Love Me Again (22 page)

Christina closed her eyes as Varek charged fearlessly into the fray. Her sightless void tilted alarmingly about her as she heard an explosive clashing of men and beasts. Then the hall erupted with the gallery's thunderous cheers.

Christina shivered. Why did blood sport always drive a crowd to such frenzied heights? she wondered in disgust as she opened her eyes again. At first she couldn't see Varek in the tangle of men and horses. Then she saw him. Fear surged through her. Clamping a hand over pale lips, she thought she was going to be ill.

“Well, I'll be damned,” Sergei laughed, coming to a skidding halt beside Varek, who was ignobly sprawled on his stubborn arse.

Varek threw a sour look up at this unwanted help. Wincing, he climbed to his feet, brushing aside Sergei's outstretched arm. “Damn your eyes, Sergei. You have been nothing but ill luck for me. Take your own unabused ass and get the hell out of here!”

“Oh, ho! I do that and I'll have to deal with a very drunk, very emotional lady. I try never to deal with very drunk, very emotional women. Can hardly reason with them when they are sober, let alone in their cups. Never saw a woman yet who could hold her liquor with any modicum of respect. The darlings just aren't men, after all.”

Varek listened to this inane diatribe with a withering glare. Then he had the misfortune to look into the twinkling eyes of the audacious bastard and he had to bite his lip till it bled to stop the smile that fought to betray him. God, how he missed Sergei's pointless banter that could lighten any situation. He watched as Sergei turned and gave Christina a jaunty bow.

Directing his ire where he felt it belonged, Varek growled as he too looked down the arena at the dais. “I knew it!” Just as he had feared, in her nervousness she had imbibed too much. Knowing what the coming evening would bring, Varek cursed foully. So much for his erotic intentions that night! It could have been so perfect.

Grabbing hold of his horse's reins, the two men quickly left the floor as the next sets took their places. “Mayhap you'd be more useful seeing to her until I'm done with these blasted games.” He had to have been insane to get involved with this infantile show, especially when his ex-mistress's new lover was out to prove some undefined point of honor.

“Absolutely not. I was instructed to stick to you like tar, your highness.”

“Well, much good you were when von Serent's hit landed under my shield.” Scowling, Varek glared over his horse's back at the nuisance across the arena. He cursed long and viciously as he watched von Serent receive another flower from the vindictive ex-lover. Looking up, Sophy gave Varek a taunting smile, then blew him a kiss. He looked away in disgust.

Sergei scratched his chin reflectively. “Shall I inform the heralds-of-arms of the illegal pass? Clearly none of them caught it.”

“Hell, no! I want to get that bastard in the next round. It is time he knows who he is dealing with. After I'm done with the little worm he'll be lucky if he can climb between her greedy thighs in a month!” Another groan escaped Varek's lips, and he rubbed his burning gut. His chest ached under the deep dent in his chest piece.

“Just be careful. You don't want to get yourself disqualified.”

“Whenever have you known me to do anything dishonorable?” Varek charged in a scathing retort as he turned away.

Sergei just quirked a brow at his friend's back.

“See there,” Princess Esterhazy soothed as she rubbed Christina's back. “He is just fine.” Christina nodded numbly. She felt so ill. All she wanted to do was get out of there, away from the heat and the thundering noise of over a thousand voices. Swallowing thickly, she held a hand to her throbbing temple.

When a cool cloth was thoughtfully pressed against her warm forehead, she sighed in relief. “Thank you,” she murmured, not really caring who had performed the merciful act. “I don't know how much more of this I can take. I think I really do need to lie down before I swoon at your feet ... or,” she swallowed deeply, “...or worse.”

“Nonsense,” Dorothea announced brightly. “Just sit still and draw in deep breaths. The dizziness will pass soon enough. It always does for me. I never realized you drank so much,” she added in awe.

Christina shuddered, and her mouth felt like cotton. “Please, could I have a glass of water?”

“Of course, my dear. Right away.” The princess turned in her seat and whispered to the footman who had arrived promptly at her elbow. Turning back, she patted Christina's hand, which was clamped with a death grip on the arm of her chair. “Now, just take it easy. The archduke is going to expect your support during the next skirmish, do not forget.”

