Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25622 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25622 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
“I shouldn’t trust you…but I want to.”
“Do you? Or is it the doctor’s elixir urging you to give in?”
“I think it’s a bit of both.”
His nostrils flare, my confession blanketing the room with promise as his attention stalls on my mouth. He dips his thumb between my lips in an obscene display of innuendo.
“You’re in control tonight, my sweet girl. You can do whatever you want, even if it means trusting me.”
Oh, how I want to, but I need to know where I stand. “What if I am in love with Sebastian?” I hold his gaze, needing to catalogue every nuance of what comes next. “Would you help him win the auction?”
Face blanching, he closes his eyes, the seconds passing with every beat of my fissuring heart. His thumb falls from my lip and rests under my chin. “Yes,” he finally says, voice cracking on the word. “If that’s what you want.”
“Would you die for me?”
His eyes fly open. “Why would you ask me that?”
Five seconds of laden-filled silence sneaks by. I could tell him everything, but that would open Pandora’s box—a dangerous truth Landon implored me not to share with anyone, least of all the chancellor.
“Because I’m a queen, and the world’s a treacherous place for queens, especially on this island.”
His shoulders sag with relief, as if he expected me to tell him about a specific danger. Because he thought I was referring to his family’s supposed threat to my life, or something else? Before I can analyze that question and all its potential answers, he drops to his knees and takes my left hand in his.
“Of course I would die for you.” Adoration softening his gaze, he brushes his thumb over the humongous diamond on my finger. “When I put this ring on your finger, it was a promise. Many promises, one being that I’ll do everything in my power to protect you.”
“What if…?” My courage falters.
“What is it, my sweet girl?”
“What if marrying Sebastian guarantees my safety?”
“Life doesn’t offer guarantees.”
“What if marrying him is the closest thing I have to one?”
A furrow pulls his brows together. “Where is this coming from?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“If you’re in trouble, you need to tell me. I can’t help you if you don’t.”
“I can’t go into details, so please don’t ask.”
“Because someone turned you against me.” His bitter statement hits me square in the chest. “What did Sebastian say to you?”
“It wasn’t Sebastian.”
“Someone else, then?”
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath, holding it in for five seconds before meeting the inquisition in his gaze. “I’ve already said too much.” I pause, searching his face for the truth, for a sign that I can trust him with my life, as well as my heart. “I want to trust you, but I need…”
“Anything,” he says, his warm hands steady on my hips. “What do you need from me?”
I think of the things he kept hidden in the name of protecting me, of the things he still hasn’t told me, and I realize there’s only one thing I need from him.
“I need absolute honesty from you.”
He gives a slow nod of his head. “What do you want to know?”
What a loaded question. In my mind, I cycle through the things I’m dying to ask.
Were his parents in contact with mine before their plane went down?
Are the Castles working with my uncle?
Is Liam determined to marry me only to see me dead in the end?
I can’t fathom any of it, but I can’t ask those questions either, so I settle for the one thing he wouldn’t tell me the first time I questioned him about it.
“Why did you sell your family’s necklace to Mr. Bordeaux?”
Liam blinks. “Your doubts have something to do with the necklace?”
“I can’t say. I just need you to tell me the truth.”
He frowns. “It appears we’re at an impasse.”
“You won’t tell me?”
“I can’t, Novalee. All I can say is I needed the money to make sure you’re protected.”
“Protected from what?”
“Eventually, I’ll be able to tell you everything.”
“But not now.” My jaw locks with frustration, as does his. We stare at each other until the chime of the clock breaks through the moment.
Shaking his head in defeat, he lowers his hands to the sensitive skin underneath the hem of my dress. “All I can tell you is I’m in love with you, and I’ll protect you with my life or die trying.”
The husky truth in his words softens my heart before arrowing straight between my thighs. I shudder under the grip of his gentle hands. “Touch me,” I say in a broken whisper.
Never breaking eye contact, he slides a palm up my thigh, fingers disappearing beneath exquisite silk. The weight of his touch, the warmth, the intensity in his expression…he steals the breath from my lungs.
“Tell me what you want, Novalee.”
“I want your mouth on me.” I pull my dress over my head and widen my stance. The garment leaves my fingertips, falling to the floor as he yanks my panties down my legs. A smile teases his mouth.