12

LUIGI had purchased his home in a small town far from Ferrara, supposedly to keep his niece safe. If Lissa hadn’t taken everything her uncle told her at face value, she would have realized that the Porcelli family would have kept tabs on the new head of the Abbracciabene family, no matter where he was located. Italy wasn’t so huge that he could hide.

Polignano a Mare was a very small coastal town rising out of the cliffs on the Adriatic Sea. The population varied at times, but it rarely reached more than four thousand. The town offered breathtaking views over the sea, was magnificent with its white-washed streets and variety of old churches, and boasted a beach with stunning, warm, turquoise waters, and cliffs rising on either side.

Lissa loved the town and the people who lived there. They were friendly, waving and chatting when she wandered around town or stopped at Salvadore’s, the little cappuccino bar. The town was one of her favorite places in the entire world. She looked forward to visiting it often.

Casimir told her that Luigi’s wife and sons were in his much larger estate in the city of Bari, only about forty-seven kilometers from Polignano a Mare, a short enough drive. Bari had an international airport, making it easy for Lissa to fly in from the States. That also made it easy for Luigi to travel back and forth in forty minutes or less using the main highway. He could retire to his apartment feigning illness, sneak out, and be home in record time.

The hotel was beautiful, family owned and an enchanted retreat for celebrities that heard about the gem on the staggeringly beautiful cliffs. Lissa had been there a few times just for drinks and dinner. The food was always amazing and the views spectacular.

Tomasso reached around her to open the door of the hotel for her, his body brushing against hers. A shiver of awareness went through her, the way it always did when he was close. She leaned back into him for a moment and turned her head to look at him over her shoulder.

Casimir would be gorgeous to her in any role he assumed, but she was particularly fond of his bodyguard persona. “I inherit Luigi’s house here in the village if he dies. He showed me the papers many times over the years. I love it here.”

He dipped his head, his mouth brushing her ear, sending more shivers arrowing straight to her core, igniting a fire.

“Is that your subtle way of telling me Luigi’s home needs to stay intact with no fire damage?”

His body crowded hers, forcing her to step inside the beautiful lobby. She laughed softly, grateful Casimir could make an attempt at humor when he’d been so quiet the night before. He’d held her all night, his body tight against hers, one leg between hers, the other over her thigh. His arms had wrapped her up, locking her to him. She hadn’t minded being close—she loved it—but she hated that he was so quiet.

They’d both drifted off to sleep that way, and when she woke, he was still close. Closer even. His mouth on her breast, his fingers gliding over her body, sliding down and in, until she was panting and pleading. He made love to her so gently and tenderly, almost reverent in his touch on her body. The memory brought tears to her eyes.

Casimir was wild in bed, and she caught fire every time with him. They burned together, hot and passionate and so out of control it was crazy—ecstasy, but crazy. This time had been different, his every touch slow and beautiful. He’d whispered to her in Russian. She spoke the language, and he’d said, Ya lyublyu tyebya fsyem syertsem. I love you with all my heart.

She cherished those whispered words. He’d said them like they were ripped from his soul as he buried his face in her neck, his body deep in hers, while she pulsed around him, the moment so beautiful she knew it would be forever etched in her mind.

“Something like that,” she admitted with a quick, teasing grin.

Coming to the hotel gave her breathing room. Without Luigi close she felt alive again, happy. Relaxed even. She was Lissa Piner, a glassblower from California, enjoying a favorite area of Italy. She had business with the owners of the hotel, yes, but she could appreciate her surroundings and even the bodyguard who had been appointed to her for security.

“Miss Piner?” An older woman dressed in a streamlined skirt and jacket greeted her with an outstretched hand. She was flanked by the head of hotel security and her manager. “I’m Mariana Loria. Please call me Mariana.”

“And I’m Lissa,” Lissa said, taking the woman’s hand.

