A Reputation For Revenge (17 page)

Kasimir snorted. “About time you figured that out.”

“And by the way, your timing couldn’t be better. Thanks for coming to save me. Turns out I’m no good at running a hotel.” He gave a sudden grin. “This will save my wife the trouble of firing me.”

Kasimir laughed. “Although she might miss you when you start commuting to Russia on a daily basis.”

“Hmm.” He grew thoughtful. “About that…”

The brothers spoke for a few minutes, and then Kasimir sighed. “I am sorry I missed your wedding.”

“So am I.” Vladimir punched him on the shoulder. “But having you back is the best wedding present any man could ask for.” He lifted an eyebrow with a grin. “Though something tells me you didn’t just come here for wedding cake. Or even a business deal.”

“You’re right.” Kasimir took a deep breath. “Where is she, Volodya?”

At the use of his old nickname, Vladimir’s eyes glistened. “Sorry,” he said gruffly. “Sand again.” He gestured towards a nearby cliff. “There. Talking to my wife.”

Kasimir had looked past the outdoor bar to a gazebo, strung with colorful lights, on the edge of a cliff. He saw a moving shadow.
Josie.
At last! He’d turned to go, then stopped, facing his brother. He’d said in a low voice, “I’m glad we’re friends again.”

“Friends?” Vladimir’s smile had lifted to a grin. “We’re not friends, man. We’re
brothers.
”

Kasimir was glad and grateful beyond words that after ten years of estrangement, he and Vladimir were truly brothers again. But even that, as important as it was, wasn’t the reason he’d flown for almost twenty-four hours straight from St. Petersburg across the North Atlantic to Alaska, and then across the endless Pacific to Hawaii.

Now, Kasimir took a deep breath as he looked down at Josie, facing him beneath the gazebo in the moonswept night. At the bottom of the cliff, he could hear the ocean waves crashing against the shore, but it was nothing compared to the roar of his own heart.

“What—what are you doing here?” Josie stammered. The music of her sweet, warm voice traveled through his body like electricity.

“My brother invited me to the wedding.”

“You missed it,” she said tartly.

“I know.” He’d known he was too late when from the window of his plane, he’d seen the red sunset over Oahu. But the lights of Honolulu had still sparkled like diamonds in the center of the sunset’s red fire, against the black water. Like magic. Because he knew Josie was there. “But the real question is,” he whispered, “am I too late with you?”

Josie’s lips parted.

Looking between her sister and Kasimir, Bree cleared her throat. “Um. I think I hear my husband calling me.”

She hurried away from the gazebo, her wedding gown flying behind her. And for that alone, Kasimir could have forgiven her anything.

Turning, Josie started to follow. Kasimir grabbed her arm. “Please don’t go.”

“Why?” She looked at him. “What could we possibly have to talk about?”

“Vladimir and I worked through things,” he said haltingly.
He gave an awkward smile. “In fact, we’ve decided to combine our companies. Be partners.”

Her jaw dropped. “You did?”

“I was in Alaska this morning, at the homestead. I had everything I ever wanted. And I suddenly realized something.”

“What?” she whispered.

He looked at her. “I realized there’s no point in having everything,” he said softly, “if you can’t share it with people you love.”

Josie looked at him, her eyes wide. Swallowing, she looked away. “I’m happy you and your brother are friends again.”

“Not friends.” Kasimir grinned, remembering.
“Brothers.”

Josie looked at him, her eyes luminous and deep. “I’m glad,” she said softly. Then she looked down. “But that doesn’t have anything to do with me. Not anymore.”

Kasimir knew his whole life depended on his next words. “He’s not the reason I came back to Honolulu, Josie.”

She looked up. “He’s not?”

He shook his head, then looked down wryly at his dark wrinkled suit, white shirt and blue tie. “Do you know I haven’t changed clothes for twenty-four hours?” He loosened his tie, then pulled it off. “When my lawyer said the land in Alaska was finally mine, I left St. Petersburg straight from the office. All I could think was I wanted to go home.” His lips twisted. “But all I saw in Alaska was a rickety old cabin, piles of snow and a silent forest. It wasn’t home.” Looking straight into her eyes, he whispered, “Because it wasn’t you.”

Josie looked up at him, not even trying to hide the tears spilling over her lashes.

With a trembling hand, he reached out and brushed a tear from her cheek. “You’re the home I’ve been trying to find for my whole life, Josie. You’re my home.”

“Then why did you let me go so easily?” she whispered.

Kasimir took a deep breath, closing his eyes, allowing the warm air to expand his lungs. “After you left,” he said in a
low voice, “I tried to convince myself I’d won. Then I tried to convince myself that you deserved a better man than me. Which you do. But this morning, in Alaska, I realized something that changed everything.”

“What?” she faltered.

He looked straight into her eyes. “I can be that man.” He took her hand in his own, and when she didn’t pull it away he tightened his grasp, overwhelmed with need. “I can be the man who will mow the lawn by your white picket fence,” he vowed. “The man who will be by your side forever. Worshipping you. For the rest of your life.”

