The moonlight glinted off of rows of undamaged panes of glass in the windows, and the ivy had been carefully trimmed away from each opening.
Vasile drew his horse to a stop in front of the grand entry door. His broad chest rose and fell against my back, once and then again.
Then he said, “Are you going to keep pretending you’re unconscious or are you going to admit you’re awake?”
Damn him.
I shot a glance back at him. He had his eyebrow raised, looking sexy and cocksure.
“Where are we?” I asked.
He gave no answer. Dismounting first, he was about to lift me out of the saddle but I beat him to it pushing myself up and sliding down the side of the horse to stand in the snow.
“Fine,” he huffed, turning away to pet his horse’s flank, drawing the reins down in front of the mount’s bit. “Stand here for two minutes. I need to take Vela to the stable.” Vasile disappeared around the side of the house, trotting alongside his horse.
I stared into the night sky, pin dots of stars looking down as I considered my situation again. I rubbed my arms and felt the chill of the night, knowing I was shivering not only from the cold.
A minute later, he was back, jogging toward me and I wondered if he thought I may not be here when he returned. But where would I go? It was freezing, the middle of the night and I had no idea where we were.
He looked down at my feet. “Couldn’t find your boots. Which is why I was going to carry you to the door.”
“I’ve been carried quite enough for one day,” I spat back, knowing I was acting like a petulant child but I didn’t want to give him any satisfaction. Instead I marched right up to the front door, grabbed the lion’s head knocker, and gave it a few good whacks.
Behind me, Vasile blew out an exasperated breath.
“Anybody ever tell you that you’re stubborn?”
“Anybody ever tell you it’s impolite to kidnap someone?” Still with my hand on the knocker, I turned to face him, giving him a stern glare. “If you’re not going to tell me where we are or what we’re doing, you can be damned sure I’m going to figure out for myself.” And I added a few more knocks for dramatic effect.
Vasile cleared his throat, then approached me where I stood at the front entrance way. Through the small, beveled glass sidelights, I saw no candles or signs of life.
As I knocked again, I imagined the sound echoing through the enormous stone structure. But Vasile stilled my hand mid-knock and reached past me. He turned the knob and the door swung open.
“You didn’t think I lived with that dickhead brother of mine, did you?” he asked. He held the door open for me. Now that I was in my slippers and he was still in his boots, he was even taller than I remembered. I passed easily under his outstretched arm and into the front foyer.
“You live here?” I asked remembering the purple banner knowing Vasile did not have noble nor royal title.
Now I saw that there were indeed low burning embers in the two massive fireplaces I could see from where I stood. Though the house was sparsely furnished, it was quite beautiful in every way.
“Yes,” he said, locking the door behind us. “Among other places.”
I found him both frustrating and mysterious. So much so, in fact, that I had to remind myself that he was a villain, and the only reason to spend time with him was to seduce him, ruin myself and run off in disgrace, never to set foot anywhere near the Greengallows again.
Every time he spoke, it was like there was a whole world of information he was keeping to himself. And yet, I didn’t feel like he was lying to me. Just… telling me what he wanted me to know.
Lies by omission possibly, yet somehow I felt he was doing it for my benefit.
And something about that was intensely erotic to me.
Wrapping my arms around myself, I stepped away to explore, but before I could get away he’d grabbed my upper arm.
I let out a wild-animal roar that echoed through the mostly empty rooms. I maneuvered my way around to wrap my arms around him again in another hold that came from my grappling classes. This time, though, I didn’t have the element of surprise and in a few long strides he made his way to the end of a huge leather sofa dragging me with him.
With a forceful heave, he flipped me over and I landed with a cushy thump on the tufted leather. I glared at him upside down, with my chest heaving. He planted his hands on the sofa arm and glared back.