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It doesn’t matter. I’m penniless but married to a rich man who says he’ll give me anything I want.
Standing in the middle of the studio, I fall back into a time when I was so happy to be here. It’s not hard to reach. I’m happy now, too. Lachlan’s made me happy. Or is it that I just feel relieved and safe? I never felt in danger before. Papa surrounded his compound with guards and guns.
Maybe I fooled myself, never thinking he’d do what he did to me.
I sneak a look at my husband, and my breath leaves me how handsome he really is. The compassion in his eyes guts me. How can this man, who’s so kind to me, be amurderer?
I close my eyes. And the routine ingrained in my head takes over as I move through a set of classic dance steps. I swish my feet back and forth, then lift my hands over my head like a halo. With space around me, I feel a little daring. I let my edgier side shine through. I don’t have impressionable young girls or my teacher here. But there is someone I wish to impress.
I bend in half, my butt sticking out toward my husband. Peeking at him between my calves, I see him smiling. A little too much.
I flit across the floor in leg lifts and hops. Ending in a twirling tornado of a dozen pirouettes followed by a row of leaps in a tight circle, my legs easily spread wide.
Lachlan moves to the middle of the dance floor on the other side, softly clapping.
I smile and find myself directly across from him. Feeling silly, I say, “Stand right there.”
He wiggles his big feet in big shoes into the varnished floor, being playful.
I kick off my back right leg and barrel toward him. His eyes go wide, and when I leap, his giant arms catch me. I’m so high up, it’s dizzying. I’ve never had a catch partner so tall. But I’m not afraid.
Lachlan lowers me as I slide down his body. He’s warm, and the friction is electric. When our heads come together, he kisses me. Deep and sultry.
“I like this,” he rasps. “I didn’t think I’d like this so much. The way you kiss me, like your mouth was made for me. You taste so sweet and soft. That I can be delicate and not brutal, like the world I live in when we’re in this bubble.” He releases me, and his eyes go dark. “It’s easy to become heartless and lose touch with humanity. I… I was facing that, you know. Going to the dark side completely.” He easily opens up to me.
“I watched Maksim go mad.”
“It’s called bloodlust. It’s got a chokehold on Maksim for sure. That and all the drugs he’s polluting his body with. I know people think I’m insane.” Lachlan scrubs a hand down the back of his neck. “There’s one central focus to our world. We protect my brother, Kieran. That includes his reputation. He expects me to do my job ruthlessly, but I can’t be unhinged. I want to be feared, not despised and considered inhuman.” His voice goes emotionless. “I never planned to get married.”
My breath sticks in my lungs. “Never, ever?”
“No.” He peers down at me, his lips twitching. “I wanted to be a priest.”
Shocked, I say, “Really?”
Hewas the altar boy not named in the article.Hewas there when the boy’s father accused the priest.Hewas there when that man died.
Then the priest died, too.
Lachlan’s hand strokes my throat, and I feel so utterly at his mercy. “Really. Not marrying came with the life I originally wanted.”
“That meant you planned to go your whole life without sex, too?”
“Aye,” he says easily, but his fingers tighten around my neck.
“And I guess when you decided you would not be a priest—”
“I didn’t decide. It was taken from me. I was sent away.”
“To where?”
“Too many questions, little wife.” He brushes his mouth over mine. “My past is dark and brutal. You’re sunshine and goodness. Don’t concern yourself with my past. Just worry about today and tomorrow.”
Yesterday, I was almost forcibly married to a man who beat me. Today, I woke up married next to another man, who killed him.
What in the world will tomorrow bring for me?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
