Forever in Your Embrace (43 page)

Curling his handsome lips scornfully, the prince leaned forward to antagonize her further, seeking additional retribution to ease his rage and jealousy. “Do you know what that means to a man, Synnovea?” He became vulgarly explicit in his explanation and was spurred on to further crudeness by the sharp intake of her breath and her horrified stare. Perhaps he might have only imagined the deepening stain that seemed to darken her cheeks, but seeing the look of stark terror on her face was almost enough to satisfy him. “You’re no longer an innocent, Synnovea, so you know I’m telling you the whole dirty truth of it. He’ll never again have the ability to make love to you. He’ll be a eunuch when I get through with him, and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself. I warned you, but you were too stubborn to listen. Now you’ll both pay.”

If Synnovea had been able to summon some minute hope that Aleksei would listen to her pleas for clemency, she would’ve gladly gone down on her knees before him and begged for Tyrone’s release, but the prince was clearly in a vengeful mood and wouldn’t be content until his deeds were carried out. He made no idle threat. She could believe he would do exactly what he had threatened.

In spite of her frantic search for a way to bring about Tyrone’s escape from this predicament in which she had entangled him, Synnovea was frighteningly aware that with each whirling turn of the wheels, she and her valiant but senseless suitor were being taken ever closer to a moment of reckoning. And she could do nothing whatsoever to stop it from happening.

The conveyance turned into a lane near the Taraslov manse and came to a halt in front of the carriage house. As the steeds jaunced to a halt and the coach finally ceased its motion, Synnovea realized she was neither mentally nor physically prepared to face the frightening ordeal that Aleksei had planned for them. She was overwhelmed with feelings of regret for having devised the diabolical scheme that had led them to this end. Indeed, had some reprieve been extended toward them with payment being her marriage to Prince Vladimir, she’d have gladly gone that very same hour to see the nuptials performed. She couldn’t abide the thought of Tyrone suffering because of her offenses.

Ladislaus and his men dismounted and crowded around the coach as if fully expecting the Englishman to be awake and dangerous. They seemed relieved when they found him insensible to his surroundings and incapable of even the smallest struggle.

Aleksei bade four of the burly outlaws to carry their prisoner into the carriage house and hang him by his wrists from the rafters. For good measure, Ladislaus instructed several more to stand guard with pistols held at the ready, just in case the good colonel revived before they had made him sufficiently secure.

Aleksei barely considered the idea of Synnovea trying an escape now. She seemed far more intent upon following the procession, which he pompously led. His attention was occupied with giving orders to his recruited culprits, and so delighted was he with that particular task that he failed to notice a diminutive form quickly scurrying behind a shrub as he and Ladislaus’s men passed with their burden. He was equally unobservant when the tiny, shadowy shade reached out to grasp Synnovea’s arm and yank her behind that same bush.

“Ali!” Though the cry was no more than a startled whisper, Synnovea could have shouted out the servant’s name in sheer joy. Her relief to see someone who could help was nearly overwhelming. “Why are you still here?”

“As ye can probably guess for yerself, me lamb, Stenka is takin’ his own sweet time comin’ back for me.” The Irish-woman cocked a curious eye after the departing men. “What’s that thievin’ beastie Ladislaus doin’ here anyway? An’ Prince Aleksei, is he in cahoots wit’ the brigand?”

Synnovea had no time to answer the woman’s questions. “Ali, you must help me! Colonel Rycroft is in great danger.”

“Well, I figgered as much meself as soon as I seen him bein’ toted an’ guarded by so many,” the servant commented dryly. Ali peered around the bush, closely eyeing the four who hauled their captive through the door of the stable. “But I haven’t a ken what I can do ta save his handsome self from all ’em foul brutes. They’d only knock me senseless again if’n I interfere, an’ what help would I be then?”

“Listen carefully, and I’ll gladly tell you!” Synnovea whispered urgently. “You must leave here posthaste and halt the carriage on the street before any of Ladislaus’s men have a chance to see you. Once you find Stenka, have him take you immediately to the tsar’s palace. There you must urge a guard to fetch Major Nekrasov for you. Tell the major that Ladislaus is here in the city and that Colonel Rycroft is in imminent peril. It is imperative that a force of men come at once to his rescue. Do you understand?”

