Chapter 13

When he entered the room, he found her sitting on the bed. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.

His heart did that funny little flip, so he went over. When he sat down on the bed, she got up and stood against the wall with her arms crossed.

The look in her eyes broke his heart.

“Danica, come sit on my lap.”

She gave him a look of hatred. “I don’t want to be anywhere near you. How could you lock me up in here?”

“I had to punish you for disobeying me.”

“I told you how my stepfather used to tie me to the bed at night and lock the door. You knew how much that hurt and scared me, and you did the same thing he did. You’re no better than he is.”

“Unlike your stepfather, I never beat you. Listen, I am sorry for locking you in here. It was wrong for me to do that. I am sorry, and I will give you my word that I will never do this to you again.”

The tears started falling, and she wiped them away as quickly as she could. “For three days you kept me locked in here—it brought back all those horrible memories.”

“Come, sit on my lap,” he said, patting his leg.

He was glad when she finally came over and sat down on him. “Again I apologize; I hope you will forgive me.”

He put his arm around her waist and used his other hand to move the hair from her face. “I have missed you in my bed and found it difficult to sleep without you. Let me take you upstairs, and you can have a nice bubble bath, and I’ll have the cook make you something special to eat.”

He pulled her head down a little and gave her a tender kiss. Then he got up and took her hand, and they walked out of the room and up the stairs to his bedroom.

Her eyes felt sore from crying so much, and her whole body was sore from lack of sleep. She very much looked forward to the thought of taking a nice warm bubble bath.

He took her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. “I will have the maid bring you up something to eat. You go take your bath, and I’ll return in a few hours.”

Still angry and upset with him over what he had done, she did not answer; she nodded and headed into the bathroom.

As she soaked in the warmth of the tub, she closed her eyes. Being locked in that room, all the memories of what her stepfather had done to her came flooding back.

She would beg him not to tie her up and lock the door; he would go out, and she always feared that if a fire broke out, she would be trapped in that room.

Then, for Dmitry to do the same thing, she felt so betrayed, especially after she had told him her stepfather had done that to her. No, it would take a long time before she could forgive him.

She had just finished drying off and putting on her nightgown when the young maid that had brought her food the last few days came in with a tray.

“I brought you something to eat, Miss. Mr. Smirnov had the cook make you some chocolate mousse; he said it was your favorite dessert.”

Danica went over to the little table where the plate was set down. “Thank you for being so kind to me the last few days. Please, what is your name?”

“Tabitha Hyde.”

“You can call me Danica.”

“Oh no, Miss Burke, the boss wouldn’t like that. I will leave you now, and if there’s anything else you need, please let me know, and I will make sure to get it for you.”

When Tabitha left, she sat down to eat; she was starving, as she hadn’t eaten much in the last three days.

When everything was eaten, she crawled into bed and went to sleep. It felt so good sleeping in a nice, big, comfortable bed instead of that small, lumpy mattress she was made to sleep on.

She must have slept for hours because the room was dark when she opened her eyes, and Dmitry was in bed next to her, fast asleep.

She slipped quietly out of bed so as not to wake him. She found a dozen red roses and a little box wrapped in fancy paper on the nightstand next to her side of the bed.

She knew then he had probably bought them for her to make up for what he had done.

But she was not about to forgive him this easily, so she went into the bathroom, and when she came out, he was awake and sitting up in bed.

“I came home to find you asleep, and I didn’t have the heart to wake you. I got you some beautiful roses and a little gift to show you how remorseful I am.”

“You didn’t have to buy me anything.”

“I wanted to. Open the gift.”

She went and sat on the edge of the bed and picked up the box. “The flowers are beautiful,” she said, and she started to unwrap the gift.

Inside was a diamond necklace and earrings. “They’re beautiful, but my forgiveness cannot be bought with expensive gifts.”

“Then what must I do to earn your forgiveness?”

Placing the jewelry next to the flowers, she turned to look at him. “For starters, you can never do anything like that to me again.”

“I have already given you my word that I wouldn’t; if nothing else, I am a man of my word. Once I give it, I never go back on it. When I locked you in that room, I wasn’t thinking about how your stepfather used to do that to you. I cannot tell you how sorry I am. Come, let’s go back to sleep.”

As much as he would have liked to make love to her, he knew that it was too soon, and she needed more time to forgive him.

He lay back and closed his eyes, and started thinking about how soft he was becoming. But there was just something about her that brought it out of him.

The next morning, over breakfast, he could tell that she was still mad at him. “Danica, have you ever been to a ballet?”

When he saw how she looked at him and rolled her eyes, he knew it was a stupid question. “Let me rephrase that. Would you like to go to one? I can get us tickets for tonight.”

Having only seen it on TV, she had always dreamed of going to a live one. “I would like that.”