Mariana had a firm handshake. Her nails were beautiful as was her skin. Her hair was streaked with gray, but it only added to her elegant beauty. “Welcome to my hotel, Lissa. We’re so grateful you made the trip. We’re very excited about the unique designs you’ve come up with for us.” She gestured around the lobby. “As you can see, we strive to give our guests a very different experience here. We want them to never forget their visit. Private balconies with dramatic views of course are offered, and the rooms are utter luxury, but we want every appointment inside the hotel, everywhere a guest looks, to look and feel like luxury.”

“This is one of the few hotels that isn’t owned by a conglomerate,” Lissa said. “I love that it’s a family hotel and so welcoming and beautiful. I think you’ve managed to convey that as well.”

Mariana inclined her head with a small smile of approval. “I like to think so. We’re very proud of the fact that this hotel has been in the family for generations and each generation has improved it. We want it to be very modern, yet maintain the old-world feel of a glamorous past.”

Lissa walked through each room Mariana wanted to add a chandelier in. Five in the lobby. Two in the ballroom. Three in the five-star restaurant. If she got such a large order, the farm would be in money for a long while, especially since Mariana wanted the hotel’s chandeliers to be original designs no one else had. She had sketched ideas based on the hotel’s history, in keeping with a days-gone-by, opulent era. The chandeliers she had in mind would drip long spiraling white buds and cascading white leaves that shimmered with light from every angle.

“You do understand that because I have to do each piece by hand, each will be slightly different.”

Mariana nodded. “We looked over the crystal chandeliers every other hotel has. They’re beautiful but not unique. We want beautiful and unique. We want each piece to shout luxury and glamour. Your work does that. It’s innovative, creative, and each piece is a work of art.”

She led the way into her office. Tomasso put his hand on Lissa’s back, barely there, but she felt his touch and it warmed her. He moved into the room with her and stepped to one side to stand against the wall, his hands at his sides, appearing relaxed. He didn’t give anyone the option to tell him to wait outside.

Mariana waved gracefully toward a high-backed chair, and Lissa sank into its comfort. It had taken an hour to walk around the various rooms and allow Lissa to study each room’s unique signatures.

“We would very much like three separate designs, but ones that look similar, so they go with our hotel and are unique to us.”

Lissa caught that Mariana had used the term “unique” several times. Clearly it was important to her that the designs for the hotel were strictly theirs. A brand for them. Everything in the hotel was that way, from the silverware in the restaurant to the furniture and pictures on the walls.

Lissa nodded. “I can do that.”

Without warning she felt the brush of a thumb across the nipple of her left breast. She had to suppress a gasp as little arrows of fire streaked straight to her sex. Instantly she was damp. She glanced over her shoulder at Casimir. He wasn’t looking at her. His gaze was straight ahead, as if zoned out, but his thumb was pressed tightly into the center of his palm.

Clearly your thoughts are on something besides your job, she accused.

Casimir didn’t reply or show in any way that he heard her.

“The family particularly loves this design.” Mariana handed Lissa the sketch of the chandelier she’d loved the most and had hoped the hotel would go with. It was a little bit more difficult to create, but it was gorgeous. The piece spoke to her. Beautiful, like Italy, glamorous and even a little decadent.

“I do too,” Lissa admitted. “It was my favorite.” Another nipple brush. A hot mouth closed over her breast, drew it deep, tongue pushing her nipple hard against the roof of his mouth. His teeth scraped erotically. She gasped as flames rushed through her bloodstream to burn low and sinful between her legs. She felt the familiar dampness.

Two can play this game, Casimir, and I have a vivid imagination.

Not as vivid as mine. Pure male amusement. Pure arrogance.

She didn’t want to start a war with him she couldn’t win, but she was definitely going to retaliate.

“Using this design for the lobby, can you make a variation of it for the restaurant and another for the ballroom?” Mariana asked.

Lissa nodded, trying to keep the flush from creeping up her body to her face. “I’ve already been playing around with ideas because I loved it so much.”

“It’s elegant—exactly what we want, and it feels like it comes from this region. That it might have been here in times gone past, but yet is very sophisticated.”

Casimir’s tongue teased at the underside of Lissa’s breast. Clearly his imagination wasn’t nearly finished.

I’m conducting business here.

I’m just standing here passing the time while you close this deal.

