Petrov was of a similar height and breadth as Matt, with a distinctly military bearing. Nonetheless, Matt was confident he could defeat him in a fair fight if need be. The idea was surprisingly inviting.
“I thought you understood that if this ruse is to be effective, you shall have to abide by my terms.” Matt met the other man’s gaze. “I believe I specifically mentioned that does not include servants.”
The officer’s eyes darkened with anger and he took a step forward. Good. Matt’s fists clenched. He would quite enjoy thrashing Tatiana’s escort.
She held out a hand to restrain the officer. “Nonsense, my lord, any fool can see Captain Petrov is not a servant.”
“Perhaps, Your Highness,” Petrov said coolly, “his lordship is not just any fool, but a fool of astonishing proportions.”
“Perhaps he is,” she said brightly. “Perhaps only such a fool would agree to help me in my endeavor, and for that we can be most grateful.”
“You shall quite turn my head with your compliments, Your Highness,” Matt said wryly.
“However, Captain, apologies are in order. Lord Matthew is not a fool, simply annoying. It is one of his finer qualities.”
“I’ve no doubt of that, Your Highness.” Petrov stared at Matt with disdain. “Very well. I am sorry, my lord, that you are an annoying, astonishing fool.”
“I too apologize for mistaking you for a mere servant when it’s obvious you are little more than”—Matt crossed his arms over his chest—“a glorified coachman.”
“That is quite enough.” Tatiana shook her head. “I should have known you two would not get along. You are far too similar in nature to approve of one another.”
“Yet another compliment, Your Highness? I’m not certain if I should be flattered.” Matt’s gaze locked with the other man’s and he knew full well the captain was assessing him with an eye toward combat. “Or insulted.”
“The insult is mutual, my lord. Furthermore, you should understand I do not approve of Her Highness’s plan,” Petrov said slowly. “I think it is both foolhardy and dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” Matt raised a brow. “I scarcely think gathering information for a family history is dangerous.”
“The enemies of Avalonia are everywhere.” Petrov’s voice was grim. “As the commander of the guard charged with her safety, I would prefer she allow those trained for the position to accompany her rather than leave her protection to a single escort.”
“She will have the protection of my name as well as my presence. She’ll come to no harm.” Matt studied the other man carefully. His reactions were overblown, even if understandable given the nature of his position, if indeed Tatiana had told the truth about her quest. The captain’s attitude confirmed Matt’s suspicion that her story was nothing but a fabrication. “I will see to that.”
Petrov leaned closer, his voice hard and threatening. “See that you do. If she is harmed in any way I will track you to the ends of the earth and kill you with my bare hands.”
Matt lowered his own voice. “Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see you attempt to do just that.”
“Stop it at once.” Tatiana huffed. “You sound like small boys drawing lines in the dirt. My lord, you are being even more annoying than usual and, Captain, it is past time you were on your way.”
Petrov stepped toward her. “Princess, I cannot—”
“You can and you shall.” Tatiana’s voice was firm. “Now, Dimitri. This discussion is at an end.”
Dimitri?
“Very well, Your Highness,” the captain said stiffly, nodded in a curt manner then strode around the carriage to his horse. He untied the beast, mounted and walked the animal back toward Tatiana. “I shall await word from you in London.” Petrov cast Matt a last warning glance and rode off down the road.
Matt’s gaze followed the officer’s retreat. “He doesn’t like me.”
“I cannot imagine why. As always, you were most charming and thoroughly delightful. Furthermore, you made no effort to conceal your opinion of him.” She blew a disgusted breath. “You need not have been quite so rude.”
“Do you call all the members of your guard by their given names?” he said without thinking, watching the mounted figure disappear down the road.
“Certainly not. But I have known Captain Petrov all my life. I consider him to be a friend as well as a trusted advisor.” She studied him curiously. “Surely my familiarity with Dimitri does not bother you?”
“I scarcely care one way or the other. I simply thought it was odd behavior for someone of your position.”
She smiled smugly. “You needn’t be jealous of… Dimitri.”
“I am not jealous. Merely curious.”
“You sound jealous.”
“Well, I’m not.” His voice was sharper than necessary for a man who was not jealous. “I don’t care in the least, although I daresay he might.”
“Really?” Surprise crossed her face as if she’d never before considered such a possibility. “Why do you say that?”
“It’s clear to anyone with half a brain.” Matt snorted in disdain. “Everything about him shows his feelings. To start with, there’s his attitude toward you.”
“Duty, nothing more.”
“His attitude toward me,” Matt said pointedly.
“Scarcely proof of anything. I believe we have already agreed you are extremely annoying. You make no effort to be pleasant. I daresay there are any number of people who do not especially like you.”
“Hah.” He scoffed. “If you recall, I can be extremely charming.”
“I am having some difficulty at the moment remembering that,” she said under her breath.
“However, we are not talking about me. We are speaking of your captain, Dimitri. Aside from his manner, he is given away by”—he paused for emphasis—“the very look in his eye.”
“Is it like the look in your eye?” She stepped close and gazed up at him.
