Part 9 – Shadows of the Night

The first thing Irina saw when she opened her eyes was light shining through small spaces between the plates of a wooden wall. She yawned slightly and wondered where she was, when she realized that she was naked.

"Oh my god..." she murmured, still too sleepy to really care about the absence of her clothes.

"Good morning." Jack went over to the hay-bed.

Irina was sitting upright within a split second when she heard his voice, a sharp knife in her hand which was pointed at Jack. He jumped back, her aggressive gesture catching him totally by surprise.

"For goddamns' sake, are you insane?" he snapped and she stared at him, her memory of last night coming back in flashes.

"Oh my god..." she said louder than before, her head starting to hurt in small stitches, then suddenly she realized that she was sitting totally naked in front of him. "OH GOD!" She grabbed for a blanket and wrapped it around her body hastily. Jack took the knife out of her hand.

"Where did you get this knife from?" he asked and she pointed at her underwear, the shock still in her face.

"You're keeping a knife in your underwear? I guess I can consider myself lucky to still be alive." He murmured half-amused.

"We... we had... we made... we did..." she murmured, totally put off. Her head started to hurt really bad and her world seemed to shatter. All her properly built up walls of reason and control seemed gone. She shared her bed with Jack last night. No, she corrected herself, she hadn't just shared his bed, she had slept with him and she had enjoyed doing so. When she recollected his sweet caresses, she even wished that they could do it again. What was wrong with her? She felt vulnerable... and she hated him for that. Why, of all people, did she have to fall for an English soldier? "How could you do that?"

"Two people are needed to dance and as far as I remember, we both enjoyed it very much." He commented, only half-listening and not really taking her serious since he was collecting their clothes from the hay.

"Bastard!" Irina suddenly hissed and at the rage in her voice he turned around perplexed.

"What?"

"You damned son of a b. Was that your plan? Giving me that damned bottle to make me drunk and then sleep with me? Using me to fulfill your needs?" she asked furiously and got up to grab her dress out of his hand. He just stared at her open-mouthed before he understood the meaning of her words.

"Irina, I did not..."

"Then you're telling me, we did not...?" She interrupted him and her ironic question hung in the air unanswered.

"No! We slept together, but I did not try to get you drunk! I was a little lightheaded myself. I told you not to drink too much of the alcohol, remember? And besides, I gave you more than one chance to end it! I did not use you!"

She just stared at him and remembered how he had tried to warm her up. For a moment she had really had the feeling that he cared for her. Instead, all he had searched for was fun. That was just too typical for English soldiers. A small voice inside her screamed that it hadn't been like that. That he had even given her a chance to retreat or push him away – that he had not planned to use her situation. Yet, she needed to believe that he had wanted to use her, otherwise she wouldn't be able to hate him. She had to hate him. He was her enemy...

They just stood opposite to each other, neither of them able to think about anything appropriate to say, until Jack finally turned around.

"Get dressed, I want to go on."

"Jack... Mr. Bristow!!" she hurried to correct her use of his forename and he stopped.

"Yes."

"You're still planning to get the annulment, aren't you?" He could clearly hear the hint of panic from her voice when she asked him that question. A knife hitting him in the chest couldn't have been worse. She behaved as if he was a monster and being married to him the worst penalty in the world. His face became an inscrutable mask.

"Of course." He stated. "It was obvious that I was not the first man you were with, so any claims of yours are not only inappropriate, but will also not be taken into consideration."

Irina gasped for air. "What are you implying? That I seduced you to make this annulment impossible and force you to stay married to me?" She laughed sarcastically. "Certainly not. My only claim is to get this annulment and never see you again. And whether I stayed with other men or not is definitely none of your business."

"Fine, then we're at the same point." He commented dryly and left. Irina looked after him, then at the dress in her hand, her fists clenching the material tightly. How could he be so arrogant to think that she would want to stay married to him – for any reasons whatsoever?

'Who are you trying to fool here,' the tiny voice inside her asked, but she decided to ignore it.

Jack sighed when he was standing next to the horse. He led it outside and looked over the muddy field. How could he have said those rude words? The night had meant a lot to him – more than he wanted to admit to himself. Irina was an extraordinary woman and he had hoped that this night had changed something in her attitude towards him. The contrary was the case: she treated him as if being married to him was comparable to hell. He wondered what kind of men she had been with before. Had she been married? Or had she just been the mistress of some men? When he reflected about how she behaved, he could hardly imagine her to be a mistress for anybody. She did what she wanted to do. Irina was the most unconventional woman he had ever met, and he couldn't exclude the possibility that she had done with other men what she had done with him last night.