Lissa had to concentrate on what Mariana was telling her. She clearly liked the design, but really, for the chandelier to come off the way they needed it, color was important. “The other thing I love about this piece is the color. It is a muted white like the cliffs in places. It says your hotel like nothing else,” Lissa admitted. “This is one of my favorite places in the entire world, so it was a privilege to create something that made me feel it was part of a place I love.”

They got down to business, discussing price. Fortunately, Casimir didn’t continue his assault on her senses during the money discussion. Lissa had learned not to sell herself short. She knew the worth of her masterpieces, and these chandeliers would be masterpieces. Mariana didn’t wince. They’d had a tentative discussion before. In the end, they came to agreement, one that made Lissa want to dance around the room, but she kept her business face on, smiling and allowing the talk to drift into personal avenues.

She found out that the Loria family expected their children and grandchildren to work in the hotel from the bottom up, learning every aspect of the care and maintenance of their family business. Their employees were treated with respect and many workers were generational. Clearly Mariana was proud of her hotel and family. Lissa liked her even more for that.

Wrap it up, malyshka. I’m hungry for you all over again.

You worked yourself up, she teased, although in truth, he’d worked her up. Still, she wanted to be somewhere she could practice a little payback.

“We would love to have you eat lunch here,” Mariana said. “You’re welcome to walk around the grounds. They’re beautiful and very extensive.”

“Thank you,” Lissa said, rising with her hostess. “I’d love that. It’s very relaxing here and I would enjoy exploring.” She turned to Tomasso. “Are you hungry? Would you join me for lunch?” Better to ask him right in front of Mariana than to have any speculation afterward. She was from the United States and who knew what they did there, maybe everyone had meals with their bodyguards.

Tomasso raised an eyebrow, but inclined his head. “I would enjoy that, Miss Piner.”

“Lissa,” she corrected, sounding slightly annoyed, as if she’d corrected him a million times. If anyone was reporting back to Luigi, they would tell him his houseguest found her bodyguard a little irritating.

Mariana graciously hid her smile as she opened the door and waved them through. “If you need anything at all, let us know.”

Lissa nodded, wanting to kick Tomasso in the shins when he deliberately crowded her. His body heat set her heart pounding. His masculine scent enveloped her, and the brush of his body against hers sent more damp heat spilling into her panties. “Thank you, Mariana. I’ll get the contracts to you and get started on the chandeliers right away.”

As they walked away she glared at Tomasso. “You are terrible. I should kick you.”

“I prefer you kissing me.”

They were given a secluded table on a balcony overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Each of the small balconies was designed so a couple could be totally private. Celebrities visited the hideaway often and they came to relax, enjoy themselves and not be bothered by fans or the paparazzi.

Casimir sat close to her, rather than across from her, both facing the turquoise sea. He threaded his fingers through hers, brought her hand to his mouth to kiss the back and then brought it beneath the table to his thigh, pressing her palm deep. “It’s beautiful here, Lissa,” he observed.

“I love the farm,” she said. “It’s become my home, but this place will always be my first love.”

“In spite of the terrible things that have happened?”

She nodded. “Luigi doesn’t represent these people. He’s the anomaly. I’m Italian. I love being Italian, and I’m proud of my country.”

“I understand,” Casimir agreed. “I feel the same way about my homeland. When this is done, and we’re free, I want to show you my country. It’s beautiful as well. We can make our home on the farm, but we’ll have Italy and Russia to visit often.”

“I hope so.” He’d just said our home. As in he’d be moving in with her. She knew that was the natural progression of things between a man and a woman when they loved each other, but she had always considered she wouldn’t live long—people who did the things she did rarely saw old age.

He brought her hand up to his mouth again, this time scraping at the pads of her fingers with his teeth. “What is it, golubushka? You suddenly looked as if you might faint on me.”

The waiter came, took their orders and smiled at them both. “This balcony is very private. When you prefer more privacy, you can close the doors and the privacy sign will be up. No one will disturb you.”

Lissa burst out laughing when he left. “He thinks we’re having an affair.”

“Of course he does. He’s very romantic and you’re a beautiful, classy woman and I’m your bodyguard. That’s the epitome of romance.”

