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And yet now I wonder if it’s what I really want. Do I need a big family? Does Siena want that? Will she be miserable if she’s stuck with children? There will be nannies and plenty of help—my mother talks constantly about grandkids—but even still. I don’t know if she wants to be a mother. Not all women do, and I shouldn’t assume. Siena is a part of this, and her happiness must be a consideration.
I’m not such a monster that my wife’s feelings are of no concern.
Which is the problem, because I get the distinct impression that my wife feels nothing more than contempt for me at the moment.
Not that I can blame her. It’s partially my fault she’s here. Not entirely—but enough that she holds me responsible.
I don’t know how this will work. She’s defiant and doesn’t want to be here, and I’m not even sure I want to make her my wife. I don’t know how I’ll convince my father and my Pakhan that she’s the right choice for me when I can’t convince myself.
My head is all mixed up when someone pounds on the door. I grimace as the knob works, but the bolt is locked. I close the laptop lid and get up. “Who’s there?” I call out.
“Open up.” Jasha’s voice. “I wanna meet her.”
I sigh and unlock the bolt. I open the door and Jasha barrels into my sitting room. “Where is she?”
“She’s taking a nap.”
He looks disappointed. “Well, shit. Emiliya said she’d be here.”
“Does everyone know?”
“Within a mile radius by now. You know how Emiliya can be.”
“I do.” I scowl at him. I had a feeling this would happen.
Jasha pours himself a drink from my personal stash. He sips it and watches me over the rim, smirking. “What are you thinking, brother?”
“I’m thinking I want to take a mistress. Is that so much to ask?”
“I suppose not.” He swirls the ice. “There was that one time Feliks brought a woman home. You remember how that ended.”
She lasted three weeks before she disappeared one night and never returned. He doesn’t like to talk about her. “I’m pretty sure she decided she’d rather live on the streets than stay another second in his bed.”
Jasha laughs and shrugs. “Could be, or maybe the Pakhan tossed her out. You never know.”
“Father wouldn’t.”
“He would and you know it.” Jasha sighs and flops onto the couch. He kicks his feet up onto my coffee table and takes another long sip. “Now you’ve dragged this girl into the lion’s den. Are you trying to get her killed?”
“Apparently.”
“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Feliks is already trying to come up with a way to use her against you.”
“I expected that.” I hesitate, leveling my coldest glare on him. “And what about you, littlest brother?”
He grins big. “Ah, now, Maxim. I know my place. I’d have to take you and Feliks both down, and that’s not my style.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Think what you want, but I have a good life. As the third child, not much is expected of me, and I like it like that.” He finishes the drink just as my bedroom door opens and Siena walks down the hall.
She pauses as she looks at Jasha. He turns and blinks a few times, frowning at her.
Siena looks incredible. Her hair’s pulled back and twisted into a perfect messy bun, and she washed her face and reapplied her makeup, making her look much more understated and natural. Her top is slightly too tight—Emiliya’s still only sixteen and something of a twig—and it accentuates her full breasts. The jeans fit, but they cling to her hips. It takes my fucking breath away. I almost forgot how beautiful she was in the short time she left my sight. How did that happen? How could I forget something like this?
Jasha stands. “You must be Siena,” he says, walking over. He shakes her hand and she gives me a bewildered look.
“This is my youngest brother, Jasha,” I say.