Well, technically we are married, so she didn't actually endanger her reputation by sleeping with me, he added silently. But at the same time he had to admit that neither of them had wanted the marriage. It was illegitimate since they wanted to get an annulment.

Suddenly, Jack realized that he was jealous to not be the first man she had slept with – even more, that he probably hadn't counted more than her other lovers. Maybe he had been nothing more than a nice pastime for her.

Still, the fact remained that she was the woman he was supposed to fight. They hated each other – that was how it had to be. For a moment he considered the possibility that the night they had shared might have consequences – that she might already be pregnant with his child.

When she left the barn fully dressed, busy with bringing her hair back to order, he observed her thoughtfully for a moment and caught himself wishing that she was carrying his child. If she was, he would have a reason to stay in contact with her... maybe even stay married to her. Becoming aware of this thought, he turned away and continued preparing the horse to leave.

"Do you want to stay here all day or do you plan to leave anytime soon?" Irina's ironic comment brought him back to reality. He simply shot her a dark glance before he lifted himself up to the horse. When he made not a single effort to help her, Irina got up herself, cursing silently. She was barely sitting, when he made the horse move.

Gasping for air in shock, she held on to him.

"Hey!" she yelled angrily. "Could you wait until I'm ready next time?"

"Oh, I'm sorry... did you almost fall?" he asked sarcastically and Irina shook her head furiously, deciding that it was better not to tempt him any further.

They spent the time in silence, both busy looking into the distance and not taking note of each other. Irina hated how much she liked his closeness. And even more she hated the warmth that filled her chest when she thought of last night. She focused her attention onto more important things. Had Katya gotten her note? Would she be waiting at the stone near a special crossing Irina had named? And how could she run away without Jack following her immediately?

She had an advantage. Jack trusted her – at the least he trusted her to not run away again. So if she left him very early the next morning, she would actually have a chance to get away. Then, when she had found Katya, they would need to come up with a plan about where she could hide. Jack would certainly search her house and the region around it, probably also where Gerard lived. The whole situation was just so complicated.

She would have to go to Russia. Irina knew that her family still had relatives there. A sister of her father lived there with her husband. Irina had never met her, still it was an option to go to. She would discuss the idea with Katya.

The day seemed to last forever. Due to the muddy ground and two sudden rainstorms, they couldn't ride as fast as Jack wanted to. They even had to take a break two times when the rain became too strong.

It had already been dark for three hours, when they finally stopped in a small village in front of a pension.

The landlord was very friendly and gave them his biggest room for the night. When they were alone in their room, Irina stretched and sighed, peeking at the bathtub in the corner.

"I'd give everything for a hot bath now." She murmured, pulling out of her soaked coat.

Jack went to the door. "I have to take care of some things anyway. You have half an hour."

Irina looked at him in surprise, then she smiled softly. "Thank you."

His eyes met hers in a tender gaze and finally the hint of a smile played around the corner of his mouth. They had barely spoken a word the whole day, yet both of them seemed to have problems keeping up the hostility.

"You're welcome." With these words he left the room.

Irina rang for the landlady and asked for hot water to take a bath. Soon, five maids were taking buckets of water into her room, filling the tub. The landlady added boiling water until it had the right temperature.

Some time later Irina sank into the hot tub, totally lost in the relaxing warmth. Her muscles hurt from the long ride and the rain made her feel dirty. She dove underwater to wash her hair.

Jack had waited almost fifty minutes to grant Irina enough time to bathe and get dressed again. He hadn't thought of the time the maids had taken to prepare the bath, and so he could only stare at the beautiful woman in the tub when he entered the room just now. The view of her in the tub caught him totally by surprise and so he was unable to turn away. Keeping his eyes on her beautiful shape, he approached the tub.

Irina resurfaced, her eyes still closed. She ran her fingers over her face, then through her hair to press the water out of it. Her eyes were still closed, as if she was in some kind of ecstasy with the water as her sanctuary.

When she opened her eyes slowly, Jack lifted his hands. "Don't panic." He said lowly to prevent her from acting shocked when she saw him. The consequence of his words was the opposite. Irina stared at him, then shrieked and pulled her knees to her body to cover her nakedness. A huge wave of water landed on the wooden floor.

