Kisses Like a Devil Page 9

  God help them both, Meredith might still be in here somewhere.

  He stopped where a larger corridor intersected a narrow one, probably a servants’ passageway and just out of sight from the grand portico. A single electric light swung overhead, offering occasional glimpses of stolid official portraits mounted like trophies on the paneled wall.

  He pressed his fingertips against the wall as his mother had taught him, and stilled his heartbeat to listen with more than his ears.

  One, two, three…One lightweight human, several considerably heavier—and that dog.

  It had to be her.

  Brian made up his mind and ran down the narrow hall toward those running feet, moving as quietly as possible. He might not be able to stop any followers, given their superior rank, but he should be able to delay them.

  Sounds were hard to accurately track in this man-made warren, almost as bad as the mines he’d grown up around. He also didn’t have either of his twin brothers’ familiarity with schools, having left ten years ago.

  She whipped around a corner and slammed into him, nearly bowling him over. Brian wrapped his arms around her and instinct, more knowledgeable than intellect, promptly identified her.

  “Let me go!” Meredith shoved him hard.

  “No! Let me help you.” He held her close. She was gasping for air and sweat was slipping down her face. Jesus, were the police after her again?

  “You can’t.” She looked over her shoulder for her followers. “Please, if Zorndorf or my parents find me here…”

  Damn arrogant bastards, they had no understanding of a wildflower like her! They’d crush her.

  Her black dog circled and came back, tongue hanging out. He watched Brian warily but didn’t bark.

  Brian made up his mind. “What can I do?”

  “Ruin me.” She made the outrageous demand with a level stare.

  His lungs seized until he could barely grunt. “What?”

  “Have an affair with me which even Zorndorf can’t overlook.”

  She wanted to be his mistress? His blood stirred and headed south. Heat spilled into his chest and sparked wherever she touched him. He was close enough to see the curve of her ear under the soft sweep of her hair and the proud line of her neck. How would she respond the first time he kissed her there?

  “You’re joking.” Her followers were only a few feet away, coming on hard and fast. Eisengau’s prisons were legendarily vicious, possibly worse than living with her family. “What about your parents? Your mother?”

  “Have already sold me to him so he can teach me a lesson.” Bone-deep agony etched her face and she tried to twist away. Brian instinctively crooned to her.

  “Please, he always beats his wife,” she choked out, her gray eyes luminous with unshed tears. “I can’t stay with him.”

  He immediately believed her; nothing in their acquaintance led him to think she’d tolerate such behavior or make up a tall tale.

  “Son of a bitch,” Brian spat. Any parent—any mother!—who gave their daughter to a man like that deserved a fate far worse than Hades.

  She misread his silence and kicked his shin, making him jerk briefly. “If you don’t say yes now, then let me go.”

  Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, what a wildcat—and what a delight she’d be in the bedroom.

  Brian made up his mind.

  “Very well. You can be my mistress throughout the summer maneuvers. Is that notorious enough?” Should be, with all of Europe’s demi-monde present and nary a wife to be seen, especially not beside her own husband. “After that, I’ll take you out of Eisengau with me, if you want.”

  “Yes, thank you!” She kissed her fingertips and laid them against his lips. His cock promptly, predictably surged until even his trousers’ zipper was unbearable torment.

  Jesus Christ, what had he let himself in for? Had he ever truly considered refusing? He shook the doubts off.

  “Come on; we’re better off facing him outside.” He’d ask later about the police following her, when they had a few more minutes.

  He laced his fingers with hers and raced back the way he’d come, slowing just before he reached the door to the outside.

  He tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow and smiled down at her. Dammit, he’d been calmer when he’d charged up San Juan Hill into that bullet-ridden hell. “Ready?”

  “Yes, of course.” Her throat worked for a moment above her white lace blouse with the superb cairngorm broach. She smiled gallantly, her lips only a little tremulous.

  Christ, how he wanted to kiss her until she thought only of him.

  Instead he wrenched open the door to the street—and met Gareth’s all-too controlled eyes. His friend gave an infinitesimal jerk of his head and stepped aside.

