He grinned boyishly, and for a moment she saw why women found him so irresistible.

"I believe I have missed your wit, Princess. It was too bad of Stefan to keep you to himself the whole of this voyage."

"Did he send you for these?" She took the pins from his hand.

"He suggested that if we didn't want you looking like a trollop, one of us should make the effort. Naturally, I was elected."

How casually he tossed out that secondhand insult. She ignored it on the surface, but deep down she was stung. She wondered how many other disparaging remarks were made about her when she wasn't around to hear them. Since she heard too many when she was around, she could only imagine that these men never said anything nice about her. Well, she hardly had anything nice to say about them either.

She reached for the bow at her nape. "If you will wait a few—"

"Leave it," he broke in and, at her inquiring look, added, "It is quite fetching as is."

"But after all the trouble you went through to borrow these."

He shrugged. "You can use them tomorrow for our arrival in New Orleans."

Tomorrow? Was that why she was being allowed out of the cabin tonight? Stefan had no doubt decided it was safe enough to let her be around other people since she wasn't likely to see any of them a second time. How much trouble could she cause in so little time, after all? She hoped she could find an opportunity to show them the error of that assumption. Trollop? She might not look like one now, but how hard would it be to act like one?

"Then shall we go?"

This riverboat was smaller than The Lorilie, though it had two decks as well. The dining saloon was on the lower deck, next to a large room devoted strictly to gambling. Passing that room, Tanya realized this was one of the boats referred to as a floating gambling palace. Professional gamblers made their homes on such boats. So did women of ill repute. For a moment she wondered if that wasn't the reason she had been kept isolated, but she dismissed the notion as being too unlikely, particularly when her traveling companions, one and all, thought her reputation couldn't be any worse.

Lazar and Serge were waiting at a table for them. Both stood as she approached. Both bowed slightly as Vasili seated her. Their deference made her uncomfortable, until it occurred to her that it was no more than an act to reinforce the fairy tale. Why they still bothered...

"Is Stefan still at it?" Vasili questioned before he sat down.

"You need to ask, when he has rarely left that table since we boarded?" Lazar replied.

"Why don't you go and remind him that food is a necessity?" Serge suggested. "He won't listen to us."

"Then I suppose I had better."

Lazar turned to Tanya when Vasili left. "Stefan has been doing a little gambling," he explained.

She had already gathered as much and asked with little interest, "Is he winning?"

"Actually, he's lost quite a bit."

She wondered how much "quite a bit" was to them, not that she cared. She couldn't wish penury on a more deserving group of men.

"Usually you learn how to play the game before you try your hand at it," was all she remarked.

"Stefan knows how to play well enough. In fact, he is quite skillful at it."

The way Lazar was looking at her couldn't have said more clearly that she was somehow at fault, and that incensed her. "Now that takes nerve, to blame me for his bad luck when I wasn't even there."

The rebuke didn't phase him. "Your despondency has bothered him. I don't understand it either. You grieve for a hovel when you will live in palaces."

Tanya sighed inwardly. Obviously, they must believe that perseverance was going to make her accept their story eventually. She was definitely tired of telling them that it just wouldn't work.

"I wasn't despondent, Lazar, I was furious," she pointed out. "You would be, too, if someone showed up and tried changing your life around."

"Not if it was a change for the better," he insisted. "You had to be made to see that your life there was over. And you will be happy in Cardinia, Tanya. You will have wealth, power—"

"A husband?"

"Every woman wants to marry."

"Imagine that! Every single one? And here I always thought I was a woman."

Her exaggerated sarcasm had him flinching. "You really don't want to marry?"

"No."

"Not even Vasili?"

"Especially not Vasili."

Two hands settled on her bare shoulders, and warm breath stirred the hair by her ear. "Careful, Tatiana, or I will begin to believe that and be so wounded, I will have to exert some charm to change your mind."

Vasili, not Stefan, the voice told her. Her heart slowed its beat.

Before she could think of a reply to that outlandish promise, however, Lazar asked Vasili, "You couldn't drag him away?"

"He said he would join us later — perhaps."

Tanya's shoulders slumped. Stefan wouldn't join them. She knew it as sure as she was sitting there. He had ordered her to look presentable, but he had had no intention of seeing for himself if she complied. How dared he take away even the pleasure she had felt in the way she looked tonight? She wouldn't let him do that, too, on top of everything else.

"If Stefan doesn't join us later," she said boldly now, "then we must join him."

The suggestion was met with total silence until Lazar finally blurted out, "That won't do at all, Princess. "

"I insist."

"But Stefan won't like—"

"You heard her, Lazar," Vasili cut in. "She insists. And she does outrank you."

Tanya turned to Vasili incredulously. "I do?"

"Certainly you do. Lazar is, after all, only a count."

Lazar was grinding his teeth by now. "This isn't the best time to point that out, your Majesty."

"Relax, my friend, and let Stefan handle the matter if he objects to it. He needs something to draw him out of his present mood, anyway."

Tanya was interested in only one thing right now. "Does that mean I outrank Stefan, too?"

"How hopeful you look." Vasili grinned. "But I must disappoint you. No matter Stefan's rank, responsibility for you is his alone until we return to Cardinia, so you must defer to him in all things. If you choose to argue... but you have dealt well enough with him so far, have you not? He is the one who seems to be having trouble dealing with you."

