“They didn’t say anything to anyone, but when Sofia discovered she was pregnant, she had to. She ran to my father, who threatened to throw William out and cut him off unless he married her. I came home, to have my heart broken. Imagine discovering that your own brother, your best friend, had raped the woman you loved, and that she was pregnant by him! I wanted to kill bastard. I lost every shred of respect I had for him. I begged Sofia to marry me instead. I was willing to raise my brother’s child as my own. I loved her so much. I wanted things between us to work out. But—”
“She chose William instead,” she finished for him. Her mind struggled to make sense of this new information, to reconcile the Liam she knew with this terrible beast Alex was describing. Why would Sofia choose to marry her rapist instead of the man she supposedly loved? It made no sense. William, a rapist? It just went to prove that you could never truly know anyone.
Except Alex,that pesky, interfering voice in her head said. The voice that kept getting her into trouble again and again. You haven’t known him for long, but you do know him. Your soul knows him, knows he is for you.
She shook her head hard, as if a bee had gotten tangled in her braids.
She must have looked distressed, because Alex asked, “Are you okay?”
What could she say to that? How could she possibly answer? The truth she had been denying these past few weeks, even as she struggled to evict it, had settled in for good. It had made a permanent home for itself in her mind and heart. And she was powerless to do a damn thing about it.
Her voice cracked when she answered. “It’s nothing.”
He looked doubtful, and she prayed he would never guess the truth, because that would undo her, completely shatter her.
Instead, he took her by the hand and led her to the couch. “Just sit with me awhile.”
Jacyn curled up next to him, tucking her feet under her, and rested her head against his shoulder. She’d take what she could get. Whatever he could to offer, for now. It would have to be good enough. But most of all, when the time came, she would be strong. She would rather die than let him know he had gotten to her.
It was safer that way.
***
Alexandre rolled over in bed and was greeted by the magnificent sight of Jacyn’s beautifully rounded, deliciously naked backside exposed by the blanket that had worked its way down as they slept. He spent a few moments enjoying the view, congratulating himself on being a lucky man. How many guys got to wake up in a castle on a hot summer’s day in France, to be greeted by a vision like this?
He could already feel himself stiffening, his body signaling that even after almost a week of steady lovemaking, he would be happy to indulge in her some more. She snuffled softly, burying her face in her pillow. He reached out his hand—and then paused.
What was he really doing? This was insane. He’d brought her here for a specific purpose, to participate in a charade meant to insulate him from the pain and indignity of returning home after a decade away; after avoiding his entire family for the sake of thwarted love.
Now, the love he had felt for Sophia had been eroded almost to dust, partly through time and distance. And largely, for the very real fact that the girl he had known and adored as a young man was certainly not the woman he saw now. Pain, anger and bitterness had changed Sofia. He still cared for her, he knew. But love? No. Not anymore.
And where had all the love in his heart gone? He refused to accept that it had changed course like a surging river meeting an immovable obstacle, heading in a completely different direction.
He certainly wasn’tin lovewith Jacyn. He liked her. Admired her business acumen and ambition. Lusted after her perfect body and shameless enjoyment of good sex. But love was out of the question.
Which was why this was very, very wrong. What they were doing, the incredibly intimate, connected sex they’d been having, couldn’t happen again. She had little more than a week here with him before their agreement was over and she was free and clear. The devil’s deal he’d struck with her would be fulfilled, and she would be free to go back home—back to her old life, having paid her penance.
He was an asshole for having come up with the idea in the first place: taking away a woman’s freedom over something so insignificant as a dinged-up car, one he could have repaired almost with the change in his back pocket. Yet he was the kind of bastard that had decided to leverage his advantage against a helpless young woman.
Which was why he needed to stop this. He was broken. His heart had calcified long ago and didn’t work like normal people’s did. There was nothing he could offer her. All he would do to Jacyn if they became any more intimate would be to hurt her some more. Damage this beautiful, precious soul.
He couldn’t let it happen.
So engrossed in his thoughts was he, that he failed to notice that she’d turned to face him and was boldly staring at his nude body. She raised herself up enough to press a sensuous, brain-cell-murdering kiss on his lips. “Glad you’re up.” She glanced down to his inflamed groin. “Gladall of youis up!” She reached for him and began stroking, coaxing him into an even firmer erection.
He shifted away. When she reached for him again, he grasped her hand. “No, Jacyn.”
She furrowed her brow. “What? Why?”
He fought to find the right words, words that wouldn’t cause her pain. “It’s just that, in about a week, our agreement will be up.”
“And?”
“You’ll be free to go home. To return to your life. And I don’t think that it would help things if you and I kept doing this. Having sex. We’re complicating matters. Emotions could become involved, and I can’t give you what you want, Jacyn.”
Her laugh was a short, hollow bark that chilled him. “What I want? What makes you think that you have what I want? Furthermore, what makes you think you know what I want?”
He tried again. “I just thought that if we kept being intimate, someone might get hurt.”