It warmed his heart to see a slight hint of a smile on her face. “Wonderful, I will make the arrangements, and maybe you will wear the jewelry I bought you. There are a couple of dresses in the closet you can wear, but if you want something different, I will take you shopping.”

She could see how hard he was trying to make up for what he had done and thought maybe she could try to forgive him.

“That won’t be necessary. There is one that will be perfect for the ballet. I’m curious about something. You once told me you never buy women jewelry, yet you bought me some.”

“After what I did to you, I felt you deserved them.”

“Oh, well, thanks again.”

He noticed her playing with the napkin and frowned.

“Something is bothering you. What is it?”

“It’s nothing,” she said, not looking at him.

“I am not a stupid man. I can tell something is bothering you. You can tell me, and I promise I will not get mad. Whatever is wrong, I’m sure I can fix it.”

She finally looked up at him and could tell he was being sincere.

“It’s just that things go wrong every time we go somewhere. We haven’t exactly had much luck when you take me out. I can’t help but wonder what will go wrong this time.”

He sat back in his chair, rubbing his chin.

“Yes, you are right. What if I were to promise you that this time, there will be no trouble?”

“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep,” she said sadly.

“I assure you that when I make a promise, I keep it, and I’m telling you that I will not let anything go wrong tonight. If anything does arise, I will just walk away and deal with it later. Seeing that the ballet is not until later tonight, what would you like to do today?”

“Don’t you have any business to attend to today?”

“No, there is nothing that can’t wait until another time. I thought perhaps you and I could spend the day together. We can do whatever you want—shopping or sightseeing. Just name it.”

“I… I don’t know what to say. I’ve lived here all my life and have never seen the sights. I used to watch TV shows about boats, and I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be on one.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. I will make the arrangements to rent a boat, and I will show you the sights. I’ll have the cook make us a picnic basket, and we can have lunch on the water. Will that please you?”

She couldn’t help but smile. He was really doing everything to make up for what he had done, and she felt touched by it.

“I would like that.”

He winked at her.

“Why don’t you change into something more appropriate for sailing while I make the arrangements?”

What he wanted to do was take her to bed and make love to her all day long. But seeing that he had much to make up for, he decided it was best not to rush her.

He also knew that by making her happy, she would be more willing to indulge in some wild and hot sex. He still had a lot to teach her in that department, and up until the incident, she was a willing participant.

When she was heading up the stairs and saw Bepa, she stopped to ask her a question:

“I haven’t seen Tabitha. Do you know where she is?”

“That girl has been dismissed; she no longer works here.”

“Why?” she asked, wondering why she was let go when she was such a friendly and good worker.

“That is none of your business. It is my job to hire and fire whoever I want. She did not know her place and was too friendly with the people here.”

Danica felt the anger building up inside her when she saw the way Bepa was smirking.

“You evil cow. You knew that I liked her and that she was the only one in this house who treated me decently, and you fired her because of that. Why are you so nasty? What was it to you who she was friendly with?”

“I don’t have to answer your questions; it’s not like you’ll be here forever.”

With an evil laugh, she turned and walked away.

Going up to the bedroom that she shared with Dmitry, she felt so sad about losing the only friendly person she could talk to.

She felt more alone than ever. Now, she only had him, but she never knew what would set him off.

Later, when they left to go sailing, she felt a little better. She wore red shorts and a white top.

She was surprised to see him dressed casually in jeans and a black T-shirt. A smile crossed her face; she liked this look on him.

“You are smiling. What is amusing to you?”

His accent sent shivers throughout her entire body.

“You look so different out of a suit. You look more relaxed, and I like this look on you.”

His eyes roamed over her and down to her legs.

“I like your look too. I have a boat waiting for us, so we will go now.”

He picked up the picnic basket and walked out of the car with her.

It was a short drive to where they had to go.

When they were the only ones getting on, she turned to look at him and asked,

“Are your men not coming with us?”

“No, it is just going to be the two of us,” he said, helping her into the boat.

“But seeing who you are, do you not need your bodyguards around for protection? What if someone were to try and hurt you?”

“Do not worry; they will be in another boat and will keep watch. I have instructed them to keep some distance between us so that we can have our privacy. If there is any trouble, they will protect us.”

He lifted her chin to look into her eyes.

“I did give you my word that today there would be no trouble. This is your day, my way of making things up to you.”

She sat down while he started the engine and made their way further from the dock.

As they toured along the shoreline, he had her stand beside him. He even let her steer the boat, with him behind her and his hands over hers.

She loved the feel of the wind on her face and the smell of the water. But what she liked the most was how it felt with his body pressed against hers and his warm breath on her neck.

After a couple of hours, he suggested they stop and have a bite to eat.

Turning off the engine, they started taking things out of the basket.