My heart raced, and I pushed myself upright. I pressed a hand to my head as the room tilted briefly and looked around. The polished floor reflected the light coming through the window. There was a low, leather chair near the window. The table beside it had nothing on it except a single glass coaster.
I got off the bed faster and started toward the door. Cole was at home alone. I needed to get out of whatever this was and get back to him immediately.
I was three steps from the door when it opened.
Dmitri filled the frame, and I stopped immediately. He wore a black suit. The jacket sat across his shoulders as if it were madefor those shoulders. The shirt beneath was black, open at the collar by a single button. His jaw was clean, his hair set without being stiff. He was looking at me as if he had accounted for every possible version of this moment and was simply waiting to see which one I chose.
I stepped back on instinct. Why was I even surprised?
“You’re awake. Good.” He moved closer, his eyes dropping over me briefly, making me look down at myself.
Holy shit!
I was wearing a nightdress. An ivory, thin-strapped dress falling just above the knees, and it had never belonged to me. The last thing I remembered putting on was jeans and a shameful T-shirt.
“The auction starts in two hours,” he said, eyes dropping to his phone.
I stood there and let that sentence pass through me without finding anywhere to land.
“Do you need help with the shower?” He glanced up.
Several things were happening in my mind at the same time, and none of them cooperated. I was in his house, in a dress that wasn’t mine, being asked about a shower and reminded about an auction I was still not sure about.
Cole.
Where was Cole?
“I should go.” I turned and scanned the room. “Where are my clothes?”
He said nothing. He didn’t look troubled by the question or anything else.
I spotted my handbag on the bedside table and quickly went to grab it. Reaching for it, I was already calculating how fast I could get out of this building and back to my brother.
My hand froze when I noticed a ring on my finger.
I lifted my hand slowly, hoping the thing I was seeing mightcorrect itself if I approached it carefully. It didn’t. The ring sat on my left hand’s ring finger, catching light coming through the window and scattering it. It was a gold ring with a diamond at the center. Smaller stones trailed down on either side and vanished below my finger.
My blood went cold. A ring on that finger meant one thing. Dmitri said I would wear one, and he meant it.
“What—” I turned to face him. He stood in the same position, with the same composed expression, as if this didn’t require any response from him. “What is this? Why am I wearing a ring?”
He just stared, which was an answer enough. I walked back toward him because grown adults talk things through. I was determined to be a grown adult about this, even if everything around me suggested the ship had sailed.
“I think we need to talk.” I kept my voice calm. “Why do you want to marry me?”
Dmitri exhaled and stepped closer. “I don’t think you understand something, Inna. This discussion ended a while ago. Right now, we should talk about the auction.”
“The auction.” I nodded slowly. “Right. Which is tomorrow, so—” I stopped. “Wait. Is the auction today?”
“You need a shower.” He turned toward the door.
I went after him. “The auction is today? That means I was out the entire night?” I followed him into the corridor. “My brother. Where is my brother?”
“He should be with his tutor.”
Tutor?
The door closed, and he was gone, and I stood in the middle of the room with that word sitting in the air.