  Brian flicked a glance. A pair of Eisengau guardsmen flanked the doorway, blocking any hope of a fast getaway. The street was filled with foreign observers, engineering students in their stiff uniforms, and more guardsmen, plus the carriages waiting for the grand duke’s guests.

  Well, now, wasn’t this going to be a hot party, if matters went awry?

  He smiled broadly and drew Meredith a little closer. He couldn’t have used guns anyway, not with her around. But if his wits didn’t see them through, he could always fall back on the fighting style he’d learned from his father’s Chinese bodyguard. One way or another, he’d look after his girl.

  Grand Duke Rudolph strode forward, the crowd falling back before him.

  Meredith’s grip tightened on Brian’s hand but she stayed silent and steady.

  “Your Excellency.” He acknowledged the grand duke with a small nod but said nothing to the grand duke’s heir or any of the tourists.

  Zorndorf stepped forward, elbowing past his country’s ruler. “Unhand my fiancée immediately,” he demanded, drawing himself up to his full height.

  The grand duke’s eyes narrowed and he fingered his pointed beard.

  “Fiancée? I’m not aware of any announcement,” Brian countered. “Instead, I’m enjoying dealing with a beautiful young woman whose conversation I trust. In fact, I look forward to continuing our acquaintance throughout summer maneuvers.”

  “You will not! That’s scandalous! Your Excellency, I demand you make him stop,” Zorndorf ordered. “It is an insult to me.”

  The grand duke stiffened. “What did you say, Zorndorf?”

  Guardsmen surrounded him now, the spikes on their polished helmets glinting like spear points. They eyed Zorndorf hostilely, clearly more than ready to seize him.

  “Your Excellency.” Zorndorf gulped, turning white. “I beg of you, by your mercy, do not permit this man to take her.”

  “Miss Duncan is old enough to speak for herself,” Brian commented softly, hoping that held as true in Eisengau as it did in California. “In fact, she’s already persuaded me to stay the full two weeks, instead of only one. I’ll wire the extra money immediately to your chancellor.”

  Grand Duke Rudolph’s cold gaze traveled over him.

  Brian raised an eyebrow, daring the old autocrat to ask for more. He’d just promised to pay ten thousand dollars to have her at his side, a sum which put her company equal to the highest rank of courtesan who’d be visiting the summer maneuvers. However, all of it would stay in Eisengau.

  Morro crouched at the edge of her skirts’ folds, for all the world like a guardian lion in perfect position to attack anyone who threatened her.

  “What’s going on here?” Judge Baumgart shouldered his way through the crowd, which reluctantly parted for him. He was closely followed by his wife.

  She shrieked when she saw her daughter. “Meredith, step away from that man at once. What will people think of my household if you behave like that?”

  Meredith snorted softly and moved even closer to Brian. “I’m here to interpret the summer maneuvers for my protector.”

  She kissed her fingertips and lightly stroked them across his lips. It was a lover’s gesture but not too daring for public display. />
  “Meredith!”

  Brian met the grand duke’s reptilian gaze and deliberately smiled rather lasciviously. She hadn’t exactly lied but she had used a term more commonly applied to men who kept expensive mistresses.

  The foreign observers were watching the scene avidly from behind the grand duke’s guardsmen, many straining to see past the broad shoulders and polished steel helmets.

  The grand duke’s narrow lips twitched slightly and he cleared his throat before speaking. “Eisengau respects harmony of home and hearth above all else. A high court justice would certainly have brought his stepdaughter up to tell the truth.”

  The tall, narrow man hesitated.

  His wife elbowed him. “A high court justice!” she hissed in English.

  “Yes, Judge,” the grand duke drawled, his tones edged in a thousand years of absolute rule. “What do you think?”

  Baumgart gulped nervously. “She can always be relied on for candor, Your Excellency,” he admitted grudgingly.

  “Excellent, Judge, you have reared a paragon.” The grand duke snapped his fingers. “The parents of such a woman deserve to be rewarded.”

