He glanced over at her in the darkness. She didn’t care about vengeance or money. She
wanted to give away her fortune to make her sister happy. She gave everything she had, without worrying if she’d get anything back in return. She didn’t even try to protect her heart.
Thank you, Kasimir. He remembered the joy in her voice when she’d thrown her arms around him. You are… you are…
He was a selfish bastard with a jet-black heart. He’d kissed her, kidnapped her, kept her prisoner, but she kept forgiving him, again and again.
Rolling onto his back, Kasimir stared up bleakly at the swoop of the tent’s canvas, gray with shadow.
Was there some way to keep her in his life? Some way to bind her to him so thoroughly that she’d have no choice but to forgive him the unforgivable?
Two days later, Josie stared up at him with consternation. “You have to be joking.”
“Come on,” Kasimir wheedled, holding out his hand beneath the hot afternoon sunshine. “You said you wanted to do it.”
Glancing back at the tallest sand dune, she licked her lips. “I said it looked fun in theory.”
“You know you want to.” Wind ruffled his tousled black hair as he smiled down at her. He was casually dressed, in a well-worn black T-shirt that hugged his muscular chest and large, taut biceps and low-slung jeans on his hips. He looked relaxed and younger than she’d ever seen him. He lifted a dark eyebrow wickedly. “You’re not scared, are you?”
Josie licked her lips. When he looked at her with that mischievous smile, he made her want to agree to absolutely anything.
But—this?
Furrowing her brow, she looked behind her. Three young Berber boys, around twelve or thirteen years old, were using brightly colored snowboards to careen down the sand, whooping and hollering in Berber, the primary language of the tribe, but the boys’ joyous laughter needed no translation.
Josie and Kasimir had been sitting outside the dining tent, lazily eating an early dinner of grapes, flatbread and lamb kabobs, when the boys had started their raucous race. As Josie sipped mint tea, with Kasimir drinking a glass of Moroccan rosé wine beside her, she’d said dreamily, “I wish I could do what they’re doing. Be fearless and free.”
To her dismay, Kasimir had immediately stood up, brushing sand off his jeans. “So let’s go.”
Now, he was looking at her with challenge in his eyes. “I have an extra sandboard. I’ll show you how.”
She scowled. “You know, saying something looks fun and being brave enough to actually do it, are two totally different things!”
“They shouldn’t be.”
“It looks dangerous. Bree would never let me do it.”
“Another good reason.”
Josie stiffened. “I wish you would quit slandering Bree—”
“I don’t care about her,” he interrupted. “I care about you. And what you want. Your sister isn’t here to stop you. I’m not going to stop you. You say you want to do it. The only one stopping you is you.”
She looked up at the dune. It was very tall and the sand looked very hard. She licked her lips. “What if I fall?”
He lifted an eyebrow. “So what if you do?”
“The kids might laugh, or—” she hesitated “—you might.”
“Me?” He stared at her incredulously. “Is that a joke? You’d let fear of my reaction keep you from something you want?” His sensual lips lifted as he shook his head. “That doesn’t sound like the Josie I know.”
She felt a strange flutter in her heart. Kasimir thought she was brave. He thought she was bold.
And she was, when she was with him. She barely recognized herself anymore as the downtrodden housekeeper she’d been in Hawaii. Tomorrow was New Year’s Eve, but for Josie, the New Year—her new life—had already begun.
She’d be able to pay off their debts. She hugged the thought to her heart like a precious gift. They’d be free of the dark cloud of fear that had hung over them for ten years, forcing them to stay under the radar with low-paying, nondescript jobs. Bree would be able to start her business. Josie would never feel like a burden again to anyone.
But it would come at a cost. Josie looked up at Kasimir. He could be a rough man, selfish and unfeeling, and yet beneath it all… he truly was a good man. His generosity would change her life.