My Angel (20 page)

"Wrap your legs around me and I'll show you what you've been missing."

Intoxicated with carnal need, she instantly obeyed. He walked with her until her back was against the stable wall. A stallion reared his head back and kicked his stall door. Ivan reared his own head back, the air charged with sexual energy.

"Easy, fella, I'll find a mate for you as soon as I'm finished with my little mare." In answer the stallion bucked, kicking with his hind legs against the wall once more.

Ivan pulled at her bodice, the fabric falling away in shreds. Her breasts swayed free, and he licked and kissed her until she cried out again. "Ivan!"

"That's it; show me how much you want me."

She unlaced his pants and he sprang free. In one swift move he sheathed himself deep inside her, touching her womb. But he didn't move. She climaxed around him. "Ivan..."

When she stopped, he began to move inside, starting over from the beginning, tonguing her breasts, nipping and licking the crests again and again.

Feodora moaned his name once more, and in a matter of seconds she was moving and thrusting herself against him. All she could think about was Alexi and how much she hated him. More than anything she wanted Alexi to see her in another man's arms--in Ivan's arms. She wanted to punish Alexi for daring to bring a mistress to what was soon to be her home.

She came then with a shuddering cry.

Negligently, he withdrew from her and fastened his pants, leaving her disheveled and on the ground in the stables.

"Come back tonight," he said, his voice holding no trace of emotion. And he walked away from her. All she could see of him was his broad, powerful back and swaggering hips. Still she stared after him, hating him
and his arrogance almost as much as she hated Alexi.

Cursing her need for Ivan, Feodora pulled her tattered bodice together, plucked a few pieces of straw from her wild hair, and fled to the house, hoping that no one would see her. Her luck failed her.

At the upstairs window, Natasha watched and smiled a knowing smile.

Feodora shuddered, a feeling of doom sweeping through her.

~ * ~

"What will be your first pleasure, sweet flower?" Alexi whispered, his lips almost touching Angela's as their private car came to a stop beneath the newly built Waldorf Hotel. "Food, a bath or me? Personally, I'm starving, and it's not for food. I wanted you yesterday, the day before and the day before that. I've been a patient man. Now the waiting is over."

Alexi's hand was on her arm as he guided her down the steps of the train and into the lavish hotel. He'd anticipated this night for what seemed to him a lifetime. Having his adorable Angela in his arms and in his bed beneath him could not come soon enough.

Angela smiled broadly at him, giving him a saucy wink in the process. "A bath, food then you," she told him.

Yet beneath all the bravado, he felt her shyness and wondered at it. It was a game not to his liking. She had no need to play the coy maiden with him. He'd already told her how he felt, told her that her other affairs meant nothing to him. They were in her past, not her future. They stepped into the elevator.

"Hellion," he said tenderly, knowing he'd put up with any games she wanted to play with him. "I might not give you a choice. If you don't stop tempting me, toying with my fragile masculine emotions, I will ravish you right here in the lift for all who happen by to see."

"You wouldn't dare," she said softly, with wide-eyed innocence.

But she should know he'd dare anything. Heat rose to color her cheeks. He hoped she was remembering other times when he did dare everything.

"Is that a challenge?" He backed her against the wall, his hands braced on either side of her head, leaving no room for escape. His hips pressed against her, and he hoped she could feel his growing hardness.

She wanted to be as brazen as Alexi.

"Yes..." She exhaled the word, daring him.

The lift made a grinding noise and began to move. She swallowed hard, her hands coming to rest on his shoulders. Her heart in her throat and her pride in shambles, she wanted desperately to tell him the truth, to tell him she was a virgin, had never slept with a man or felt a man deep within her. Yet she couldn't summon the courage.

Suddenly his expression turned tender, his eyes clouding with emotion. "Are you afraid?" he asked in a whisper. "Is that why you tremble beneath my touch and at my words?" His thumb lightly caressed her thrumming pulse. "You have nothing to fear from me. I would never hurt you."