Good heavens! Christina looked up quickly and gasped as the arena tipped alarmingly before her. “Are you sure he is well?”

“But of course. They would not allow him to mount again if he wasn't. The emperor himself would see to that.”

When the glass of cool water appeared over her shoulder, she grabbed it and tried to swallow the entire contents in one long pull. However, the glass was yanked from her hand as her two companions tsked at her. She was ordered to drink slowly; then, thankfully, it was held to her lips again. As demanded, she sipped slowly as she took the glass back into her trembling hands.

When Dorothea's squeal of delight shot like a bolt of lightning behind her eyes, Christina almost dropped the glass. Dorothea jumped to her feet, clapping and waving her veil. Her cavalry officer must have done something right, though at that moment Christina could have hardly cared less. With a groan, she pulled on Dorothea's skirts to get her to sit down again. “Please, my friend,” whispered Christina, “if you are indeed my friend, could you please not shout.”

Dorothea looked hurt, indignant and apologetic all at once. “But I wanted Karl to hear me.”

How could Christina argue with this bit of romantic logic?

Would this night never end?

Varek ignored the good-natured jostling of the men around him as he almost rudely squeezed himself through the crowd of battered, happy knights. Thank God, this interminable night was over! He couldn't even remember why he had agreed to participate in the farcical extravaganza. What had it brought him but a sore arse, an aching gut and one hell of a guilty conscience? Again he saw young von Serent's expressionless face as he lay before the doctors’ probing hands and questions. Varek hoped to God that those learned men were wrong. Not to ever walk again...

Disgusted with the revelry around him, Varek quickly strode out of the room provided for the knights’ use and made his way down the long corridor, side stepping the tide of people going in the opposite direction. Hopefully, if he hurried, he might find Christina still on the dais.

Christina had been right, as usual. He had been a fool to participate in an event that should have been left to the young. He was ashamed to admit it to himself, but he knew why he had gotten swept up in the seduction of a fantasy. In a weak moment he had had the puerile, idiotic notion that flaunting his skills before Christina would impress her. He would wear her colors and win honors for her. The humbling fact was, she hadn't been impressed at all, instead she had gotten herself drunk! A spurt of reluctant laughter passed his bruised lips. Lord, what a mess this evening had turned out to be. Next time he talked himself into such an insane situation he would have Sergei slap some sense into him.

Von Serent's face again plagued him as he continued through the maddening throng. Over and over, those last fatal minutes of the mock battle twisted and shifted about in his mind. Maybe there was something else he could have done to bring the young fool down? Something he should have said when he had a sense of what was coming? But no matter how many times or in how many different ways he replayed the damned scene in his mind, it always had the same unfortunate ending. He had had no choice but to repel von Serent's attack exactly as he had. Would he ever forget the sight of the young count being taken from the field in disgrace, his father turning his back on his only son? Attacking a man's back could not be condoned as anything but what it was, the act of a dishonorable man.

Varek's temper, not at its best at that moment, only flared higher, when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the cause of today's debacle. Smiling and laughing with a conscienceless frivolity that made Varek grit his teeth in enraged frustration, Sophy sauntered along with the crowd preparing to depart for the main ballroom. So much for flying to her lover's side in agonized devotion, Varek fumed as he continued on his way, not trusting himself to contain his temper if he was forced to confront her.

Unfortunately, Sophy turned at that moment and caught sight of him. Immediately, she crossed the busy corridor and darted his way. Biting back a particularly vulgar curse, he tried to step around a group of giggling ladies, in the vain hope of avoiding her. No such luck, for she was too intent on her prey to give up easily.

“Varek, darling,” Sophy purred, her claws latching onto his sleeve.

Taking a deep breath, he stopped short. His hands clenched as he swung around on her, shaking off her hold. “You had best stay out of my way,” he warned coldly as he stepped away from her encroaching presence.

Her eyes widened in a pretense of hurt. “I just wanted to compliment you on your valiant play in the games. A truly heroic knight, to show such mercy where none was given.” Her low, breathy voice grated on his already strained nerves.