She laughed softly. “I’ll have an affair with Tomasso, but I think Casimir might object.”

“Not necessarily, as long as you don’t fall in love with him. And you aren’t going to get off that easy. Not that I would mind closing those doors and cutting us off from the rest of the world for a time, but we need to get a few things straight. What made you look a little faint?”

“Of course you aren’t just going to let it go,” she said with a little sigh. “This doesn’t bode well for our relationship.”

“Our relationship will be just fine,” he corrected. His eyes pierced right through her, saw too much. “You’re the one not quite ready to commit.”

She scowled at him. “I’ve totally committed. Totally. I admitted I love you. That’s a huge step, Tomasso.”

“I was in the security room for a while and these balconies are private, no cameras or audio, so we’re alone, and you call me Casimir when we’re talking about our relationship. I want you to know just who you’re talking to.”

She ducked her head. “It was nothing.”

“Malyshka, just tell me what’s gotten you upset.”

“Not upset, just a little thrown. You said we’d make our home on the farm. I hadn’t thought beyond the here and now. I didn’t think about you coming home with me and moving into my house.”

A slow, sexy smile softened the hard edge to his mouth. “Our house. Prakenskii men claim it all. Woman. House. The contents. All of it. It belongs to us.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “I can’t say I haven’t noticed that trait in your brothers. I don’t know why I didn’t think ahead. I’m not good at sharing space.”

“You share just fine. I’m in your bed, you give me whatever I want.”

She couldn’t control the blush. He was talking about more than space in her bed. He made certain she didn’t require much in the way of space. At night he dragged her body tight against his, clamped his arm around her waist or ribs, pinned her with one thigh while the other slid between her legs. He liked to sleep that way. Her back to his front. Not a whisper between their bodies.

Lissa didn’t think she’d ever go to sleep with another human being in her bed, but she found he wore her out in very good ways and she drifted off immediately, feeling safe, her body sated and her heart happy. She liked the way he kept her palm tight against his thigh, his long fingers occasionally stroking a caress along the back of her hand. He liked contact and he wasn’t shy about demanding it.

“I guess I just hadn’t thought beyond the Sorbacovs.” She whispered the admission.

“Malyshka, I hadn’t thought much beyond the Sorbacovs either, until I met you. Now, it’s imperative we both survive—and we will. So that means . . . We share the same house. Our house. Our bed. Our world,” he finished.

Lissa liked that he was so confident they’d both come out alive after going after the Sorbacovs. She wasn’t going to back away from that goal, not even now that she’d found Casimir. The truth was, the Sorbacovs would continue to send killers after all of them. There were children to protect now. Her sisters. The men she was coming to love as brothers. She had a family now—a real one. They might not be of blood, but they certainly were in her heart. “I lost one family. I’m not about to lose another.”

“You’re as determined as I am,” he said, his eyes on hers.

When he looked at her like that, completely focused on her, as if she was the only person in his entire world, she melted inside.

“I’ve always wanted to come here and explore the grounds,” Lissa admitted, changing the subject again, wanting this time to be for them alone. “I’ve never had the chance, but we’ve got time today if you don’t mind.”

His smile was slow in coming. Sexy. “Giacinta, I would take the opportunity to spend the day with you anywhere, any way I can. I was alone my entire life. Now, I’ve got you. I’ll never get enough of being with you.”

She liked that. How could she not? She tried not to beam, but she was fairly certain the expression on her face could have lit up a dark night.

“Tell me about them. Your sisters. I’d like to know about the women who managed to tame my brothers, especially Gavriil. I didn’t believe there was any hope for him. How did your sister—it’s Lexi, right? How did she manage to get him to stay around long enough to convince him to remain there on the farm?”

Lissa knew her expression softened. She loved Lexi, truly loved her. “Lexi’s special. They all are, but she’s . . . fragile. Strong. Perfect. She wouldn’t think so, but I think Gavriil saw all of that right away. She was kidnapped when she was just a little girl by a cult. She didn’t escape until she was seventeen. She’s an earth element and can grow anything just about anywhere, so the cult’s farm thrived with her around. The man forcing her into marriage was a pedophile, so he wasn’t enamored with her more adult body, and suffice it to say, her life was a nightmare. When she escaped, the cult murdered her family in retaliation.”