"Yes," she said, burying her face and her humiliation in the folds of his shirt. "I don't want to be afraid. You've given me no reason to fear you." She sounded like a petulant child, and she hated herself for her innocence and all the self-doubts that went with it. It was not knowing that left her breathless, her heart pounding.

He was a man of the world, a man who'd had more than one lover. He would expect a great deal from her, skills she didn't possess. Yet he thought she was well versed in the sins of the flesh. Alexi did not want a virgin in his bed. He'd made that abundantly clear.

His arms came around her, cherishing her, and in the process he seemed to understand her anxiety and apprehension. "Lean on me, angel." She did. "Nothing bad will happen to you in my arms. I will protect you with my life. I will pleasure you in ways you've never dreamed of before, and I will see to your happiness. Inside and out, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met."

The lift settled on the top floor, the gates opening for them
with a grinding squeal. He swept her into his arms and carried her to their room.

"I told you I meant to ravish you." He kissed her nose, then her eyelids. "But I didn't want you take me seriously. I want to make love to you slowly, very slowly, and have that love returned."

"Please, Alexi. A bath first and then..." She allowed the sentence to end. "Give me some time and then I promise you..." Once again she let the sentence hang unfinished. She didn't know what to promise.

Now that the moment was at hand she was terrified. During the trip his sexual play had been unexpected at times and very tender at other moments, but she'd always known it would end at precisely the same place. Tonight he would show her everything about love. In his eyes, she was an experienced lady of the evening. He'd openly admitted that he preferred women who enjoyed the pleasure of their bodies and women who knew how to please a man.

He would expect her to know what she was about.

He let her slide down the length of him and, holding her at arm's length, he watched her with questioning, curious eyes. "What is this? A bashful lady? I thought you wanted me as much as I do you."

She nodded and her lips began to tremble. She held her bottom lip still with her upper teeth and swallowed painfully. "I do want you, Alexi. I want you so much it frightens me."

His smile broadened, his eyes twinkling. "I'll have to do something about all this shyness," he said, and feathered a leisurely kiss across her lips. His fingers wove through the strands of her hair, slowly tipping her head back. He deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping in and out, a parody of what he meant to do later, Angela thought distractedly, when they were in bed.

He pulled away and watched her, his eyes bright with longing and promise.

A bold knock at the door startled her.

Alexi left her side to open it. Bellhops swept through the
room. Some brought food and wine; others carried bouquets of flowers and candles. The men waited patiently after arranging the items in the room. Alexi handed them coins.

Angela inhaled several long, deep breaths.

"Now," Alexi said, "dinner will arrive shortly. I took the liberty of ordering last night, when I confirmed the reservations. The bath is this way." He ushered her into a small room with numerous facilities. "Hot and cold running water." He turned gold-handled devices, and steaming water ran into a huge porcelain tub.

She'd never seen anything so elegant or so inviting. She let the water run over her hand. "It's delightful."

His grin was broad. "So are you."

"Alexi..."

"I also ordered lotions and soap for you. I hope you like them." He waved the perfumed bottle in front of her nose. "Jasmine, my personal favorite." He kissed her gently and then he was gone.

For a few long seconds she stared at the closed door, unsure of her tremulous feelings and so very hesitant. What she was about to do would change her life forever, and it seemed too permanent. She could not regain what she was about to lose--her innocence.

They would leave the country soon. The thought loomed heavy on her mind. She'd wanted adventure, had prayed for it, but now that it was so close, she had second thoughts.

She might never see her father and mother again, or her friends. She'd miss them. But not half as much as she'd miss Alexi if she let him go without her. She'd regret that for the rest of her life.

"I love Alexi," she whispered, her hands clasped together in prayer. "I will go with him wherever he wants. It is a small price to pay for love. There is nothing to be afraid of."

She sat down on the rim of the tub and watched the water cascade into the white porcelain fixture. A heavy sigh followed, and then, gathering her courage, she stood, ready to face the new world she was about to encounter. She loved the endearing names he called her--little
houri,
his concubine--and she wondered at them, had never heard them before. In the last letter she sent to her father she had told him about the endearments to convince him of Alexi's love for her.