Forever in Your Embrace (31 page)

Despite the rather questionable attributes of her newly acquired guards, Synnovea soon realized that they were, at the very least, proficient at provoking her ire. After Aleksei left, they set up their surveillance closer to the church, built up a huge fire, and liberally guzzled large quantities of
kvass
and vodka while they involved themselves in lewd cavorting and riotous dancing with several strumpets who had joined them.

Thoroughly abashed by the group’s unrestrained revelry, Synnovea begged forgiveness from Friar Philip. “I had no idea that I would be inviting this shameful exhibition by coming here.”

“You’re not to blame, my child,” the old man assured her kindly. “Today you’ve done a good service. The coins you’ve given will go a long way toward buying food for these poor people.” His eyes briefly flitted toward the rapscallions who taunted those who had taken shelter within the church. “Don’t let their presence demean the good deeds you’ve done here this day.”

Synnovea took his rough, work-hardened hand and pressed a kiss upon it. “I’ll come back when I’m free of them. Until then, my servant will bring a regular stipend to enable you to feed those who come to you.”

“Bless you for your kindness, my child.”

Kneeling before him, Synnovea accepted his prayers for her safety and well-being. Then she and her companions returned to Natasha’s coach. As it rumbled off down the road, the rowdies climbed into their saddles and followed, deserting the harlots, who shook their fists in disappointment and screamed profanities after them.

The coachman recognized the need for haste and cracked his whip often, urging the steeds to their fastest gait, but the band of ruffians only grew bolder and came alongside to hoot and chortle in glee as they performed dangerous stunts in and out of their saddles. Once the coach reached the safety of the Andreyevna manse, the rabble gathered in front, sending servants scurrying to bolt portals and windows against the possibility of a forced entrance, while the houseman took up arms and stood guard to ensure the miscreants kept their distance.

The occupants of the mansion faced another quandary when the steward heralded the approach of Vladimir and his sons. Natasha quickly instructed her servants to arm themselves with whatever tool, weapon, or implement they could find to lend support to the princes if they were attacked. Considering the willingness of the princes to brawl, it promised to be a serious altercation.

Mere moments passed before a maid called her mistress’s attention to the fact that the riffraff had left. When Natasha and Synnovea flew to the windows to see for themselves, relief rallied their spirits when they found the announcement to be true. The doors were promptly flung open to welcome the boyars. Still, no one made mention of the callous oafs who had escorted the ladies home, lest the princes give chase.

In the next several days, the disorderly band made its presence known the few times that Synnovea ventured out in her carriage. The men followed along behind, forcing her to return without even leaving the conveyance. Had she dared visit friends, she feared the scalawags would create a scene similar to the one in which they had been involved outside Friar Philip’s chapel. No telling what the results would be.

When at the conclusion of the third day Aleksei stood outside the mansion with a pleased smirk on his face, Synnovea felt as if he had just laughed in her face. That was all it took for her to finally settle her mind on her final course of action. She’d be hanged and quartered before allowing him the ultimate triumph.

Even so tenuous a solution to her problem was enough to calm the brooding indecision that had beset Synnovea since Anna’s announcement of her betrothal. She resigned herself to the controversial means of escape, lending her attention to the task of devising a plan by which she could entice the worldly Colonel Rycroft to serve as her seducer. That feat presented no great challenge. It was the withholding of her virtue that promised to be the formidable part, for she had no doubt that the man would have his mind set on claiming that very thing she wished to preserve. If his cavalier boldness in the bathhouse sufficed as an indication, then she could believe the man was quite adept at a game she knew little about, and if she couldn’t control his ardor to her liking, where would she be left but in his bed?

“I shall need your assistance if you’re inclined to give it,” she begged Natasha after gingerly explaining her proposal. “It could well mean danger for us both if my plans go awry, so if you’ve no heart for it, I’ll surely understand. Aleksei is adamant about halting any intervention that would see me rejected as a fit bride by Vladimir, yet he has boasted that he’ll see the old man cuckolded before he relents. If you help me in this, you may not be safe from his revenge.”

