When Love Commands by Jennifer Wilde

Author:Jennifer Wilde
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497698185
Publisher: Open Road Media

Chapter Sixteen

Count Orlov was delighted that I had finally decided to spend some of his money. When I told him that I needed the right jewelry to go with the gown I intended to wear to the theater Tuesday night, he insisted I go to Maitlev’s and buy anything I wanted. Maitlev’s was on the Nevsky Prospekt, the richest, most exclusive jeweler in St. Petersburg. Catherine herself frequently bought jewelry there, and all of her court patronized it. Any special purchase made there was soon gossiped about in the marble corridors of the Winter Palace, and Orlov wanted people to know his “mistress” shopped there.

“Buy the necklace, the earrings, the bracelets,” he told me. “Diamonds, emeralds—anything you want. Orlov does not care what it costs.”

He insisted I take his carriage, and that presented a problem, but I had a private talk with Vanya and found a solution quickly enough. I was slightly nervous as I came downstairs in my sky blue silk gown and a hooded white ermine cloak. Instinct told me that if Orlov knew what I was planning he would be furious, would forbid me to go, and I prayed I could carry it through without his knowing. Having to take the Orlov carriage complicated matters—he wanted me to be seen, of course, and the carriage was highly visible—for there would not only be the driver and the footman to contend with but six outriders as well.

My heart sank when I saw Vladimir waiting for me in the grand hall, and I muttered an expletive I rarely used. He would be one of the outriders, I thought. Orlov would naturally send his most trusted guard to accompany his mistress. Wearing the familiar silver-trimmed dark blue livery, the tall fur cap and the short, heavy blue cape trimmed with the same sleek black fur, Vladimir scowled, no happier about his assignment than I was. During the intervening weeks, we had become no friendlier than we had been when he brought the red fox fur to me at the village. The hostility still burned in his eyes as he nodded curtly and led me outside.

The carriage stood waiting on the drive, gleaming like an enormous jewel in the early afternoon sunlight. The white laquer exterior was overlaid with ornate silver filigree, and the blue lacquer doors, framed in silver, bore the Orlov crest in silver and precious gems. The lacquer roof was domed, surmounted by a silver crown, and the vehicle was pulled by six white horses in silver harness, dark blue plumes waving atop their heads. No one would miss us as we drove through the streets of St. Petersburg, as Orlov intended.

Vladimir opened the door for me. I climbed inside and sank back against the dark blue velvet upholstery. I looked out the windows draped with cloth-of-silver curtains, watching the Marble Palace disappear as we drove through the park and turned onto the street.

I had been playing my role for eight days now, playing it to the hilt.

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