Natalya Read Online Free PDF Page B

Two silken-eared spaniels slept before the cheery blaze. "These paintings are Beauvisage ancestors?"
    Nicholai was torn. He wanted to play the kind host to his guest, but now he was afraid that any displays of friendship might further encourage St. James's mad scheme. If only Natalya hadn't become involved... Then, reminding himself of the debt owed by the Beauvisages to the St. Jameses, Nicholai decided to adopt a manner that was polite but not... familiar. Smiling, he led Grey to the painting nearest the doorway.
    "These are all my ancestors, but not all of them are named Beauvisage. A hundred and twenty years ago, the only son of Paul Mardouet, seigneur of St. Briac, died in a hunting accident. Paul's eldest daughter, Marie, then married a nobleman named Beauvisage, and Chateau du Soleil passed to them. Our family tree gained a new branch."
    Grey gestured toward the painting. "By the look of this fellow's jeweled doublet, I gather that he must be a Mardouet."
    "Correct. This was Thomas Mardouet, one of St. Briac's earliest seigneurs. He was a great friend of King Francois, and it was he who razed the chateau's north wing when the enlightened age of the renaissance did away with the need to fortify one's home against attack."
    "He looks... fulfilled," Grey observed. The painting revealed a handsome man with curling chestnut hair, a trim beard, and turquoise eyes that seemed to dance with pleasure. "And I can see a family resemblance."
    Nicholai smiled. "Thomas's eyes and hair have turned up on descendants all through the years. And I think you're right about the look of him. Although he lost his first son in childhood, that was his only real tragedy. Thomas had two daughters and another son, and according to all reports he was passionately in love with his wife. They shared a long life together, and they made some fine wine here."
    Grey's eyes wandered to the next portrait, of an enchanting, raven-haired woman with clear spring green eyes. Garbed in a gown of rich emerald velvet embroidered in gold, with long sleeves and a low, square neckline, she appeared alluringly alive. "Don't tell me that this was his wife...?"
    "Hmm? Oh, yes, I'm afraid so. That's Aimee. Exquisite, wasn't she?"
    "She certainly accounts for his contented look."
    Nicholai laughed suddenly, the furrow disappearing from his brow. "We Beauvisages have ever been a romantic lot. My father, who grew up here and was the rightful heir to this chateau, had no taste for playing lord of the manor. He chose to be a pirate, during the days when such practices were tolerated. He did a great deal of illegal trading with the colonies—America—when trade with England was so expensive and troublesome. By all accounts, Father was the consummate rake. My mother, who is Russian, met him when he captured the passenger ship on which she was sailing to America. Theirs was just one in a long line of passionate romances in our family."
    Grey inclined his head. "Your own included, it is clear to see. My own family, on the other hand, is littered with acrimonious arranged marriages and cold-blooded infidelities. I myself—" He broke off with a bitter smile that was not lost on his host. "Growing up, I never saw anyone genuinely in love—most especially not my own parents," he went on after a slight pause. "As a consequence, I've never put much stock in notions of romantic love. If there is such a thing, I'm convinced that it's magical—and transitory."
    "Well, Natalya has had good examples to observe since birth, and she's more cynical about love than most men I know... at least when it comes to her own life. She hasn't let me read the manuscript for her novel, but my wife has confided that the heroine of My Lady's Heart is incorrigibly romantic."
    "Miss Beauvisage wouldn't be the first person to discover that affairs of the heart are safer conducted at a distance," Grey remarked ironically.
    Chuckling, Nicholai stifled a yawn. "It's been a long day—longer than I realized.