“I’m not afraid of that pompous crow, but I do have a concern for what may happen to you in this scheme of yours.” Natasha chose her words carefully, not wanting to strip away the last shred of hope to which her young friend now clung. Yet she’d be doing the girl a grave disservice if she didn’t caution her. “I’d not be a true friend, my dear, if I only encouraged you to continue and did not warn you of the danger you’ll be courting. Frankly, I think you have more to fear from the Englishman than you do from Aleksei. Aleksei is certainly acting out of character by trying to preserve your virtue for Vladimir, and to me, that indicates he’s sincere about having you after you’re wed. But take heed. Colonel Rycroft has no cause to play such waiting games. Once you encourage him, you may be hard-pressed to dissuade him from carrying out your initiation forthwith. You’re but a girl, innocent of the passions that can goad a man. If you tempt him overmuch, I’m afraid you’ll see just how hard the colonel is driven.”

“Surely he is besieged with strumpets where he lives. I’ve heard it rumored that the harlots zealously seek out the foreigners who come here without kith and kin. Colonel Rycroft should be exhausted by now from all their attention.”

“Who spills such gossip about the man?” Natasha queried indignantly.

Synnovea was amazed by her friend’s outrage. “Anna was positive that Colonel Rycroft liberally availed himself of their services.”

“As if
she
would know!” Natasha scoffed in derision. Beckoning Synnovea near, she spoke in a hushed tone as if revealing an intimate secret in a crowded room. “I’ve heard it said that Colonel Rycroft has dumbfounded many of his fellow officers by turning down invitations put forth by several young
boyarinas
who’ve recently been widowed and yearn to have him as their lover. In view of the fact that he has refused to accept what has been freely offered by women who are attractive as well as wealthy, do you suppose that he’d be wont to lay out coins to appease himself with harlots? He seems intent upon his work and winning you, so if it’s your plan to trick him, you should be warned. He won’t consider it kindly if you tempt him unduly and then torment him with a refusal.”

Synnovea felt strangely placated by Natasha’s news, yet she searched the woman’s face wonderingly. “Are you suggesting that I choose another to serve as my so-called debaucher?”

“Are you really so bent on going through with this farce?” Natasha countered in amazement, but she waved away any answer when she searched the translucent orbs and recognized the depth of the girl’s mettle. “Never mind. I can see for myself that you mean to have your way in this matter, and although I’m reluctant to see you sacrifice the affections of the Englishman in your wild scheme, I cannot imagine anyone who’d serve your purpose as well as Colonel Rycroft. At least, if you cannot hold him off, you’ll likely be gifted with a beautiful child to remind you of him long years after he’s gone.”

Synnovea frowned petulantly. “You’re not being at all encouraging.”

“No, but I am being truthful,” Natasha pointed out. “If the thought of bearing a child outside of marriage frightens you, my dear, then you should at least consider the difficulty you’ll have holding off the colonel’s advances. He has made it clear that he wants you enough to petition the tsar for an opportunity to court you. He hasn’t done that for any other woman. How can you even dare believe that he’ll keep his breeches in place once you’ve lured him to his quarters? If you ask me, you haven’t taken into consideration the harsh consequences you’ll suffer if things go awry.”

“I
have!
Night and day! I’ve also imagined the horror I’ll likely feel once I’m ensconced in Vladimir’s bed. That’s exactly the kind of reaction that Aleksei is counting on to drive me to him, but if he thinks Colonel Rycroft has had his way with me, Aleksei will be leery of what vermin a man with his reputation may have left behind.”

Natasha heaved a laborious sigh, yielding to her arguments. “What do you intend?”

