The Prince's Devious Proposal - Holly Rayner Page 0,59

with him,” Sarah said. Naomi turned to see that her sister had followed her out of the kitchen. “You two can speak in the dining room. We’ll get the kids out of your way.”

Naomi nodded. “Thanks,” she said. She turned back to Petr. “I guess you should come in.”

He followed her down the hall and into the dining room. “Thank you for seeing me,” he said as they took seats at the table. “I wasn’t sure you would.”

“How did you find me?” she asked. “I didn’t tell anybody where I was going.”

“You mentioned having a sister in New York,” he said. “When I realized your condo was empty, I figured you would have come here.”

“And so what, you’ve just been going door-to-door around Manhattan? That doesn’t explain how you found me.”

“Your sister’s address is listed publicly,” he said. “I found her on social media by searching her maiden name, and that led me to her married name. Then I was able to do a search for her current address, and that was what led me here.”

“You didn’t think of calling first?” Naomi said, trying to understand but really just trying to get used to the fact that he was sitting in her sister’s dining room. “What if I’d refused to see you? You would have wasted a trip.” Was he so confident of her that he hadn’t considered that a possibility?

“The conversation we need to have can’t be conducted over the phone,” Petr said. “I needed to see you in person, to apologize again for the things I’ve done. To let you know how I feel about you.”

So he had come to repeat his declarations of love. Naomi had been trying not to think about this. She felt no closer than she had before to knowing how she felt about him in light of all the new information that had been revealed.

“What do you want me to say?” she asked. “You lied to me.”

“I know.” Petr sounded agonized and rubbed his face.

“How can I trust you now?”

He hesitated, then reached into his inner jacket pocket and produced a couple of trim-folded pages. He handed them to her.

“What is this?” She unfolded the papers and looked down at them.

“Divorce papers,” he said. “The highlighted paragraph is the part you want to pay attention to. It says that when our marriage is dissolved, neither of us has any claim to the other’s assets. Inheritance is specifically mentioned. See?”

She read the paragraph carefully. He was right.

“If I sign these, we’ll be divorced, and you’ll have no way to access my money?” she said.

“That’s right,” Petr said. “I want you to understand how much you mean to me, Naomi. I want us to have a relationship. To be honest, I want to be married to you. But I want to do it right. I want you to go in fully aware of what you’re agreeing to, and that’s not what happened the first time around. So I want you to sign these papers and undo what’s been done. This is my way of showing you that I’m not after your money. I’ve seen the error of my ways.”

“But if I sign these, things will be over between us,” Naomi said. Despite everything, the idea gave her pause. She didn’t want to separate from him.

She realized right then that she did still love him.

“Things don’t have to be over,” Petr said. “Not by a long shot.”

“What do you mean?”

“Divorce me,” he urged. “Let me take back the terrible thing I almost did to you. Let me erase that from our story. And then, when that’s done…marry me again.”

Naomi stared, lost for words.

“We’ll sign a prenup this time,” Petr said. “We’ll have lawyers set everything up for us, so you’ll feel confident that nothing will be taken from you.”

“Petr…” she said and hesitated. She wanted to believe what he was saying. The words were so appealing. But could she really allow herself to trust him? Even now, after everything he had put her through?

She read through the divorce papers again. This much, at least, she could believe in. She picked up the pen he had placed on the table between them. With a pang that felt close to regret, she signed her name on the lines that had been indicated and passed the papers back to him.

“That’s it, then,” Petr said. His voice sounded just as regretful as Naomi felt. “We’re divorced.”

“What do we do now?” she asked him.

“Now you decide if you can forgive me,”