“But how can I believe you?” Josie wiped her eyes. “Our whole marriage was based on a lie. How can I ever give you my whole heart again?”

Kasimir stared at her, his heart pounding. He finally shook his head. “I don’t know.” He gave a low laugh, running his hand through his dark, tousled hair. “I wouldn’t blame you for telling me to go to hell. In fact, I sort of figured you would.”

“Then why come all this way?”

“Because you had to know what was in my heart,” he whispered. “I had to tell you how you changed me. Forever. You made me want to be the idealistic, loyal person I once was. The man I was born to be.”

Covering her face with her hands, she wept.

Falling on his knees before her, Kasimir wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so sorry I tried to separate you and your sister, Josie. I was selfish and I was a coward. Losing you was the one thing I thought I couldn’t face.”

He felt her stiffen, then slowly, her hand rose to stroke his hair. It was the single sweetest touch of his life.

Kasimir looked up, his eyes hot with unshed tears. “But I should have thought of you first. Put
you
first. Now, all I want is for you to be happy. Whether you choose to be with me. Or—” he swallowed “—without—”

“Shut up.” She put her finger to his lips, and his voice
choked off. She said slowly, “I’ve learned I can live without you.”

Kasimir’s heart cracked inside his chest. He’d lost her. She was going to send him away, back into the bleak winter.

“But I’ve also learned,” Josie whispered, “that I don’t want to.” Her brown eyes were suddenly warm, like the sky after a sudden spring storm. “I tried to stop loving you. But once I love someone, I love for life.” Her lips lifted in a trembling smile. “I’m stubborn that way.”

“Josie,” he breathed, rising to his feet. He cupped her face, searching her gaze. “Does this mean you’ll be my wife? This time for real?”

Reaching up, she said through her tears, “Yes. Oh, yes.”

“You better make her happy!” Bree yelled. They turned in surprise to see Vladimir and his bride standing amid the flowers beyond the gazebo. Bree’s eyes were shining with tears as she sniffed. “You’d better…”

“I will,” Kasimir said simply. He turned back to Josie and vowed with all his heart, “I will make you happy. It’s all I will do. For the rest of my life.”

And he lowered his head to kiss her, not caring that Bree and Vladimir stood three yards away from them, with all the partygoers of the wedding reception behind.

Let them look,
he thought.
Let all the world see.

Taking Josie tenderly in his arms, Kasimir kissed her with all the passion and promise of a lifetime. When he finally pulled away, she pressed her cheek against him with a contented sigh, and they stood together, holding each other in the moonswept night.

He could get used to Hawaii, he thought. In the distance, he heard the loud roar of the surf against the shore. He heard the wind through the palm trees, heard the cry of night birds soaring across the violet sky. And above it all, he heard the pounding of his own beating, living heart—his heart which, now and forever, was hers.

“I wish we could stay here,” Josie said softly, for his ears only. She looked back at the other couple. “That we could live nearby, and all our children could someday play together on the beach…”

“About that.” Thinking of the decision he and his brother had just made, to build the world headquarters of their merged companies right here in Honolulu, Kasimir looked down at her with a mischievous grin. “I have a surprise for you.”

“A surprise, huh?” Tears glistened in Josie’s eyes as she shook her head. A smile like heaven illuminated her beautiful face. “Just wait until you hear the one I have for you.”

T
HE DAY
J
OSIE
placed their newborn daughter in her husband’s arms was the happiest day of her life, after eight months of joyful days.

All right, so her pregnancy hadn’t been exactly easy. She’d been sick her first trimester, and for the last trimester, she’d been placed on hospital bed rest. But even that hadn’t been so bad, really. She’d made friends with everyone on her hospital floor, from Kahealani and Grace, the overnight nurses who were always willing to share candy, to Karl, the head janitor who told riveting stories about his time as a navy midshipman with a girl in every port.

The world was full of friends Josie just hadn’t met yet, and in those rare times when there was no one around, she always had plenty of books to read. Fun books, now. No more textbooks. She’d made it through spring semester, but now college was indefinitely on hold.

The truth was, Josie didn’t really mind. Her real life—her real happiness—was right here. Now. Living with Kasimir in their beach villa, newly redecorated complete with a white picket fence.

Now, Josie smiled up from her hospital bed at Kasimir’s awed, terrified, loving face as he held his tiny sleeping daughter for the first time.

“Need any help?”

“No.” He gulped. “I think.”

Looking at her husband holding their baby, tears welled up in Josie’s eyes. They were a family. Kasimir loved working with his brother as partners in their combined company, Xendzov Brothers Corp. But for both princes, the way they did business had irrevocably changed. They still wanted to be successful, but the meaning of success had changed. “I want to make a difference in the world,” Kasimir had said to her wistfully, lying beside her in the hospital bed last week. “I want to make the world a better place.”

Josie hit him playfully with a pillow. “You do. Every time you bring me a slice of cake.”

“No, I mean it.” He’d looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “I was thinking… we could put half our profits into some kind of medical foundation for children. Maybe sell the palace in Marrakech for a new hospital in the Sahara.” He stopped, looking at her. He said awkwardly, “What do you think?”

