A Reputation For Revenge Page 18
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.
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
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First published in Great Britain 2013
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Jennie Lucas 2013
eISBN: 978-1-472-00175-7