Free Prince Of Dreams by Lisa Kleypas Page B

tops of the church domes, gathering our prayers and sending them to heaven.”
    “Were your prayers answered?”
    “Never,” he said flatly, and shrugged. “But our great talent is to endure…that is God's gift to Russians.”
    The carriage passed a shoddy marketplace filled with stalls of fruit and vegetables, fish stands, and secondhand goods. The noisy crowd milling through the streets caused the procession of horses and vehicles to slow. There was an unusual din in the air, a mixture of bellowing voices and animal cries.
    As the carriage came to a halt, Emma leaned forward and looked out the window curiously. “Something's happening in the street,” she said. “Some sort of fight, perhaps.”
    Nikolas opened the carriage door and jumped lightly to the ground. After calling to the driver to wait there, he headed into the crowd. Emma waited for a minute or two, listening to the racket. Perhaps two vehicles had collided, or someone had been run down in the street. Her heart ached in pity as she heard the anguished cries of a horse—or maybe it was a donkey. It was easy to recognize the pain and fear in its screams. She couldn't stand to wait another minute. She sprang from the carriage, just as Nikolas returned with a grim look on his face. “What's happening?” she asked anxiously.
    “It's nothing. Go back inside—we'll pass through in a few minutes.”
    Emma stared into his emotionless eyes, then darted past him in a swift movement.
    “Emma, come back—”
    Ignoring his curt voice, she rushed through the churning mob.

Three
    I N THE MIDDLE of a busy intersection, a cart overloaded with bricks blocked the traffic from all directions. A battered old donkey, sharp-ribbed and swaybacked, strained wildly to pull the cart up a small hill. Its owner, a beefy little man with arms the size of ham hocks, was beating the donkey with a length of chain. The poor animal was bloody and crippled, its eyes rolling madly.
    In the manual Emma had just presented to the R.S.H.T.A., there was a list of procedures to follow. She should take down the names of the culprit and witnesses, the specifics of the crime, descriptions of the wounds…but at the sound of the donkey's miserable braying, all thoughts of procedure flew out of her head. A bolt of furious energy went through her, and she shoved her way through the crowd. “Stop it! Stop it now, or I'll kill you!”
    Startled by the blazing redheaded apparition, a few people scrambled hastily out of her way. The thick-necked man paused in his beating and glared up at her. “Mind your own business, bitch!”
    Ignoring him, Emma approached the terrified animal. Drawing close to his tossing head, she soothed him until the donkey pushed his nose against her middle like a child seeking refuge. A wave of astonished exclamations issued from the crowd.
    The donkey's owner seemed unimpressed. “Get away from my beast,” he bellowed, raising his arm threateningly. “I'll make him climb that hill or send him to hell.”
    “I'm going to have you arrested,” Emma shouted, sliding her arms around the quivering animal's neck. “The cart's too heavy for him to pull, you stupid bastard!”
    “Get away!” The chain came whistling through the air, striking the ground near her feet. “Move away, or I'll lay your head open wi' this.”
    Emma's arms tightened reflexively around the donkey. Looking into the man's purple face, she knew that he was enraged beyond reason. He was deadly serious in his threats. Yet she couldn't back down—she would never forgive herself if she left the animal to be beaten to death. “Sir,” she began on a halfway conciliatory note, but he burst out with a flood of obscenities and drew back the chain to strike her.
    Suddenly everything happened too fast for her to understand. All at once Nikolas was there, grabbing her with bruising force, shielding her with his body as the chain whipped around in a shining streak. She felt him flinch as the metal links struck