He drew in his breath sharply. “I hope Gavriil got them.”

She nodded. “They came after her again, and it was a big mistake. Gavriil isn’t going to let anything happen to Lexi. He’s different with her. Not yet with the rest of us, but he’s getting more comfortable around us.”

“You like him.”

She nodded. “Very much. I didn’t think I would. He’s . . . alpha. I don’t know any other word for it. No one is going to get around that man. Well, with the exception of Lexi. Not even his brothers. I could tell they were a little uneasy around him and that made me worried for my sister, but I didn’t need to worry. I should have worried about the men coming after her.”

Casimir suddenly released her hand, and she glanced up to see the waiter heading their way with their orders. He made a show of putting the artfully presented food in front of them and then disappeared back inside.

“It doesn’t surprise me about Gavriil. My two oldest brothers had it the worst. There were several schools. They were taken to the two most brutal of those. Viktor’s school had the worst reputation. About half of those going through that school died before their training was complete. I don’t know much about Viktor, he’s been undercover for years now. Deep undercover. He’s got a target that so far he’s been unable to get to, but he won’t quit until he’s taken him out. I’d never want that man coming after me.”

“Are you saying that Viktor is even scarier than Gavriil?” Lissa was half joking. She couldn’t imagine anyone being more frightening that Gavriil.

“That school was disbanded after Viktor and about seventeen others finished. Even Kostya Sorbacov realized it was too brutal. There are rumors that the seventeen disappeared along with Viktor. Sorbacov has put out hits on all of them, but they can’t be found. I wouldn’t be in the least surprised to find out that Viktor secretly organized them all in school and they’ve disappeared together. Even young he was a leader.”

“If Viktor knows Sorbacov put a hit on him, wouldn’t he just leave whatever job he’s doing and go into hiding?”

Casimir burst out laughing. “Viktor isn’t the kind of man to hide from anyone. He’s going to go after Sorbacov, which is probably what he’s planning on doing the moment he finishes off his mark. He’s after someone big, Lissa, and he isn’t going to stop because of a little thing like Sorbacov turning on him. He’s always been in the most dangerous of situations. Always. He went after the most high value targets, the ones that were considered extremely dangerous.”

“Isn’t that what all of you do?” Lissa asked. She found the conversation fascinating. She wasn’t alone in what she did, or in her conviction that the job was needed in certain circumstances—when the law couldn’t touch the offender. “The seafood is delicious,” she added, because it was.

“Mine too,” he acknowledged. “And yes, we all go after targets, but Viktor and Gavriil’s targets were men surrounded by heavy protection. One had to find a way to penetrate that protection and get inside the inner circle. They spent months, or even years, doing that and living that life day in and day out, never making a mistake. It’s not easy.”

She nodded. “You admire them.”

“I know how difficult role-playing is. Each character I play is for a short period of time; they have to be that person for months or years. You can lose yourself in a role. Life gets confusing when you don’t have anything to anchor you.”

His gaze held hers. She knew what he meant. Her. She was his anchor. Gavriil had Lexi now. Viktor had no one. “Maybe he’s not alone, Tomasso, maybe some of the men and women he went to that horrible school with are with him right now. Maybe they have one another’s back.”

“Maybe. I doubt it. They went off the grid, one by one. No one has found them. Or if they have and someone quietly killed them, no one has taken credit for it. I can’t imagine Sorbacov not crowing about it to someone. He prides himself on being smarter than any of us.”

“He isn’t,” Lissa said. “His arrogance is going to be his downfall. Uri never married. Is he gay?”

Casimir shook his head. “No. He likes women. I honestly think he got caught up in his political role and just didn’t have time for a real relationship. He’s had a couple of mistresses, but they didn’t last long. I haven’t heard he’s into kink. He was close to his mother and reveres his father. Cleaning up his father’s mess isn’t just about his own political aspirations, it’s also about keeping his father’s reputation clean for the history books.”

