Love Storm (42 page)

The baroness would have been chagrined had she known it wasn't her expanse of pale bosom that had agitated Alex's astonished eyes. What had caught his eye, prompting his reaction of surprise, was the sight of the Falize necklace—
Zena's
necklace, one of a kind that he had purchased for her at Alexandre's—resting on the baroness's opulent breasts.

In one of the last weeks they were together, Alex had presented Zena with the emerald, diamond, and
cloisonné
Aexis Falize necklace, composed of Tudor rose pendants of
cloisonné
enamels set in gold and suspended from a sinuous chain of gold, emeralds, and diamonds. This was given in the hopes of lightening her melancholy moods that were appearing with more frequency. He had known she was unhappy at times, but he had brushed aside his misgivings and allowed himself to banish these qualms with extravagant gifts.

The necklace was a rare piece executed by Alexis Falize and his son
Lucien
in 1867. They had the distinction of being the first to employ the Japanese technique of
cloisonné
enamels in jewelry. The necklace had originally been purchased in Paris in 1867 by Henry Makin for his wife and had reappeared on the market when Alex purchased it. There wasn't another necklace like it in the world.

Zena had very little money when she left. It was to be expected the jewelry would be sold.

"Kasimir," Alex said with a nonchalance he was far from feeling, "your wife's necklace was extremely fetching. Did you buy it for her?"

"Me? God, no! What do I know about women's fripperies. Come, let's find Yuri; I want a chance to recoup my losses, you damnable devil."

Not wishing to expose himself to any embarrassing questions, yet driven to find out where the necklace was purchased, Alex allowed himself to be propelled into the cardroom. As Kasimir caught sight of their friend and proceeded across the crowded room to Yuri's table, Alex tried again. "That necklace was so unusual I'd like to buy one for my mother. Do you know where your wife bought it?"

Kasimir snorted. "Don't come on too brown with me, Alex. Your mother, indeed! Some tart or society hussy, more like! Damned if I can remember, though. Probably Nice or Monte Carlo or Biarritz, one of those places, I'm sure. Vickie insisted on dragging me to Florence last summer. Can you imagine Florence in the summer? Must have gone soft in the head to consent, but then Vickie can be persuasive." He raised an eyebrow and winked wickedly at Alex. "Poor empty-headed chit had some damnable notion about seeing some frescoes that one of those bluestocking females had told her about. I said wait until winter when it's respectable to go to Florence, my pet, but she insisted. Said the frescoes were crumbling from the damp or something and would soon be gone. Anyway, to make up for those dismal damp underground chapels with peeling frescoes I was forced to endure, I demanded we swing through the gambling spas, although in the sweltering heat of July only the natives remain.

"Nice, that's it, my boy. Nice, I remember now. Hello, Yuri, feel lucky tonight?" Kasimir cheerfully queried as he dropped his frame into a gold bamboo chair beside the table.

Nice! Zena had been in Nice! Alex didn't betray himself with so much as a flicker of an eyelid.

"Cut, man," Kasimir directed Yuri as he waved Alex into another chair. "I feel primed tonight, I warn you, Sasha. Even your phenomenal luck won't be enough the way I feel."

"What about Nice, Kasimir?" Alex persisted quietly, years of self-control keeping him urbanely cool when his heart was tripping like a giant sledgehammer.

"Nice, that's where Vickie bought the necklace. I remember distinctly. Talking about that damnable heat reminded me. Hell of a good day despite the temperature, I'll say," and he chuckled warmly to himself. "Reason I remember," he continued with a wide grin, "is that I didn't mind that Vickie spent a hundred thousand francs for that necklace, because it took her all afternoon to shop for it and gave me the opportunity to engage in one of the more memorable events of that odious trip to view fading frescoes."

"Find some good cunt, did you?" Yuri inquired casually as he dealt out the cards.

"Two cunts, as a matter of fact," Kasimir grinned, "two hot, juicy quims. Damn, I could use them now!"

"Don't keep us in suspense," Yuri drawled. "The lurid details, my friend."

"Well," Kasimir related, his smile deepening as his memories of that afternoon returned, "I had intended to nap, as it was too beastly hot to even move around. Went into my bedroom at the Negresco to lie down and what do I find but two pretty chambermaids putting clean linen on the bed. One was saucy and pert as you please, looking me over quite boldly.

" 'Not gambling, Baron?' she says as she bends over the bed to adjust the sheet, and shows me her nice, fat boobies.

" 'Too hot,' I says, 'going to take a nap,' and I begin to take off my jacket.

" 'Here, let me help,' she says, and next thing you know I don't have much on, and she's rubbing against me hot as a cat in heat. Let me tell you, it didn't take me long to have her bare and on her back in bed. I'm all set to really go at her, and I look around and damned if that other little mouse of a maid isn't standing there, gawking big as you please.

" 'What're we going to do with her?' I whisper to this hot bitch beneath me, and she says, impudent as a jade, 'Let her watch. It'll do her good. She might as well make herself useful,' and she sings out to this little thing standing there with eyes big as saucers, 'Bring a fan over here and keep us cool!'

"I wasn't in the mood for any more delays, so I lay into the cunt, and she gives me a ride that blasts my head off. When we're both finally coherent enough to breathe normally again, I feel this cool breeze on my back, and damned if that little chambermaid ain't still there. She looks delightfully fresh and innocent, and what the hell, I thought, she can't be too abashed at this all if she's still here after what she saw. So I reach my hand out and slip it up her skirt and run my fingers over the wettest little slit you ever did feel. I shoved my fingers in a little way and pulled her onto the bed. She didn't say a word, but she didn't protest either, so I undressed her while my first pert piece keeps up a running narrative of the charms I'm unveiling, and my cock is coming up to the mark quick as a wink with that quivering, tiny slit only inches away.

