Seized by Love (30 page)

After they dressed and
breakfasted, Nikki had a swing hung under the rose arbor near the house so
Alisa could sit in the warm sun and watch Katelina go through her paces with
the pony on the large lawn.

Katelina jogged along
happily on the small pony as Nikki spoke encouragingly to her, prompting her to
hold her hands lightly, to remember her seat, to keep her elbows in. The
tousle-haired youngster successfully followed all his instructions
letter-perfectly.

Nikki adored Katelina in a
casual way. He'd provided money for Katelina's lifetime with his usual careless
liberality, an act that served also as a sop to silence his conscience which
chided him to provide some measure of permanence in Katelina's life. Insistent,
nagging remonstrances that urged him to commit himself legally to his lovely
mistress, the expectant mother of his child.

Mother and
"Uncle" applauded loudly as Katelina's mischievous face lit into a
beaming smile of joyous glee when she completed the circuit of the lawn in fine
form.

"Mother dear,"
Nikki murmured as he sat next to Alisa on the wide swing, "Katelina is
charming," he said with pride. "If your second child is as
delightful, you will have doubled my pleasure."

Alisa's heart melted at his
whispered affection. He cared for her and Katelina and for his yet-unborn
child. He made no promises, never even in the height of his lovemaking did he
tell her he loved her, offered her no future, only a passionate present. But he
did care and she clung to this small compensation for her surrender.

"And I intend to keep
you pregnant, at my side, populating this glorious wilderness," Nikki
whispered playfully. As he realized what he'd just said, a new unfathomable
sense of the future with Alisa struck his consciousness. He immediately rose
and paced beside the swing so she couldn't see his face, so false hopes wouldn't
be raised within her heart. Resolutely he sought to shake off the unfamiliar
feeling. He struggled for control. Mon
Dieu,
it would never do, this
giving way to emotion.

How
did
he care
for her (he dared not use the word "love")? Love was anathema to him.
He reveled in his independence, fiercely clung to his singular existence. It
suited him to bow to no one, man or god, and certainly never to humble oneself
for a woman, never again. He wouldn't allow himself to dwell on these
unfamiliar sensations Alisa stirred in him. He'd not permit a woman to breach
his inner private citadel again, although the storming was exquisitely
accomplished with soft words, soft lips, and soft thighs.

She pleased him, that was
all, so he would keep her, but only until such a time as she no longer pleased
him.

"You think of me only
as a brood mare," Alisa pouted prettily. Now that their war was over, she
enjoyed being openly flirtatious, seductively suggestive. "You're
imperious and peremptory to even suggest such a thing as keeping me
pregnant."

"But not excessively
repugnant, for all that." His eyes twinkled a little as he stopped pacing
and joined her at the swing.

"No, not completely,
my lord," she posed demurely.

Nikki smiled lightly at the
soft mouth fixed in a pretty moue, delighted with her attempt to gratify his
wishes, to appeal to his stated preference for a soft passivity in a woman.

"Not only as a brood
mare, love; you enchant me in a variety of ways, but, I'll admit, the thought
of you nurturing my child within your body warms me with a pleasant
conceit." He bent low over her to place the palm of his hand against her
rounded, swelling form.
His child.

Katelina was squealing for
Nikki's attention, and he rose to stroll over to the insistent little girl on
her pony. He spoke a few words to her and walked back to Alisa while Katelina
kicked her chubby legs into the pony's ribs in an effort to make the animal
move. At the moment, the pony was more interested in cropping the daylilies and
Siberian wallflowers on the edge of the flower beds.

Nikki glanced in Katelina's
direction as he stood near Alisa. "I promised Katelina I'd take her
squirrel hunting this afternoon, and she's holding me to the promise. Will you
be all right alone for a few hours? I reluctantly leave you, but must honor my
word to that persistent little brat." He grinned. "And I won't ask
you along, for I don't want you riding. You must be very careful of our child.
Shall I

call Rakeli or Maria for
companionship while we're absent?"

