Chapter 18
ALICE
It’s too much. I never realized what a tangled web of thorns my father had placed around us. Simeon is right. We must work together. This isn’t just about me and my desire to find my mom anymore. It’s protecting Tiffany, Rose and, well, me.
If anything, it fills me with desolation because it’s more than likely my mom is dead. It makes sense given the timeline of our father’s marriages, and after a while I edge away from the comfort of Simeon’s arms and sniff, “It makes sense.”
“What does?”
“Life, I suppose.”
I shrink against the car door, my head against the window, and I tangle my fingers in my lap.
“Our father was always cold toward us. He was respectful, protective and cared for our physical needs but not our emotional ones.”
“I have a father like that.”
Simeon surprises me by opening up a little to me, and I smile my sympathy.
“It sucks, doesn’t it?”
“Life sucks, angel. Get used to it.”
I sigh. “It’s only now I realize that he was protecting his investments. With our inheritance, he could expand his empire quicker. If we weren’t there, neither was his money tree, so he tolerated us and kept us guarded inside his silk-lined prison like gold bars in a bank vault.”
The truth is biting me hard, and I’m exhausted by it all.
“Our stepmother, Morgan.”
Even her name tastes bitter on my tongue.
“I won’t let her win.”
My words are spoken with defiance, and Simeon smiles. “We won’t let her.”
“We need a plan of action.”
Despair is quickly being replaced by vengeance, and is setting light to my anger.
Simeon is regarding me with interest, and his nod of approval strangely warms me inside.
“We marry and deal with the first part of your problem and fulfill the condition of the will.”
“Marry.” My throat dries because of course he’s right. With him as my husband, I stand a chance at least, and I doubt he’d do it out of the goodness of his heart.
“For great rewards comes great sacrifice.”
His words are timely, and I nod in agreement, registering that I am the sacrifice but is he the reward?
Then again, he is also sacrificing something and yet said himself he is as unwilling as I am, prompting me to ask, “Why are you doing this, and I don’t buy it’s because your father told you to?
You don’t strike me as the kind of man who takes orders from anyone. ”
“I know my place.” He shrugs. “In matters of family, business even, I am merely a tool of my trade. It doesn’t matter to me if I marry for a deal. I never wanted to get married anyway, so I’m not losing anything. It’s business, nothing more.”
“Business.” I smile, but his words leave me cold. I am another business transaction, and I never will be anything more than that. Is that why he is so quick to tell me I will be free one day? He doesn’t care about me, and I suppose it’s best I run with that.
“Okay, let’s do this, but first we go to the bank.”
“No, Alice.” His tone is firm. “We marry at the registrar’s office, which is our first stop in town, and then we go to the bank.”
“But why the urgency?”
He raises his eyes. “Because we may have a welcoming committee. I’d be disappointed if we didn’t because any man worth his place on earth would have worked out that is the first place you would go.”
“You didn’t.” I face him with a triumphant smile, and he actually grins.
“I was on my way there when we received the information about the gardener. When we discovered his family connection, it changed our plans.”
I slump back in my seat as understanding dawns. This man has always been steps ahead of me and probably always will be.
The registrar’s office is an impressive stone building in a town courtyard, and as we stand in a huge room with vaulted ceilings, I shiver as I face the man of my nightmares.
If the registrar thinks there is anything odd about this, he remains impassive, probably because he is intent on surviving this in one piece.
We must be scaring the shit out of him because our guests are threatening, foreboding and leaking menace.
The men making up the guests look as out of place as I do in my jeans and sweater with purple bruising all over my face. Simeon, by contrast, looks suave, sophisticated and cool in his black suit, smart shoes, wearing a gold watch and crucifix around his neck.
It reminds me how far I’ve come since the convent that is merely hours away, and I swallow hard as I recite the vows that chain me to this man until he says so.
“You may now kiss the bride.”
“It’s okay.”
I pull away and am surprised when I’m pulled hard against that infernal chest and Simeon tilts my face toward his with one sweeping movement of his index finger.
His dark intent is evident as he stares into my eyes, and my breath hitches as his mouth descends on mine, making me instinctively close my eyes.
Our lips touch, lighting a spark that fires between us. My heart leaps and my body slumps as I give into the pleasure this brings. His hand circles around the back of my head as he leans into the kiss, his tongue finding mine, playing with it, in no hurry to vacate the premises.
I’m more surprised to find that I’m kissing him back. I apparently know how to do this by instinct because I will never admit this to him, but this is the first time I have ever kissed anyone.
I’m in a state of shock as I go with it. Matching him, learning from him and attempting not to crash and burn at the first hurdle. If anything, I should be embarrassed because it’s as if we are in a show ring being observed by the crowd watching us.
A delightful ripple of excitement lights me from inside, and my body bends to the man commanding it so expertly.
My mind explodes as I respond to his attention and if anything, he pulls me in deeper, his hand dropping to my waist, curling around it and pulling me in closer, my body touching his in an intimacy I never appreciated the benefits of before.
It’s as if he is holding the entire world out, trapping us both inside. Altering my future, reshaping my ambition and pulling me into a world I have no directions for. One kiss can alter destiny, and this one is doing a very good job of that.
Before this kiss, I was indifferent toward Simeon Ravera.
He was a cross to bear if I’m honest, but how quickly that has changed with just one press of his lips against mine.
It has lit a fuse that is burning out of control, and I forget where we are as I kiss him with purpose, pleasure even.
His intoxicating scent fills my nostrils, his touch searing my flesh from the inside out.
I never want this to stop. If I could, I would hold his head in place and kiss him forever.
With him, I am safe to a point and drowning in new experiences.
I am alight with purpose and giddy on life.
He has supercharged my existence with one powerful kiss and a reassuring presence that I could sure use right now.
He is my knight dressed in danger, and Stefan was forgotten many hours ago.
It’s as if I am exactly where I was always meant to be, and I’m more surprised to discover it’s exactly where I want to be.