  “Oh my,” sighed Mrs. Baumgart rapturously.

  Greedy bitch. But if buying her off was the only way to take Meredith away from her…

  “Guard, take these two back to my chamberlain at the Citadel. There’s a vacancy on the high court for which I believe Judge Baumgart is already on the list.”

  “Of course, sir.” The guard clicked his heels. Meredith’s mother rushed into a profusion of torrid thanks, which died slowly away as her husband dragged her off down the corridor. The foreign observers muttered but said nothing of substance loudly enough to be acknowledged. Of course, Mrs. Baumgart’s maternal affection hadn’t been displayed strongly enough to command support for her.

  Brian kept his smile fixed, despite its edge, and kissed Meredith’s hand. She smiled up at him a little tremulously and her fingers trembled in his grip.

  “I don’t recall hearing of your engagement, Zorndorf. I’m sure any of my colonels would obtain my permission first, as regulations require,” Grand Duke Rudolph remarked silkily.

  Zorndorf flushed before turning very pale. His eyes darted around the impassive plaster walls but couldn’t find an exit. He pressed his lips together and bowed jerkily.

  “Quite so.”

  “I see no reason why Mr. Donovan can’t have his own particular friend, when the other gentlemen’s friends have already gone ahead.”

  Friend? Brian glared back at him. It didn’t have the most polite connotations but it wasn’t openly offensive, either. As long as nobody said anything rude to her, it should do.

  “Since it’s the Americans’ first time here, of course. Is there anything else, Zorndorf?” Grand Duke Rudolph’s tone dared his servant to mention anything.

  He shook his head, his complexion mottled with red. A cobra’s declaration of eternal peace would have been more believable.

  Boot heels drummed against the floor behind them and pounded around the corner. Sazonov burst into the narrow stretch of corridor and stopped, rocking back on his heels. Engineering students filled the hallway behind him, their gray uniforms and black insignia merging into the shadows like an army of young demons.

  His eyes swept through the corridor, stabbing at Meredith where she rested in Brian’s arms. “Miss Duncan!”

  She flinched and Morro growled deep in his throat.

  Son of a bitch, was he the one who’d been chasing her? Ice swept through Brian’s skin, bringing every nerve to full alertness. His feet shifted, bringing him into guard stance but he kept his voice deliberately mild. “Glad to see you recognize my friend, Sazonov.”

  The Russian bastard took a quick step forward, rapidly assessing him for weapons.

  Brian smiled faintly and waited hopefully. If he could provoke the other into attacking now, without any supporters, matters could be settled quickly and simply.

  The grand duke coughed, eyeing the Russian with all the warmth of a Winchester rifle aimed at a rabid wolf. The guardsmen snapped to attention, clicking their heels like tigers’ claws, followed an instant later by the students.

  The blond foreigner seemed to shake himself then donned a barbed smile. Pity he’d recovered himself before the Eisengau soldiers could unleash their highly functional rifles.

  “Your Excellency.” He bowed, flourishing his hat over his heart. “How glad I am, to have joined you in time to depart on summer maneuvers.”

  “The pleasure, I’m sure, will be ours,” returned his host and turned for his carriage, his guardsmen marching after him.

  It would be Brian’s, too, after that poisonous Russian snake was dead, of course.

  Chapter Six

  Meredith accepted another morsel of Sacher torte from the liveried footman, well aware she was using the chocolate delight to avoid looking at the far more tempting Brian Donovan.

  Dear heavens, the nightmare of that last hour in the capital. Surely if she gave them some time, her parents would rethink their position and realize she’d simply needed to block any betrothal to Zorndorf. But if not—well, she’d cross that bridge when she came to it.

  For now, she had to cope with Brian and the way her pulses skittered every time he came into the room. She somehow didn’t think political conversations were going to help her dodge the effect this time.

  They’d arrived at Schloss Belvedere late that afternoon, after a long train trip through the rugged countryside from the capital. She’d been shown to their private suite to change—good heavens, what clothes! And from where?—while Brian had spoken privately with that English captain. They’d rendezvoused in time to join the other guests for pre-dinner drinks on the terrace, amid the gardens overlooking the lake.

