The Mad, Bad Duke (Nvengaria #2)(108)

“Alexander?” she asked anxiously.

“Found and well,” Myn said in Nvengarian as he closed the door. “His wife is with him.”

“And everything is … all right?”

“She loves him,” Myn answered, his large blue eyes never changing. “She will ground him and keep him as he needs to be. And he loves her well in return.”

Anastasia relaxed in relief. “Well, I know you would not have left him if all were not settled. Thank you for looking after him. Alexander is a difficult man, but he deserves his happiness.”

“I watch him as a favor to Princess Penelope. The logosh serve the princess.”

“How kind of you,” Anastasia said tightly.

She felt brittle and nervous, and she did not know why. Myn had come to make love to her again, that was certain—why else would he come? Not to reassure her. Myn unnerved her and baffled her and made her long for his strong body and the intensely satisfying way he loved her.

Anastasia hadn’t wanted another man since Dimitri’s death. She’d gone to bed with gentlemen since then, but only because she needed something from them—secrets or favors to further her endless quest for revenge against Austria.

But she wanted this man with his large blue eyes and quietness that soothed her and excited her at the same time.

Anastasia’s fingers trembled as she began to undo her peignoir. Myn moved to her and quietly covered her hands with his. “Anastasia.”

Her smile shook. “What is the matter? Once, and that is all I am allowed to have? Are you punishing me because I loved Dimitri so well?”

Myn slid his arms around her waist. His very obvious hardness pressing her abdomen assured Anastasia that he desired her. “I will return to Nvengaria soon.”

A lash of pain went through her, one Anastasia had not felt since the day she’d realized, with stark finality, that her husband was gone. “How soon?”

“A few days. You will come with me.”

“What?” Anastasia tried to shake her head. “I cannot. I have to stay and finish my missions. I must help Alexander.”

“No.” Myn’s lashes were thick and dark, like his hair. “Your time here is finished. I will take you home.”

“You don’t understand. I cannot go back to Nvengaria. Not now, not ever. I can’t face it. I can never—” Anastasia broke off, words choking her.

“That is why you must go. You will return there to heal yourself—with me.”

“Why do you want me?” Anastasia demanded swiftly. “Why do you want me to go with you, to fall in love with you?”

Myn traced patterns on the small of her back. “I knew Dimitri well. He wanted you to live. That is all he ever wanted.”

Anastasia nodded, remembering the honest vitality of Dimitri, how he’d whirled her into a waltz then out onto a terrace for her first real kiss. He’d showed her life as hard as he could.

“I haven’t been living, have I?” she realized. “For six years, I have not really lived. I may as well have remained with my staid family in the staid middle of Vienna and never gone with him.”

“Nvengaria made you live,” Myn said. “Let me give you back your life.”

He was such a large man, and her body fit well against his. Anastasia remembered his hands on her in the night, and how for the first time in a long time she’d actually felt.

She wrapped her arms around him, letting go of something that had hurt inside her for too long. “Very well. I will go with you.”

Myn kissed her, a bruising, almost brutal kiss. “It is well,” he said. “We will go. I believe you will like my family.”

Anastasia stared at him a moment, then she laughed. “Good Lord. Never say I have to meet your mother.”

Myn smiled mysteriously and said nothing. It felt good to laugh, and good to see him smile. He kissed Anastasia again, and then to her delight, he continued unlacing her peignoir and pushed it from her bare shoulders, his hands finding the curve of her hips.



* * *



When Meagan woke to sunshine flooding the room, Alexander was Alexander again, smiling his handsome smile as he looked down at her. Meagan returned the smile as he eased her onto her back, then he slid his body over hers and made quick and hard love to her.

They dressed each other in clothes that Alexander kept here, a suit of subdued black for himself and a dark blue cotton gown for Meagan. He showed her a wardrobe full of dresses for her—when he had the seamstresses make her Town clothes, he said, he’d had them sew more serviceable clothes for when he brought her to the country.

“You have kept this place a closely guarded secret,” Meagan said as he laced her into her stays. “I had no idea.”

“I wanted to surprise you,” Alexander rumbled, his voice warm. “There is excellent fishing in the lake. Do you think Alex will like it?”

Meagan glanced out the window to the green downs and the sunshine glinting from clear blue water at the edge of a woods. She wished she could have seen this loveliness last night as they’d charged in to save Alexander. She might have been less frightened had she known what beauty he had found in this place.

“I think he will love it.” Meagan turned when he finished lacing her and slid her arms about his waist. “As will I.”