"No, I'll be perfectly
fine alone. Perhaps I'll stroll down to the lake. The only glimpse I've had of
it until today has been through the bedroom windows." She smiled
mischievously through half-lowered lashes.

"Sorry for my damnable
temper, love. I'll endeavor to bridle it in the future. The entire estate is at
your disposal" —he indicated with a sweeping wave of his arm—"but
don't wander too far into the forest. You might become lost."

"1 won't, Nikki."

"Now, you're sure
you'll be all right alone?" he asked anxiously as he bent to kiss her.

"Of course, dear, and
don't shoot too many poor squirrels."

"No, we won't be gone
that long. Au revoir." He blew her a kiss as he strode away, extricated
the pony and rider from the flower bed, and disappeared around the corner of
the West Wing, heading toward the stable block.

Alisa sat on the swing for
a short time after the hunting party left. It consisted of Nikki, Katelina,
Ami, Yukko, and three trackers. The sun was comfortably warm, and Alisa
daydreamed blissfully. She walked around the flower gardens, beautifully cared
for by an army of gardeners, then moved in the direction of the lake. On
reaching the sandy shore, she strolled along the soft white sand of the bay
that swung away in an easterly direction from Mon Plaisir. Within minutes the
house disappeared from sight behind the tall, dark pine trees lining the shore.
Alisa stooped occasionally to select a small, flat piece of shale and skipped
the rocks across the luminous sparkling water. She walked for some ten minutes,
careless of her distance from the house because there was no chance of becoming
lost out in the open of the lake shore.

Finding a large, flat
boulder, Alisa sat on its broad expanse and gazed out on the lake, knees drawn
up under her chin, arms clasping her legs, letting the lassitude of the warm
sun and light lake breeze bathe her; contentment filled her soul.

Hearing an unexpected sound
behind her, she whirled around.

Valdemar Forseus was
standing five feet away, his small, deep-set eyes peering with a dangerous
mockery at the terrified face of his young wife. She froze in horror at the
sight of those fanatically piercing eyes.

"So, Mrs. Forseus, you
have led me a merry chase," he breathed softly. "We were beginning to
despair of ever seeing you outside the house. That whoremonger of a Prince
guards you well. But, alas," he sighed, a sinister smile playing across
his grotesque face, "not well enough. And, of course, I'm a patient
man."

A rapid flash of his arm
and two gigantic men appeared out of the trees and strode swiftly to his side.
"My trackers," he conversationally remarked, "my sweet young
wife. Men, the object of this long and diligent quest," he politely
introduced them, his wrath barely concealed beneath his rigidly controlled
demeanor.

Alisa was dumb with alarm
as wave after wave of silent terror flooded her consciousness. Why had she
wandered so far from the house? Why had she so stupidly assumed Forseus would
accept her flight from him? God, where was Nikki? She began to tremble in the
sure knowledge that Forseus would kill her, certainly if not now, later, after
he'd used her to suit his devilish will. He was insane, sadistically taking
delight in causing pain. God, Nikki, help me, she sent up a silent plea, her
nerves stretched taut in panic. Flashing, blinding spots of light suddenly
danced before her eyes and oblivion took pity.

She crumpled in a swoon at
the feet of the three men.

"Pick her up,"
Forseus ordered sharply. "We must make haste."

One tracker effortlessly
lifted her body and the three men walked back to their horses tethered in the
pines. The men mounted, Alisa was settled across one man's chest, and the party
spurred their horses. Once back on the road, neither quirt nor rowel was spared
as the riders furiously pressed their horses south.

Mercifully, Alisa remained
in a faint for several hours, the agonizing tenor of Forseus's proximity locked
outside of her conscious mind.

She regained consciousness
in the late afternoon when they were forced to stop to change horses. They
mounted her on a small bay, her hands tied to the saddle pommel. Forseus spoke
scarcely more than three words to her, carefully restraining his anger in front
of the two trackers. To bring back a runaway wife was legal enough; he could
expect their help, but even these primitive men wouldn't accept the punishment
he was going to inflict on his contrary wife once he had returned her home.

