Read Online Silver Nights by Jane Feather - Free Book Online Page A

be.”
    They had said their farewells the previous evening, and Sophie had cried all the tears she had to cry. Now, she rose and went past him, down the stairs to the hall, where the household was gathered in an atmosphere both solemn and excited. Sophia Alexeyevna was going to St. Petersburg, to the czarina. She would meet Russia’s “little mother,” and she would marry a great prince. Such a glorious prospect brought vicarious exaltation to all those who had cared for the princess and been a part of her growing.
    Sophie bade them farewell amid their kisses and their tears.Her own well of sorrow was dried up and she was able to keep her composure until she went out onto the gravel sweep before the house.
    The twelve men of the Preobrazhensky regiment were mounted, drawn up in front of the door. Their colonel was on foot, his horse held by a guardsman. Boris Mikhailov was astride one of his little mountain horses, and he held the unsaddled Khan on a leading rein. A closed carriage, drawn by six horses from the Golitskov stables, stood awaiting its passengers.
    Count Danilevski bowed formally to the princess before moving to the carriage. “If you would be pleased to enter, Princess.” His face was expressionless, his voice even.
    Sophie went the color of milk, the dark eyes becoming even larger in the smooth oval of her face. “I will not ride in the carriage,” she said in stifled tones. “I cannot…you cannot insist…”
    â€œI am desolated to cause you discomfort, Princess, but I must insist,” he said in the same even tones. “Would you please ascend? Your maid will travel with you.”
    â€œBut…but you do not understand.” Her eyes were wide with distress now. “I must ride. I become sick with the motion of a carriage. I cannot travel shut up in that manner.” She looked beseechingly at her grandfather, but although his heart was in his eyes, he had no help to offer. He had known since yesterday that this was the count’s intention, and realistically he could not blame him.
    â€œI cannot permit you to ride that horse,” Adam said. “You have made it clear that you come with me only under compulsion. I cannot put into your hands the means of flight.” He gestured to the carriage. “Please get in. We have many miles to cover today.”
    Still she stood on the sweep, making no move. She reminded him again of some small wild animal of the steppes, anguished in a manmade trap. The image was so painful, reflected so poorly on his own role in this abduction, which was what she was making it with her obstinacy, that he welcomed anger to his aid. He strode toward her, his voice harsh. “Must I put you in?”
    With a horrified exclamation, Prince Golitskov stepped between them, and Sophie seemed to come out of her trance. She touched her grandfather lightly on the arm, then walked past him to climb into the carriage. Tanya, laden with baskets and packages, scrambled up behind her. The door closed.
    â€œGod damn it, man!” Golitskov had lost all his calm, the ironic veneer wiped away as if it had never been. “She cannot bear confined spaces, and she becomes travel sick in a carriage.”
    Adam bowed, clicking his heels together so that his spurs rang in the cool morning air. “I did not choose this, Prince. I must bid you farewell, and thank you for your hospitality.” The polite phrases tripped off his tongue in his haste to have done with this agonizing scene. The longer they stood here, the worse it would be for both the princess and Golitskov. He turned, swung onto his horse, raised his hand in a signal that they should move out, and the cavalcade set off.
    Sophie sat huddled in the corner, unable to bring herself to look out of the window for one last sight of her beloved home, of the man who had been all and everything to her since she could remember. She did not know that he stood in the doorway