“And now?” he demanded, his hands gripping her shoulders painfully.
She lifted her chin. “Now I want you to kiss me.”
For a moment, he stared at her. Then he exhaled with a flare of nostril. “Do not offer yourself to me out of revenge,” he ground out. “Do not!”
“I’m not!”
Xerxes looked down at her. “You told me you want a love that lasts forever. And it wouldn’t be forever with me. I am not the sort of man you bring home, settle down with, the man who’ll marry you!”
“I don’t care.”
His hands tightened on her shoulders. “Don’t you understand?” he said harshly. “I will still trade you.”
“I know.”
“So what the hell are you thinking?”
She took a deep breath.
“I’m tired of waiting,” she whispered, “for a husband I can’t find. A man who might not even exist. I want to know what it feels like to live. Here. Now.” She faltered. “Unless…unless you don’t want me after all.”
Raking back his dark hair, he cursed under his breath.
“You said you love Laetitia,” she continued in a small voice. “Loving her, you might be too honorable to ever let a flirtation get out of hand by betraying her—”
He grabbed her.
“I am not honorable,” he bit out. “And you’ve got it all wrong. Laetitia is not my lover and she never was.”
She sucked in her breath. “She’s not?”
When he spoke, every word was weighed and grudging, pulled from him like blood from a stone. “My feelings…for Laetitia are more…familial…in nature.”
“Familial?” She sucked in her breath. “Like how?”
He didn’t answer.
“Is she your cousin? Your niece?” She bit her lip. “Surely she’s not young enough to be your…your daughter?”
Clenching his jaw, he looked away.
“You aren’t going to tell me, are you?”
“No,” he bit out.
“Because you promised her you wouldn’t?”
He gave a single unsteady nod.
Familial. So she wasn’t his mistress. She wasn’t his lover. Laetitia was a member of his family, or at least that was how he felt toward her.
Rose’s heart suddenly lightened. She took a deep breath. She looked up at him.
“You also promised,” she said softly, reaching up to stroke his face, “that you would kiss me if I begged you.”
Looking down at her, he sucked in his breath.
“I’m begging you.” She let her hand slowly trail down his bare throat, placing her palm against his shirt, over the rapid beat of his heart. “Kiss me. Kiss me now.”