“Aye, that I do, lamb,” Ali replied with a nod. “But I gotta go now ’cause I hear Stenka comin’ down the lane.” With a leaping skitter, she raced off to meet the coach as it rumbled up the thoroughfare toward the manse.

Now, with some hope for Tyrone’s rescue flourishing within her breast, Synnovea caught up her skirts and raced after the men who were crowding inside the carriage house. Several tallow lanterns had been lit here and there throughout the barn, but for the most part, the light seemed concentrated upon an open area which they were now surrounding. Synnovea grew cold with dread as the brigands chortled and loudly boasted of their own participation in the capture of the Englishman, but she slipped through narrow breaches in their broad-shouldered ranks until she gained the inner circle. Aleksei stood near the core of that area, and she suffered a moment of panic as she sensed his heightened exhilaration. Facing her, he smirked with malevolent glee and raised a hand to beckon her forward.

“You’re just in time, my dear.” He casually indicated the long, manly form dangling from the rafters. “We were about to awaken your handsome lover with a cold bath. Would you care to admire him for one last moment ere he’s forever scarred and mutilated?”

The strength ebbed from Synnovea’s limbs when her eyes found Tyrone. He now wore only the chausses he had donned beneath his breeches, but they drooped around his narrow hips, barely preserving his modesty as he hung by his wrists. His head dangled forward limply between upstretched arms. His ankles had been shackled to a pair of huge, weighty anvils, which had been separated to keep his legs widespread and at an uncomfortable angle. She could imagine the reason.

Synnovea stifled an anguished moan as Ladislaus reached up a hand and seized a short thatch of pale-streaked hair, jerking his captive’s head upright. Then, with a snort of derision, he let it fall again and signaled a comrade to awaken their prisoner. In the next instant a bucketful of water was flung into Tyrone’s face, bringing him around to a half-muddled state. His head only lolled listlessly between his shoulders while the trickling water cascaded down his body, weighing down the stockings until they sagged against him wetly. Once more the pail was filled from the watering trough and heaved into his face, this time startling Tyrone awake with a gasp of surprise. Tiny droplets of water sprayed outward as he jerked up his head and glared about him. His gaze softened briefly when it paused on Synnovea, but his eyes hardened just as quickly when he took note of the dark bruises on her brow and cheek and the split and swollen bottom lip.

Aleksei stepped forward almost jauntily and held a tallow lantern high to see the Englishman’s face better. “So, Colonel Rycroft, we meet at last.”

“Forbear the introductions,” Tyrone growled, and squinted against the light to fix the man with a piercing scowl. “I know who you are. You’re the toad who tried to force Synnovea into serving your pleasure. It must gall you considerably to think that she prefers me over you.”

Aleksei laughed harshly in loathing disdain. “About as much as it might provoke you to be told that she only used you for her own devices. Only a few days ago my ward became formally betrothed to Prince Vladimir Dimitrievich. She swore to see herself disgraced by the likes of you rather than submit to the marriage. So you see, my friend, you’ve been foolishly duped into believing the wench cared for you. ’Twas but a ruse she invented to save herself from an arrangement of marriage which she abhorred.”

Tyrone shifted his gaze to Synnovea, feeling her treachery pierce his heart as deeply as any steel-tipped pike. Though she stepped awkwardly forward and struggled in vain to speak the words that came to her lips, he knew of a sudden that everything Aleksei had said was true. He had been used! Deceived! Played the fool! And now he would pay for it!

The blue eyes turned coldly away from her to peruse the leering faces of the men who watched him; he recognized several from his first encounter with Ladislaus’s pack. He had heard their sniggering laughter when someone made the translation into Russian. It was just as obvious that they were gloating over their good fortune at having seized him at last.

“So now you have me in your trap.” He faced Aleksei with the declaration. “What do you plan to do with me?”

“Oh, I’ve reserved a special punishment for you, Colonel, one that I’m sure you’ll forever revile. ’Twill serve to remind you of your folly in sullying a Russian
boyarina.
Indeed, my friend, after tonight you’ll never be able to make love to another woman as long as you live. After you’re given a proper lashing, you’ll be gelded while the girl is forced to watch.”

