He was wondering whether Hibbert had successfully blocked every secret entrance to the bedroom when he had filled in the gap between the two walls.
It was then that another panel in a wall that obviously Hibbert had not uncovered slid open and Natasha appeared!
She was looking extremely lovely and very seductive in a diaphanous robe that matched her eyes and was clasped at the neck with a very large emerald.
She closed the panel behind her and now she and Lord Charnock were staring at each other.
It flashed through his mind that if he sent her away it would cause consternation amongst the Secret Police and he knew that it would also severely damage Natasha’s reputation as being the most experienced seductress in the Russian Court.
Then with a little movement as sinuous as that of a serpent she moved towards him and her arms went round his neck.
“You did not say ‘goodnight’ to me properly,” she murmured, lifting her lips to his.
Just for a moment Lord Charnock hesitated and then he thought cynically that it was all part of the game and it would be a pity if he showed too quickly that he did not underestimate his opponent.
Then, as he bent and kissed her and felt the fire on her lips, he knew that at least that was spontaneous and had not been ignited to order by the Secret Police or anyone else.
*
Now in the British Embassy, as Natasha commanded his attention as if by right, Lord Charnock was at the same time acutely aware of Zelina.
There was no need for her to inform him that she had been successful in assuming her rightful position in the household where she was staying.
The mere fact that she was present tonight and dressed in a gown that only a debutante would wear told him what had happened without words.
Then, as the evening progressed Lord Charnock knew, with a perception that sometimes worked whether he wished it to do so or not, that Zelina was longing and yearning for him to dance with her.
At first he resisted what was almost a cry from her heart to his.
Then he told himself that any gentleman in his position would give a woman of the same nationality the courtesy of enquiring after her wellbeing considering that she was alone in a strange land.
Accordingly, when Zelina had almost given up hope, he walked across to where she was sitting by the Princess to say to her,
“There is no need to ask if you are enjoying yourself. I can see that your hostess is being very hospitable as might be expected from anyone so gracious and so charming.”
As he spoke, he raised the Princess’s hand to his lips and added,
“Thank you, Your Highness, for being kind to one of my compatriots.”
“I have heard of the difficulties that the poor child encountered in reaching here,” the Princess answered.
“It certainly was a chapter of disasters, but Sir Henry Watkin Williams-Winn proved to be a Fairy Godfather,” Lord Charnock answered lightly, “and provided not only a Royal vessel that Miss Tiverton could travel in but also a lady’s maid.”
“I have always found Sir Henry a magical man, and you too, my Lord,” the Princess smiled.
“You flatter me,” Lord Charnock replied.
Somebody else came up to speak to the Princess and he then turned to Zelina.
“May I have the pleasure of this dance?” he asked. “I am afraid that you will find me not as light of foot as the Russians who entertained us aboard the Ischora.”
“I would love to dance with you, my Lord,” Zelina said simply.
She rose as she spoke and he knew by the light in her eyes that it was something that she wanted very much.
They waltzed round the floor to the romantic music of a dozen violins and when they were out of hearing of the Princess, Zelina spoke to him in a low voice,
“You were so clever! Everything went exactly as you planned it, my Lord.”
“I am glad,” Lord Charnock replied.
“I wanted so much to write and tell you how grateful I am, but I thought it would be a mistake.”
“Definitely a mistake!” he agreed at once.
“I can only now say thank you, thank you!” Zelina smiled. “I wish there were more adequate words that I could express myself with.”
“I am so delighted that everything has worked out so well for you,” Lord Charnock said, “and now you must enjoy yourself.”
“Everybody has been very kind and I am trying not to think of the things that – shocked me before I – came here.”
“That is sensible.”
They danced round the ballroom for a little while in silence.
Then Zelina said,
“You will not leave without telling me – and without saying – ‘goodbye’?”
“I am not thinking of leaving for a while,” Lord Charnock replied.
He saw by the expression on her face that this was what she had hoped to hear and her eyes were very revealing as she added,
“I may not see you, but it is so – comforting to know that you are – here in the same City and that if anything – awful should happen I could – find you.”
“Nothing ‘awful’ will happen,” Lord Charnock said firmly, “and you must stop being afraid. Just remember that most girls of your age think only of enjoying themselves and start each day with that intention.”
“I will – try,” Zelina stressed, “and I will remember – everything you have told me.”
“Then nothing will upset you.”
As he spoke, the dance came to an end and, as he turned to walk back with Zelina across the floor to the Princess, a voice came from behind him,
“Good evening, my Lord. Delightful to see you again!”
Lord Charnock turned to see Prince Alexis Stoganoff holding out his hand.
The Prince was a man he had met frequently in Paris and once or twice in London, but he was someone who he had no great liking for.
The Prince, immensely wealthy and of great influence at the Russian Court, had been described as a Don Juan, a Casanova and more simply as a Russian with reat charm that no woman could ever resist.
