VROLOK by Nolene-Patricia Dougan Read Free Book Online

stupid,” Isabella rejoined, staring at her sister as she practically ran ahead of them down the path to Nicolae’s house.
    “Why, what’s your sister trying to do to you now?”
    “She flirts with Nicolae while I’m there.”
    “I know lots of girls who flirt with Nicolae and they don’t bother you as much.”
    “But Nicolae’s so nice to her.”
    “Nicolae’s nice to everyone. I would not feel threatened by her. Nicolae loves you, surely you know that.”
    “I don’t know anything of the kind.”
    “Why don’t you ask him?”
    “And give him the satisfaction of knowing that I cared one way or the other?”
    “Isabella,” Katya scolded. “You know Nicolae could have been married years ago to anyone he wanted. But…”
    “I’ll talk to you later,” Isabella cut Katya off. She never liked being scolded or told what to do, especially when the other person was right.
    She soon caught up with her sister. “It was very rude of you to ignore Katya like that.”
    “She’s not my friend,” said Natasha.
    “That’s not the point. Show some respect.”
    There was a brief silence. Then Natasha asked, “How long has she been married now?”
    Isabella wondered what her sister was working up to but answered her question.
    “Her wedding day was a month ago today and she looked beautiful.”
    “As beautiful as she can look, I suppose,” said Natasha.
    Isabella bit her tongue. She was determined not to let her sister know she was annoying her.
    “I think I’ll get married soon,” said Natasha.
    “Oh, really…and who’s the lucky man?”
    “I think you can guess,” Natasha said.
    It took all Isabella’s restraint to keep her hands off her sister. She stopped walking beside her and held back a few steps while Natasha carried on. Isabella slipped into the woods without her sister seeing her. She took a shortcut through the forest and arrived at her grandfather’s house long before Natasha. When Isabella arrived there she pounded on the door. Nicolae opened it.
    “Where’s my grandfather?” Isabella shouted.
    “He’s gone hunting.”
    Isabella pushed by Nicolae, knocking him against the wall. Nicolae smiled; he knew as soon as he saw Isabella that she was furious about something.
    “My sister will be here soon.”
    “I’ll leave the door open for her.”
    Isabella looked up at Nicolae. “Will you be glad to see her?”
    Nicolae shrugged in answer to Isabella‘s question.
    “She seems quite taken with you,” Isabella said.
    Nicolae started to laugh. “Are you jealous?” he asked in disbelief.
    “Jealous! Why would I be jealous? It is no concern of mine what you do. I think you two deserve each other.”
    “You are…you’re jealous,” Nicolae said as he continued to laugh at Isabella. This infuriated her even more. She grabbed a cup that was sitting on the table beside her and threw it at Nicolae. The cup just missed his head.
    “Are you trying to kill me?” he protested. “Now, just calm down,” he said with a sigh and then he went on, “You must know, Isabella, I realise who Natasha is and I know what she has put you through. I love you, Isabella…no one else. I always have and I always will. Even though you are hot tempered and vain.”
    Isabella tried to make some rebuke to Nicolae’s last comment but he pressed his finger to her lips to silence her. “You treat the people you love with kindness and generosity and I have always loved you for that and although you are far from perfect, I love you despite your faults. Whether or not you are more beautiful than Natasha is irrelevant to me. You are the person I love.”
    Natasha arrived and heard him speaking. She stayed back and started to listen secretly to the couple’s conversation.
    “As far as your sister is concerned I would not look twice at her. Not when I could look at you,” Nicolae said to Isabella.
    Hearing this made Natasha almost unbearably envious of her sister, but she remained quiet and kept