Tanya hid her disappointment well. She should have known they wouldn't go that far to enhance their tale.

"You think so?" she said in a neutral tone. "I hadn't noticed." But oh, how she wished it were true, because any difficulty whatsoever that she could cause Stefan would delight her no end.

Chapter 26

They came in behind Stefan and stood at his back, so he was unaware that they were there. That suited Tanya. She was in no hurry to confront him now that she was in the same room with him. And the anticipation was pleasant, all the more so because both Lazar and Serge were sure that Stefan was going to be quite annoyed at her being there.

They were so certain, they had refused to come along, so only Vasili stood beside her as her escort. Without his intervention, she would have been taken right back to her cabin after dinner. She grudgingly acknowledged she had him to thank, though she hated being grateful to him for anything, even a means for some sort of revenge.

Merely annoying Stefan wasn't enough, though she hadn't figured out yet what else she could do. But an idea came to her when she noticed that the gambler sitting directly across from Stefan was paying more attention to her than he was to the cards in his hand.

He was a big man, very wide across the chest, and from what she could tell, none of his bulk was fat. He wasn't bad-looking either, probably a few years older than Stefan, with dark brown hair and darker brown eyes. Like one other gentleman at the table, he had removed his coat and rolled up his shirtsleeves — possibly so no one could accuse him of cheating. At any rate, he had appeared to be taking the game in progress very seriously — until now.

There was a lot of money on the table, a very great amount, most of it before the brownhaired gambler. The other two players had modest piles in front of them. Stefan was throwing in his last two bills to call the present hand. The play went around, cards were drawn. The big gambler actually had to be reminded that it was his turn to bet, because his eyes were again on Tanya instead of his cards.

"Are you in or out, Mr. Barany?"

Tanya started when she realized the question was asked of Stefan by the man on his right. She had never heard his last name before, never even thought to ask what it was. Come to think of it, Lazar was the only one among them who had introduced himself fully to her. Perhaps there was a Thomas or a Johnson among them who would shoot down their story of being foreign nobles. Stefan reached inside his coat to draw out more money. More? The man didn't know when to quit, but she'd already learned that about him the hard way. Only this had to do with money — and losing it. Didn't he care? A glance at Vasili told her he wasn't the least bit worried. Of course, that man probably didn't know how to look worried, or anything else, other than bored or contemptuous.

She watched Stefan throw in more money to call the second bet. The man to his left dropped out. The big one turned his cards face-up on the table, revealing three fives. His eyes came back to Tanya yet again while he waited to hear if anyone could beat his hand.

It took a lot of nerve, but Tanya finally smiled at him, not timidly or coyly either. After all, she'd watched the tavern girls for years, knew their subtle signals and the way they moved their bodies when they were interested in a man and wanted him to know it. She wasn't sure if she was doing it right, however, but guessed she was when the man smiled back at her, a big, beautiful smile that made him look downright boyish and definitely interested.

But not to overdo it, she lowered her eyes — and just happened to see Stefan's three kings before he laid them face-down on the table, which declared without saying so that he couldn't beat the three fives. It didn't make sense. She didn't know all the intricacies of the game, but she did know three kings beat three fives. Didn't Stefan know he had the winning hand? She felt compelled to tell him. She held her tongue. Helping him wasn't in her plan.

Her eyes were drawn back to the big gambler as he stood up to rake in the winning pot. He was grinning, and looking straight at Tanya as he said, "You'll have to excuse me, gentlemen, but I feel compelled to sit out a few hands."

"It ain't wise to tamper with a winning streak, Corbell," the man to his right complained.

"Don't I know it." Corbell laughed. "But I'm merely going to direct that streak into other channels for a while."

The complainer followed the direction of his gaze and laughed, too. Stefan finally seemed to notice this interplay. Tanya tensed, expecting him to turn now. He didn't. He stood up and stepped into the path of Corbell, who was bigger than Tanya had guessed, a half foot taller than Stefan and much, much broader.

"I'm afraid you have made a mistake, Mr. Corbell," Stefan stated calmly. "She isn't available."

Tanya gasped. Stefan hadn't even looked at her, yet he knew she stood behind him, and knew what Corbell had meant with his subtle play on words.

But the mountain wasn't discouraged, though why should he be? A man would have to be crazy to tangle with someone his size.

"I'd say she feels differently," Corbell replied. "So why don't you step aside?"

Stefan didn't budge. "What she feels or wants is entirely irrelevant." Then, without turning around he said, "Vasili, return her to my cabin while I endeavor to convince Mr. Corbell of his error."

"Now hold on—"

That was all Corbell got out before there was the distinct sound of knuckles meeting flesh. Tanya only heard it happen. Vasili was dragging her out of there so fast she didn't even have a chance to look behind her. And then she was shoved into the arms of Serge, who had been waiting outside the gambling room with Lazar. Words weren't even exchanged. Vasili and Lazar went back inside, while Serge gave Tanya no choice but to return to her cabin.

"How much damage have you caused this time, your Highness?"

This time? Tanya tried to stop to address that, but Serge just kept walking and pulling her along behind him.