“I can’t promiseanything. There are things you don’t need to know, things that would be safer for you not to know.”
“Legally? Is this back to me making a statement?”
Rett’s chest inflated as he inhaled. “Yes and no.”
“No.” My head shook. “The deal you offered wasn’t for me to only be your wife but also your queen. I can’t be a queen if I don’t know what’s happening. I’m not saying I need a report every night.”
Rett curled the ends of his lips in amusement. “That’s good because I have a long list of much better things for us to do each night than recite reports.”
I wanted to deny how with a simple change in Rett’s voice, his timbre and his pitch, that my body responded. He hadn’t even been direct, yet his innuendo had my insides twisting and warmth pooling between my legs. I wanted to hate that he had that kind of effect, but then again, it was part of his allure. Over the last month, I’d become addicted to Everett Ramses and what he was capable of doing.
Trying to ignore the rise in temperature, I clarified my request, “I’m saying that if I have a question, you’ll answer me honestly.”
Rett lifted my left hand to his lips and planted a soft kiss to my knuckles. “I can do that...in private.”
“Tonight I asked to speak to you in private. That needs to mean something too.”
Rett nodded. “We both have work to do, Emma.” With my hand in his, he confessed, “I have many dealings, irons in the fire. My first reaction may not always be what you want to hear, but this” —he tenderly squeezed my hand— “is why you, Emma Ramses, are fit to be a queen. I’ll work on being patient with you if you’ll give me the same honor.”
I nodded. “And Kyle?”
“He’ll be spared tonight.”
My last request was the hardest one for me to make, to ask for leniency for someone who hurt me and left me without considering my needs. “Liam?”
Rett’s dark eyes narrowed. His face tilted as if he understood my quandary—he couldn’t and yet his response seemed as if he did. “What is the queen’s request?”
My stomach twisted. “They both live, for now.”
His lips landed upon the top of my head, just in front of the crown. “You will sign now.”
It wasn’t a question, but that inclination defined the essence of the man I’d agreed to marry—one who didn’t ask but rather who proclaimed his wishes.
“I will sign.”
Emma
“Open the door,” Rett said with a tilt of his chin as he retrieved his phone from his inside suit pocket.
Instead of doing as he said, I stilled, trying to read his expression as he looked down at the screen. Dread twisted my stomach as my pulse sounded in my ears. “It’s not too late, is it?” I was asking about Kyle and Liam.
“No.” His head shook as he sent a text message.
I wanted more information than one word, but I knew I wouldn’t be getting it now.Nowas enough. Kyle and Liam would make it another day. Stopping at the double doors, I turned back as Rett slipped his phone into the breast pocket of his tuxedo jacket. “When you saved me...”
“Emma, Kyle lied. You know that in your heart. You know I wouldn’t...” His head shook. “You know that isn’t possible. Look inside your heart.”
My heart.
Seeing Kyle and Liam, looking at Rett, I wondered what my heart believed and what my mind believed. Liam had been the last man I’d given my heart to. He was also the first. I shared more than my heart with him. We were young and I’d believed that we were in love, sneaking around so Kyle and Greyson wouldn’t know. After all, Liam was the oldest, and I was the little sister.
Sister.
Kyle saidourmother when he referred to Jezebel.
My heart was as confused as my head.
“Emma,” Rett was now beside me. His palms came to my cheeks and his lips brushed my forehead. “Tell me that you trust me.”