So if not an enemy of his, and she had none herself that she could think of… maybe some other woman who wanted to marry Stefan, but couldn't because of his betrothal to Tanya?
As soon as the idea of a woman entered her mind, she knew exactly who her attacker was. She had an enemy after all, but one so new, it was no wonder she hadn't thought of her first. Alicia. Hadn't the woman proved, by deliberately kissing Stefan in front of her, that she felt threatened by Tanya? And hadn't she taken the first opportunity she had to tell Tanya she was Stefan's mistress, just in case that kiss hadn't been obvious enough? Alicia was so worried that Stefan's affections would turn from her to Tanya, she felt she had to get rid of the competition. And she'd almost done just that.
It all fit, even why the attacker had given up as soon as Tanya had started fighting back. A man wouldn't have. A man would merely have grabbed Tanya back when she rolled away from him, or forced the knife away from her with his superior strength, or used some other means to kill her. But a woman only had the element of surprise as her advantage, and Alicia had lost that. Once Tanya had rolled off the bed, Alicia obviously hadn't thought she was capable of continuing the fight, and so prudently had got out of there — and slipped right back into her own room, which Tanya knew to be directly across the hallway from hers. And no one would suspect her, certainly not the men, because she was probably in her bed right now, pretending to be fast asleep.
Tanya was suddenly so furious, all her aches and pains were forgotten. That stupid woman! How dared she try to take Tanya's life, her life, just to hold onto a lover for a while more? Or would Stefan marry Alicia if he were free to do so? That would at least make this attempt understandable — but not forgivable. And Alicia wasn't getting away with it.
Tanya swept up the knife and headed for her open doorway, her eyes trained on Alicia's closed door across the hall. She was almost there, too, when Stefan appeared to block the way, bracing his hands high on the doorframe and giving her a look that said he didn't appreciate wasting his time.
"There was no one in the house, Princess, and all the doors were locked."
He didn't mention the windows and she didn't ask. Of course they had found no one. But did he have to sound as if that had been a foregone conclusion? The man didn't believe — nor had he believed moments ago — that she had had a harrowing experience. Did he think she had deliberately lied?
Before she could say anything in her defense, whether she would bother to or not, he snapped, "Where do you think you're going with that?"
His eyes had dropped to her knife. Her grip tightened on it, but her voice was perfectly calm when she replied, "I'm going to take care of this little matter myself, since you obviously won't."
He tried for a calm tone himself, but it came out more a growl. "Put that down and admit you merely had a nightmare. "
"I don't have nightmares."
He was getting exasperated. "Fine, we'll assume an intruder bothered you. We'll even assume he might still be around, even though we've searched through every... damn... room... in the house."
"Not all, you didn't."
"Your room is next to the stairs, so if anyone was here he would have gone that way, since all the other rooms up here are presently occupied. "
"Exactly."
His eyes narrowed at what he assumed she was implying, but he didn't address it. "It's over," he said with finality. "So either you can lose more sleep while I have a lock put on your door so you'll feel safe, or I can sleep in here the remainder of the night."
"Suit yourself. There's ample room on the floor. But I'm going to carve your mistress into little pieces first, so you'll have to excuse me for a few minutes."
She took one step, only to hear him command, "Stop right there! Did I hear you correctly? You think Alicia tried to do you harm?"
Did he realize he had just admitted Alicia was his mistress? She doubted it. And why should she care at this point? She'd already been told. Yes, but you were hoping that vengeful witch had been lying, missy, or at the very least that she was going to be his exmistress.
With the anger churning inside her came pain. It was a wicked combination that she could barely control.
"I don't think it, Stefan Barany, I know it. She was in this room when I screamed, or she sneaked out a moment before, but in either case—"
"Either case is an impossibility, you little liar," he cut in sharply, his eyes starting to glow again. "Because she was with me when you screamed!"
In the middle of the night? And he was only half dressed, she realized now, with no shirt, his trousers not even done up completely, as if he had put them on in a hurry. And Alicia had been with him?
It didn't occur to Tanya that Alicia had just been exonerated, which meant someone else had tried to kill her. She wasn't thinking about that now, wasn't thinking about anything except Stefan making love to another woman. Little wonder that she lifted her arm and threw her knife at him.
Chapter 40
Tanya was as amazed as Stefan that she'd thrown the knife at him, and she regretted it immediately. Not that she even came close to hitting him. The knife struck the wall to his left, then clattered to the floor. And she'd needed to throw something, to hurt him as she was hurting. It just shouldn't have been a damn knife.
Her regret, however, came more from the fact that his amazement didn't last, but changed almost immediately to furious rage. His devil's eyes weren't just glowing, they were now as bright as she'd ever seen them.
She was in deep trouble and knew it, so she offered, albeit lamely, "You weren't in any danger. I never did learn how to do that properly."
No answer. No change in expression either. And her nervousness was making her own anger return.
"But I wish I had," she added. "What the hell did you expect me to do when you tell me you're off making love while I'm being murdered? Nothing?"
Again no answer. But he closed the door and started to walk toward her. Tanya didn't hesitate. She whirled and ran. A hand in her hair jerked her to a stop. Another on her shoulder whirled her back around.
"You weren't being murdered," he said in a voice that was more ominous for being so low. "And I wasn't off making love."
"Liar!"
"I was refusing the offer that was made," he continued as if she hadn't got that "liar" in and wasn't pounding on his chest. "Because I decided that if I was going to have a harlot, I might as well have the one I really want."
The mouth crushing down on hers told her she was the harlot he was referring to, and for the moment, that was all she registered out of what he'd said. But she also registered that he'd been drinking, and anger and liquor were a frightening combination. So although she might have yearned to be in this position again, she continued to fight furiously to get out of it now. But she couldn't get out of his hold, and she suddenly knew why.
Lord help her, she had forgotten that this was how he dealt with his extreme anger. She had even contemplated doing something really foolish just to get him angry enough so she could have this again, so how could she have forgotten? But that was before they had joined up with Alicia. Stefan was accustomed to going to his mistress to relieve his anger. Vasili had said so. And with Alicia here, just down the hall...
That was when it clicked, the rest of what he'd said, that he'd turned Alicia away because Tanya was the one he really wanted. And he hadn't gone to Alicia, even though she was just down the hall, in his own room even. He was taking his anger out on the one who'd caused it instead.