Quickly navigating a maze of hallways, they soon arrived in a tastefully decorated room, much like the one in his London home. She paused at the fireplace.

Above the mantle hung a portrait of Vladimir, Lady Francesca, and two young boys—one small and frail looking, the other strong and tall.

“Who’s who?” she asked, head back as she stared at the painting.

“I’m the one on the right. My mother always complained I’d stolen Christian’s good health and her figure when we were little.”

Daisy glanced back at him. “One twin is always bigger than the other and a lot of times healthier, too. You had no control over that. As for the other…she can get over herself.”

“I’ll be sure to convey your message to her,” he said, amused and grateful for her defense.

“Why did you leave at seventeen?”

He almost lied to her. He almost told her that he’d left because he’d wanted to travel the world during his Gap Year, but he couldn’t. “I found out that my title, this house, this estate…my past and my future had been bought from the rightful heirs.”

Turning, she gazed up at him. “I saw a show once where the winner won an English title.”

“Not the same.” He took a deep breath. “My father paid off the rightful Earl of Spenserfield and took his place. The title and the estate had been sitting here, rotting.”

“Why?”

“Why did he want it or why was it rotting?”

“Both.”

She wandered over to a club chair by the fireplace and sat down.

He grabbed a remote off a side table and clicked on the fire. “Neat!” she said, unable to contain her excitement, and then she schooled her expression. “Sorry.”

“It’s all right. If I were seeing this place for the first time, I’d think it neat as well,” he offered and maneuvered her so that he was the one in the chair and she was in his lap. He placed a possessive hand on her stomach and she leaned back, laying her head on his shoulder and propping her legs across the width of the chair.

Holding her like this, he felt safe. She lightly scratched at the nape of his neck. He breathed her in, honey and vanilla mixed in the flowery scent of her shampoo. A man could get used to this, even a man who thought himself to be a monster.

“Chetham, the earl at the time, apparently sided with the Nazis during the first World War. The Crown tried him for treason, found him guilty, and took everything away. He wasn’t the only titled gentleman to be tried. There were barons, viscounts, and a duke, I believe. Later, they revised the ruling and declared that any heirs could reclaim their title and the estates. So far, Vladimir has been the only one to do so. It was bad enough to live with the taint of that, going to school and being the heir to a treasonous title wasn’t the easiest thing, but I worshipped my father. He didn’t care what everyone else thought, only his opinion of himself mattered. He was a god in my eyes.

“So, when I found out he’d bought the title, that we weren’t actually related to Chetham at all... Let’s just say that my hero worship began to die a slow, painful death and I let it be known.”

“You worshiped him despite all the stuff he did to you?” Daisy asked slowly.

“I did. I loved him, even when he marked me with the Romanov tattoo on my back,” he said, staring into the fire. “I should be proud, he said. I should be grateful for the blood running in my veins, he said. It could be worse, he said. I could have given you a bloody rose on your chest like Christian.”

All over a fifteen-year-old boy’s temper, all over Sebastian shouting in front of the wrong people at the wrong time that he hated being a Romanov. For his punishment, he been held down, tied up, and forced to endure hours of pain as one of his father’s bodyguard inked him.

“Try denying me now, boy,” his father had spat as Sebastian had struggled to his feet. His back burned, his skin felt stretched and thin.

He’d stumbled and instead of reaching out to steady him, his father had kicked his legs out from under him.

The touch of her hand on his pulled him back to the present. “Do you want to talk about it anymore?”

“No.” He caressed her stomach, slow easy glides that hitched up her shirt and made it possible for him to touch her bare skin. It was hot and smooth beneath his palm.

“That feels very nice.” She made a little noise, a sort of purring sound of pleasure. He kissed the top of her head and smiled against her hair, then frowned at her lack of concern. Shouldn’t she be running away from him, yelling at him that monsters bred monsters?

Like his mother had? Oh holy hell, he had mother and father issues. Actually, he just had issues. Screwed up, needed-to-be fixed issues.

None of that seemed to bother Daisy.

Don’t you think it makes me a monster?

No, it makes you human.

Even then, when he’d bared his soul to her in their texts, she’d not judged him. She’d listened and given comfort. Maybe it wasn’t so unreasonable to believe he was worth loving.

She snuggled deeper into his arms, her body relaxing into his in soft degrees until he knew she was asleep.

Ivan ambled inside, his eyes missing nothing, yet the bodyguard remained the epitome of discretion. “Shall I bring the car around?”

“Yes. It’s time I take the little countess”—Sebastian flashed a smile as he stood, cradling the woman he loved against his chest.—“home, don’t you think?”

“Home is where she is, don’t you think?” Ivan’s lips stretched over his teeth.

Raising his brows, Sebastian nodded once in answer, and started for the private entry on the east side of The Hall.

“Will you marry me, Daisy?” he asked, but he knew she wouldn’t answer. She was still sleeping.

However, the real question remained—would he have the courage to ask her while she was awake?

Chapter Twenty-Four

The next day, Sebastian asked her to attend a swanky charity event with him. Though he hadn’t said the word swanky, she knew it would be.

So, she’d put on her sexiest dress and highest heels. He’d worn a tux and a charming smile.

Neither one of them had been able to keep their hands off each other while they were getting ready, while they rode in the back of the limo, or even when they first arrived.

But no one seemed to care. Some looked downright shocked, but not because they were humping each other in public.

No, it was the open affection he showed her. The way he brushed her hair away from her face or took her hand and kissed it. Apparently to the people who knew Sebastian that was the same thing as a preacher deciding to streak down the aisle in the middle of a church service.

Music swelled in the background and she turned her attention to him once more.

