Page 44 of My Highland Fling
“Ah, that will be James and Grigory.Right on time.”
“Should I serve the canapes now?”Gabrielle asked Adrik.
“Yes, please.”
She glided to the intercom.After a few quick words with the cook, she returned to their guests.Her gaze swept the newly arrived guards, her heart beating a little faster on cataloging the two of the men.They looked like brothers, both with black hair and green eyes.She bit back her instinctive cry because they reminded her of Ramsay.One gave an imperceptible shake of his head, and she angled her body to greet the new arrivals even as her mind raced.
Had she imagined his quick warning?
Her pulse galloping, she reached Adrik’s side and waited for an introduction.“James, this is my wife, Gabrielle,” Adrik said.“Grigory, my wife.”
James reached for her hand and placed a kiss on her inner wrist.His avid gaze brought an urge to shudder, but she batted it back and reached for a polite smile.
Grigory nodded a silent greeting.
“I’m pleased to meet you.Can I get you a drink?”
“Straight vodka.No ice.Make it a double,” James said.
“Same for me.”It appeared Grigory was a man of few words.
“Of course,” Gabrielle murmured, her mind busily working as she poured the newcomers’ drinks.She handed them over with a faint smile.“Adrik, something to drink?”
“I’ll take a vodka.Ice,” he said.
Nodding, she prepared the drink while wishing she had poison to tip into it.Something to consider for the future.
One of the young kitchen helpers arrived carrying a plate of hot canapes.
“Maria, please set them on the table,” Gabrielle said.“We will serve ourselves.”The cook had told her sometimes the visitors molested the female workers.That wouldn’t happen while she was here.
James walked up behind the girl and groped her breast.Gabrielle took half a step forward to intervene before Adrik’s hand curled around her biceps in a punishing grip.
“Leave,” he growled in her ear.
Gabrielle watched James, contempt and disgust holding her stiff.The randy old bastard.The girl was eighteen.Obviously, he didn’t intend to cease his harassment, and Adrik would do nothing to stop it.
“James,” Timur said, amusement rippling through his accented voice.“Are we going to start our discussions, or would you like us to wait for you?”
Gabrielle didn’t think the man’s accent was Russian.But she liked the way Timur diffused the situation with humor.James gave the servant a last squeeze and slapped her on the backside.Gabrielle caught the distaste on the third man’s face—quickly concealed, but it made her relax a fraction.Her husband wouldn’t care what his visitors did because he considered his staff possessions, including her.He might not like them destroyed, but slight damage wouldn’t bother him.Bastard.
“Gentlemen, I’ll check on things in the kitchen.Dinner will be ready when you are.”She sent a practiced smile in her husband’s direction and waited for his faint nod of agreement.A week with him was enough to make her hate him.She could see how death might be a release from his constant attention.
“Dinner in fifteen minutes, gentlemen?Would that suit you?”Adrik asked.
Gabrielle couldn’t tell what her husband was thinking or if he wished to impress these men or kill them.She couldn’t read him, and she’d require that skill if she had any chance of escape.
“I need a drink,” James snapped, thrusting his empty glass in Gabrielle’s direction.
“Of course.Let me get you more vodka.”Gabrielle took the glass and barely stopped her shudder when the man’s clammy hands squeezed her arm, supposedly in thanks, but she knew better.
He sent her on her way with a furtive grope of her backside.Gabrielle restrained her instinct to slap his face.“I like this one, Adrik.If you tire of her, please send her my way.I’ve never fucked a princess.”
“I have,” Adrik said with a chuckle.“This one might be a keeper.”
With her back to Adrik and James, Gabrielle poured a generous measure of vodka into the glass and scowled at it.The bastard.A swift kick in the balls would jolt his arrogance free.He was despicable, even worse than Adrik.Gabrielle schooled her expression and turned to the men.
“James, your drink.”
