Valerie's Russia
Page 20
‘We are good at that,’ said Valerie.
‘My sister can walk again. Andrei is safe, and Mother will soon have her family living with her. What about you, Valerie Marsh?’ He turned his head to look at her. ‘What do you intend doing with your life?’
‘I intend escorting you back to Mavara tomorrow, and remaining there for as long as you, and your family, need me.’
‘And then?’ he said. ‘Will you return to England once the war is over?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘The Nurse-in-Charge thinks it will go on for a long time. So when you no longer need me I will return to Kiev and continue nursing.’
‘What if I asked you to stay? Could you spend the rest of your life with a bad-tempered, broken wreck, Valerie Marsh?’
Without a word Valerie leaned over and cupped his face in her hands. Then she brushed her lips gently across his scarred flesh and rested them softly on his mouth.
‘I’ll stay with you always, Pyotr,’ she said, lifting her head. ‘I’ll be your mistress, or nurse, whatever you want as long as we are together.’
‘As my wife,’ he said, reaching down beneath the blankets and bringing out the ring with his good hand. ‘This is for you, Varinka. At last it will be worn by the one I truly love.’
As she remained speechless, staring at the magnificent Silakov heirloom, he let out a curse.
‘I want to hold you close and place this on your finger, but with one hand I am useless, damn it!’
‘Hush.’ Valerie took the ring from him and slid it onto her finger. ‘There, now it is on my hand and I promise you I will not be breaking this engagement. But it needs to be made smaller.’ She took it off and tried it on her middle finger. ‘There, that’s better.’
‘It will be made smaller the moment we return,’ he said. ‘And I shall see the priest in Kamenka and arrange our marriage for the first possible day. Come to me, my love, and ease my loneliness.’
As Valerie moved to lie against his good side, she felt his arm go round her and she thought of her father and Mrs Duffy, and how she would enjoy writing to tell them of her forthcoming marriage to a Russian count.
Once the war was over and Pyotr had learnt to accept his changed appearance, they would travel to England as man and wife and he would be introduced to Putney.
Maybe they would also go to Petrograd and see Grand Duchess Olga again at Tsarskoe Selo? Surely the Empress would forgive Valerie the past, once she had wed the young officer whom the Imperial family had liked so much?
There were so many possibilities, so many hopes for the future, once she became Pyotr’s wife and the world had returned to sanity and peace.
Copyright
© Sarah Judge
First published in Great Britain 2014
ISBN 978 0 7198 1506 5 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1507 2 (mobi)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1508 9 (pdf)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1234 7 (print)
Robert Hale Limited
Clerkenwell House
Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.halebooks.com
The right of Sarah Judge to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988