“Feeling alright?” Sebastian placed a hand at the small of her back and brushed her stomach with his free one. “Need to sit?” Without waiting for her answer, he propelled her to their table at the front and pulled out her chair.

He looked anxious. He looked a little lost. She inwardly smiled. “May I have a glass of ice water?” she asked.

Relief broke over his face. He had needed something to do. “Anything else?”

“Not until dinner is served.”

After pressing a fleeting kiss to the back of her hand, he took off like a shot. She glanced around the magnificent ballroom. It dripped with elegance and money, lots and lots of money.

There was a sea of tuxes and designer ball gowns. A three-piece band played soothing music while servers in black pants and white shirts buzzed around the tables like bees. She couldn’t help but notice how efficient they were, and how smoothly everything ran.

Someday she’d like to cater an event like this, but most likely, she’d never get the chance. Holland Springs might have more billionaires and millionaires than the average town, but this cosmopolitan gathering for charity was something straight out of a book.

“I see you finally wore the Valentino. You look smashing.”

Daisy blinked at Kate, and then stammered out a thank you.

“I didn’t follow the two of you here.” Kate waved a cream-colored piece of paper at Daisy, before slipping it into her purse. “I was invited long before that.”

“I didn’t think you were following us.” Daisy craned her neck, wishing for Sebastian to show up with her water. “Where are you sitting?”

“Here.”

Daisy jerked her attention back to Kate. “Here here?”

Kate laughed, throwing her head back as she did, her ebony hair all caught up in a diamond tiara. She looked like a princess. “Have you bothered to read the name cards?”

“No.” Daisy picked up a card in the shape of a house. Sebastian Romanov, Earl of Spenserfield, was written in silver ink. She set it back down and read the one beside her. Kate Von Lichtenstein. A quick glance to her left let her know that her name wasn’t on that house either. A hot flush stole up her neck and down her chest. Where the heck was she supposed to sit? “Sebastian and I just arrived.”

Kate’s jade eyes were assessing as she raked Daisy with a snooty gaze. “I didn’t think he’d bring you to this.”

“Why not?”

“Because…” Kate exhaled. “I coming off as a real witch, aren’t I?”

“My momma said that if you can’t say something nice, then you shouldn’t say anything at all. So I’m going to keep real quiet while you dig yourself out of this one.”

“It’s hard to see you with him. It’s even harder to see him so happy, yet so anxious over you.” Kate gazed out into the ballroom, and Daisy followed her line of vision.

In the center of it all stood Sebastian, holding a goblet of water while talking with a rather imposing looking gentleman.

“That’s my father, the Baron,” Kate said. “He and Sebastian have much in common.”

Sebastian turned his head slightly, and she felt an electric surge go through her. It heated her, down to her very toes. Before they’d left this evening, he’d informed her what he planned on doing to her on the ride back home.

His sexy mouth lifted at one corner and he winked, like he knew she was thinking of that very conversation.

“And it appears you and I have much in common as well,” Kate murmured. “He is extraordinarily attentive in—”

“Excuse me?”

Kate’s eyes widened. “He and I were very young the first and only time we ah—”

“I get the picture.”

“It’s very hard to get over the man who’s your first love.”

Daisy pictured Glen’s face and made a soft noise. “Sometimes it’s easier than you think.”

“I’m not sure why I’m even here.” Kate placed her purse on the table. “This is torture.”

“The music’s not that bad,” Daisy said, hoping Kate would take the hint. “A drummer would be nice.”

Kate leaned forward in her chair, studying her. “If you were anyone but his, I would stay here beside you and spend an enjoyable evening. But I can’t. I thought I could, but it’s too damn hard.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Daisy said, grateful that she could face Sebastian’s ex with the truth on her side. “But I do love him, and I am his. All that said, I do hope you find someone who makes you happier than he ever could.”

“You’re very sweet. I don’t know if I could be so kind,” Kate said. A tear escaped the corner of one eyes and she brushed it away with a knuckle. “Maybe I should follow the Romanov example and find someone who’s not what people would expect.”

Then she rose, in a cloud of sweet-smelling perfume and designer silk, and left before Sebastian arrived at Daisy’s side with her water.

“Was she rude?”

Daisy took the water and drank greedily. “She was sad.”

He sat down beside her. “I’d forgotten she was to be my date for this.”

“Your date!” Daisy sat her drink down.

“The event was planned last year. It was her choice to attend this event anyway. She had to know I’d bring you.”

“Still…no wonder she was so upset.”

“But you’re not,” he said. “You’re glowing, in fact.” He slid his gaze to her stomach and then back at her face.

She blushed. “Now I am.”

He eased his hand inside the split in the side of her dress. It stopped mid-thigh but his hand did not. “You’re very warm, too.” She gasped as the tips of his fingers brushed her most intimate parts. “Very, very warm.”

“You’re making me hot.”

“I’ve placed my bid. Shall we leave before dinner is served?” He slowly slid his hand from where she was wet and slid a finger over his lower lip, then licked it. Her entire body throbbed in response, like one enormous beat of her heart. “My car is waiting.”

They stood as one, racing past everyone and not caring who turned up their nose or smiled fondly. Once the car door closed behind them, Daisy launched herself at Sebastian, kissing him hungrily. He laughed into her mouth and she drank in the sound.

A large hand eased up her dress once more and she moaned. He parted her, entering her with one long finger. Her inner muscles clutched at him. Working at the bodice, he managed to free one of her breasts and wrapped a hot mouth around it. She arched, back bowing off the seat.

“Take your hair down,” he murmured against her wet flesh.

With hands trembling, she removed the diamond barrette he’d given her to wear tonight from her hair.