Varek couldn't believe the gall of the woman. For a long moment he contemplated the wall behind her, his expression flat. “Listen to me, madam.” His distaste for her was all too evident in his steely voice. “Since it is obvious you have no intention of conducting yourself with any integrity, then so be it. You leave me no recourse but to treat you accordingly.” His gaze suddenly shifted down.

Sophy gasped as she involuntarily stepped back. Those famed icy blue irises were frigid with a devouring rage held close on the edge. His glare met her wide eyes full on, and she felt as if his fury would rend her apart. Swallowing hard, her breath accelerating, her hand inched up to clutch her throat, as if to protect that defenseless flesh from the jaws of a ravening beast.

Through her fear she heard his voice, low and clipped, so very precise. “Your petty vengeance has done irretrievable harm this day. Because of you, a brilliant young man lies paralyzed, and his noble and ancient name has been brushed with the taint of dishonor. Least of which, you have forced my hand to be a part of this sordid mishap.” Leaning down, he pinched her chin between ruthless fingers as he brought her face so close she could feel his breath burn her lips. “Listen to me true, madam. I give you till tomorrow to remove yourself from Vienna. If you ignore me, I shall feel it my duty to seek retribution from you, and that equal to what you have taken from the von Serent family.”

Sophy tried to pull free from his painful grip, but it only tightened. When tears sprang to her eyes, she saw him smile, the cruel lips curving slowly. “Do we understand one another?”

Shaken, her face still painfully clutched in his merciless fingers, she whispered back fiercely, defiant to the bitter end. “What could you possibly do to me that you haven't already done? I loved you, damn you!”

Varek's crack of laughter mocked her words. “Loved me?” he derided callously. Flicking the expensive circlet of diamonds around her wrist with his finger, he taunted her, “This is the only love you know, madam. This is what you dream of, what you covet. As to what havoc I could cause in your life?” His finger brushed with seeming tenderness over her cheek. “Von Serent lost the use of his legs this night. How would you be able to sell your body for such jewels as these with a scar running down your pretty cheek? Would that be retribution enough?” He smiled in genuine amusement this time as his threat sank in and terror flashed across her flawless features. Softly, he drawled, “Perhaps now we understand one another?”

Through tight lips, she asked, “Do I have a choice?”

His gaze raked over her, his expression hard as flint. “None.”

When she said nothing further, he brushed past her and hurried on his way.

Shaking with the power of her rage, Sophy took a deep breath as she struggled to gather up the shreds of her ravaged pride. When she finally had the courage to look about her, all she saw were malicious smiles spread before her like the evil tides of an approaching storm. Her narrowed gaze swung back to Varek, and she caught a last glimpse of his broad shoulders before he disappeared behind the curtain that led to the dais of the Queens. To lick his lady's feet, no doubt, she thought viciously.

Then, as the crowd continued on its way, teeming around her as if she didn't even exist, she raised her head high. Her fingers clutched the folds of her skirts to hide their trembling and, with unhurried grace, she left the gaily laughing people behind as she headed for the exit.

Tonight she had to pack and make arrangements for traveling. But tomorrow ... tomorrow she would have all the time in the world to decide how she would make that bastard pay.

“Oh, dear!” Varek heard Laure's voice before he snapped back the curtain and stepped onto the now empty dais, empty except for a very pale Christina and her obviously worried friend.

“Good evening, my ladies.” He bowed low, amused at the sight before him. As he had thought, Christina was now paying for her transgression. “Enjoy the games?”

Christina didn't even look up at this bit of mockery, and Varek's smile faded a bit at this untypical reaction to his teasing. His gaze shifted to the princess, who was glaring, at him in obvious irritation.

“Stop teasing Varek, and help me. I believe she is going to be ill, poor thing.”

The grin now wiped from his face, Varek was on his knees beside Christina in a heartbeat. True to Laure's words, Christina's face had a decidedly sickly pallor, her skin damp and clammy. He could feel her shiver as she struggled to keep down the contents of her belly. When she slowly turned her head to look at him, he could see her eyes were red and watering.