LITMIR.BIZ

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she accepted the pen, a faint line between her arched eyebrows, expression troubled. “I don’t.”

      “Was this always the plan, to swap sisters on the unsuspecting groom?”

      Color suffused her pale cheeks. “No.”

      “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I didn’t want you.”

      The pink color swiftly faded from her face. Her full lips compressed as she drew a slow breath and then she managed an unsteady laugh. “Understood.”

      “I’m not trying to be offensive.”

      She lifted her chin and met his gaze then, her eyes locking with his. “No offense taken.”

      In any other circumstances, he thought he would have liked her. She was direct and smart and articulate. But this wasn’t a casual conversation. He’d just been played and he wasn’t in the most charitable frame of mind. “I’m not one to forgive and forget.”

      * * *

      He saw a shadow pass across her face, and he almost felt sorry for her, but then the shadow disappeared, leaving her expression calm and composed. “And as you can see, I’m not one to pass up a slice of cake, or a bit of a chocolate.” Then she leaned over the registry and added her name, her long lace veil spilling across her shoulder in a waterfall of white. When she’d finished, she straightened and squared her shoulders and handed back the pen. “It seems we all have our crosses to bear.”

      He didn’t know if it was her words, or her ridiculous bravado, but he felt a rush of intense emotion—emotion he didn’t welcome—and drew her hard against him, tilting her chin back with one hand before covering her mouth, capturing it with his. She was petite, barely reaching his shoulder, and impossibly warm and soft, which made his kiss harder, and fiercer. It wasn’t the kiss a man should give his young bride, but nothing about this wedding was right.

      * * *

      Upstairs in the luxurious villa bedroom Kassiani had dressed in earlier, she walked back and forth, chewing on a knuckle, trying to calm herself.

      He didn’t want her, and he didn’t like her, and she had a feeling this could all still fall apart any moment.

      The vows wouldn’t hold, not unless the marriage was consummated, and she couldn’t imagine him taking her to his bed right now. Quite frankly, she didn’t want to be in his bed, either, and she shuddered remembering his coldness as he’d told her he didn’t forgive and forget.

      She didn’t doubt him.

      Which was why she was here in the bedroom, hiding. She’d lost her nerve. Somehow she’d found the necessary courage this morning to take Elexis’s place for the ceremony, but that courage was gone.

      Thank God the ceremony had been small and private. No one but the immediate family attended. However, the reception was large, with hundreds of guests flying in from all over the world to witness the marriage of Elexis Dukas and Damen Alexopoulos.

      Kassiani stopped pacing to double over, wanting to throw up as she imagined appearing at the reception. The guests would laugh when they saw her. It was one thing to be Elexis in private, hidden beneath layers of thick lace. It was another to be Elexis in front of those who knew her sister best.

      Kass couldn’t imagine joining Damen on the terrace for dinner, or dancing, or cutting of the cake. She’d convinced herself she could do this—but she’d thought only about the ceremony and vows. She hadn’t taken in the terror of appearing in public as his new wife.

      His wife.

      Kassiani’s legs buckled and she dropped onto the edge of the bed, her full skirts billowing up around her, her feet aching from her stupid shoes.

      What had she done?

      She was wiping away tears when her bedroom door suddenly opened and Damen entered her room.

      He hadn’t even knocked. He’d simply barged in.

      Her head jerked up, her lips parting in surprise, but she uttered no protest. His fierce expression silenced anything she might have said.

      She waited for him to speak.

      He didn’t.

      He simply stared at her, and the silence was unbearable. A tremor coursed through her.

      Time slowed to a crawl. The seconds felt like minutes. She tried to meet his gaze but his scathing look of contempt was more than she could endure in that moment. “Please say something,” she finally murmured.

      “Our guests have been waiting.”

      Again she pictured the stone terrace filled with linen-draped tables and gleaming candelabras. The reception was a sophisticated palette of cream, bisque and white and Kassiani did not belong there. It wasn’t her wedding. They weren’t her guests. This wasn’t her party. “I couldn’t go down.”

      “Am I to bring the guests up to you?”

      “No. Please don’t.”

      “Do you want to be carried down?”

      “No.” She couldn’t look at him. Her eyes burned. What had seemed so brave and necessary this morning now seemed like the worst idea imaginable.

      “It’s a little late to turn coward.”

      She hung her head. “I agree.”

      Silence stretched. The room was so quiet she could hear his low, irritated exhale. “If you’re expecting sympathy—”

      “I’m not.”

      “Good. This is your own fault.”

      She started to speak, but then closed her mouth, pressing her lips together. He was right, of course. How could she argue the point?

      “You can’t just sit up here all night,” he added after a moment.

      She plucked at a pearl embroidered into the skirt of her gown. “I’m not much of a party person. I never have been.”

      “Even if it’s your own wedding?”

      “As we both know, it wasn’t supposed to be.”

      “Therein lies the problem.”

      She briefly met his gaze, her breath catching in her throat before she swiftly averted her head, blood rushing to her cheeks.

      He made her so nervous. He was nothing like her father or brother. He was nothing like anyone she’d ever known before.

      “How did you think this would go?” he asked, his tone shifting, less harsh, almost mild.

      The change in tone surprised her, but still she couldn’t speak.

      Kassiani bit her lip, unable to answer.

      “Truthfully,” he prompted.

      Her shoulders twisted. She hated this helpless, pathetic feeling. She hated feeling like a failure. She hadn’t married him to be a failure. “I didn’t think about the reception and the guests. To be honest, this part didn’t even cross my mind. It was just the ceremony...and then...” She drew a quick breath and lifted her head, her eyes meeting his. “...the rest.”

      “And what was the rest?”

      “Being a proper wife.” She could see from the cynical glint in his eyes that he didn’t believe her. “I understand what wives do. Your comfort is my responsibility—”

      “Your father told you this?”

      “I’m a Greek woman. I know what Greek men expect.”

      There was something in his dark, speculative gaze that made her skin prickle and her pulse lurch, and she didn’t know how to manage so many new and strange feelings at the same time.

      “Go on, then.”

      She swallowed hard, trying not to betray

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