Lord Charnock was also aware that his affairs of the heart were often unsavoury and in some cases reprehensible.
“I heard that you had arrived,” Prince Alexis said now, “and also that you had brought with you such a really beautiful English rose that our Russian orchids have turned green with envy!”
As he spoke, he was looking at Zelina and, ignoring Lord Charnock’s rapid assertion that he had not personally brought her to Russia with him, said,
“Then please present me. It is impossible for me to wait any longer to meet so lovely a flower.”
There was nothing that Lord Charnock could do but say,
“Miss Zelina Tiverton – His Highness Prince Alexis Stoganoff!”
Zelina curtseyed and the Prince reached out and took her hand in both of his.
“I cannot believe that you have not stepped right out of my dreams,” he said in a deep voice, “except that if you are indeed real, I shall never be able to dream again, realising how completely inadequate my imagination has been.”
Zelina gave a little laugh and then the Prince asked her,
“Why are you laughing at me?”
“Because you sound exactly like someone in a book. I never thought human beings really spoke that way!”
Lord Charnock thought with satisfaction that Zelina’s reply was certainly something that the Prince was not in the habit of hearing, but he said,
“If you are cruel to me, you will throw me into a despondency that will be desperately hard to combat.”
Again Zelina gave a little laugh.
“The Princess has informed me,” she answered, “that the Czar’s favourite reading is Sir Walter Scott, but Your Highness is even more dramatic than Ivanhoe!”
“You are enchanting!” the Prince exclaimed.
He raised Zelina’s hand to his lips and kissed it.
“I think,” Lord Charnock n
ext intervened, “that I should take you back, Zelina, to Her Highness.”
“Don’t leave me!” the Prince cried. “If you will dance with me, it will lift me into the Seventh Heaven.”
“Perhaps later, Your Highness,” Zelina replied. “I think now – as his Lordship suggests, I should return to Her Highness.”
She curtseyed and moved away before the Prince could protest further.
She knew without being told that Lord Charnock was pleased with her behaviour.
As they walked towards the Princess, he said in a low voice,
“Beware of that man! Have nothing to do with him!”
Zelina nodded and then, when they reached the Princess, Lord Charnock said,
“I am returning Zelina to you and she has told me what an enjoyable time she is having. I am sure that her uncle and aunt will be extremely grateful for Your Highness’s kindness.”
“It is a pleasure to have someone so young and enthusiastic in The Palace,” the Princess said. “I hope, my Lord, you will find time to dine with us in the next few days?”
“I shall be delighted,” Lord Charnock replied.
He bowed politely to the Princess and did not look at Zelina before he walked away.
As he did so, she thought that there was nobody in the whole room to equal him and she wished that their dance together was not over but only just beginning.
‘I would rather dance with him than anybody else I have ever met,’ she ruminated.
Then, as she watched, she saw the beautiful woman who he had been talking when she had first arrived go to his side and put her hand familiarly on his arm.
Zelina felt a strange feeling surge through her that she did not recognise as jealousy.
‘What can that Russian woman mean to him?’ she wondered. ‘And who is she?’
Because she was too shy to ask the Princess, she waited until she was dancing with a young man who had sat next to her at dinner.
Then she asked,
“Who is the beautiful lady talking to Lord Charnock?”
Her partner followed the direction of her eyes and replied,
“That is the Countess Natasha Obolensky.”
“She is very lovely.”
“A great many men think so,” Zelina’s partner answered. “And she is supposed to have broken more hearts than any other woman in the world!”
“Broken – more – hearts?” Zelina found it difficult to repeat the words.
“Yes indeed. Two men have committed suicide because of her and nobody can count the number of duels that have been fought in her honour!”
“She is – unmarried?”
Zelina found it difficult to ask the question.
Her partner laughed.
“No. Indeed she is married to a very distinguished Statesman, but he is at the moment in the South.”
It was strange, Zelina thought, but, when he had said that the Countess was married, her heart gave a decided leap and the lights in the room seemed to flare up to the ceiling.
At the same time, as she watched Lord Charnock walking away from the ballroom with the Countess on his arm, she felt as though he had left her far behind and once again she was lonely and lost.
Chapter five
Zelina started when a servant’s voice announced,
“His Highness Prince Alexis Stoganoff.”
With a feeling of apprehension she realised that she was alone since the Princess had left The Palace for a private visit to the Czarina.
“I just cannot ask you to come with me, Zelina,” she had said, “as Her Imperial Majesty wishes to see me alone.”
“I shall be quite happy here,” Zelina had answered. “I seldom have time to read the fascinating books in your library and there is a particular one I am anxious to finish. It is all about the history of St. Petersburg.”
The Princess had laughed.
“Then it will certainly take you more than the short time that I will be away. There is a Reception this evening at the Michaelov Palace and I know that the Grand Duchess Helena is longing to meet you.”
