King's Ransom (Man on a Mission 2)

If he were just a man she would be in his arms now. If he were just a man he would carry her up the stairs to his bedroom, and then she would tell him the words he longed to hear again, the words he’d craved for eleven years. He would lose himself in her arms, then awake refreshed, strong, able to take on the weight of the whole world. If he were just a man he would have gone to her years ago, taking whatever she offered...however little or much that was. If he were just a man...

But he wasn’t just a man. He was a king. A king in chains—chained to his duty, his responsibility, his subjects. He couldn’t ask his people to accept a queen who might leave him someday. Divorce was out of the question. Juliana had to come to him. Did she understand? Could she understand? For himself it would not have mattered. But for Zakhar he could not take that risk.

So instead of blurting out the words in his heart, he merely said, “Thank you.”

A puzzled look crept into her eyes. “For what?”

Unsmiling and with deep sincerity, he said, “For your prayers.”

She let out her breath in a soft little rush. “It’s little enough. I couldn’t think of anything else I could do when I heard the news.”

He shook his head. “Not a little thing, Juliana. You care. You care about the people around you. You hurt for them. Feel their pain. Your prayers are heartfelt. No, it is not a little thing, your prayers.”

“Is there anything else I can do?”

He hesitated. “The Red Cross will be making an appeal for donations. Your face, your name is well-known. If you would...?”

“I’d be happy to. That, and anything else you can think of.”

“Thank you.” He stared at Juliana for endless seconds, wanting to say more, but knowing now wasn’t the time and place. Knowing they needed privacy for what was in their hearts. But he was comforted by the knowledge that the time was coming. He could sleep tonight for once, knowing the time was surely coming. Juliana would come to him, and then they would say everything they needed to say.

* * *

When Juliana woke the next morning, her first thought was of the tragedy that had occurred the day before. Her second thought was of Andre. His face last night. Vulnerable. Defenseless. Needing her the way she’d once believed he needed her. Loved her. Could she have been wrong about him all these years?

Forgive me, he’d begged her that day at the cemetery. Did he regret what he’d done years ago? Had he subconsciously been asking forgiveness for that as well as his rough treatment of her in front of the lovers’ tomb? But she had still been too wounded to forgive. She’d still been clinging to her own anger and pain. She’d lashed out at him and told him she would never forgive him.

But it wasn’t true. In her heart of hearts hadn’t she already forgiven him for almost everything? Could she remember their one night of love so poignantly if she hadn’t?

Everything he did, everything he said, the way he’d looked at her last night—needing her in such an elemental way her heart had responded instinctively—everything told her that even if he’d never loved her all those years ago, he loved her now. And love was too precious to waste.

Too precious to waste.

* * *

Juliana walked out of her meeting with the producer and director of King’s Ransom with a new shooting schedule in her hand and a copy of a legal document that had already been scanned and emailed to her lawyer agent, Marty Devens. The time difference between Zakhar and California meant that Marty was still sleeping. He wouldn’t have had a chance to review the contract modification and give it his blessing. But she already knew even if he didn’t she would sign it. For the first time in their ten-year friendship Dirk needed her help. Dirk and Sabrina had given her so much—now when they needed something from her in return she wasn’t about to refuse.

She glanced down at the schedule. She’d already reviewed it with the producer, but she just wanted to confirm what he’d said, that she had no scenes to shoot for the next three days. All the scenes involving Dirk alone had been escalated. For the next three days Dirk would be playing Andre Alexei during the time Eleonora was a captive far away. Including his lightning raids on neighboring kingdoms for the treasure he needed to ransom his queen. They would also be shooting the daring final raid, the one where Andre Alexei was fatally injured.

She was free until Friday, when she and Dirk would film the scene that took place between the first king and queen of Zakhar right before that final raid, among others. The scene where Eleonora begged her husband not to go after the ransom he’d paid for her sixteen years earlier. Not to try to exact vengeance for something so far distant.