"You will rot in hell,
Jezebel, and your carnal urges will be punished as you deserve," he
whispered evilly that evening as they stopped briefly to water their horses at
a stream. "I hope you last long enough. I wouldn't want my pleasure
curtailed." As if to prove his point, he cruelly tightened the cinch on
his horse's saddle and heaved his great bulk back onto his mount.

Alisa trembled involuntarily,
prayed for courage and strength to sustain her. The full horror of her capture
was beginning to overwhelm her. And although she told herself sharply to remain
calm, her panic was reaching nightmare proportions.

The squirrel hunt lasted
longer than anticipated,, since Katelina was enjoying the excursion. Shadows of
twilight were slowly creeping in from the forest as the small group rode back
into the stable yard, a tired but satisfied little five-year-old nestled in
Nikki's arms.

Walking into the large
hallway carrying the fatigued child, Nikki hallooed for Alisa, cheerfully
anticipating a welcoming kiss from his lovely mistress. He handed Katelina over
to Rakeli and strode up the broad wooden stairway to the bedroom, so eager to
see and hold her, he didn't even stop to shake the dust from his boots and
clothes. This morning had been magnificent. God, she was magnificent;
beautiful, sensual, intelligent, and she loved him. His world was near
perfection.

"Alisa!" he
called out. "Alisa, we're back!" Nikki cried as he opened the door
into the bedroom, lit now with the last rays of sunset glow. "Katelina is
becoming a very excellent rider for—" He paused on the threshold as his
eyes swept the room, searching for the familiar form, the auburn hair.

The room was quiet and
empty. The muscles in his jaw tightened. Turning sharply, he retraced his steps
down the main staircase, shouting for Alisa. The housekeeper came running from
the back hall and explained quickly, "I haven't seen Madame for hours. She
was walking in the garden last I saw her."

"You mean you haven't
seen Mrs. Forseus all afternoon?"

"No, sir, I
haven't," she answered fearfully, for the Prince was scowling mightily.

Nikki thanked her gruffly
and proceeded out the front door, racing down the entrance steps in three long
strides, the tiniest twinge of apprehension beginning to mar his perfect mood.
Within seconds he'd turned the corner of the West Wing and peered across the
broad flower beds, all gaily blooming, a few bees still busily humming from flower
to flower.

No Alisa.

A larger fragment of doubt
replaced the vague apprehension as he walked purposefully back to the entrance,
thundering loudly for the housekeeper. He ran up the stairs. Having heard the
roar of Prince Kuzan's voice in the kitchen, she was at the door to greet him.

"What is it, my
lord?"

"Assemble all the
servants—immediately! I can't find Mrs. Forseus." Within the minute a
glowering Nikki was addressing a long line of maids, gardeners, and footmen.

"Has anyone seen Mrs.
Forseus since I left for my ride?"

The answers came in a
confused babble, but when all were sifted and deciphered, apparently no one had
seen Mrs. Forseus since early afternoon, when she was strolling in the yard.

A fierce rage began to
smolder in the quick-tempered Prince. So all the theatrics this morning, the
tears and sighs, the loving words, had been just that—theatrics. She had
probably coolly plotted the drama and he, driven as usual by his genitals, had
fallen for her scheme. How else would she have been released from the prison of
the bedroom? Very clever of her; the oldest female ploy, when all else fails,
use your body.

He swore to himself and
then aloud as the servants huddled in a group, glancing nervously at their
distraught master. There was no more to learn from them, so he curtly dismissed
them, charging them to keep out of his way.

"Yukko, bring me two
bottles of brandy," he demanded, incensed. Nikki stalked off into his
study, infuriated at having been deceived by the feigned sincerity of Alisa's
loving scene that morning.

Damn her, damn her lying
heart. He'd drag her back by the hair! He'd beat her! He'd show her not to
trifle with him! But even as he stormed and raged, the more pragmatic side of
his nature challenged—why bother? Why bring her back? He'd been ready to leave
her this morning anyway; the decision had simply been taken out of his hands.
Maybe that was what piqued him most. Was his pride pricked because Alisa had
chosen to leave him, had taken away his perogative. And he was made to look the
fool?