She sat back in her seat. “He hasn’t?”
“We’re not going to the airport.”
“We’re not?”
He turned to look at her. His eyes were dark. “Do you remember I told you about the medical clinic an hour east of San Francisco? The best brain trauma clinic in the country?”
She stared at him. “We’re going to the clinic? Not Las Vegas?”
He nodded.
“You got Laetitia back!” she whispered.
He looked away. “Yes.”
Staring at him, a slow feeling of joy rose inside her as she realized what it had to mean.
Xerxes wasn’t going to trade her after all. He’d realized he cared about Rose more than his iron-clad promises. He must have gone back on his vow never to pay off Lars, and offered the man a fortune in trade for Laetitia instead of Rose. It was the only solution that made sense!
Xerxes had chosen Rose. He’d decided she was more important to him than his promise!
But as she looked at him, the smile slid from her face. Was that why Xerxes didn’t look particularly happy? Because for the first time in his life, he’d broken his word?
The SUV passed a thicket of juniper trees and drove past a gate into the parking lot of a small modern hospital. The building was blocky and sterile, but even in the cold rain of late February, Rose had never seen anything so beautiful.
Xerxes had chosen her. Over his promises. Over honor. It was all she could do not to wrap her arms around herself and sing a happy song. And suddenly, she was so filled with love for him that she no longer cared who heard her.
As the car stopped in front of the hospital, she turned to Xerxes in the backseat.
“I love you,” she blurted out.
His black eyes widened. She heard his intake of breath. “Rose—”
She covered his mouth with her hand. “If I don’t tell you now, I might never have the courage. I love you, Xerxes. I love you and I’ll never forget that today you chose me over…”
Her voice trailed off as she saw a red Ferrari roar past their SUV, followed by a van. The vehicles parked in front of them on the curb. A man got out of the Ferrari, and Rose’s eyes widened. Her hand fell numbly into her lap.
“Lars?” Shocked, she turned to Xerxes, her eyes begging for an explanation she could bear. “What is Lars doing here?”
The driver and chauffeur got out of the SUV, closing the doors solidly behind them, and they were alone. Xerxes’s face was almost expressionless as he faced her.
“He’s here for the trade.”
Rose stared at him. “The…trade?”
She turned back to see Lars open the back doors of the van parked in front of them. Inside, Rose saw a slender, dark-haired woman sleeping on a stretcher. Lars glared at Xerxes, jabbing his thumb toward the unconscious woman, then waited with a sour expression, his hands on his hips.
Then he saw Rose and gave her a sickeningly sweet smile.
Twisting her head away, Rose closed her eyes with a whimper. “You can’t trade me. You can’t.”
“I have no choice.”
His cold words went through her soul like a blow.
She’d been a fool to think he’d changed, or that he cared about her. His honor meant more to him than Rose ever could. Her heart fell to her shoes with a dull thud. Blinking fast, she said, “There must be some other way—”
“There is not,” he said. “I’ve tried. Tried and failed. Everywhere I looked for her, I arrived too late. I have no choice but to trade.” His dark eyes glittered as he looked up at her. “But what happens next is up to you.”
She stared at him in sudden shock.
“Those weren’t business trips at all, were they?” she breathed. “The honeymoon cottage in the Maldives. Our villa in Cabo. I thought they were romantic trips we took for your work, but the whole time you were searching for Laetitia behind my back!”
He gave a single jerky nod.
Tears flooded her eyes. “You’re no better than Lars,” she whispered. “Romancing one woman while committed to another.”
“That’s not how it was!”
She saw dark pain in Xerxes’s eyes, but she was too hurt to hold back any longer. “Who is Laetitia to you, Xerxes?” she said. “Why do you love her? Who is she to you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Because you made a promise.”
“Yes.”
“And my feelings mean nothing.”
“That’s not true.” He took a deep breath. “But I must fulfill my obligation.”
“So that’s all I am to you? An obligation?”
“Rose, no,” he said. “I…” He looked at her. “I…care for you. Very much.”
“You care for me,” she said bitterly. “Thank you. I’ve just told you I’m in love with you!”
He blinked slowly, then pushed an envelope into her numb hands. “I’m giving you the choice,” he said. “I’ve held you captive, seduced you. Now you have the power. I’m setting you free to decide.”
“By trading me?” Tears were brimming over her lashes as she crumpled the envelope in her fist. She could not let herself cry in front of him, could not! “By discarding me, pushing me into another man’s arms?”
“No!” he said fiercely. He put his larger hand over hers. “I know you’ll never love him again. But…it must be your choice.”
The icy reality slowly sank into Rose’s heart. Xerxes was really letting her go. He was trading her for the woman he truly loved. And he wouldn’t even offer Rose the small comfort of an explanation!
Agony and fury ripped her heart into shreds. She wrenched her hand from his grasp.
“You love promises so much? All right. Here’s one for you.” She lifted her chin, her eyes wet with unshed tears. “Never come looking for me, Xerxes. I never want to see you again!”
He sucked in his breath. “You don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do. I’ll go through with this—this trade.” Her lip twisted. “But I want your word I’ll never see you again.”
“No!” He put his hands on her shoulders, searching her eyes with his own. “Don’t you understand?” he said in a low voice. “If I make you a promise, I cannot break it.”
“I understand that. Better than anyone.” She shook his hands off her shoulders and spoke in an icy voice that revealed nothing of her heartbreak. “That’s why I want to hear you speak the words.”
“I don’t want to do it!”
“As you said,” she gave him a hard, cold stare, “it’s not your choice.”
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes.
“Fine.” The words were low, as if ripped from his soul. “If that is truly what you wish. I will not come after you. I will not try to see you again.”
“Promise!”
“I give you my word.” He swallowed. When he opened his eyes, their dark, fathomless pain registered dimly through her numb heart. “But in return,” he choked out, “you must promise me you will read that