Gypsy

by Roux Cantrell

  Firing up the Harleys, Gypsy needed to figure out how to deal with Velean. Her temper could be scary, even for a man like him. He hoped she saw reason and didn’t go off half-cocked after Mariquinn. Pulling his bike out onto the road, he really needed to get Mariquinn out of his head, Velean would see through him without any problem.

  Twisting on the throttle, he shifted through each gear. There was nothing like the open road and a little speed to help clear one’s thoughts. Knowing the boys had his six, he twisted a little deeper coming out of a deep curve. The road was a familiar one, Gypsy and his crew could run these roads in the dead of night without lights, without any problems, so running wide open in the middle of the day was playtime. And he needed the speed, the road, and nothing in front of him for just a little while.

  Closing the trailer door behind her, Mariquinn finally took a breath. Thankful for not running into Razvan again, she kicked off her shoes by the door and laid on the small bed. A quick catnap and she would be ready for the next show.

  After twenty minutes of tossing and turning, Mariquinn rolled over onto her back. Who was the dark-haired guy from earlier in the day? His identity was driving her crazy. The last thing she needed was a distraction when she had to do another aerial dance. But, who was he and what did he look like? How could a mystery man make her so twitchy?

  A knock at her door startled Mariquinn. When she peered out, she could see Razvan’s reflection through the window. Shit. Being as quiet as possible she grabbed her shoes, put them on, and tried to find another way out. Knowing there really wasn’t any unless she could slip out of the window without notice.

  Mariquinn started to push out the emergency window when she heard voices arguing in front of the trailer. Stepping back to the door, she heard her father and her oldest sister’s fiancé telling Razvan to leave and not to come back. Thank God.

  Chapter Five

  Mariquinn was overwhelmed at the fact her father was telling her she would be marrying the gypsy king. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was the twenty-first century for Christ’s sake. “Papa, why so soon? And the king is old, no offense. Also, why now?”

  “Because, Razvan won’t stop coming after you. I’m afraid if I don’t allow him to marry you, he will stake a claim and take you anyway. No one would want you after he had you. And the king is not old. It’s Nicolea Petrovic, the king’s son. It’s the new king you will be marrying.”

  “Papa, I don’t want to talk about those things with you.”

  “I wish we didn’t have to have this conversation, Mariquinn. It is the truth and I would never lie to you.”

  Mariquinn's father kissed her cheek and walked away. She had really wanted to stay on the festival grounds tonight. But, with Razvan hounding her, she had come home with the family. Mariquinn had a lot to think about. Heading out the back door, she crossed the yard into the wooded area behind their home.

  She had brightly-colored silks hanging from multiple trees, so she could practice at any time. Kicking off her shoes, she shoved her earbuds in and amped up her music. Grabbing the fabric, Mariquinn climbed high into the trees. She chose to create a hammock with the silk and laid wrapped in it instead of doing her acrobatics.

  The breeze touched Mariquinn's body, ruffling the silks. She watched as the branches danced ever so slightly with the wind. The leaves seemed to shimmer against the evening sky.

  Mariquinn sat listening to the conversation going around the kitchen table. It appeared that her father hadn’t told anyone about the arranged marriage. About the time Mariquinn thought it, she caught her mother looking at her. The expression on her face screamed concern and worry.

  Mariquinn smiled a soft smile to reassure her mother as her father cleared his throat bringing the conversation to a halt. “I have something important to share with all of you.”

  Mariquinn wanted to crawl under the table.

  “As you will all find out soon enough, our Mariquinn is to marry the king.”

  The table erupted in conversation from everything to when and where the wedding would take place and also to the why of it. Mariquinn leaned forward, resting her forehead on the table.

  “Look at her Papa, she can’t even handle us talking about her getting married.”

  Mariquinn snapped into action lifting her head and glaring at her older sister Lyalya. “I’ll have you know I can handle this conversation and being married to the king.”