"To make a long story short, those two pussies took turns fanning and servicing me until I couldn't get the old boy up again no matter what they tried. Paid the sweet beauties off, and damned if it wasn't worth every franc; best afternoon nap I've ever enjoyed.

"When Vickie came back later with that ridiculously expensive necklace and another odd dragonfly pendant, too, all set to be seductively pleasing to me so that I wouldn't get angry at her, I just patted her hand fondly and pleaded a headache. Couldn't have got my cock up for Venus herself just then. So Nice it was, Sasha, my boy, although what the hell difference it makes escapes me, since you can simply have
Fabergé
copy Vickie's if you want a necklace like that. It's not necessary to go to Nice."

During this entire recital Alex was responding with the requisite interest and attention, giving the appearance of his normal cool insouciance, playing the game with his usual expressionless indifference, shuffling cards with apparently effortless ease when his hands could barely conceal their tremor. Icy nerves served to suppress a raw, tumultuous excitement that threatened to explode, and he lost deliberately, graciously, and rapidly so that he could get the hell out of this confining, boring, excruciating, and painfully trivial atmosphere.

He'd be on the midnight train for Warsaw.

Alex swiftly exited the cardroom, a startled Yuri trailing in his wake.

"What the hell came over you? I've never seen anyone lose so deliberately in my life."

Not pausing in his rapid stride down the hall, Alex tersely said, "Zena's necklace. Kasimir's wife had on Zena's necklace."

"The necklace Vickie bought in Nice?"

"Right. Who'd ever think the child would go abroad. I searched all over the empire; I never thought she'd leave and go to Europe."

By this time the prince's urgent pace had brought them to the entrance hall.

"Going to Nice, then?" Yuri asked.

"Leaving tonight. I'll send you a telegram if I have any luck. I hope I do,' Alex said in a worried undertone.

"Can I give you some advice?" Yuri's eyes, very steely under their fair brows, were unwaveringly upon Alex.

Alex paused at the door and gave his friend a searching glance, then quirked a rueful smile."Sure, I've bungled this one so badly maybe I can use some advice," he said tolerantly. "Fire away."

"Zena's not like all your other women. Don't treat her like them. It's a mistake."

"Don't worry, fool that I am, I've finally realized that. I thought I could live without love, but I found it intolerably lonely. I was a damn ass. Sure you don't want to kick me for behaving like a brute to Zena?"

"Not when you've been kicking yourself so effectively," Yuri grinned. "Good luck." Yuri clasped Alex's hand.

All the lazy, moody disinterest with which Alex normally surveyed the world was stripped from his face; his eyes blazed with a wild and brilliant excitement, his mouth curved into a half-smile of elation.

"Thanks, I'll probably need it. Don't know if she'll have me back even if I do find her. That impudent miss has a temper as volatile as mine. But I'll tell you, there's no power on earth that's going to stop me from trying to talk her into taking me back." He paused. "In truth, Yuri, I'm terrified of failure. Exempting that awesome triviality," Alex continued with a wry grin, "I'm exceedingly optimistic."

"Give Zena a kiss from me," Yuri teased, attempting to lighten his friend's obvious uncertainty.

"Never, you knave," Alex retorted cheerfully and left the palace.

Alex set out with apprehension. Not having received Zena's note, he believed she had left him angry and uncaring. Would she, indeed, have him back? He had been trying to suppress his love for Zena by encouraging reckless diversions and trying to get tired enough to be indifferent to emotion. But tonight he was ready to make any bargain with Fate for the sight of her face, the sound of her voice, the feel of her in his arms. Nothing could divert and console him any longer. Only Zena could bring back his joy in life.

Returning home he feverishly threw a few clothes pell-mell into a valise. He paused before Katelina's door. His parents were out for the night. He should tell someone he was leaving; dare he interrupt Katelina? Was Wolf there already?

Hell! he thought, they're both family. Raising his hand, he banged impatiently on the door. When Katelina opened the door he walked in, unconcerned with her obvious agitation.

"What is it, Sasha?" She glanced nervously at her closed bedroom door.

"I think I've located Zena, and I'm off to Nice tonight. Thought I'd better tell someone before I go, as the parents are out."

"Oh, darling, I'm so pleased," she cried and flung her arms about her brother's neck and hugged him.

Clasping her warmly, Alex murmured, "I'm very pleased too."

The bedroom door crashed open and Wolf, clad only in trousers stood in the doorway glaring at the embracing couple.

"How touching,
madame,"
he sneered.

Alex set Katelina aside and quickly said, "Wolf, back off. I don't have amorous intentions toward Katelina. She's my sister, for Christ's sake."

"And mine as well, brother," Wolf replied gently.

Alex looked from Katelina's horrified face to the menacing visage of his half brother, then laughed softly. "Can you keep such towering jealousy under control, little sister? He doesn't seem to want to share you."

Swinging to face Wolf, Alex jubilantly declared, "I only stopped by to tell Katelina my good news. Zena might be in Nice, and I'm going tonight to try to find her. Katelina was just congratulating me on the glad tidings." Alex's face sobered. "My child will be born soon, in only a few weeks. I hope I find Zena."

The scowl disappeared from Wolfs face. "Do you need help, Sasha, to bring her back? Perhaps she's no longer alone, and you could use another warrior at your side."

"Thanks, but I think I can manage. Take care of Katelina, Wolf. Bye, love." He kissed Katelina and was gone.

Zena hadn't slept well. She had hardly slept at all. Long before the town was awake, she and Bobby slowly walked the considerable distance to the Promenade
des
Anglais. Normally she avoided the fashionable walkway by the sea, but at this early hour of the morning one needn't fear meeting any socialites.