  Late summer’s heavy scents perfumed the air. Roses and heliotrope, hollyhocks and lily of the valley grew in abundance along the borders, sage invited touch, and hops’ yellow flowers tumbled over arbors. A formal garden, full of neatly trimmed bright flowers and dark greenery, bordered by serpentine iron and impassive sphinxes, led to the pale yellow main house.

  Grand Duke Nicholas I had built Schloss Belvedere for his mistress eighty years earlier with his profits from the Napoleonic Wars. Named for its superb views, it was sited high in the mountains close to Herzog Lake, near St. Nicholas’s Pass and the source of the Eisenfluss, Eisengau’s great river.

  It was a bonbon of a royal palace, pale yellow and trimmed in white. Nor did it offer any aid to a royal work ethic. Carved red balconies caught and held the setting sun’s rays, making it blaze like a birthday cake. A cupola at its center lifted itself to the heavens like a temple to revelry, and was flanked by two smaller domes at each end of the long, low building. An arched opening, the porte cochère, cut into its bulk at each end, framing the main building and providing a base for each little dome. They were large enough to admit carriages but no more; the palace’s bedroom suites carried over across each gap. The attics were barely enough to store a little food and linens; all the servants slept elsewhere—which also provided privacy for the palace’s master and his guests.

  It had been built for summer pleasures, short-term affaires like the one she’d conduct with Brian starting tonight.

  So why did she know exactly where he was? What every muscle and bone was doing? Whether he was lifting a wine glass or biting into a bit of truffle-topped toast? Why could she have told exactly how his big, scarred hands stretched to hold a plate or curved around a peach?

  Why did she want to run away and hurl herself at him, all at the same time? She knew she couldn’t. Or was she afraid she couldn’t walk away from him, as she had from her first two lovers?

  Her pulse skittered again and her chest tightened, heat thrumming through her veins. She dipped her head, wondering what on earth to do now.

  Tonight a military orchestra offered lively waltzes from the upper terrace’s corner, next to the palace. Liveried lackeys proffered hors d’
oeuvres to anyone who stood still for a moment, while others circulated with bottles of champagne.

  Thunder roiled the cloudless blue sky, every boom marking a cannon undergoing final preparations for tomorrow’s demonstrations during the maneuvers. Men focused binoculars and telescopes on the resulting puffs of smoke and chatted near the palace, while waving cigars or wine glasses to emphasize a point.

  Superbly dressed women, with bosoms threatening to tumble out of their décolletages, sauntered among the guests, laughing and cooing like a flock of tropical birds in their brilliant dresses and jewels. They strolled with each other or a gentleman, bright eyes darting about to mark their prey or cast languishing glances up at the current object of their affection.

  The ladies of the demimonde had arrived, changing the previously sober atmosphere into one recklessly bent on pursuit of the next joke, drink, or disappearance into a more private place.

  Meredith had never seen anyone like them. She was one of them for the moment, a private delight for the man beside her. It was an oddly freeing concept. She could do anything she wanted, so long as she pleased Brian.

  She stole another glance at them from the lower terrace, fascinated by their absolute confidence. Brian had brought her down here after the cask of schnapps was rolled out, just before the grand duke had made his appearance.

  And the courtesans’ clothing! Not that she could say much about theirs when hers had also become so eye-catching. Her dress was pale pink panné velvet with a square neckline cut low across her chest, black velvet straps that barely managed to hold it onto her shoulders, and long tight sleeves. It hugged her waist and hips like a second skin before flaring out from an enormous black velvet bow just above one knee. Not quite a perfect fit, her maid had judged it-her maid?-but good enough to catch a man’s eye.

  Donovan braced himself against the balustrade and stretched, still carefully watching the lake. They were essentially alone, the other guests having drifted back to the palace. His white uniform highlighted his strong frame and lithe grace far too well for rational thought. Did he know she could glimpse the outline of his underthings through it?