  Her sisters laughed. They knew Mariquinn wasn’t innocent. They knew she had been with men, just not a man like Nicolea. “Mariquinn, you know nothing of what will be expected of you.”

  “Yes, Quinn. Being married is hard work. Being married to Nicolea Petrovic will be a whole different issue.” Kathleen spoke with concern in her voice.

  “Well I have four weeks to get to know him.”

  Mariquinn excused herself from the table. She needed quiet.

  Velean lounged on the leather sofa awaiting Nicolea. It was their weekly date. She drummed her long nails. He was never late, he prided himself on being prompt and always in control.

  Now what could be keeping the king of the gypsies.

  Nicolea walked into the hotel room reluctantly. It wasn’t the first time that had ever happened. Knowing Velean would be waiting on him gave him more of a pause.

  “Nicolea, I was beginning to worry.”

  “No, you weren’t Velean. It’s very unbecoming to lie, beautiful.”

  “So, what kept you?”

  Hopefully this conversation went easy. “Velean, I thought you should hear from me that I am about to be married.” The look on her face went from sinful to menacing in a split second.

  “What did you say?”

  “I’m to be married.”

  Velean got up, walking straight to Nicolea. He thought he would just tell her they were finished and that would be it. Velean smiled. “Nicolea, I had plans for us.”

  “Velean, this has been a relationship by blackmail.”

  “I don’t care what you think this was between us, I had plans.”

  “Those plans would have never happened.”

  Nicolea walked behind the bar putting distance between himself and Velean. Pouring himself a drink, Nicolea watched as she paced the room. “You knew one day this would end.”

  “Did I? Who are you marrying? When are you getting married?”

  Nicolea answered her questions- all but Mariquinn's name. Velean smiled, turned and walked toward the door. Nicolea thought it was too easy. She turned around, pointing a finger at him. “I own you. But, I will give you a chance to prove you’re more than a piece of meat. Let’s say it’s a wedding present for you two lovebirds.”

  Before Nicolea could respond she spoke. “If your bride can fall in love with you, without seeing your face by the time your wedding day comes, I will leave you in peace. If she sees you completely, you become mine.”

  “Velean, I’m not agreeing to that.”

  “It’s not your choice. If she looks at you and you even think about betraying me, I will ruin you and your family. You know I have the information to do so.”

  Nicolea glared at Velean. He didn’t care about what people thought about him, it was his family that mattered most. Reluctantly he agreed. “You have a deal.”

  Velean wrapped her arms around Nicolea’s neck, pressing her body against his. Nicolea smoothly ran one hand around her waist pulling her tight against him, his other hand went around her neck. He squeezed ever so gently. By the look on her face he knew that his point was heard. Her eyes went wide as he applied pressure. “If you so much as lift a finger to interfere with us over the next month or threaten me again, I will break your lovely fucking neck.” Letting go of her throat, he grabbed his coat and left.

  Velean stood there with her hand on her neck. She could still feel his hand tightening around it. Damn that man! Velean snapped out of her thoughts, she needed to get a plan together. She had been too hasty thinking Nicolea would go along easily.


  “Fucking Bitch.” Gypsy punched the wall, hitting it so hard he left it damaged. That bitch had just tangled him up again. How in the hell would he get to know Mariquinn over the next four weeks without being able to see her?

  “Gypsy, what happened?”

  “Let’s get out of here, before I go back in there and kill that bitch.”

  Arriving back at the house, the two men followed Gypsy into the house, watching as he went behind the bar and poured a double. “Velean did not take it so well. She just put things in perspective for me.” Gypsy told them.

  “What are you saying?”

  “I didn’t whisper or stutter. Velean won’t let me go. She told me that if Mariquinn manages to fall in love with me without seeing my face, she will leave me in peace.”

  “How long do you have to go without her seeing your face?”

  “Till our wedding day, Tabor.”

  Wrench who had been sitting quietly across the room chimed in. “Why not just stick to the shadows?”

