Page 26 of His Disobedient Bride

I saw a muscle in Andrei’s jaw moving.

Cerise still looked cool and unconcerned, and she moved to sit down next to Frederik, a grimace crossing her face as she sat in the hard chair.

“What’s wrong?” asked the Pakhan, as he saw Cerise wince.

“She did something very stupid,” said Andrei coldly and unsympathetically.

I snuck a look at Cerise to see how she took that and I was astonished to see her looking cheekily at her husband, biting down on her full lips as she looked at him.

“I won’t do it again, though,” she said docilely.

I looked at her again, more closely this time, since I had begun to be less afraid that Andrei would shoot me. But how long would Grigoriy’s protection extend?

Cerise tucked a curl behind her ear and I saw that the arm where she had cut herself was wrapped carefully up, and very thoroughly, all the way from her wrist to her elbow.

I could also smell the sharp, pungent odor of disinfectant cream.

Someone else had bandaged her up very carefully, because she couldn’t have done it herself.

It had to have been Andrei. I couldn’t imagine he had a good side, but Dmitri must have been right that he was very attached to his wife.

Andrei did not sit down, stalking out of the room to check on security, even though the Pakhan assured him any breaches in the walls had been repaired and the remaining guards thoroughly investigated for loyalty.

I let out a breath as he left, and I wasn’t the only one, Dmitri wiping some sweat from his brow as he looked over at me.

Only Cerise and the Pakhan seemed unconcerned.

“He’ll be extra psychotic for a while,” Cerise advised placidly, taking a drink from her coffee, “until he reassures himself that the security is better.”

Then she called for the housekeeper and ordered a room to be made up for me.

* * *

I was hoping my fear of Andrei would dissipate at dinner, but my knees still quaked. Luckily I wasn’t seated next to him, but between the Pakhan and Frederik.

As we ate the cool, refreshing soup, which tasted and felt so good against my tongue after the hot, anxious day I had had, I knocked into the bowl and spilled some on the white tablecloth.

I froze, hating the feeling of being the center of attention.

Frederik, seated next to me, just said, “There’s been worse things on this tablecloth, I’m sure. Like blood.”

He smiled at me, and I couldn’t help looking into his eyes, warm and blue, before reminding myself that I needed to stop acting like I’d never seen an attractive man before. It was no wonder I never had any luck.

I accepted the napkin he handed me gratefully, and went to clean up the spill, but I felt Cerise’s eyes on me and I wondered what she was considering so thoughtfully, a crease between her brows.

18

FREDERIK

“I want you to take Mary as your wife,” Cerise announced one morning shortly after she had returned, popping into my study without warning as she always did.

“What?” I said, jolted out of my reverie, my research book sitting unopened in front of me on my desk as I looked out the window.

“Mary,” Cerise replied. “I want you to make her your wife.”

I gaped at her. “I have no intention of getting married,” I said sharply.

“I know you don’t,” said Cerise. “Marry her anyway.”

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