Matt clenched his teeth and glared. “This look?”
“Don’t be absurd. That look is nothing short of murderous.” She tilted her head and considered him. “Admittedly, I have seen something similar in Dimitri’s eye. I have never been especially fond of it.”
“No?” He stared down at her, his anger fading. He knew full well his reaction to Dimitri was irrational, probably due more to his thoughts about Tatiana before their arrival than the irritating nature of the man himself. “I should think you’d be used to it. No doubt you have seen it any number of times.”
“More so in recent months,” she said, still searching his gaze.
“I would have thought you’d have spent most of your life getting such looks from those charged with your protection or education or whatever else goes into the upbringing of a princess.” He struggled to disregard the proximity of her body to his. How easy it would be to reach out and pull her into his arms.
“It may well be difficult for you to believe, but I have spent most of my life doing exactly what was expected of me. Without pause, without question, without argument. Aside from the odd occasion as a child, I had never done anything at all that could be considered improper until I rode in a balloon”—a teasing light sparked in her eyes—“fifteen months, three weeks and a handful of days ago.”
“Five,” he said absently. “It would be five days and sixteen months, if you count from when we first met.”
“I believe you are wrong, Matthew,” she said softly.
“I’m not. It would be five—”
“No, wrong about Dimitri. I have never seen a look in his eye like the one in yours… now.” Her own eyes sparkled in the morning light. Green and sensual and beckoning.
“Perhaps you’ve simply never noticed.”
“Oh, I am most certain I would have noticed.” She bit her bottom lip in that way she had, endearing and entirely too provocative.
“Would you?” Bloody hell, he wanted her. Again. Here. Now. In the road, on the grass, in the cottage.<
br />
And why not? It was part of their agreement, one of his conditions. And if he knew nothing else, he knew she certainly wanted him.
Still, it would have to wait. Besides, if he could not get a grip on his unbridled lust, he would never find out what she was really up to. The only way to solve the puzzle of the Princess Tatiana Marguerite Nadia Pruzinsky of the Kingdom of Greater Avalonia was to play along with her so-called adventure.
“The question is, my lord, what do you intend to do about it?” Her voice was challenging and… inviting.
“The answer, Princess,” he said slowly, “is nothing.”
Surprise flashed in her eyes, and possibly disappointment. “Nothing at all?”
“Not a thing.” He grinned wickedly. “For the moment.”
It was exceedingly good to realize how easy it was to keep the upper hand with her. As long as he kept his wits about him, and his desire in check, he could maintain control of the situation. It was satisfying as well to note he could no doubt have her whenever he wanted her. And this choice, along with every other choice, this time, would be his.
Matt stepped away—regardless of his resolve, distance between them was an excellent idea—and nodded at the curricle. “Your captain seems to have forgotten his carriage.”
“Not at all,” she said quickly. “Before you say anything, I think I should point out that, even as I have agreed to your conditions, regardless of your financial state, Lord and Lady Matthew would never travel in a wagon. It would be most unusual and attract any number of unwanted questions as to our validity.”
“Do you think so?” he said mildly.
“I do.” She nodded. “I firmly feel our ruse can only benefit if we travel in a suitable fashion and are properly attired. To that end, I have brought along appropriate clothing and various personal items for you as well as for myself. You may not have noticed, but your appearance is, well, somewhat—”
“Disreputable?”
“I was going to say threadbare. I do not wish to offend you—”
“I am not offended.”
“No?”
“Well?” Caution sounded in her voice.
The pair of horses hitched to the carriage were well matched but not impressive.
Simply good, decent beasts and precisely what a gentleman of his position might well own.
“My lord, I really feel, under the circumstances—”
“I see no need for debate.”
“Really?” She studied him cautiously. “Why not?”
“Because, Your Highness, for one thing, you’re right.”
“I am?”
“Indeed you are.” He folded his arms over his chest and leaned idly against the carriage. “Insofar as you agree with my earlier position that if we are to be convincing, we must look the part we wish to play.”
She stared at him in obvious annoyance. “Do I understand you to say that I am only right when I agree with you?”
“That’s it exactly.”
“I see,” she said carefully. “Then I think we should be off. Do you think we should be off?”
“I do indeed.” He strolled to the cottage door, took the journal Ephraim had given him and a small writing case from his bag—a bag he no longer had need of, thanks to Tatiana, and tucked them both in an inside pocket of his coat. He shoved the bag deeper into the house, closed and locked the door, then returned to the carriage.
“You have no bag of your own?” she asked.
“As you have seen fit to provide all I should need, I see no need for extra baggage.” He helped her into the carriage, then rounded the vehicle, climbed in and picked up the reins.
“And what of your horse and… cart?” She glanced around. “Where are they?”
“Actually, I never intended for us to travel in a cart.”
Her eyes widened in indignation. “But you said—”
“My dear princess, I never really trusted your complete agreement to my conditions. Due, no doubt, to that tendency of yours to li—”
“Misstate,” she said firmly.
