CHAPTERTWELVE
He wanted Karolina to have time to think through what he’d said, and so he left her to go check on his ponies.Accepting that life was bound to change when he made his bargain to marry Karolina had not included falling in love.From earliest childhood, he’d gone his own way.What other option was there for an orphan without roots?He’d created his version of a world that everyone else took for granted.Self-determination became a habit he didn’t want to break.Another thing that remained constant was not getting close to people in case they disappointed him.He trusted the team and Mary, and that was it.
But now there was one more.
No.Karolina could never be counted along with the rest.She had her own special place in his heart.So why couldn’t he tell her that?Was it concern for drawing her into his dangerous world?Karolina had proved herself more than equal to every trial she’d encountered.Blood and Thunder fought side by side and would die for each other.He would gladly give his life for Karolina.
“No one can achieve the happiness you’re constantly seeking but you,” Mary had told him when he was still an angry youth.
Could he soften enough for a wife?Could he soften enough for Karolina?Above everyone, she deserved happiness, constancy and security.He lacked patience.Was it fair to subject her to his driven ways?He would have to change.Hewouldchange.He’d move heaven and earth for her.
The thought that he might lose her prompted him to leave the stables to find her, but was he too late?Had he brushed over things she cared about?Had she been trying to tell him that she loved him?Had he refused to hear what she was saying?Karolina.Without her, he doubted it would have been possible to untangle her father’s evil web.If she thought him hard and dismissive, or worse, careless of her feelings, he would never forgive himself.
“Well, I need a miracle,” Karolina mused out loud as she stared at her reflection in the bedroom mirror.She hadn’t brought many clothes to Ireland apart from those she’d salvaged from her wardrobe at the embassy.Having no use for ball gowns, she’d only brought casual clothes and old pajamas.Clean hair, clean face, clean jeans, and a clean top were the best she could do.This was crunch time.If Conor was going to introduce her to his friends, she wanted to look her best.She wanted to look her best for her own self-esteem, as a woman, not a bargaining chip; a woman he wanted for all sorts of reasons that had nothing to do with sex.Okay, so a lot to do with sex, but other things too.
If only she’d owned one pretty top and some makeup…
Did that really matter?Didn’t she want Conor to see her as she was, rather than the mannequin she’d been at the embassy, parading beneath a carefully applied mask of expensive cosmetics?
Admitting to herself that she was still bruised and overly sensitive from the experience of living under her father’s sway was the first step on her journey to independence, but now she needed Conor to tell her exactly where they stood.
She found Conor in the great room with members of his team.
“Karolina!”
Was she imagining it or had his face lit up when she walked into the room?
“Come here.Meet my friends.Alexei, this is the incredible woman I’ve been telling you about.”
Steely eyes bore into hers, but she held Alexei’s stare steadily.The fierce-looking Russian was saved by the woman at his side, who, ignoring Karolina’s proffered hand, drew her into a warm hug.“Amber,” the pretty redhead announced as she pulled back.“Professional sleuth and long-suffering wife of the most wonderful man on the planet.I know—” Amber’s laughter was infectious.“Youhave the most wonderful man on the planet.We all do,” she teased with a grin and a sweeping gesture that took in the other three couples.
“Let me introduce you around,” Conor offered as Amber stood back.“Dante and Rose—Rose is from Ireland like me, and Dante, who comes from Argentina, is best known as the Romani Chieftain.Diego—he’s our bona fide aristocrat, a Spanish duke.And Celina is another incredibly brave woman, though not as brave as Mica for taking on Cesar, the mystery man from nowhere and everywhere!And you know me,” he added, putting his arm around her shoulders to draw her close.
“I think I do,” Karolina agreed as she stared into Conor’s wonderfully familiar eyes, loving the way he claimed her in front of his friends.What a collection of good-looking men!And Karolina had no doubt that she had the best of them all.
This woman was his world, he realized as his stare locked with Karolina’s.The connection between them had to be obvious to everyone present.He was a fool to doubt her, or to doubt his intentions toward her.This was no fake marriage forged by a bargain with a crook, simply to enable the dismantling of a criminal enterprise.It was so much more.He wanted Karolina at his side forever, a marriage of equals forged by love.
He didn’t care that his companions were watching as he took Karolina’s hands in his and raised them to his lips.She’d had so many years of being shoved into the background unless she was needed for display, she needed to know that she was important in her own right, and if that took forever, count him in.
Karolina met Conor’s steady gaze with growing confidence.Nothing good came to those who waited, she’d learned at the embassy.Life belonged to those who seized it by the scruff of the neck and squeezed every last living drop out of it.Lacing her hands behind his neck, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him back.For a moment when they parted, there was silence, but then his colleagues relaxed and acted as if what had just happened was perfectly normal for any newly married couple.Putting his arm around her waist, Conor brought her close.
His friends made excuses to leave soon afterward, leaving Karolina to reflect that meeting them had been everything she’d hoped for.They would get on, and she’d fit smoothly into the team.“They made me feel so welcome,” she explained to Conor.
“And you’re surprised?”
She laughed with sheer happiness when Conor swung her into his arms.“Where are you taking me now?”
“For a riding lesson.”
“At night?”
“We have a floodlit ring.”
“Of course, you do.”
“Are you up for it?”
“Am I dressed for it?”