Lissa nodded. “That’s good to know. Uri and Kostya Sorbacov are part owners of the very prestigious Krasnyy Drakon hotel in St. Petersburg.”

Casimir frowned. Shook his head. “I know practically everything there is to know about that family. How would I not know that?”

“They bought into the hotel or acquired the shares through a dummy corporation. Renovations were done, mostly to make the hotel over for the Sorbacovs to have an underground tunnel system that doesn’t just extend beneath the hotel, but under other buildings as well. They want the hotel to compete with St. Petersburg’s finest. By staying silent partners, the extra renovations, the tunnels and hidden hallways, enable Uri and Kostya to have a public place to go where they have extra protection.”

“You’ve been reading the file you got from Ivan Belsky.”

She put another forkful of delicious shrimp pasta in her mouth and nodded as she chewed. “Yep,” she admitted after she chewed and swallowed, trying not to moan, the food was so delicious. “Belsky has a reputation for delivering the real information. It was somewhat of a point of honor with him. You got what you paid for. Of course he often killed those he delivered to, but in his mind he earned his money because he actually came up with the information. Nuts, but I suppose in his mind, it worked for him. So, yes, I believe the information is reliable.”

“Gavriil.” Casimir nearly spat his brother’s name. “He had to have supplied you with enough information to give you a direction. Damn him. He put you on the trail.”

“I was already going there, Tomasso.” She emphasized his name to remind him that he was there because his brother had sent for him to protect her. “He knew he couldn’t stop me and apparently he kept his word to me and didn’t tell anyone, not even you, what I had come here to do.”

He ate quietly for a few minutes, obviously getting his temper under control. There was no way his temper didn’t burn hot and ferocious, not when he was a fire element. Hers did. She’d learned to control it, just as he had, but she didn’t fool herself into believing it wasn’t there, smoldering just beneath the surface and ready to burst into flames at any moment.

“Did Gavriil give you Belsky’s name and a way to contact him?”

“Casimir . . .”

Casimir leaned close, his eyes behind the dark contacts burning with fire. “Did he? It’s not that hard to answer the fucking question, Lissa. A yes or no will work.”

She sighed. “Yes. He warned me not to trust him. He also said the information would be reliable. He’d heard a rumor that the Sorbacovs had bought into the hotel.”

“Gavriil always did have a good network.”

“Why are you angry with him for helping me?” She put down her fork and rubbed his thigh with soothing strokes of her hand. “I was going to go after them whether Gavriil helped me or not. I wasn’t going to tell anyone, least of all him. He came to visit me and he found my maps strewn all over the floor. He guessed, and there was no dissuading me. I should be the one upset with him because he called you in.”

He didn’t answer her question. “Once we get the job done here, we’re going to sit down and plan out an attack. I take it you have an appointment with the owners or management of that hotel in St. Petersburg.”

She nodded. “They said they read an article on me and were intrigued with my work. I sent them some of my designs and they loved them.”

“They made the initial contact?”

She nodded. “I know what you’re thinking. Of course they know of my association with Sea Haven. My hometown was in the article.”

“This doesn’t concern you?”

“I think that’s what got me the foot in the door. But regardless, they’re going to look at my work for their hotel. Uri Sorbacov is a control freak. He won’t be able to resist being at the meeting. I don’t know about his father, but he’ll be there for certain. Everything I’ve read about Uri says anyone entering into any kind of business deal with him is doing so at their own risk. He’s a shark. He isn’t going to let someone else decorate his hotel. My guess is the other owners wanted the chandeliers dripping crystals. I sent other designs after they contacted me, blown glass with crystals dripping from twisted glass ropes. Very cool. Modern, beautiful and yet old-world enough to satisfy the more traditional hotel owners.”

He sat back in his chair, his hand once again covering hers and pressing her palm deep into the heat of his thigh. “You plan on charming the socks right off of him.”

She smiled. Faintly. Because there was something in his expression she didn’t like. “Something like that.”