“It sounds very exciting!” Zelina had enthused.
When the Princess had gone, she picked up the book that she had read halfway through.
Seating herself comfortably in the window of the salon, which was where they sat when they were alone, she soon forgot everything but what she was reading.
Now she rose to her feet, aware that the one thing she did not want was to be alone with Prince Alexis.
Ever since Lord Charnock had introduced him to her that evening at the British Embassy, he had pursued her with a determination that she found intimidating.
She did not like the expression in his eyes, she mistrusted the flattery that came so easily to his lips and, when she was obliged to dance with him, she knew that he held her far too closely and he was quite impervious to snubs.
Now, as he reached her side, he lifted her hand to his lips and his kiss was by no means a polite gesture but was passionate and insistent.
“I am afraid, Your Highness,” Zelina said, “I am alone and the servants should have informed you of the fact.”
“They did,” the Prince replied. “But, as the Princess is not here, I can talk to you as I have been wanting to do ever since I first saw you.”
“You are well aware that to do so is – incorrect,” Zelina said in what she hoped was a cold voice, but which actually sounded very young and unsure.
“When you know me better, which I intend you shall,” the Prince replied, “you will learn that I never do what is correct but what I want to do, which is a very different thing.”
“Then if you – will not – leave me,” Zelina said, “I must leave – you.”
She did not look at him as she spoke.
She tried to speak in a dignified and calm manner, but she was aware that her heart was fluttering like a frightened bird in her breast and, if she obeyed her impulse, she would have run away as quickly as she could.
Everything she had heard about the Prince, everything he had said to her when they had danced together and the way he looked at her, had frightened her almost unbearably.
She then told herself that she was being foolish and it would be impossible for him to hurt her when she was a guest of the Prince and Princess Volkonsky.
Equally she had been in St. Petersburg long enough to learn that everybody seemed to be involved in love affairs of some sort and she was certain that already the Prince’s attentions to her had not gone unnoticed.
“Do you really think I would allow you to leave me?”
He spoke lightly, but there was a note in his voice that told Zelina that, if she tried to go, he would most certainly prevent her from doing so, which would involve his touching her physically.
In fear of this she hesitated.
Then she said,
“If you really have something that you wish to talk to me about – then I will listen – but please, Your Highness, make it short. If the Princess returns and finds you here, she will think it very – strange that I am – receiving in her absence.”
“I assure you that she will think nothing of the sort,” the Prince replied. “She is well versed in love – and love, my beautiful English rose, is what I wish to discuss with you.”
Zelina drew herself up stiffly.
“That is – something I do not – wish to – hear.”
“Why not? Love concerns every woman and I have never in my life felt so convinced that I am the right person to teach you about the most alluring, exciting and tantalising feeling that the human body is capable of.”
There was a deep note in his voice now and, as Zelina sat down on the sofa, he seated himself beside her and to her consternation he was unpleasantly close.
She managed to move a little further away from him, but now she was against the arm of the sofa.
“I love you, Zelina!” the Prince declared. “I love you until I feel it is impossible when I have met you to live through the ho
urs until I shall see you again. What have you done to me that I should feel like this?”
Zelina looked away from him across the room, conscious that there was a tremor in her voice as she replied,
“Please – Your Highness – you must not say such – things to me.”
“Why not? And you have to listen to me. I want you, Zelina, and I know I can make you very happy.”
He sighed before he went on,
“If I could ask you to marry me, I would, but I expect you are aware that I am married and it is a very unhappy alliance.”
Zelina stiffened at the word ‘marriage’ and she asked, her voice sounding unexpectedly loud,
“You are – married?”
“Yes, of course,” the Prince replied. “In Russia our marriages are arranged when we are very young and my wife was chosen for me by my parents.”
“B-but you have – a wife!”
“Yes, yes, but she need not concern us.”
“She certainly concerns me!” Zelina retorted. “And I think it is wrong – very wrong of Your Highness to speak to me as you have when you are a – married man and your – loyalty should be with the – woman who bears your – name.”
The Prince shrugged his shoulders.
“She does not count anymore. We live in separate parts of the country and I am offering you my heart, Zelina. Surely that means something that could unite us more closely than any Wedding ring?”
Zelina rose to her feet.
“I have no wish to hear Your Highness speak in such a way,” she said. “I am shocked that you should speak of your marriage as if it was of no – consequence and it is not a – compliment that you should – offer me your love – but in my opinion it is an – insult!”
She thought that the Prince would be abashed, but instead he held her hand in both of his so that she could not escape and sat looking up at her with a smile on his lips.
“I just adore you!” he cried. “Could any woman be more fascinating and more alluring even when she is reprimanding me?”
He kissed her hand, his lips hot and demanding on her skin and, although she tried hard to free herself, she was unable to do so.
An Innocent in Russia Page 8
