Total pages in book: 230
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
He was sure they would find whoever had poisoned his Scotch. He stood up. “Again, my thanks. I’m going to get some sleep.”
“Of course. The guards are already here. You’re safe.” McKay let him get to the door before speaking again. “You know Day had poured herself a glass of that Scotch before she found the body. It’s why Simon was running so hard down that hallway. He’d seen Jamil fall and your wife enter the room. Your servant was out of her line of sight when she walked in. I’ve seen the video. She was seconds away from taking a drink. Luckily she was pacing and found Jamil. If she’d taken even a sip, you would be a widower today.”
His stomach dropped at the thought. Day had almost taken a drink? A vision of Day laid out on the floor, her warm eyes cold and unseeing, nearly made him stumble and fall. He’d been the one to send her to that room. He’d been the one to upset her. He’d been the reason she’d reached for the Scotch. She tended to prefer tea before bed. She hadn’t been getting ready for bed. She’d been getting ready for a fight.
He managed to nod McKay’s way. He’d always hated the fact that palace security required CCTV cameras in the living portions of his suite. His bedroom and the bathrooms were the only parts of the palace where he had some privacy. This was one time he had to be grateful. “Thank you for telling me. She didn’t mention it. I’m certainly grateful to Mr. Weston for getting to her as quickly as he did.”
He walked out the door. He knew the way to the privacy rooms that would serve as his suite while he was here. He took the stairs two at a time but stopped when he reached the third floor landing.
What the hell was he going to say to her? He wasn’t about to meet with a lawyer.
He’d almost lost her.
He was so fucking angry with her.
If this was what love felt like, Kash didn’t want it. This was a terrible ache in his gut, a pendulum swinging between anger and insane grief.
He stepped quietly into the room and there she was. Day hadn’t bothered to get undressed, though a gown and robe had been left out for her. She’d simply lain down and fallen fast asleep, her shoes still on.
What the hell was he going to do with her?
He shrugged out of his jacket and toed off his shoes. There was another bed in the adjoining room, but he didn’t want to use it. Suddenly, despite the fact that he was angry, he didn’t want to leave her alone.
Had what she’d done truly been so bad? He was a hypocrite of the first order and he knew it.
Her eyes fluttered open. “I’ll go to the other bed if you want this one.”
He found himself sitting at the end of the bed, pulling her feet into his lap as he unbuckled the straps at her ankles and eased the shoes off her feet. “Just stay here. Day, I’m…I was surprised by your background. I wish you had told me.”
She sighed, a sad sound. “I suppose I knew deep down you would reject me.”
Something about the lonely sound of her voice softened him. “I can’t live that way. I can’t be that way.”
For a moment she looked like she would say something, and then she rested her head down again. “And I can’t be anything less than who I am.”
“Where does that leave us?” He was so tired. He’d been running on anger and adrenaline, and now he was flat out of both. He was a bit hollow, lost as to what he should do.
“It leaves us where we were before. We can divorce and you can find a more suitable bride, or we can be friends. We can understand that we don’t work as lovers but we might be good partners. If we’re discreet, it could possibly work.”
The thought rankled but he couldn’t fight more tonight. Today. God, he wasn’t even sure what day it was. He only knew he seemed so far from the man who’d held her hand and promised to honor her forever.
“Go to sleep. We’ll figure it out.” He wasn’t sure they could figure anything at all out.
He just knew he didn’t have the strength to yell at her anymore. He lay down beside her.
“Kash?”
The bed was soft and he wished he had the right to pull her into his arms. He would be warm if she wrapped herself around him. “Yes?”
“I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I thought I was giving you what you needed.”
But he couldn’t need those things. He couldn’t let himself even want them anymore. Still, as he lay there, all he could see was the girl she’d been. He’d given her up once for his crown. Could he do it again? How much would being king cost him? He reached out and brushed her hair off her face. She was so lovely. Of all the women he’d been with, why was it only this one who’d ever truly moved him, who’d ever fed his soul? “I won’t yell at you again. I’m sorry. When you wake up tomorrow, we’ll be friends again. All right?”