“Regardless, I fully expected you to arrive in a suitable vehicle.” He chuckled. “One far grander than this. I also expected you to be accompanied by at least a driver and a maid.”
“I would have been if I had had the least suspicion you would accept them,” she snapped. “And did you also expect that I would bring you an acceptable wardrobe as well?”
“Admittedly, that was a surprise. Frankly, I did not realize I had become quite so—”
“Plebeian?” she said in an overly sweet manner. “Common? Ordinary? Your appearance little better than that of a peasant?”
“A peasant.” He laughed and clucked to the horses. The carriage started down the road. “I rather like that. Lord and Lady Matthew, the peasant and the princess. Ephraim would love it.”
She muttered something he didn’t quite catch.
He slanted her an amused glance. For once, she didn’t look completely confident. “I do have to admit, however, the clothing was no more unexpected than your acquiescing to my demands to the extent that you have.”
“You gave me no choice.” Her brows drew together in irritation. “I needed your help and you refused to assist me without your childish conditions designed to do nothing more than put me in my place.”
“Perhaps they were a bit childish. But fun nonetheless.”
“Fun?”
“Great fun.” He chuckled. “The most fun I’ve had in a long time.”
“I would scarcely call it fun.”
“You would if you could have seen the look on your face when I talked about my shack.”
“The look on my face?” The corners of her lips quivered as if she were struggling not to smile. “Why, my lord, it could not have compared to the look on your face when I wept at having to be your wife in the fullest sense of the word.” She grinned. “Surpassed only your shocked expression when I agreed. Perhaps fun is the correct word after all.”
He laughed. “It seems we are well matched. At least in a battle of wits.”
“In other ways, too.”
“Oh, that you remember?” he teased. “When you forget how charming I can be.”
“I remember very well.” Her voice was soft, and for a moment he thought she was going to say more. After a long silence, she sighed. “Where are we going, then?”
“I had the opportunity yesterday to make a few inquiries about the names you gave me. The first—”
“Lady Hutchins?”
He nodded. Matthew already knew, of course, where to find his grandmother, last on the list. The second lady was familiar to him as well, although he had never actually made her acquaintance. And Ephraim had managed to provide information as to where the remaining woman—Lady Hutchins—might be found. “It’s believed she lives near Canterbury, or did live there. She would be rather old, and her memory will probably be questionable, but we shall see.”
“Why did you decide to start with her?” Tatiana said in a decidedly offhand manner. Was she as unconcerned as she seemed? “Is she the closest, or simply first on the list?”
“Both.” His tone was as deceptively casual as hers. “From what I have been able to ascertain, the other two ladies in question live in the opposite direction from Lady Hutchins. It only makes sense to seek her out first.”
“That does make sense.” She fell silent for a moment. “Is it a far distance?”
“I expect it will take us most of the day.”
“I see. Well, then, it is a good thing I thought to bring along provisions.” She reached beneath the seat and slid out a large cloth-covered basket. “I think we should begin our trip with a toast to our success.” She rummaged in the basket and pulled out a silver flask and two matching cups. “Will you join me in a brandy, my lord?”
“Brandy?” He frowned. “Isn’t it a bit early in the day to be drinking brandy?”
“Not at all,” she said blithely, carefully filling her cup. “It is an A
valonian tradition therefore the major obstacle to overcome, inherent in…”
He rambled on, warming to his subject, pausing only for an occasional murmur of acknowledgment. At last it dawned on him that she had said nothing for quite some time. He leaned over to peer beneath the shadows cast by her hat and grinned.
The blasted women wasn’t awed to silence by his astounding grasp of the subject nearest to his heart.
She was asleep.
Chapter 6
Tatiana shaded her eyes against the sharp slant of the setting sun and watched Matthew stride toward the doorway of the inn.
Watching him move, taut with energy and confidence, listening to him talk, losing herself in the sea blue of his eyes were the best parts of this endless day. Indeed they were the only pleasures to be found thus far. The rest of their so-called adventure had been long and hot and exhausting. Even if she had spent most of the day either dozing or sound asleep.
He stepped into the building and she stretched and rubbed the back of her neck. Tatiana quite loved traveling, or rather she loved visiting new and exciting places. Once freed from the restrictions of mourning after Phillipe’s death, she had spent much of the following year wandering through the capitals of Europe until she had discovered Paris. And a taste of blissful freedom. And Matthew. But, while seeing sights she had only read about was the height of adventure, she was not at all fond of the process of travel itself.
To her dismay, she had discovered her stomach did not appreciate travel by sea—disappointing, as there were so many places in the world one could not reach by land. Even large, steady coaches provided a measure of discomfort. It was exceedingly odd that she did not suffer similarly on horseback, although she had long thought it might be because she could control the gait of the animal. She had had no difficulties when she had ridden in Matthew’s balloon either. Of course, the sensation in a balloon, as far as her experience went—which admittedly was limited to ascending and descending while being tethered to the ground by a stout rope—was far less dramatic than the rocking of a ship or rhythmic lurching of a horse-drawn vehicle.
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