Heir to a Dark Inheritance - By Maisey Yates Page 0,16

vast, cold stone building didn’t sit well with her at all.

“Better than getting lost forever in this fortress you call a home.”

He looked up, his focus on the domed ceiling. Sunbursts of gold, inlaid with jasper, jade and onyx. “A fortress? I would hardly call it that. I have spent time in fortresses. Prisons. Dungeons.”

“I don’t need to know what you do in your off time,” she snapped, not sure what had prompted her to make the remark.

A slow smile curved his lips. “But what I do in my off time is so very fascinating. I’m sure you could benefit from a little off time yourself.”

Her body reacted to the words with heat, with increased heart rate and sweaty palms. Her body was a filthy traitor. Her mind, on the other hand, came to her rescue. Sensible and suitably outraged.

“I already told you, I’m not going there with you. I’ve agreed to marry you, but I’m not sharing your bed. This marriage won’t be real.” It couldn’t be real. She’d had a real marriage. A marriage filled with laughing and shouting and making love, and this, this union with a stranger, no matter that it was legal, would never be that.

There had been security in her marriage. Even at the low points, there had been an element of safety. Alik possessed nothing even slightly resembling safety. He was a law unto himself, much like the desert she found herself stranded in.

He crossed his muscular arms across his broad chest, one eyebrow arched. “On the contrary, this marriage will be very real in every way that counts.”

Her skin prickled. “What does that mean?”

“All marriage is, is a legal document. But then, that’s what adoption is, da? So you have to collect the proper legal documents to get your life in order. That’s how I see it.”

“That’s not what marriage is.”

“And you’re an expert.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I am.”

He stopped talking, his gray eyes locked with hers. “I do not claim expertise in that area. But all I’m saying is, it will be as real as it must be in order for you to make a permanent claim on Leena. That is all you require.”

“Yes. Although I’m still a little unsure about why you’re helping me.”

Alik was, too. In some ways. In others…it made sense. It was what a family looked like. A mother and father, married. That was the traditional way of it. It was everything he’d never had, and he’d suffered for the lack of it. He would not allow Leena to suffer similarly.

And it was what Sayid had done. He had married Chloe in order to secure the future of his nephew and it had all turned out very well for him.

Of course, Alik wasn’t counting on love and more children. He was in no danger of it, in fact. Love was something he had never managed to feel. Loyalty, yes. A bond of brotherhood with Sayid. But otherwise…no, love was certainly not on the table for him. It had been torn from him, the day his mother had left him in an overcrowded orphanage.

There could be no love but…perhaps a sort of facade of legitimacy. He hadn’t been a soldier for hire in a long time. And since then, he’d parlayed his experience as a military strategist into the business world, and he’d been a huge success. But there were events, functions where people brought spouses or at least dates.

He’d never had an actual date. He didn’t take women out, he met them out. At parties, clubs, and then he took them to bed. To whatever hotel room was closest. To the backseat of his car. He’d never been particular.

But things were changing. His life was changing. He’d long since abandoned some of the more self-destructive exploits of his youth. The truth was, being a soldier for hire had afforded him a lot of money. And in combination with being a man who didn’t care whether he lived or died, it was a very dangerous thing.

Now though, things were different. He was ready for them to be, in some ways. He wondered if this was the thing that might finally reach the frozen block in his chest where his heart should be.

He’d spent years serving the lusts of his flesh, allowing his body to feel the things his heart simply could not.

He looked at the child in Jada’s arms and he wished for a connection. For something. A recognition of her as his blood, as his family.

And there was