Right now she braced herself, wondering if he would pounce on her as he usually did. Not with his friends present, apparently, for he merely tilted her chin up with one finger, his golden eyes roving over every inch of her face as if he would commit it to memory.
She knew what he was seeing, or she thought she did. Actually, she hadn't had a good look at her reflection in decent light for a number of years. But even if she had, she wouldn't have seen what he was seeing. Spiky lashes framed eyes that were captivatingly tilted, and weren't pale at all without the gray around them, just light in color and quite brilliant. Petalsoft skin was a rosesandcream hue, and gently flaring brows were as black as her midnight hair. He saw the aristocrat in her high cheekbones, and passion in her lush mouth, with lips full and inviting. And he saw the strength, or stubbornness, in her jaw, as well as the slight curve at the tip of her small nose that kept her face from being haughty. He saw a face so lovely, even a poet couldn't do it justice with flowery description. And he disliked every inch of it.
Tanya saw that clearly in his expression, she just didn't understand it. The man had wanted her a dozen times yesterday, or so he claimed, when she had been at her most unappealing. Now he didn't? For crying out loud, she should have washed her face sooner.
When he finished his inspection, he said with deceptive nonchalance, "I see your point, Tanya. They would be lined up in droves, wouldn't they? Or do you service more than one at a time?"
Lord help her, he was going to get really nasty, now that he no longer wanted her for himself. Tanya didn't know whether to cry over that horrid insinuation or slap him. But she had forgotten how to cry…
The crack across his cheek was shatteringly loud in the stillness. Tanya had to bite her lip to keep from shaking her hand, it stung so badly. Stefan's cheek turned white, then filled with blood in the shape of her hand print, almost making his scars underneath it disappear.
Tanya felt such satisfaction on seeing that print, she didn't care if he turned around to look for a stick to beat her with, or slapped her back, as Vasili would have done the other night if Stefan hadn't stopped him.
But he did neither. He merely touched a finger to his cheek and raised a black brow, saying, "I take that to be a no?" She almost slapped him again. He must have sensed it, for he shook his head in warning. "Ah, no, Tanya. Once was perhaps deserved, but twice I will not accept. Behave—"
"Then get the hell away from me, because I've had a bellyful of your vicious taunts!"
She turned her back on him, but he didn't reply. After another moment, she heard him walk away, and it was all she could do not to break into a run in the opposite direction. But there were four of them to give chase, so all she'd end up doing was wasting her strength.
Another moment passed and Lazar approached her, extreme wariness in his expression. "I hesitate to ask, Princess, but are these edible?"
She glanced down at the branch of foliage he held in his hand. Wild berries. If she weren't so hungry herself, she'd tell him no, then sit back quietly and watch them all try to throw up what they had probably already eaten. She took the branch from him instead and popped a few of the succulent berries in her mouth, a good enough answer as far as she was concerned, since she was done talking to the lot of them.
But the damn berries wouldn't go down. She had a lump in her throat that felt as big as her fist, something she hadn't experienced since she was a child. She guessed she could still cry after all.
She didn't make a single sound, but the tears started flowing copiously. Lazar blanched upon seeing them. Tanya didn't notice his reaction or that he left her side. And then an argument started behind her that got really heated for a moment, though she wasn't paying attention to that either. Maybe they'd kill each other. She could hope...
The arms that came around her were achingly tender, drawing her against a comforting chest. She assumed it was Lazar, but didn't look to be sure since she didn't care at that point. Sympathy broke the dam, it seemed, for she became loud then, great racking sobs echoing through the woods. Crying, for crying out loud, and when she'd been so furious just minutes before. How utterly embarrassing. And she couldn't even say why she was doing it — certainly not because that devileyed devil didn't like her anymore.
She was making so much noise, it was a while before she could even hear the soothing words coming her way. When she did hear them, she stiffened, pulling back. But the arms around her only tightened. She was going to be comforted whether she liked it or not, by him. What unmitigated gall. There wasn't anything he could say...
"I'm sorry, Tanya. At times I am the devil they call me. I did warn you of that, did I not? And sometimes when I am surprised—"
"You mean disappointed, don't you?" she interrupted bitterly.
"Surprised will do," he replied. "I have never dealt well with surprises."
"You have unusual reactions for a lot of things, don't you, Stefan?"
Pointing that out wasn't the wisest thing she could have done just then, when his arms were still around her. But she was in danger of being kissed only when he was angry, or sealing bargains, and that danger was undoubtedly gone now that he knew what she really looked like. She should be relieved. So why wasn't she?
He was quiet for so long, she was sure he wasn't going to reply to her remark, but he did. "You deal with my unusual reactions very well, do you not?"
Up came the color to her cheeks, and she had no gray pallor to hide any of it, only his wide chest for the moment. "That was a short truce," she said tiredly.
His hand ran over the back of her head, pressing her even closer to him. Comforting even while he was insulting? The man didn't do anything in a normal way.
"Actually, I meant no offense," he said softly near her ear. "There are women of vast experience who are still terrified of me when I... but an innocent girl would be even more so. You have that, at least, in your favor."
And nothing else? But he didn't say that. He wasn't trying to insult her, after all.
"Some innocents would react just like I do," she retorted. "But I don't suppose I will have to worry about it anymore, will I?"
He sighed. "I've made you angry again."
All Tanya noted was that he hadn't answered the question. "You can let go of me now, Stefan. The rain has stopped in case you haven't noticed."
She heard him chuckle, and he tipped her face up so she could see that he was smiling, his way of telling her that he at least was willing to forget the harsh words that had passed between them and start over — again. But he didn't know that she hated it when he smiled. He didn't know that her heartbeat sped up each time he did. She looked at those lips, felt the length of him pressed so close to her, and experienced that fluttering In her innards again. Hell and high water, how could he still do that to her after his recent nastiness?
She felt him tense just before he released her, giving her an idea that he had sensed what she was feeling and didn't like it. She turned away from him before she could see it in his expression too.
"What have you decided for our direction?" she asked in a neutral tone.
"South."
They would choose the opposite of the way that she wanted to go.
Chapter 21
Three hours must have passed since they started walking south, yet none of Tanya's companions had mentioned food. The change in her appearance was mentioned again and again, however, and each time she looked up, she caught at least one of them staring at her, even Stefan, as if they still couldn't believe she'd actually turned out to be pretty. Serge and Lazar seemed delighted that it was so. Vasili she couldn't read, except that he hadn't made any derogatory remarks so far this morning. And she already knew what Stefan thought, which made no sense when you figured that he could get more for a pretty exotic dancer than he could for an ugly one.