  “Shut up, Wrench. What do you know about women.”

  Gypsy didn’t have time for these two to start bickering like a pair of old women. “Tabor, Wrench is making sense. Velean said she couldn’t see my face. She never said she couldn’t see me. Now I just have to see if my bride-to-be will go for it.”

  “Mariquinn is one of us. Hopefully she’s a smart woman.” Wrench nodded as Tabor laughed. Gypsy just frowned. Although something told him Mariquinn had a level head on her shoulders, maybe she would believe him.

  Dismissing his sergeants at arms, he set out to decide the best course of explaining things to Mariquinn, setting things in the right direction. Gypsy knew how to seduce women, pleasure women and have women fall all over him. But, he had never had limitations before. Surely his looks weren’t that important. Were they? He could make Mariquinn love him...

  With some doubt lingering in his mind he picked up the phone calling Mariquinn's home to arrange a day and time to meet. He spoke directly to her father. It was easier to handle the father as king than the woman as her future groom whom she did not know. Heading to his bedroom to prepare for a meeting.

  He needed to call a meeting to explain things to his crew. Things were about to change. Everyone needed to be on their toes. Who knew what Velean would do to screw things up. After that his next piece of business was a meeting with Mariquinn. A meeting. He stopped short- that would not be a meeting. Mariquinn was his future wife and they needed to find common ground to make this work.

  Gypsy stopped as he realized he really wanted it to work out the proper way. He had never thought of being one of those men that had a mistress. He intended to make Mariquinn his in absolutely every way.

  What would she want from him, he had to wonder. That brought him up short. What if she didn’t find him interesting or attractive? What if she disliked him on every level? He could appeal to her on one level. He knew what she loved but the real whys of it he didn’t know. When Mariquinn worked her silks, she was flawless. You could see she loved what she did and in the exhaustion of the aerial ballet she lived somewhere else in those moments. Gypsy wondered where she went when she was high above the ground.

  One thing he did know, she was damn sexy, sexy as hell when she was high above the crowd tempting fate, her own ability keeping herself from falling. How many times would he dream about her wrapped in all that silk, before he had her wrapped in his sheets with him? Every night since he saw her for the first time. That could be a subject of conversation.

  Smiling at the thought of “when was the last time he gave a second thought to how a woman would respond to him”? What a refreshing thought.

  Chapter Six

  Mariquinn sat posed in a high back chair. The room was dimly lit and what little light cast eerie shadows across the room. The curtains had been pulled tightly shut letting in no sunlight at all. She was about done with the creepy atmosphere when the door opened.

  “Miss Bagrov, his highness will be in momentarily.”

  Mariquinn stood, heading for the door. “Thank you, but I must be going. I’ve given him ample time to come meet me.” As she went to pass the butler he halted her with a firm grip on her wrist.

  “If I were you, I’d go sit back down.” he growled staring down at her.

  Mariquinn wasn’t about to be bullied. Snatching her arm from the man, she shoved at him to get away from him, only to find he wouldn’t budge. “MOVE!”

  “SIT!”

  “NO!”

  “What appears to be the problem, Stephan?” Gypsy asked as he walked in from another door.

  “Your Highness, she was leaving or trying to.”

  Mariquinn heard the deep sultry voice behind her. Dare she turn around.

  “Mariquinn, do you wish to leave?”

  “I don’t like to be kept waiting, it’s rude.”

  “I do apologize for my tardiness, I was dealing with another matter. Please come back and sit with me.”

  Easing back across the room, Mariquinn retook her seat. The only problem she had now was she couldn’t see his face. Her future husband lounged in the chair across from her. He seemed very lax in his demeanor, not stiff at all. But something was off.

  “So, we are to be married in four weeks, to keep you out of the hands of Razvan. How do you feel about that?” Gypsy never felt the need to beat around the bush.