Aleksei strode around Synnovea, reveling in the revenge he would take, but Tyrone gnashed his teeth against the effort of propelling his body forward against the ponderous weights ensnaring his ankles. Relaxing as he swung backward, he recouped his strength and strained forward again. Over and over he tried until he was swaying to and fro, with each subsequent movement gaining momentum to pull the anvils with him. He saw his goal near and stretched his legs outward to lock the prince in the steely vise of his thighs, but a warning shout from one of the men alerted Aleksei, who, upon espying the imminent threat, gasped in sudden alarm and stumbled back from the dangerously encroaching limbs. From a place of safety, he looked at the colonel with eyes that momentarily portrayed evidence of fear.

When the prince finally regained his aplomb, he gave a crisp nod to the tall, brawny fellow who had stripped himself to his waist, baring a massive chest that was covered with a thick thatch of curling black hair. It was the Goliath who had once sent the colonel’s helmet sailing off his head. Now it seemed that he would have the personal pleasure of dealing out what the thieves deemed a befitting punishment upon their adversary.

The Goliath hefted a many-tongued lash as he strode to a spot slightly behind and to the right of Tyrone. “Brace yourself, Englishman,” he rumbled deeply. “The weapons I wield are more often spikes and cutlasses, but I can assure you that you’ll wish for a quick end ere I’m finished.”

Aleksei smiled in eager anticipation. Bracing his feet apart, he folded his arms across his chest like some dark-skinned sultan as he awaited the first scourging stroke. The titan drew back his arm, shaking out the lash in preparation.

“
NOOOooo!
You mustn’t!” Synnovea railed and threw herself at Aleksei’s feet, where she sobbed out a desperate plea. “Oh, please spare him! I beg you, Aleksei, don’t do this thing! I yield you whatever you want from me if you would only have pity on him. I’ll give myself to you gladly! Just don’t hurt him!”

“Do you think I’ll sully myself by taking his leavings?” Aleksei sneered as he glared down at her. “You were merely one of the colonel’s fleeting fancies, my dear. Don’t you know that? Bedding every wench who strikes his fancy is what a soldier does best when he’s not chasing the enemy. There’s no accounting for how many others your precious colonel had before bedding you! But no! You had to give yourself to him! Well, I don’t want you now! After this, as far as I’m concerned, you can serve Ladislaus’s pleasure. ’Twill be a fitting punishment for ignoring my warnings.” Lifting his head, Aleksei looked inquiringly at the leader of the thieves. “What say you, Ladislaus? Will she be payment enough for you?”

Synnovea’s head snapped around, and she stared in horror at the flaxen-haired thief whose ice-blue eyes gleamed back at her above a broad grin.

“Oh, Great Exalted Prince,” the lordling thief casually mocked. “With the colonel rendered his just due, she’ll be more than payment enough for me. My men, however, will have to be paid in gold, as you have promised.”

Whirling back to face Aleksei, Synnovea glared at him. “You wouldn’t dare attempt this outrage! The tsar—”

Aleksei intruded curtly. “Natasha was responsible for you during the absence of my wife,” he informed her loftily. “If she allowed you to wander off with the Englishman, and you and he were never seen again…then the fault will lie with her. You can be sure that is as much as the tsar will ever know about this matter.”

Dismissing her with a wave of his hand, Aleksei faced the bare-chested brute and gave him a nod, urging the man to continue. That one hauled back the whip, and an instant later it fell, bringing a pained grimace from Tyrone and a sobbing scream from Synnovea as she threw herself between him and the one who had delivered the stroke. Clasping her slender arms around her lover’s thighs, she braced herself to be his shield and glowered back at the men in defiance.

Tyrone’s rage was supreme. He saw the taunting grins of his foes through a furious red haze. He had no need for them to call him a fool for having played into the countess’s hands. The throbbing in his back served to remind him of that fact, but the pain was not as unbearable as the one that throbbed near his heart and in his brain. Gnashing his teeth in a savage snarl, he tossed Synnovea away with a sideways heave of his body, curtly rejecting her protection. “You conniving little bitch! Get away from me! Even if these louts mean to skin me alive, I’ll take nothing from you, least of all your pity or your shelter! As far as I’m concerned, Ladislaus can have you! With my most earnest blessings!”