“Oh, you could never be clumsy, dear Lady Rakhmonova,” Lord Menshikov said gallantly, and Maya wondered again, if she should finally stop ignoring the man and let herself fall into the courtship he so obviously desired.
As the music ended, and Lord Menshikov bowed to Maya, pressing a kiss to her hand before moving on to his next partner. Maya turned, and nearly collided with Luka, who was now at her elbow, his eyes dark and his lips in a firm line.
“A moment of your time, Lady von Rakhmonov?” he said smoothly, and Maya glanced around to see if anyone was looking.
As the dance started around them, he caught her by the elbow, and drew her down a short corridor into an empty room. A library, by the looks of it.
As soon as Luka had closed the door behind them, Maya spun to face him. Meeting like this in a closed room was bound to set tongues wagging among the court, but right now, as her blood pounded in her veins, Maya was too furious to control herself.
“What do you want, Luka?”
“Why were you dancing with Lord Menshikov?” Luka asked, his gaze burning into hers.
“Why do you care?” Maya shot back, and she smirked as she saw him clench his jaw.
“Is he courting you?”
“Why do you care?” Maya repeated, as she crossed her arms. “You made your choice,” she said, tossing her head to the indicate the ballroom, and his dance with Lady Demidova.
But Luka wasn’t paying attention. “Do you really thinkhecan make you happy?” Luka hissed.
Maya narrowed her eyes. “It does not matter what you think,” she said coldly. “You have made it very clear that we have nothing more to do with each other.”
“Does he know?”
“What?” Maya’s heart jumped when she saw that Luka had moved closer, sidling forward a step when she hadn’t noticed. The ball still went on outside, the music muted in this little corner of the royal library.
“I asked you if heknows,” Luka said again, coming closer still. Her heartbeat picked up at the look in his eyes: dark and nearly feral with anger.
“Knows what?” she snapped, his anger drawing out her own in response, like always. Her eyes fell to his hand, clenched on the back of a chair, as he took the weight off his bad foot.
“Does the little lordlingknow,”he drawled, drawing out the word as his knuckles turn white, “that just two weeks ago you were inmyarms?”
Her heart jumped at that, her eyes meeting his.
“That just two weeks ago, you were gaspingmyname?”
She did gasp at that, just a little breath that came out as his name.
“Luka…”
His eyes glinting in triumph, he stepped closer, and she almost felt like she should step away, but she’s never run from a fight. And she won’t this time, either.
Luka grinned as if he’d won, and Maya wanted to knock the smirk right off his face.
“Whatever happened two weeks ago wasnothing,” she said cuttingly. His eyebrows went up, and she added snidely, “Less than nothing.”
“Nothing?”
Strangely, he didn’t look angry. He didn’t look like he believed her at all, she thought despairingly.
Luka had now come close enough to touch a single finger to her hand, which still lay on the table. She fought to keep it there instead of snatching it away, and his eyes gleamed as he smiled at her, as if in approval. She raised her chin, and he trailed his finger up her bare arm, like he had that night two weeks ago, watching her resulting shiver with avid eyes. His head dipped until he was grazing her neck with his nose, and she curled into him with a sigh before she even knew what she was doing.
“It feels likesomething,” Luka murmured in her ear, triumph flashing in his eyes as he drew away to look down at her. “Are you really going to deny it?”
Maya shook her head, turning her back to him with an effort. “It doesn’t matter,” she gritted out. “Whatever it was, it’s in the past.” She threw him a glare as she spins around. “Besides, shouldn’t you be worried about yourfiancée?”
Luka lifted an eyebrow, staring at her for a long moment before he smiled. “Lady Demidova?” He leaned closer. “She’s quite well, thank you.”
