingertips.
“We have a long journey ahead of us, love,” he purred huskily. “Weeks and weeks. What are we going to do with all that time?”
“I imagine we’ll think of something,” I said.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1984 by Tom Huff
Cover design by Julianna Lee
ISBN: 978-1-4976-9818-5
This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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THE MARIETTA DANVER TRILOGY
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When Love Commands Page 60
