Entranced: Spellbound (Book Three) Read Free Page B

didn’t know he had packed our things. As I looked up at the impressive monument, I was glad I had evening dresses.
    A tall, slim man with high blond hair came bounding down the stairs in a tailored suit. As I saw him, my mind blanked and waved into darkness. He was beautiful. High cheekbones, almond-shaped eyes, and a quick angular body. He and Alexi embraced and kissed cheeks. I stood there, trying to be cool. They spoke in Russian or Ukrainian and laughed.
    “ Victor, this is Julia Donovan. Julia, this is my old, dear friend Victor Doroschenko.” 
    Victor took my hand and kissed it, looking into my e yes. We walked up the front steps into an elaborate entrance hallway, and past a party of well-dressed people laughing in a drawing room. We were quickly escorted to our rooms to change.
    My room had a window that overlooked the back gardens that I could s ee under the full moon light. The gardens extended to a long fountain that disappeared into the darkness. My room was decorated in 17th-century French style luxury, from the delicate white and gold side table to the gilded bed posts that reached to the ceiling. 
    I tried to remain relaxed as I changed. I guess I was expecting a upper-middle-class home and a man with an overweight wife and small children. I’d walked into an upscale dinner party with the glitterati of Crimea. I’d just spent the last week hauling my own water, and the weeks before counting my pennies to travel by train through Europe. I was just a college girl on her first foray out of my highly insular society. And I only spoke English— a fact that made most Europeans look down on you almost instantly.
    I dressed in a capped-sleeved, black cocktail dress and red pumps. I put my hair up in a flouncy bun with ringlets hanging down my shoulders and back. I put on smokey eye-makeup and deep red lipstick. I couldn’t help that my heart was pounding. I put on some dangling gold earrings and a necklace of tiny pearls. Alexi met me at the door of my room, looking sleek his black shiny suit. He took my arm and led me downstairs to the drawing room where the party conversed over cocktails.
    The drawing room continued the opulent 17th century style but with a black and red theme. It had a high coffered ceiling outlined in red. The walls were papered with filigree designs surrounding the puffy red velvet couches and round settee s. Against the back wall was an elaborate mahogany bar where a server mixed drinks.
    All together, the party consisted of thirteen people, including me and Alexi. There were six men and seven woman. Everyone was dressed in posh designer clothing. Alexi brought me the bar and spoke to the bartender in Russian. He handed me a fruity mixed drink and ushered me around the room. Victor came to us and began to introduce me to his guests in English. Most of the party guests were between their late twenties and early forties. I was definitely the youngest one there. One of the more mature looking women in a long scooped neck dress with an intricately beaded short-sleeve jacket, and sharp pageboy hair cut, walked over to me. She was introduced as Dina Pavlova.
    “ So you are America?” she asked in a thick accent.
    “ Yes, I’m on summer vacation before going back to graduate school next spring.”
    “ Ah, and what do you study, my Dear?”
    “ Business.”
    “ Julia studies business, but she is really a talented artist,” Alexi interjected. 
    “ Really,” said Dina, “What kind of art do you make?”
    “ I paint watercolors. Landscapes mostly, and architecture. I’m also thinking of doing some nudes.”
    Dina took my arm and led me to sit on a settee with her. I watched Alexi walk into a group of people speaking animatedly in Russian and laughing.
    “ I’d love to see your work,” Dina said touching my hand.
    It felt good, but strange that this chic, older woman was interested in my work. No one like her had ever been interested in my artwork before. Mo st of the art people I