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If he were just a man she would be in his arms now If he were just a man he would carry her up the stairs to his bedrooain, the words he’d craved for eleven years He would lose hi, able to take on the weight of the whole world If he were just awhatever she offeredhowever little or much that was If he were just a man

But he wasn’t just ain chains—chained to his duty, his responsibility, his subjects He couldn’t ask his people to accept a queen who ht leave him someday Divorce was out of the question Juliana had to come to him Did she understand? Could she understand? For himself it would not have mattered But for Zakhar he could not take that risk

So instead of blurting out the words in his heart, he merely said, “Thank you”

A puzzled look crept into her eyes “For what?”

Uns and with deep sincerity, he said, “For your prayers”

She let out her breath in a soft little rush “It’s little enough I couldn’t think of anything else I could do when I heard the news”

He shook his head “Not a little thing, Juliana You care You care about the people around you You hurt for them Feel their pain Your prayers are heartfelt No, it is not a little thing, your prayers”

“Is there anything else I can do?”

He hesitated “The Red Cross will bean appeal for donations Your face, your name is well-known If you would?”

“I’d be happy to That, and anything else you can think of”

“Thank you” He stared at Juliana for endless seconds, wanting to saythey needed privacy for as in their hearts But he was co He could sleep tonight for once, knowing the ti Juliana would co they needed to say

When Juliana woke the next edy that had occurred the day before Her second thought was of Andre His face last night Vulnerable Defenseless Needing her the way she’d once believed he needed her Loved her Could she have been wrong about him all these years?

Forgive ret what he’d done years ago? Had he subconsciously been asking forgiveness for that as well as his rough treatment of her in front of the lovers’ toive She’d still been clinging to her own anger and pain She’d lashed out at hiive him

But it wasn’t true In her heart of hearts hadn’t she already forgiven hiht of love so poignantly if she hadn’t?

Everything he did, everything he said, the way he’d looked at her last night—needing her in such an ele told her that even if he’d never loved her all those years ago, he loved her now And love was too precious to waste

Too precious to waste

Juliana walked out of her ’s Ransoal document that had already been scanned and eent, Marty Devens The time difference between Zakhar and CaliforniaHe wouldn’t have had a chance to review the contractBut she already knew even if he didn’t she would sign it For the first time in their ten-year friendship Dirk needed her help Dirk and Sabrina had given her sofrom her in return she wasn’t about to refuse

She glanced down at the schedule She’d already reviewed it with the producer, but she just wanted to confirm what he’d said, that she had no scenes to shoot for the next three days All the scenes involving Dirk alone had been escalated For the next three days Dirk would be playing Andre Alexei during the ti raids on neighboring kingdoms for the treasure he needed to ranso final raid, the one where Andre Alexei was fatally injured

She was free until Friday, when she and Dirk would fil and queen of Zakhar right before that final raid, aed her husband not to go after the ransom he’d paid for her sixteen years earlier Not to try to exact vengeance for so so far distant