His lips curved with amusement. “So you do understand.”
“I hope you’re not expecting me to bow.”
“I don’t want you to bow.” He looked up, his blue eyes intent. “I just want you to marry me. Right now. Today.”
Staring at his gorgeous face, Josie’s heart stopped. “So you do still want to marry me?”
He gave her a slow-rising smile that made his eyes crinkle. “Of course I want to marry you. It’s all I’ve wanted.”
He was looking down at her… as if he cared.
Of course he cares, she told herself savagely. He cares about getting his family’s land back. That’s it.
But when he looked at her like that, it was too easy to forget that. Her heart pounded. She felt… desired.
Josie tried to convince herself she didn’t feel it. She didn’t feel a strange tangle of tension and breathless need. She didn’t.
Kasimir reached out a hand to touch her cheek. “But tell me what changed your mind.”
The warm sensuality of his fingers against her skin made her tremble. No man had touched her so intimately. His fingertips were calloused—clearly he was accustomed to hard work—but they were tapered, sensitive fingers of a poet.
But Prince Kasimir Xendzov was no poet. Trembling, she looked down at his strong wrist, at his tanned, thick forearm laced with dark hair. He was a fighter. A warrior. He could crush her with one hand.
“Josie.”
“My sister,” she whispered, then stopped, her throat dry.
“Bree changed your mind?” Dropping his hand, he walked around her. “I find that hard to believe.”
She took a deep breath.
“Your brother kidnapped her,” she choked out. “I want you to save her.”
She waited for him to express shock, elation, rage, something. But his expression didn’t change.
“You…” He frowned, narrowing his eyes. “Wait. Vladimir kidnapped her?”
She bit her lip, then her shoulders slumped. “Well, I guess technically,” she said in a small voice, “you could say she wagered herself to him in a card game. And lost.”
His lip curled. “It was a lovers’ game. No woman would wager herself otherwise.” His eyes narrowed. “My brother always had a weakness for her. After ten years apart, they’re no doubt deliriously happy they’ve made up their quarrel.”
“Are you crazy?” she cried. “Bree hates him!”
“What!”
Josie shook her head. “He forced her to go with him.”
His handsome face suddenly looked cheerful. “I see.”
“And it’s all my fault.” A lump rose in her throat, and she covered her eyes. “The night after you proposed, my boss invited me to join a private poker game. I hoped I could win enough to pay off my father’s old debts, and I snuck out while Bree was sleeping.” She swallowed. “She never would have let me go. She forbade me ever to gamble, plus she didn’t trust Mr. Hudson.”
“Why?”
“I think it was mostly the way he hired us from Seattle, sight unseen, with one-way plane tickets to Hawaii. At the time, we were both too desperate to care, but…” She sighed. “She was right. There was something kind of… weird about it. But I didn’t listen.” She lifted her tearful gaze to his. “Bree lost everything on the turn of a single card. Because of me.”
He looked down at her, his expression unreadable. “And you think I can save her.”
“I know you can. You’re the only one powerful enough to stand up to him. The only one on earth willing to battle with Vladimir Xendzov. Because you hate him the most.” She took a deep breath. “Please,” she whispered. “You can take my land. I don’t care. But if you don’t save Bree, I don’t know how I’ll live with myself.”