Synnovea thoughtfully set forth the requirements needed for the success of her plan. “ ’Twill be necessary for Aleksei and his paid cohorts to discover their mistake about an hour and a half after you leave here. That will give the colonel and me time to reach his quarters and have a glass or two of wine, but little else. It’s a fair distance to the German district. I dared to time it the other day while those hooligans followed my coach. Still, if you tell Stenka to halt the coach too late, or if something else goes awry, there’ll be no help for me. You’re the only one I can trust to see this thing through according to my directions. I won’t be able to hold the colonel at bay forever. Once Aleksei arrives with his rabble, hopefully circumstances will appear far worse than they actually are and Aleksei will be convinced that he has little choice but to tell my betrothed of my indiscretion. Vladimir’s rejection of me will accomplish the rest.”

Feeling a niggling apprehension about the whole ruse, Natasha sought again to offer her young friend counsel. “What do you expect will happen when Colonel Rycroft and Aleksei confront each other? Do you honestly think the colonel will give you up without a fight?”

“Hopefully he will be wise enough to know that quarreling with Aleksei will be futile, and will make good his escape as I will urge him to do.”

“I doubt the colonel will be in a logical frame of mind after being interrupted on the very threshold of having his way with you.”

“He’ll have no choice but to flee once he sees the band of men that Aleksei will bring with him.”

“Dear child, this whole plan of yours is dangerous,” Natasha replied fretfully. “In time you may be sorry you’ve scandalized your reputation, but after the deed is done, there’ll be little you can say or do to make it all right again. And don’t imagine that it will go as smoothly as you hope. Even in the best of plans, something usually goes wrong, and if you’re not the one who’ll pay, then have some regard for Colonel Rycroft. He’s a foreigner in this country. Who will go to his aid or defense if he’s taken? The tsar may consider the divestment of your virginity an affront to your father’s memory and seek serious retribution from the colonel.”

“Then I shall speak in his behalf,” Synnovea stated stubbornly and, at the elder’s incredulous stare, lifted her shoulders in a dismal shrug. “If need be, I’ll plead my cause to Tsar Mikhail and admit that it was I who deliberately enticed the Englishman for the purpose of escaping marriage to Vladimir.”

“Now
that
should be a tale to raise a few brows,” Natasha remarked, flicking her own eyebrows briefly upward to display her skepticism.

Synnovea went down on her knees before the woman and gazed up at her pleadingly. “Oh, Natasha, if I don’t try this, there’ll be no escape for me. Aleksei will never give me peace until I yield myself to him, and once I’m married, I’ll be forever bound to Vladimir until one of us is laid in the grave.”

Natasha heaved a gloomy sigh. “I can certainly understand your reluctance to wed an ancient. When I was much younger, I abhorred the idea of submitting myself to my first husband. Though he was kind, he was great in years, actually younger than Vladimir by five years, and I found no joy in our bed.”

Synnovea laid her cheek upon the woman’s knee. “I don’t hate Vladimir, Natasha. He’s a far better man than Aleksei might have chosen had he been given more time. It’s just that—”

“I know, Synnovea. There’s no need for you to explain. Your head has been filled with glorious visions of love and marriage similar to what your parents shared together. If anyone is to blame for the hopes you cling to, then it’s Aleksandr and Eleanora. They wanted you to know the same joy and devotion they shared.”

“Perhaps Anna was right,” Synnovea murmured dejectedly. “Perhaps I’ve been pampered too much in my life.”

“If that be true, my dear, then I’m inclined to believe that all children should be coddled in the same manner, for you have all the qualities I would desire to see in a daughter.” Natasha stroked the dark head affectionately. “Don’t concern yourself about Anna and the insults she would lay upon you. She lives in her own private hell, and she seeks to share her fate with others. We must forget her and set our minds now to more important matters, such as refining this ingenious plan of yours. The less left to chance, the better it will be for you—
and
Colonel Rycroft. Of course, you know there’ll be a definite chance that he’ll hate you after this. A man’s pride is most tender when his affections and emotions are carelessly used by a woman.”

Synnovea was discomforted by the idea that Tyrone would come to hate her, but she had already laid out the path that she must take, and she wasn’t about to veer from it now. “The colonel will live through this blow to his confidence far better than Vladimir would if I were to reveal my aversion to him. Should I tell the truth and lay the old man low, even so much as in the grave?”