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“Oh my god,” I chirped, a bit louder than I should, snatched up my nightdress and slipped it over my head before I peeked out into the darkened hallway. There was no sign of Vasile.
Whether it was a good idea or not to go find him, I didn’t know. He didn’t want me as I’d hoped, so my head spun trying to figure out another angle of attack that would free me from my upcoming enslavement to Petre.
Padding through the rooms, I moved silently while I worked through a new plan. In what I assumed was the drawing room, I found a crystal case that contained a row of silver-plated pistols and below that a row of equally ornate and imposing knives. I hesitated there, looking down at their dangerous edges in the moonlight.
The voice of my fencing coach drifted into my head. “Nyet, girl! Nyet! Never go into a fight unarmed!” she barked, her thick Petrograd accent making her sound doubly formidable.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but a knife seemed like a good idea in the moment. Certainly, having a weapon at hand right now would be an asset rather than a liability. And I had no idea how to handle a pistol.
Carefully, I lifted the lid of the crystal case and chose the smallest of the knives, which had the thickest blade. Its serrated edges glinted in the moonlight, and I was surprised by how comfortable and well balanced it felt in my hand.
I resumed my hunt for Vasile. I almost suspected he wasn’t there at all, but at the end of the last hallway I saw a closed door. Trying the knob, I found—to my delight—that it wasn’t locked. Gritting my teeth as I turned the knob all the way, I carefully made my way inside. And there he was, lying on his back in bed, sound asleep.
Bare chested and beautiful.
Keeping the knob tight in my hand, I gently rotated it to the left, careful not to let go until I knew that the catch was not going to click and give me away.
His breathing was regular, almost mesmerizing. The drapes were open, and the barest hint of dawn light was beginning to break in the room. He was beautiful when he stared me down, but even more beautiful now, so peaceful as he slept.
Standing by his bedside now, knife in hand, I gazed down at him. If I’d felt powerful by the pool, that was nothing compared to how I felt here, with this beast of a man at his most vulnerable, and me armed to the teeth.
I could do anything to him. Anything. I could scar that perfect face. I could stab him just enough to wing him.
I could kill him. Right here, right now.
Climbing carefully up onto the bed, slowly, silently, I straddled his wide chest, gaining leverage as I studied the glint of the blade in my hand. It wouldn’t be difficult. I could raise the knife above my head and plunge it downward.
I would never have a better opportunity to make my own way in the world than this. Nobody knew where I was, and if I did kill him, nobody would probably find him for days. I didn’t even need to seduce him for this plan to work. I could even leave evidence that he had done away with me, so nobody would ever come looking. A tragic end to my life as Valeria Valentine, and a new beginning under a new name…
Sabre Steel, world’s greatest female fencer. Wowing audiences with my footwork and ability to outmaneuver any opponent.
All I had to do, right now, was plunge my knife into one man’s heart. All I had to do was start my new life with another’s death.
But I didn’t want to kill him. I didn’t even want to hurt him. I knew in my heart that I could’ve spent my whole life looking at that beautiful face, and trying to solve the mysteries of the gorgeous Vasile Greengallow.
I wish you were the one I was marrying, I thought, surprising even myself with that idea. And with the utter truth of it.
Without even thinking, I found my unarmed hand moving toward his cheek. He was so beautiful. Gently, I stroked his rough cheek. As I touched him, I felt my whole body begin to melt.
But then, from a seemingly dead sleep, he seized my wrist hard in a vise-like grip that triggered a rush of fear inside me. Instinctively, I fought back and in a flurry of movements, grunts and force. I found myself with the knife pressed to his throat.
CHAPTER 12
Vasile
When I heard her come in the room, I’d pretended to be asleep. I’d heard her coming down the fucking hall
, my senses so on edge, so acute that I couldn’t ever fail to know exactly where she was. It took all my willpower to leave her in that bedroom only to come to mine and use the remaining power I had to talk the surging hot blood from my erection. I thought briefly about relieving myself, but I couldn’t. This girl I’d only known hours, had ruined me already.