  Mariquinn didn’t know why her body reacted to the sound of his voice but oh, how it did. “I’m not sure what you want me to say.”

  Gypsy expected a girl bouncing in her seat at the thought of marrying him. He was pleased she wasn’t. Maybe Mariquinn was different. He remembered how her eyes sparkled in the sunlight the last time he saw her. In this dark room, he could barely see their color. “I saw your act at the festival. You are very talented. I thought your performance was exquisite, Mariquinn.”

  Mariquinn tried not to let her mouth drop open by his admission. Instead, she sat back a little more in her chair trying to figure out what to say other than thank you.

  Gypsy decided he may as well get to the point at hand. “Mariquinn, do you believe in love?”

  “Yes. Nicolea I do.”

  “Would you mind doing me one small favor?”

  “What would that be?”

  “Please call me Gypsy. At least around here.

  “I can do that.”

  Feeling a little more at ease he spoke frankly. “I would love to tell you Razvan is our only issue, but it’s not.” He went on to tell her about Velean and what the outcome had been. When he was finished, he waited to see what she had to say.

  Mariquinn felt a tinge of jealousy over him and this Velean. She wasn’t stupid. She knew there was more to the story than he had told her. What was she supposed to do? Call him a liar?

  Was he asking for permission to continue the affair even though they would be married? And why did the butler have to stay in the room?

  “First of all, can he leave?” She pointed at the extra man in the room.

  “Stephan, can you give us some space.” It hadn’t been a question she noticed, but rather, a statement. When the door closed, Mariquinn began. As she started to speak, she got up and paced, all the while trying hard not to want to look at him.

  “You and this Velean have been screwing for how long?”

  Nicolea smiled, it seemed his bride-to-be was feisty. What was she going to do when they really started getting down to the meat of it all? “A little over a year.”

  “And you have never thought about marrying her?”

  “Our relationship was not that sort of relationship.”

  “What’s the point if you’re never going anywhere with it?”

  Gypsy steepled his hands under his chin thinking about his answer. “Mariquinn, I like certain things. I have always liked my women of a certain, shall we say, taste.”

  Turning, Mariquinn stopped pacing waiting for him to explain further. What could he possibly like that most men didn’t. A woman was a woman, whe
ther she was tall, short, skinny or heavy...still a woman.

  “I am what one would call a dominant. Do you know what that is?”

  Mariquinn licked her top lip with the tip of her tongue. She didn’t know exactly what it meant but she itched to find out. “You’re not a bully, are you? I won’t put up with that. And I won’t be putting up with my husband having other women on the side.”

  Laughing Gypsy answered her. “I have no intention of having other women on the side. My wish is that we will have a great connection in every aspect of our relationship. And for the other, no, I am not a bully. Being a dominant just means I like the control. And for the record, I would never hurt you in any way that you wouldn’t find pleasure in. I like control in all aspects of my life. Velean understood that; liked letting me have that control in our relationship.”

  “So, you will want that from me?”

  “I would. Yes.”

  Mariquinn bit the bullet. “Your Highness ...”

  Grinding his teeth, Gypsy stopped her from continuing. He had already asked her to call him Gypsy. If that was a problem she could call him Nicolea. Under no circumstances would he allow her to call him your highness. “I’ve asked you to call me Gypsy, is that a problem for you?”

  Turning from him Mariquinn, a quick temper was hard to tamp down sometimes, and she had one. “No, it isn’t.” This isn’t going to work so she may as well tell him the deal breaker. “Gypsy, there is something you should know. I’m not a virgin.” There she said it. Damn it she would end up having to leave her family’s home now. Her parents would be embarrassed when he refused to marry her.

  Gypsy coughed as he heard the words spill from Mariquinn’s mouth. For fuck’s sake, she thought that’s what he expected. What would he do with a virgin? Before he could respond Mariquinn stepped over picking up her belongings. Where did she think she was going?

  “I see you’re disappointed already.”

  “No, I don’t know why you think that matters.”