She shrugged on a thin smile. “I went to the manor first. Daniel told me you were here.”
I nodded, making note to reward him somehow.
“And…” She stammered now, glancing out at the window as if to collect her thoughts. “I also came to ask if you really did stay with me, when I was so sick. My dad said you were there for days.”
It had been more than a week that I stayed there by her side, wracked with grief and worry like a fucking wild man. While I’d stayed with her, I’d hardly eaten, hardly slept. Only when she was out of the woods for sure did I make myself scarce.
“An army couldn’t have stopped me.”
She blinked a few times in quick, embarrassed succession, searching my face for something, though I didn’t know what.
“Thank you. I saw you, in my dreams. I wasn’t sure it was really you. But you didn’t have to do that,” she said.
“The fuck I didn’t,” I growled
She pursed her lips and looked away, swallowing hard as a beautiful blush came up into her too-pale cheeks. I leaned toward her, just a few inches, hanging on her every word and movement. She closed her eyes, as if to collect herself, and then returned to face me with all that royal self-command that I’d seen in her so many times before.
“I hear you’re making an honest business out of all this,” she said, glancing around the room.
Not exactly the subject change I’d wanted. I wasn’t a fan of all this small talk, but I’d settle for it all the same. There was so much that I needed to tell her, wanted to tell her, but I wasn’t about to overstep. She wanted to talk business, so we’d talk business; after all, there was some shit she really did need to know.
“Within a year, I’ll have everything on the straight and narrow. No more shady business, no more crime. Like I said I would.”
She looked so relieved and so pleased, but she said nothing in response. In place of any answer, she seemed surprised by a sudden yawn that she covered with hand. I was close, so fucking close, to reaching for her ring around my neck, but she stopped me cold.
“I sorry,” she said. “I get so tired these days.”
I shook my head. “You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met. And you will be again. It’ll just take time.”
She nodded and sighed, and then took one last long look at me before she rose, the sun behind her engulfing her in a golden glow making her look as though she was made of gold in her yellow dress.
“Thank you again, for all you did for me and for my family. I just thought it was proper to thank you in person. Take care Vasile.”
Without another word, she headed for the door.
I was still fucking tongue-tied, utterly powerless to know what to say or how. Man the fuck up, Vasile, I snarled at myself. But to no effect.
I was held hostage, watching her wrap her scarf around her neck, that delicate neck that I had touched and kissed and caressed so many times.
She turned toward the door, and reached out for the knob. But then paused, and turned back over her shoulder. “Vasile…”
Thump-thump went my heart in my chest. “Say it.”
“If you wanted,” she stammered. “I mean, if you had time, maybe… maybe you’d like to call on me. Some afternoon. For tea, or…”
I lifted my hand to stop her from saying another word.
Finally, fucking finally, I was no longer tongue-tied. And I replied with a clear and booming, “Not a fucking chance.”
Chapter 26 Valeria
Humiliation and embarrassment seized me from the inside out.
My heart was shredded, as if by a thousand knives.
His brutal words left me searching his face for any sign of warmth or caring. There was none. Nothing.
You stupid girl. Coming here, acting like he’d want you after all that has happened? Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.
Somehow, I summoned up the strength to draw a breath; keeping my eyes lowered so he couldn’t see how embarrassed I felt, I turned to go. If I could only get outside, then I could let the sadness come. Not here, not now. Not in front of him. I would never let myself be so vulnerable with him, never again.
But as I turned, he seized my wrist, making me spin back to face him. And then he lowered himself to one knee in front of me. Finally, that granite-jawed sternness softened and he smiled up at me, just a little.
“What I’m not going to do is come call on you for a fucking supervised tea party like some chickenshit suitor. Like what we had never happened.”
Even in my whirling confusion, the very idea almost made me giggle. Him, with some tiny bone china cup of oolong and a cucumber finger sandwich, as we chatted about the weather?
“No, I…” I stammered, all flustered and blushy. “I suppose that would be…”
“What I am going to do is marry you. As soon as fucking possible.”
Marry me! I inhaled deeply to try to get my wits back about me. It wasn’t working. The room was spinning, not with an impending fainting spell, thank goodness, but with the sudden and overpowering happiness that I felt.
“You are?”
“Fuck yes,” he growled. “You’re the love of my life. You are the only thing that matters. Everything I have, everything I am, is yours.”
Looking down at his handsome face, at this brawny beast of a man pledging himself to me on bended knee, I tried so hard to remember why I’d told myself it wouldn’t work. All those barriers seemed so insignificant now, compared to this love that I felt for him. And yet, my past self was not foolish. There was one thing, that one terrible thing, that still would stand between us.
“Vasile…”
As if he’d known just what I was thinking, he cut me off at the pass.
“You are my very
