They were in love. Weren’t they? That meant everything would be all right. Didn’t it? So they’d be together forever.
Wouldn’t they?
* * *
Two and a half days later, in the rustic, dark-walled study of the country house, Kasimir dialed Bree Dalton’s number with shaking hands. When she did not answer, he gritted his teeth and called a number he hadn’t called for ten years. A number he knew by heart.
Kasimir had waited till the last possible moment to call. For three days now, he’d racked his brain to think of a way to keep both Josie and his revenge. But Bree expected her sister in exchange for the signed contract. There was no solution. Only a choice.
But such a choice. Kasimir had already sent his bodyguards with the luggage to the nearby private airport, where his jet was ready to take them to Marrakech. But then, five minutes ago, outside in the snow with Josie, watching her sparkling eyes as she made a snowman, he suddenly knew the answer.
He wanted Josie more than anything else. So the solution was screamingly obvious.
He would give up his revenge.
He would take Josie to some place where her sister and Vladimir would never find her.
He took a deep breath as Vladimir answered his phone.
“It’s me,” he ground out.
“Kasimir,” his brother replied in a low voice. “About time.”
Vladimir didn’t sound surprised to hear from him. Strange. And stranger still that after ten years of silence, it seemed as if no time had passed between them. He sounded exactly the same.
“You might as well know, I tried to blackmail Bree,” he said abruptly, “into signing your company over to me.”#p#分页标题#e#
“She already told me,” Vladimir replied. “Your plan to turn us against each other didn’t work.”
Kasimir stopped. “You already know? So what do you intend to do?”
“I am willing to make the trade.”
He sucked in his breath. “You’re willing to give up your billion-dollar company? For the sake of a woman who once lied to you?” His jaw hardened. Vladimir must really love Bree. “Too bad. I’ve changed my mind. I no longer have any intention of divorcing Josie, for any price. You can keep your stupid company. In fact...there’s no reason for us ever to talk. Ever again.”
“Kasimir, don’t be a fool,” his brother said tersely. “You can still—”
Kasimir turned his head as he heard Josie coming in from the snowy garden. He hung up, dropping his phone into his pocket.
“Why did you run off like that?” She was laughing, wearing a white hooded coat, halfcovered with snow. “We’re not even done. The poor snowman only has one eye.” Puppy-like, she tried to shake the snowflakes off her coat. Her eyes sparkled like a million bright winter days, and the sound of her laughter was like music. “Ah,” she sighed. “I’ve missed winter!”
He’d never seen anything, or anyone, so beautiful. As he looked at her, his heart twisted with infinite longing.
And he realized: he loved her.
His eyes narrowed, and he knew he wouldn’t let anyone take Josie away from him. He’d keep her. At any cost.
“I have something to tell you,” he said softly. He pulled off her white hooded coat, covered with snow, off her shoulders and dropped it to the floor. “It’s important.”
Josie gave him a teasing, slow-rising smile. “Hmm. Knowing you...” She tilted her head, pretending to consider, then lifted an eyebrow. “Does that something involve a bed?”
“Ah. You know me well,” he answered with a wicked grin. “But no.” Growing more serious, he gently used the pads of his thumbs to wipe away the snowflakes from her creamy skin, and those tangled in her eyelashes. Looking down into her eyes, he saw eternity in those caramel-and-honey-colored depths. And he whispered the words in his heart. “I love you, Josie.”
Her lips parted in shock. Tears filled her eyes as a sob escaped her. “You love me?”
He cupped her cheek. “Will you stay with me and be my wife?” He gave her a crooked, cocky smile, even as his hands trembled. “Not just now, but forever?”
“Forever,” she breathed. A single tear streamed down her cheek. “Yes,” she choked out. She threw her arms around him. “Oh, yes!”
He pulled back from her embrace to look down at her. “But there’s just one thing.” He looked down at her. “If you stay with me as my wife—you must never see Bree again.”
“What?” She wiped her eyes with an awkward laugh. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw your sister with my brother at the ball. Laughing. Kissing. They are together now.” He set his jaw. “So you must choose. Them...” He tucked back a long tendril of her hair and said in a low voice, “Or me.”