“So what’s stopping you?” With a mock glare, she tossed his own words back at him. “The only one stopping you is
you
.”

“Really? You wouldn’t miss it?”

She snorted. “We don’t need more money, or another palace.” She thought of little Ahmed breaking his leg on the sand dune, far from medical care. “I love your hospital idea. And the foundation, too.”

He looked down at her fiercely. “And I love you.” Cupping her face, he whispered, “You’re the best, sweetest, most beautiful woman in the world.”

Nine months pregnant and feeling ungainly as a whale, having gained fifty extra pounds on banana bread, watermelon and ice cream, Josie had snorted a laugh, even as she looked at him tenderly. “You’re so full of it.”

“It’s true,” Kasimir had insisted, and then he kissed her until he made her believe he was an honest man.

Josie smiled. Kasimir always knew what to say. The only time she’d ever seen him completely without words was when
she’d told him she was pregnant that night of Vladimir and Bree’s wedding. At first, he’d just stared at her until she asked him if he needed to sit down—then, with a loud whoop and a holler, he’d pulled her into his arms.

With the divorce cancelled, he’d still insisted on remarrying her and doing it right, with their family in attendance. He’d actually suggested that they wed immediately, poaching Bree and Vladimir’s half-eaten wedding cake, and grabbing the minister yawning at the bar. But rather than steal her sister’s thunder, Josie had gotten him to agree to a compromise.

Tearing up the pre-nup, they’d married three days later, at dawn, on the beach. The ceremony had been simple, and as they’d spoken vows to love, cherish and honor each other for the rest of their lives, the brilliant Hawaiian sun had burst through the clouds like a benediction.

Then, of course, this being Hawaii, the clouds had immediately poured rain, forcing the five of them—Josie, Kasimir, Bree, Vladimir and the minister—to take off at a run for the shelter of the resort, with their leis trailing flower petals behind them. And once at the hotel, Josie had discovered the ten-tiered wedding cake her husband had ordered her—enough for a thousand or two people, covered with white buttercream flowers and their intertwined initials.

Her husband’s sweet surprise was the most delicious cake of her life. Good thing too. Remembering, she gave a sudden grin. They were still eating wedding cake out of their freezer.

Josie glanced through the window in the door of her private room in the Honolulu hospital. In the hallway, she could see Bree pacing back and forth, a phone to her ear, telling Vladimir the happy news of the birth. Vladimir was still in St. Petersburg, finalizing the company’s move to Honolulu. They were a very high-powered couple. Bree was having the time of her life running the Hale Ka’nani resort, which was already up in profits, having become newly popular with tourists from Japan and Australia. Vladimir and Bree did hope
to start a family someday, but for now, they were having too much fun working.

Not Josie, though. All she wanted was right here. She looked at Kasimir and their daughter. Right now. A home. A husband. A family.

“Am I doing this right?” Kasimir said anxiously, his shoulders hunched and stiff as he cradled his baby daughter.

She snorted, leaning forward to stroke the baby’s cheek with one hand. “You’re asking me? It’s not like I have more experience.”

“I’m a little nervous,” he confessed.

“You?” she teased. “Scared of an eight-pound baby?”

“Terrified.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve never been a father before. What if I do something wrong?”

She put her hand on his forearm. “It won’t matter.” Tears spilled over her lashes as she smiled, loving him so much her heart ached with it. “You’re the perfect father for her, because you love her.” She looked down at the sleeping newborn in his arms. “And Lois Marie loves you already.”

Kasimir’s eyes crinkled. “Lulu is the best baby in the world,” he agreed, using their baby’s nickname. They’d named her after the mother Josie had never known. The mother who, along with her father, she would always remember. Josie would honor them both by being true to her heart. By singing the song inside her.

Holding hands, Kasimir and Josie smiled at their perfect little daughter, marveling at her soft dark hair, at her tiny hands and plump cheeks.

Then a new thought occurred to Josie, and she suddenly looked up in alarm. “What if I’m the one who doesn’t know how to be a mother?” she asked.

“You?” Her husband gave a laugh that could properly be described as a guffaw. “Are you out of your mind? You’ll be the best mother who ever lived.” Cradling their tiny baby, securely nestled in the crook of his arm, he reached out a hand
to cup Josie’s cheek. “And I promise you,” he whispered, “for the rest of my life, even if I make a mistake here or there, I’ll love you both with everything I’ve got. And if I screw up, or if we fight, I’ll always be the first to say I’m sorry.” He looked at her. “I give you my word.”

Reaching up, Josie wrapped her hand around his head, tangling her fingers in his dark hair. “Your word of honor?”

His eyes were dark. “Yes.”

She took a deep breath.

“Show me,” she whispered.

And as Kasimir lowered his head to hers, proving his words with a long, fervent kiss, Josie felt his vow in her heart like bright sun in winter. And she knew their bold, fearless life as a family, complicated and crazy and oh, so happy, had just begun.