You Belong to Me by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online Page B

Alexandra that she had a betrothed.
    Anna read his thoughts correctly. “When are you going to tell her, after he’s arrived here?”
    “You don’t think that might help, letting her meet him without knowing who he is?”
    “Are you mad? He’ll mention the betrothal and she’ll laugh in his face, and that will start things off wonderfully, won’t it?”
    His scowl grew darker. Anna had done nothing but nag him about his decision since he’d first told her about it. Perversely, the more she inflamed his guilt on the subject, the more stubborn he turned.
    Now, when he made no move to summon Alexandra to finally break the news to her, Anna sighed in exasperation. “At least give her time to change, or do you want him to meet her when she’s in her britches?”
    She was right, that wouldn’t do at all, and he hadn’t even thought of it. Alexandra would need at least an hour to wash the stink of the stable off her and to make herself pretty, and there was no telling how long their argument was going to last before then. Not once did he consider the possibility that there wouldn’t be an argument. He knew his daughter too well.
    Immediately he left the dining room, where he and Anna had been sharing a late breakfast. He sent a servant straight out to the stable, then retreated to his study to wait.
    Anna poked her head around the door, and despite the odds they had been at over this subject, she gave him a fond smile and said, “Good luck, darling.”
    Some of the tension eased out of him. He was a very fortunate man when it came right down to it. He had three healthy children, a brood of grandchildren—and Anna.
    “Now that we may have this house to ourselves,” he said, “will you marry me?”
    Her smile widened just a bit. “No.”
    He chuckled as she went off to another part of the house. One of these days she was going to surprise him and give him the answer he wanted. In the meantime, it was certainly no hardship being a lover rather than a husband.
    A few minutes later, Alexandra marched into the study with her usual brisk energy. “This isn’t going to take long, is it? I have to exercise Prince Micha.” She was referring to one of her own stallions, one of her “babies,” as she called all the offspring from her own personal stock.
    “You might want to let one of the Razins exercise him today.”
    She lifted a finely arched brow. “It’s going to take that long?”
    “Quite possibly.”
    She removed her hat, sticking it in the pocket of her coat, and plopped into the chair across from his desk with a sigh. “All right, what have I done now?”
    “What you could do is show me that you know how to sit like a lady rather than a—”
    “It’s so bad you’re going to prevaricate?”
    Her feigned look of surprise brought his brows together. Whenever Alexandra would rather be doing something else, she made sure people knew they were wasting her time. He decided to take a leaf from her book and get to the heart of the matter.
    “You haven’t done anything, Alexandra, but what you will be doing is getting married, possibly in the next few days. Your betrothed will be here in less than two hours, and I would appreciate it if you would be on your best—”
    “You can stop right there, Papa. Whatever you have promised this man to marry me, you can go ahead and give it to him before you send him back where he came from. My mind hasn’t changed since the last time we had this discussion.”
    She hadn’t raised her voice and didn’t even look the least bit annoyed with him. Of course, she hadn’t yet grasped the full meaning of what he’d said.
    He did not make a habit of lying to his daughter. He couldn’t remember the last time he had done so. That he was going to now made the color rise in his cheeks. Fortunately, she mistook it for his usual high temper.
    “This has nothing to do with our last discussion on the subject of marriage,” he told her. “This has to do with a betrothal