Page 86 of My Queendom for a Horse

My heart races.

“You’re scared at the thought of being with anyone, and when you thought of me as poor, when I was nothing but a lost mess, you could hold me at arm’s length.”

“I was telling you to come inside, so. . .” I duck inside and start to pull the door closed behind me. I have the sudden feeling like a predator’s coming for me.

Aleksandr’s hand slams against the doorframe, blocking my attempt to close it, and he inches closer to me still. “Now you don’t have a reason to run, and that scares you most of all.”

“I don’t run away from people,” I hiss. “Sean left me back then, for the record.” All the woozy, warm feelings I had before are gone. Does that mean I’m suddenly sober?

“I’ve always said that he’s a moron,” Aleks says. “But that doesn’t mean you aren’t one, too.”

Now he’s really pissing me off. I open the door wide, so I can really lay into him. “You think you know everything, but you don’t. Whether you have a car or not, you’re still the same guy who didn’t know coffee could be made from a tube, and—”

He scrunches his nose. “I still maintain it can’t. What you believe passes for coffee these days is a travesty.”

“You couldn’t use a cell phone or even buckle your seatbelt.”

“I learned all of that within twenty-four hours of being freed by you.”

He’s not wrong about that. I’m not exactly sure why I’m so mad, but I am. Spitting mad. “Just get out.” I try to slam the door again, and almost mash his hand. Before, I wanted him to stay and he wanted to go. Now I want him to go, and he’s blocking the door.

“I read something last week that I think you should hear. Anger is what they call a masking emotion.” His smile makes his face so handsome it hurts me to look at it.

“Who cares?” I ask.

“It’s always a cover for something else. So right now, you’re angry with me to keep from thinking about what you really feel. Maybe you should think about that, zaychonuk.”

I hate how much I like hearing him use a pet name for me. I hate how it makes me quiver inside. “Stop calling me that.”

“You focus on you.” His half smile is almost sexier than his full smile.

“It’s not like you know what you want or how you feel.”

“Oh, but I do.”

“You can’t even tell me why you really came tonight, Mr. Masking Emotions.”

“Oh, but I can.”

“Why? Do you really hate Sean that much? He’s not that bad a guy, and I don’t need your help. I’m a big girl.”

He laughs then, throwing back his head and really making some noise. “That’s rich.” He eyes me from my toes to my head. “You’re the smallest woman I know.”

“Shut up,” I say. “No matter what size I am, I don’t need you to keep me safe.”

“I didn’t come tonight to keep you safe.” His words are soft.

“Good, because—”

“I had things to do tonight, actually, but the thought of you spending the evening with Sean, or maybe even spending the night with him. . .” That same muscle in his jaw works, and he inhales sharply. “I picked up my car early, and skipped out on a meeting I should have taken, because I wanted to kill him, but I figured making him look bad might be a decent alternative.”

“Well, that backfired,” I say.

“Oh?”

“Because I like Sean more than ever after the way he acted tonight. And I dislike you more than ever, too.”

His eyes flash. “Well, you know what they say.”

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