She smiled and returned her gaze to me. “That’s okay, because I brought another copy … just in case you accidentally lost the other one. And there’s plenty more where this came from too.” She placed another paper on the table and secured it with my phone.
I held her gaze. Her animosity towards me was impressively fierce. I wondered if a day would come when I would see something soft in those emerald eyes when they settled on me.
I looked briefly away from her and got my thoughts together. “We cannot have an open marriage … and you definitely cannot have a child with any man you please.”
Her eyebrows rose. “This is a marriage of convenience. Surely you’re not expecting me to sleep with you?”
I leaned back against the chair. “Sit down, Freya.”
For a split second she hesitated. It was clear she hated being told what to do, even if it was something as simple as sitting down in a restaurant. With a tightly clenched jaw she complied.
“What do you want to drink?” I murmured.
“I’m not thirsty,” she muttered. “Can you please answer my question?”
“Not only do I expect you to sleep with me, I expect absolute loyalty from you. Any man who touches you will find himself in the same place as your list of ridiculous terms.”
“You expect loyalty while you fuck around to your heart’s content?” she snapped.
I frowned. “Of course not. I will honor our marriage vows.”
She exhaled sharply. “Look. I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t want to marry you, Maxim. There is no way any union with us in it will work. Anyway what kind of man would want to marry a woman who doesn’t want him? Can’t you see what a terrible mistake it would be?”
“The terrible mistake would be if we did not get married because of your childish and ridiculous insistence that you want to have the ability to go to the zoo without bodyguards. People who are born without limbs learn to paint with a brush held between their teeth. You will simply have to learn to work within the boundaries you have been born into, which mean bodyguards at the zoo.”
She straightened her shoulders. “Fine. In that case. It must be a marriage in name only. I do not ever want our marriage to be consummated.”
“I’m afraid that will not be possible.”
“Why not? If people without limbs can learn to paint why can’t you learn to live without sex? I’m ready to do it.”
I reached for my whisky and took a sip. “For two reasons. A: People without limbs have no choice. I do. And B: You will be required to produce heirs.”
She held my gaze without blinking. “Can you hear yourself? Can you hear what you sound like? We’re not in the dark ages of arranged marriages anymore, to any normal person what you are suggesting would sound insane.”
I shrugged. “I agree it is not conventional in this day and age, but since my motto is Never Follow, Never Explain, I have no problem with being outside the acceptable norm.”
“I can’t believe you would force me to be your wife,” she gasped.
“All you have to do is say no,” I told her quietly.
Her lips trembled. “You know very well I can’t, my father would kill me.”
For a split second, I thought of Igor’s ferocious eyes. Indeed, that would be her fate. It would have been so easy for me to walk away from this union. No one, not even my father would dare question my decision, but then an image of Freya flashed into my mind. Her legs open, her body arched, her head thrown back with ecstasy, and words formed of their accord and slipped out of my mouth.
“That is not my problem.”
Chapter Nine
Freya
I stared at him in shock. I couldn’t believe he’d just told me he wouldn’t help me even if it meant my father would kill me. Maxim’s cold, unfeeling eyes stared right back and suddenly the whole world fell away. The air between us crackled with the tension.
Then his gaze dropped to my mouth.
And suddenly my heart stopped beating. Something else began to infect my blood, running through my veins like poison. It was not hate, fury, or disgust, it was… pure insanity. I stayed frozen as something deep inside my belly woke up and opened its eyes. No, it can’t be. Not for him. He was the enemy. It would be an unthinkable betrayal of Anna. He was her killer. A monster. I felt as if I was suffocating. Without thinking, I was on my feet and running. My head told me I was making a scene, but I couldn’t stay.
“Freya,” I heard him call out as I weaved through the crowd, but I didn’t respond.
A big hand grabbed a hold of me and in annoyance I jerked my hand from the grasp.
“Let me go!” I screamed, as I kept moving, but I was grabbed again and this time so firmly, I couldn’t dislodge it. I whirled around. At first I was so wired I didn’t feel the steel of the blade lodge itself into my back. Those few seconds before the pain could get past the haze of fury and adrenaline gave my attacker those precious seconds to slip into the crowd. I opened my mouth to tell Maxim, who was only a few steps away, to fuck off. Instead a shocked gasp came out.
Maxim’s eyes widened. “What is it?” His voice was urgent.
My knees gave way and I felt myself falling. His reaction was lightning quick. He caught me and pulled me towards his body. He must have felt my blood flowing like a river over his hands, because his eyes changed as his gaze left mine and lifted up into the crowd.
“Get him!” he roared.
A flurry of panicked movement began around me as people began to notice what had just happened. I tried to push his hand away but the tears had already gathered in my eyes, as the pain reverberated through me. I felt his hand press against my wound.
“You’ll be fine,” I heard him say, but my gaze had rolled up towards the sky. It began to dim quite rapidly before me, and then his face came into sight again.
His eyes… struck me. They were just as vibrant as the sky had been just a moment ago. Something caught in my chest as I stared at him making it impossible for me to breathe. I felt the tears roll down my face just as I registered my hand rising. It was all his fault. All of it. I wanted to hit him, but he instead grabbed my hand as my world… was lost.
Chapter Ten
Maxim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWl9p3oFKgg
She had nearly died in my arms.
If that blade had punctured an organ, or my men had not been carrying a bleed kit she would have fucking died on that boat. I stopped pacing the room restlessly and stood for a moment in the center of it. My nerves felt frazzled. I wanted to kill someone, but what I needed to do was to calm the fuck down.
I took a seat next to her and watched the light dusting of freckles across her nose. She had been stitched up and bandaged and now her arm was strung with an IV. There were wires hooked up from her chest to the machine that monitored her heartbeat.
At first, the damp squid of a doctor expressed the opinion ‘that level of care is quite unnecessary’ but I took a step forward into his personal space and quietly told him if anything happened to her I would hold him personally responsible. I can’t imagine he knew who I was so it must have been the tone of my voice, or the look in my eyes, because he did the usual. Turned as white as a sheet and dedicated himself to his own survival in the short-term.