“Well you can just forget it, Lissa. He is a shark, and you can’t play him. He’s intelligent and he knows his life is in danger as long as any of the products of those schools are still alive. He will have had you thoroughly investigated. Thoroughly. You may think Lissa Piner has a great history and won’t be discovered, but he’ll find out who you really are.”

Lissa nodded. “Honey, I’m counting on that. I intend to tell him my entire history. Volunteer it myself. Luigi will be dead, my adoring uncle. Tio Luigi insisted on changing my name and sending me to the United States in order to protect me. It will work, Casimir. You know it will.”

“And what of your connection to Sea Haven and the Prakenskiis? He knows Ilya is there. He has to know Gavriil is as well.”

She smiled at him. “I’ll admit that as well when he brings it up. He’ll try to trap me, but by that time, I’ll have maneuvered him just where we want him.”

He sighed and shook his head. “You have a plan.”

“The beginnings of one, but we’ll get into that later, not today when I want to spend my time alone with you.”

He brought her hand to his mouth, this time pressing a kiss into the exact center of her palm, his face soft and warm and so loving she wanted to cry.

“You’re so beautiful, Giacinta. Do you have any idea what it means to a man like me to have you sitting here with me, out in the open, seeing me? To know that no matter what I look like, no matter what I act like, you see me—Casimir Prakenskii. It’s a gift I never thought possible.”

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out because his teeth teased the pads of her fingers and his gaze held hers.

“It’s the truth, malyshka. You make me believe I can have something more than the life I was leading. Stuck in the shadows with no name or face. No one saw me until you came along. I felt dead inside.”

Her breath stilled in her lungs. Burned. Casimir always seemed easy. Relaxed. Even when he smoldered with passion, there was a relaxed quality about him. Now she could see past the contacts to the focus in his eyes. His entire focus was on her. It had been almost since the moment he’d laid eyes on her, when he’d been playing the role of the obnoxious man on her flight to Italy. He’d escorted her the entire way. Looking out for her. Taking care of her even when she didn’t know it.

She might have seen him, but he saw her first. He recognized they belonged before she did. More, when her world was falling apart, he had her back. Tears burned behind her eyes. He gave her more than she thought possible from any man. He laid himself out there for her, made himself vulnerable to tell her what she meant to him.

Casimir pressed her palm into his chest. “You made my heart beat again, Giacinta. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it’s the truth. I had nothing left. I was going to find the Sorbacovs, but I didn’t expect to come back. On some level I didn’t even want to come back. I had nothing at all to come back to. I don’t know my brothers. I love them and am loyal to them because I had to have something, some code, something to hold on to, but I haven’t seen them or really talked to them since I was a very little boy. I didn’t mind going out in a blaze of glory for them, but I didn’t have it in me to live for them.” He brought her hand back to his mouth, teeth teasing her fingers until she thought her heart would explode with such emotion there was nowhere for it to go.

“Then I saw you. The way you moved, like music on the wind. The way your face lit up when you laughed. No matter how annoying I was to you, you were kind to me on the plane. That touched me, Lissa. Your kindness. In my world, there isn’t much of that. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and, although you’re that on the outside, I think it’s what you are inside that makes you so beautiful to me.”

“You’re making me cry,” she whispered.

Her voice wouldn’t go above a whisper. In that moment, she knew she had fallen all the way. Love. It was strange to her that love would come to her now, when she was committed to making a life for the five women so entrenched in her heart, but there it was. Love. The real thing. The emotion overwhelmed her. He overwhelmed her with his declaration. Every word out of his mouth was honest. Raw. She might not have anything else, but she had him. Casimir Prakenskii would always be hers. How could she want anything else?

“There will never be another woman for me, Lissa. You’re it. My shot at a life. If you give me that, I swear to you, I’ll never let you down.” He pressed a kiss into the center of her palm, his eyes on her face. “Will you do that, malyshka? Will you take me as I am and give me the one shot I’ve got? Will you take a chance on me?”

Her heart thudded in her chest. She stared up at his handsome face. This was more than a declaration. “What are you asking me, Casimir?” Because there was no way he was talking abstract, not when the air itself stilled.