“Well?” he said huskily. “Do you see anything you like?”
Her heart gave an involuntary throb as she looked back at him.
“Yes,” she said in a low voice. “But nothing that’s right for me.”
His blue eyes narrowed as he frowned. “But they’re your size.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what?”
She swallowed. “Look, I appreciate the gesture, but…” She stopped herself in her tracks, then blurted out, “They’re all just too—fancy.”
He drew back, blinking in surprise. “Too fancy?”
She nodded. “I like clothes I can be comfortable in. Clothes I can work in.”
He looked at her. “But you wore that all night?”
She looked down at her tight wedding dress. “Well. I just put this back on. I slept naked.”
Kasimir swallowed. “Naked?” he said hoarsely.
“Look, I really appreciate your sweet gesture, but until I can wash my own clothes, couldn’t I just borrow some of your old jeans?” she said hopefully. “Maybe an old T-shirt?”
The shock on his handsome face was almost comical. “You’d rather wear my old ratty work clothes than Louis Vuitton or Chanel?”
Not wanting to examine too carefully the reasons for that, she just nodded.
He snorted. “You’re a very original woman, Josie Xendzov.”
Josie Xendzov. Her heart did that strange thump-thump again. “So people have always told me.”
“So what work are you planning to do around here, Princess? Dig trenches in the dirt? Change the oil in my Lamborghini?”
“You have a Lamborghini?” she said eagerly.
His lips curved. “You don’t give a damn about designer clothes, but you’re impressed by a car? You can’t even drive!”
She shrugged. “My father had a Lamborghini when I was six years old. He had it shipped up to Alaska, delivered to our house in the middle of winter. The roads were covered with snow. Impossible to drive the Lamborghini with those wide performance tires.”
Kasimir nodded. “You’d slide right into a snowbank.”
“So Dad let me pretend to drive it in the driveway. For hours. I remember it was dark, except for flashes of the northern lights across the sky, and I drove the steering wheel so recklessly. Pretending to be a race-car driver. We both laughed so hard.” She blinked fast. “It was the first time I ever really heard him laugh. Though I heard he used to laugh all the time before my mom died.” She looked down at her feet. “I miss my family,” she whispered. “I miss my home.”
For a moment, he didn’t move.
Then his warm, rough hands took her own. With an intake of breath, she looked up, waiting for him to tell her Black Jack Dalton had been a criminal who didn’t deserve a Lamborghini. She waited for Kasimir to mock her grief, to tell her she should put the memory of childhood happiness away, like outgrown toys, discarded and forgotten.
Instead, Kasimir put his hand on the small of her back, pulling her close as he looked down at her.
“So you have a fondness for Lamborghinis, do you?” he said softly, searching her gaze. “They’re not too fancy?”
Josie looked up at his ruggedly handsome face. Every inch of her body felt his touch on her back. She shook her head. “Nope,” she whispered. “Not fancy.”
“In that case…” With a wicked smile, he reached out to stroke her cheek as he said softly, “I know just what I’m going to do with you.”
CHAPTER FOUR