He didn’t want to think about how being with Josie was so different from anything he’d ever experienced before. Couldn’t. “Don’t you understand what kind of man I am?” he said hoarsely. “I’m selfish. Ruthless. I’ve spent ten years trying to destroy my own brother! How can you love me?”
Coming towards him, she put her hand over his. “Because I do.”
A tremble went through him then that he couldn’t control. Outside, through the windows, the sky was turning lighter as dawn rose pink and soft. It was New Year’s Day.
“You should hate me,” he whispered. “I want you to hate me.”
Reaching up, Josie cupped his cheek, her palm soft against the rough bristles of his jawline. “You don’t have to be afraid.”
He stiffened. “Afraid?”
“Of loving me back,” she said quietly. She took a deep breath. “You want to love me. I think you already do. But you’re afraid I’ll hurt you or leave you. What will it take for you to see you have nothing to fear? I’ve never loved anyone before, but I know one thing. I will love you,” she whispered, “for always.”
Their eyes locked in the gray shadows of the bedroom. The icy wind rattled the window, and the fire crackled noisily.
“There. I’m done.” Tears shone in her eyes as she gave him a trembling smile. “Now what did you want to tell me?”
And just like that, Kasimir suddenly knew.
He couldn’t tell Josie the truth. Because he wanted her in his life. No, it was more than just wanting her.
He couldn’t bear to let her go.
Kasimir’s throat ached. But even if he lied to her now, he wouldn’t be able to keep the truth from her for long. In three days, when he took her to Morocco for the exchange, she’d discover what he’d done. That he’d been keeping her prisoner all this time. Even she could not forgive that.
Unless…
Was there any way he could keep her as his wife? Any way he could keep her in his bed, with that innocent, passionate love still shining so brightly in her eyes?
Slowly, Kasimir lifted his hand to stroke the softness of her hair. “What I wanted to tell you is…” He took a deep breath. “I missed you.”
Josie sighed in pleasure, closing her eyes, pressing her cheek against his chest in an expression that was protective, almost reverent.
In the warmth and comfort of her arms, Kasimir closed his stinging eyes against his own weakness for the lie. Then, in the wintry Russian dawn, against the cold blank slate of a brand-new year, he lowered his mouth to hers for a forbidden kiss. And then another. Until they were tangled together, and he was lost.
Josie had been feeling hurt, with an aching heart, when he’d left her in his tuxedo, to go to the New Year’s Eve ball without her. Then she’d been struck by a thought so sudden and overwhelming that it had made her stand still.
Her husband, for all his wealth and power, was completely alone.
Josie couldn’t imagine having no family, except a brother who was an enemy. She knew that Bree, for all her overbearing ways, still loved her fiercely. The two sisters had each other’s backs—always. But who had Kasimir’s back?
No one.
Who loved him on this wide, lonely earth?
Nobody.
Realizing this, Josie’s wounded heart had abruptly stopped aching. The tears had disappeared. He had no one who believed in him—no one he could trust. No wonder he’d devoted his life to the success of a business that had never been his childhood dream, to earning money he didn’t really need, and most of all—to destroying his only family. His brother.
No wonder his moral compass was so askew. No wonder, when they’d spent the night together in bed and she’d given him her heart, as well as her body, he hadn’t known how to react.
But he’d never been loved as she could love him.
Kasimir expected her to stop caring about him the instant he did something cold or rude. Well, he didn’t know the type of woman he was dealing with. Josie had been ignored and dismissed her whole life. She’d never once let that stop her from believing the best of people and giving them everything she could.
She knew Kasimir had darkness inside him. She accepted that it was part of him. But as long as he was honest with her, honorable and true, she didn’t care. Everyone had flaws. She did. It wouldn’t stop her from loving him, the only way she knew how to love someone.
All the way.