A Reputation For Revenge Read Free

“Wait. Vladimir
kidnapped
her?”
    She bit her lip, then her shoulders slumped. “Well, I guess technically,” she said in a small voice, “you could say she wagered herself to him in a card game. And lost.”
    His lip curled. “It was a lovers’ game. No woman would wager herself otherwise.” His eyes narrowed. “My brother always had a weakness for her. After ten years apart, they’re no doubt deliriously happy they’ve made up their quarrel.”
    “Are you crazy?” she cried. “Bree hates him!”
    “What!”
    Josie shook her head. “He
forced
her to go with him.”
    His handsome face suddenly looked cheerful. “I see.”
    “And it’s all my fault.” A lump rose in her throat, and she covered her eyes. “The night after you proposed, my boss invited me to join a private poker game. I hoped I could win enough to pay off my father’s old debts, and I snuck out while Bree was sleeping.” She swallowed. “She never would have let me go. She forbade me ever to gamble, plus she didn’t trust Mr. Hudson.”
    “Why?”
    “I think it was mostly the way he hired us from Seattle, sight unseen, with one-way plane tickets to Hawaii. At the time, we were both too desperate to care, but…” She sighed. “She was right. There was something kind of… weird about it. But I didn’t listen.” She lifted her tearful gaze to his. “Bree lost everything on the turn of a single card. Because of me.”
    He looked down at her, his expression unreadable. “And you think
I
can save her.”
    “I know you can. You’re the only one powerful enough to stand up to him. The only one on earth willing to battlewith Vladimir Xendzov. Because you hate him the most.” She took a deep breath. “Please,” she whispered. “You can take my land. I don’t care. But if you don’t save Bree, I don’t know how I’ll live with myself.”
    Kasimir stared at her for a long moment.
    “Here.” He reached for the heavy backpack on her shoulder. “Let me take that.”
    “You don’t need to—”
    “You’re swaying on your feet,” he said softly. “You look as if you haven’t slept in days. No wonder. Flying to Seattle and back…”
    Without her bag weighing her down, she felt so light she almost felt dizzy. “I told you I went to Seattle?”
    He froze, then relaxed as he looked back at her. “Of course you did,” he said smoothly. “How else would I know?”
    Yes, indeed, how would he? After almost no sleep for two days, she was starting to get confused. Rubbing her cheek with her shoulder, she confessed, “I am a little tired. And thirsty.”
    “Come with me. I’ll get you a drink.”
    “Why are you being nice to me?” she blurted out, not moving.
    He frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be nice to you?”
    “It always seems that the more handsome a man is, the more of a jerk he is. And you are very, very…”
    Their eyes locked, and her throat cut off. Her cheeks burned as she muttered, “Never mind.”
    He gave her a crooked grin. “Whatever your sister might have told you about me, I’m not the devil. But I am being remiss in my manners. Let’s get you that drink.”
    Carrying her backpack over his shoulder, he turned down the hallway. Josie watched him go, her eyes tracing the muscular shape of his back beneath his jacket and chiseled rear end.
    Then she shook her head, irritated with herself. Why didshe have to blurt out every single thought in her head? Why couldn’t she just show discipline and quiet restraint, like Bree? Why did she have to be such a goofball all the time, the kind of girl who’d start conversations with random strangers on any topic from orchids to cookie recipes, then give them her bus money?
    This time wasn’t my fault,
she thought mutinously, following him down the hall. He was far too handsome. No woman could possibly manage sensible thinking beneath the laser-like focus of those blue eyes!
    Kasimir led her to a high-ceilinged room lined with leather-bound books on one side, and