"Damned!" she cursed and he didn't doubt that, if her eyes were able to kill, he would have been dead now. "For goddamns' sake, Bristow. What are you doing here?" She spilled some water at him angrily, trying desperately to find something to cover her nakedness with.

Jack laughed amused and laid the huge towel, which was prepared for her, to the ground to clean up the puddle of water.

"No!" Irina tried to hold him back, then stared at him angrily. "That was my towel!"

"Sorry," he murmured, looking at the totally ruined towel. "I didn't mean to shock you, I was just... just..." He couldn't help staring at her. She was sitting in the water like a mermaid, looking around for something she could use as a towel and still, she was so unbelievably sexy that he felt he was getting into serious trouble.

"What?" Irina asked impatiently when he had stopped talking.

"Um... it had already been fifty minutes and I thought you were ready." He finished his sentence, forcing himself to look into her eyes, not lower.

"Great... and when you entered the room and saw that I was not finished, you were unable to turn around and leave? Even more, you had to come closer because...?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Jack folded his arms, her aggressive tone causing him to stay where he was.

"Jack..." Irina finally cried out in a mixture of desperation and anger. She didn't care that she addressed him so personally, right now all she wanted him to do was leave.

"You know..." Jack announced playfully, determined to pay her back the arrogant and unfriendly tone she used. He started to pull off his shoes and shirt. "I think I will just join you in there."

Irina followed him with her eyes. "If you think that scares me, you are wrong. I know that's what you want. Just give me another five minutes... please." She added with forced friendliness and Jack looked at her.

"So, you think I'm bluffing?" He pulled off his shirt and pants. Irina stared at him in shock, thinking about saying something that would make him turn around and leave.

No, she forced herself back, that's what he wants. He wants you to believe that he is really going to do this. He wants you to beg him to leave but he is not going to win this game.

"Fine." She announced totally neutral with a welcoming gesture. "There's enough space in here for both of us, so feel free to join me."

Jack stared at her and their eyes locked in a silent challenge. Irina leaned her chin to her knees, pretending to watch him interested. Jack shook his head in disbelief, then nodded. He had to admit, Irina was brave – in fact the bravest woman he had ever met. She counted on the gentleman inside him who could under no circumstances fulfill his threat. But she was wrong, the circumstances were special. First of all, she was married to him, so legally he had every right he wanted. Secondly, she couldn't seriously expect him to act gentlemanly when she used an arrogant tone like she did.

"Don't ever challenge me! I thought, you had already learned that lesson." With these words he pulled off his remaining clothes and stepped into the tub, where he sat down opposite to her.

Irina stared at him, then shook her head in a mixture of disbelief and shock. Fury started to build up inside her. Fury that he had won this challenge and that he had the rudeness to step into her tub. Damn it, this man had no scruples.

"You are insufferable!" she stated coldly and almost emotionless as if she was talking about the weather, then gathered all her remaining strength and got up to step out of the tub.

„Bad loser?" Jack teased and laughed, grabbing her hand to pull her back. She gasped for air in shock when she slipped, landing on him in the warm water.

"Insufferable!" she repeated coughing, trying to get up from his body. Jack's eyes scanned her worried. He hadn't meant for her to fall, but obviously she hadn't hurt herself in any way. When Irina started to struggle against the water and slipped out again, Jack held her wrist with his hand, staring in fascination at her face. For a moment he wondered what he was doing here, knowing that it could end only one way if he didn't let her go now.

"Am I?" he asked and Irina tried to get free from him and sit up. He was too close – way too close for her body to resist the fantasies that were building up in her mind.

"Yes, you're insufferable and rude! I hate you... let me go!"

He turned her around in a swift move. Irina started to beat him with angry cries. "Bastard, I told you to..." she started before his lips silenced every additional word. His mouth devoured hers in a deep open-mouth kiss, his tongue seducing and teasing until her beating turned into soft caresses, her fingers roaming over his back and pulling him closer to her body with a deep sigh that was swallowed by his lips.

After a long time, Jack broke the kiss and leaned his forehead to hers. They were both breathing heavily.

"God, what am I doing?" he murmured, his hands framing Irina's face. She laid her fingers to his and shook her head softly.

"I have no idea." She replied softly and closed her eyes for a moment to gather her control. What had she been thinking by provoking Jack so far?

"Sorry..." he admitted. "I didn't plan it this way. Maybe you'd better... get dressed..."