Page 135 of Thorns of Lust
Like a baby.
No, I couldn’t jump to conclusions. No to hoping. No to dreams. It made reality too great to handle.
It could be something I ate. This morning. Or maybe a stomach bug. I chewed my lip waiting for his answer but Vasili remained quiet, watching me.
“Umm… I held Marietta earlier. Keep an eye on her in case she catches it.” This should convince him that I was truly worried about this stomach bug. My niece could never catch a case of pregnancy. So yeah, I was a master schemer here.
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other nervously, scared my brother or even worse, Konstantin, would read my suspicion on my face.
The door swung open and Isabella came in. “Are you okay?”
Her gaze flickered over Illias and there was a strange look in her eyes. As if she came to a revelation that she wasn’t certain she liked.
My tongue darted, sweeping across my bottom lip.
“Yes, a bug or something,” I said, keeping my voice even while my heart raced with possibilities.Hope.Hope was for fools, yet it was impossible to extinguish it.
“Let me check you out,” she offered, then her eyes turned to the men.
Vasili stiffened, the words I had uttered to him all those months ago still hanging between us. They were bitter and wrong. I should have never told him I hated seeing what he had, his happiness. Jealousy was an ugly thing and my brothers more than deserved their happily-ever-after.
Vasili didn’t know how many times I’d regretted those words; how I wished I’d never uttered them.
“That would be great. Thanks, Bella.”
The air shifted and relaxed. Vasili’s eyes softened, an understanding passing through them. For all these months, an uneasiness lingered between us. It wasn’t until this very moment that those bitter words I had spoken to him before he took me to the hospital to get stitches rather than my best friend eased the pain I caused him.
“I got her,” Isabella assured him with a smile. “You two better go back to dinner.”
Vasili lowered his tall frame and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, malyshka.”
And all the while, Illias watched me with an unsettling conviction in his eyes, while my heart raged war inside my chest. But shadows lurked in his eyes and in my mind. Somewhere deep in my soul.
He knows.
The knowledgeable glint in Illias’ dark gaze told me he must have come to the same conclusion I had.
“I’d like to be present,” he declared, confirming my suspicion.
“I don’t think so,” I hissed. “You’re a mere stranger.”
I glared at Illias, who stood just as tall next to my brother, like a dark angel. His face was a mask of utter calm, not a single emotion on his face. But it was his eyes that betrayed him.
They weren’t quite as cold. Or dark. The look grabbed hold and hung on, promising more long nights, rough hands and sweaty bodies between his black satin sheets.
“Tatiana, is there something you want to tell me?” Vasili’s voice was quiet, but I knew it well. It was the voice he used when I’d done something to jeopardize the family. It rarely happened, but it took only one time for me to learn that tone.
“No.” We both knew I was lying, but I held his gaze. “You and your guest return to your dinner.” My eyes flickered to Illias, then back to my brother. “Please,” I rasped, pleading with him silently.
My eyes must have conveyed my desperation, possibly my suspicions that he was right and I was indeed pregnant, because his gaze burned.
The irony of life didn’t escape me.
Twelve months ago I prayed for a little miracle. And now, I was worried what a little miracle would mean for my future.
FORTY-FIVE
TATIANA
