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I craned my neck a bit to get a good look at her face. She watched the takeoff with a big smile that was almost childlike in its excitement.
It didn’t take long before we were over the clouds, the sky a perfect blue above us. The pilot came back on the speaker and let us know that we would be at cruising altitude soon, and that the flight would take a little under five hours. It was the perfect amount of time to be alone with Emily to get to know her better.
As much as I wanted to keep touching her hand—to touch a hell of a lot more than just that, in fact—I moved it away. She turned in her seat, taking another sip of her Moscato as she looked me up and down.
“Something on your mind?” I asked.
“Just a personal question.”
I chuckled. “Shoot.”
“Well, I was wondering how old you are.”
I grinned. “How old do you think?”
She didn’t answer at first, instead letting her eyes linger on my face, as if really giving the question some serious thought.
“Well, you’re older than me, that’s for sure. Older than thirty, but not as old as my dad. I’d say… thirty-five?”
I chuckled. “Close. Thirty-eight.”
It was impossible to ignore how attracted to Emily I was. But the more time I spent with her, the clearer it became that Emily wasn’t exactly the most worldly of women.
And it was all because of her father. It made me sick to think about what he’d done to her, how he’d cut off his own flesh and blood from the world to ensure that she’d be a more attractive bargaining chip to some criminal lowlife. The thought made me more certain of his plan. All that work to preserve her innocence only for it to be stolen away by me, a man he hated.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“My private island.”
“I knowthat. But where is it, exactly?”
“You’re familiar with the Virgin Islands?”
She narrowed her eyes in irritation. “Are you asking if I know where the Virgin Islands are?”
What came next, I most certainly hadn’t been expecting. Emily let loose a torrent of Spanish, perfectly pronounced and accented. I didn’t flinch as she spoke, letting her say her piece—whatever it might’ve been.
“You’re going to have to translate that,” I said. “Spanish isn’t my forte. Though I did pick up onestupido.”
“The Virgin Islands are in the eastern Caribbean,” she said. “Just because I’m a little sheltered, doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”
I raised my palms. “Didn’t mean to imply anything of the sort.”
The anger faded from her face. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just that I know how I might come off. I don’t get out much, and it shows. It’s kind of a sensitive subject.” She let her shoulders slump forward. I could sense she regretted her little outburst. “Shouldn’t have ripped into you like that.”
I sat back, amused more than anything. “You speak Spanish?”
She shrugged and nodded. “Yes. A few other languages, too.”
“Which ones?”
“Well, besides Spanish there’s French, Italian, Mandarin, and a little bit of Russian. But not much.”
I nodded slowly, impressed by what she’d just told me. “Wow.”
She bought her dark eyes back up to mine. “I did receive just about the best private education money can buy. Dad was big on making sure that I’d be appealing to men for, well, other reasons than just my face and body.”
Had to admit, my mind was already racing with possibilities. Her looks were what had initially caught my attention. But the longer I spoke to her, the more I began to realize that she was far more than just a pretty face. She was bright and sharp and, if her language skills were any indication, extremely well educated.
