The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn

Author:Suzanne Weyn [Weyn, Suzanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9781416975304
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2005-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Struggles

“Why are you so agitated?” Sergei demanded of Ivan once Nadya and Irina were gone. Count Dubinsky also had gone to consult with his chef about lunch, and the two were alone in the library.

“Are we really going to present her to the world as Anastasia at this party?” Ivan asked. “Don’t you think that’s dangerous? There will be Russian émigrés who knew the Imperial Family.”

“But Dubinsky is right. Don’t you see?” Sergei said. “We simply say she lost her memory. And it is true!” The moment the count had suggested it, Sergei had wondered why they hadn’t thought of it themselves. Here they were, about to embark on the arduous, nearly impossible task of training a common-born girl to behave like royalty when all they had to do was claim she had amnesia. Since Nadya really did have amnesia, the plan should have been obvious to them from the start.

“It won’t work,” Ivan insisted. “Even if Anastasia had lost her memory, she wouldn’t be as rough as Nadya.”

“I don’t find her to be all that rough,” Sergei disagreed. In fact, the more he got to know Nadya, the more he saw a natural refinement in her. “She has the most exquisite handwriting,” he recalled.

“But she doesn’t know royal things,” Ivan objected.

“Amnesia,” Sergei reminded him.

Ivan disgustedly waved him away as he turned. “What if she doesn’t fit in with this bunch of aristocrats Dubinsky is inviting, and they make her feel foolish? She might lose her confidence and refuse to go the rest of the way to meet the empress. Then all our efforts will have been for nothing. We’ll have wasted all this time, and we won’t get the reward money!”

Sergei watched his friend for a moment without speaking. What a complex fellow he was! Why did he insist on cloaking his decent, even sensitive, nature with a facade of put-on callousness? Sergei was almost certain Ivan had fallen in love with the girl, but here he was insisting, yet again, that all he cared about was the reward money.

“We’ll spoil everything if we rush her,” Ivan muttered.

“Are you afraid she won’t pass the test or are you trying to shield her from embarrassment?” Sergei probed. He suspected that Ivan was protecting Nadya—another possible way that this brewing romance was complicating things.

“Maybe a little of both,” he admitted, still staring into the fire.

“I thought so.” Sergei settled onto the leather couch. “Believe me, my friend, I feel just as protective of Nadya. I’ve had my second thoughts about all this, as you well know. One thing worried me in particular,” he said.

“What is that?” Ivan asked.

“By presenting Nadya to the empress, aren’t we stopping her from finding her real family? Maybe somewhere her true family is looking for her.” As Sergei spoke these words, a lump formed unexpectedly in his throat. What if somewhere his wife Elana still lived and was down on her luck, struggling to support their son on her own? Sergei imagined a scenario where she agreed to pose as Anastasia for two con men like themselves.

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