Silver Nights by Jane Feather

Author:Jane Feather [Feather, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: cookie429, Kat, Extratorrents
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 1989-11-07T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

It was an icy gray afternoon at the end of December when the reed-thatched roofs of the village of Berkholzskoye appeared across the frozen steppe.

Sophie, who had been glued to the window since they left Kiev, jumped as if the sight were unexpected. Tears filled her eyes, and she kept her gaze averted from Adam in sudden embarrassment at this unstoppable flood of emotion.

Adam was not deceived. Reaching over, he took her jaw between long fingers, turning her face toward him. Tears made tracks down her cheeks, and she sniffed pathetically. “I did not think I would ever see Berkholzskoye again.”

He smudged a tear with the flat of his thumb. “You do not want to show such a wan countenance to your grandfather, sweet.”

“If he is still alive.” Finally, she was able to voice the fear that had haunted her for weeks. “I cannot understand why he never wrote—”

“The fact that you did not receive any letters did not mean that he did not write them,” Adam said quietly, watching her face.

For a moment she looked blank, then understanding dawned. Tears dried instantly, in their place the fierce anger that he knew well and now welcomed. “Paul kept them from me. That is what you mean, is it not?”

He nodded. “I do not know it for a fact, but it does not seem unlikely.”

“I wish I had been able to kill him!” She flung herself against the back of the bench with a furious thump. “I would not mind my own death if it brought about his!”

“There are times when you do talk the most extravagant nonsense, Sophia Alexeyevna,” Adam observed coolly. He was rewarded by an indignant flash from the dark eyes, then a reluctant gleam of humor.

“And when I do I can always be certain you will pull me up,” she said, chuckling, turning back to the window in growing impatience. “Oh, I wish I could ride Khan. We would be home in twenty minutes. This is so slow!” She was clenching and unclenching her hands, twisting them in impossible knots, her feet drumming unmelodiously upon the floor.

Sitting back in the corner, Adam smilingly watched her through half-closed eyes. A two-day halt in Novgorod, the first sizable city after leaving St. Petersburg, had provided her with clothes and other basic necessities, so that, despite the privations of the journey, she no longer had the appearance of a homeless gypsy. But they were all dirty, fatigued with travel, and had almost forgotten what it was like to be properly warm or how it would feel to be without the furs they had worn day and night for a month, to have a bath, to sleep in a proper bed in a warm room, with no need for anything more than a nightshirt…. It was a heady prospect. His lips curved in pleasurable anticipation. An entire night of privacy with Sophia Alexeyevna in his arms, naked…

The image of Prince Golitskov rose before him. Just what was the irascible old man going to make of this tangle?

“You may leave the explanations to me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.