Read Online Prince Voronov's Virgin by Lynn Raye Harris - Free Book Online Page A

But,” he said before she could interject anything, “I would not fire you simply because of that. Far better to keep you close.”
    She frowned. “Really? Why?”
    He leaned in as if he were imparting a secret. “Because you might know things that could be valuable to my enemies.”
    Her stomach bottomed out. “You’d be mistaken,” she said softly. “I don’t know anything. And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. If that’s why you’ve gone to all this trouble, you’re wasting your time.”
    Alexei grinned, and her insides melted in spite of her wishnot to react. “Such a little
teegr,
Paige. This is why I like you. You are loyal, even when he has hurt you deeply.”
    She twisted her fingers together in her lap. “I’m not hurt. I was simply surprised. And concerned for my sister.”
    “Your sister is old enough to take care of herself, don’t you think?”
    Paige frowned. He didn’t understand, and she couldn’t really explain it. “That’s not the point. I feel responsible for her, and I love her. I won’t let anyone hurt her.”
    “Of course you love her,” he said. “But you are not responsible for her.”
    “You don’t know anything about us,” she protested. “It’s easy for you to sit there and pronounce judgment, but until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes, you have no right to tell me how to feel.”
    He took one of her hands in his, rubbed stomach-flipping circles in her palm. “I am not telling you how to feel. But a twenty-one-year-old makes her own decisions. You are not responsible for what she chooses.”
    Her breath left her on a long sigh. “I know. But you don’t stop worrying about someone just because they become an adult. I raised Emma. In some ways, she’s like my child.”
    She’d never said that aloud to anyone, she realized. It was shocking to voice it to this man she barely knew. Of course people back in Atkinsville knew she’d raised Emma after their mother’s death, but Paige had never told anyone how truly hard it had been. To open up would have been to admit she needed help—which might have led to Child Services intervening.
    “Ah, Paige, this makes so much sense now.”
    “What makes sense?” The circles in her palm continued. Her body was softening, melting, her core liquefying beneath his touch. My God.
    “Why you feel so responsible, why you would sacrifice your own happiness for hers.”
    “I didn’t say that. Emma doesn’t need me to be unhappy just so she can be happy.”
    His eyes were sympathetic, understanding. “You must have been very young when you had to become her mother.”
    “Eighteen,” she said.
    “It was difficult for you, yes?”
    Paige sighed. Why was she telling him this? And yet it felt somewhat comforting to do so. Like her tears the other night, it was cleansing to finally let it out. “Of course. I was still a kid myself and I didn’t always know what to do. I didn’t get everything right.”
    “Yet you did enough. She is grown and independent. You must allow her to sink or swim on her own.”
    “I appreciate what you’re saying, but you have no idea—”
    “I had a sister,” he said very suddenly, his eyes shadowed. “She was three years younger than I. I protected her fiercely, Paige. But I could not save her in the end. I only wish she’d lived long enough to be able to drive me insane with her choices.” He squeezed her hand then. “Celebrate your sister’s ability to do so, and stand by her when she falls—but do not ever feel as if you must cease to live your life in order to always be there for her.”
    Paige couldn’t speak. Shock—and fear—had frozen her vocal cords. How did he see inside her like this? How did he
know
what her fears were, and what she’d given up over the years without her actually telling him the details? It was disconcerting.
    And yet she also ached for him. For the loss that clearly still affected him. She wanted to say she was sorry, wanted to ask what had happened,