Page 189 of Snowbound Surrender

It was impossible not to hear the wistfulness in her voice. “You miss your home.”

Anne jerked from her reverie and smiled a little awkwardly. “Well, who would not? You must miss your family, and the places you grew up.”

Maxim swallowed. Why did it come so quickly, this instinct to lie, to hide the truth? It was an innocent question after all, one that she would probably not think twice about saying to any acquaintance.

But he was not just someone she had met. He was a Czar, and telling her anything could not just reveal his secret, but perhaps put her in the most dangerous of plots.

“If you do not wish to speak of it,” Anne’s voice cut through his thoughts, “you do not have to.”

Maxim glanced over and saw her smile gently. There was surely no danger in telling the truth here. While Éduard would surely tell him to beware any woman – he had been caught that way before – Anne’s enquiry was innocent.

“I certainly miss the winters,” he said, his throat feeling strangely dry as they turned and started making their way back to St. James’ Court. “You do not have real winter here in England, I think. No icicles hanging from your nose when you step outside, no mountains.”

“Icicles on your nose?”

“In the depths of winter, you would be lucky to get away with that,” Maxim said with a wry smile. “And in the palace I grew up in, the winter palace, we would have fires in every room just to keep out the chill.”

Just one glance told him all he needed to know.

“It really is disgraceful, you know,” he quipped. “My own future bride not believing me.”

Anne laughed in turn. “You do not actually think we will get married, do you?”

The words ‘of course not’ were on the tip of his tongue when a cloud moved and sunlight lit up Anne’s entire face. Maxim’s breath caught in his throat. She was perfection, and she had been handed to him on a plate. He would be mad to walk away from her – mad!

“Are you quite well, Maxim?” Anne’s voice was close by and he blinked. She had moved closer, halting her mare beside his horse. “You look very strange.”

Maxim looked around them. They were alone.

Dropping his reins, he reached out and caressed Anne’s cheek before pulling her face towards him. She did not resist, her lips meeting his with just as much passion as that which he poured down upon them.

If they had not been mounted on different horses, it could have been different. As it was, Maxim was unable to pull her into his arms, but if anything that just made the kiss more tender.

Eventually, they broke apart.

“I must not get accustomed to this treatment,” Anne breathed, her blue eyes searching his. “When we announce the end of our engagement on Christmas Day, I may end up missing you.”

Maxim swallowed. “I know I will miss you even if we decided to end the engagement now.”

She stared, as though attempting to decipher any secret meaning in his words, and then she chuckled gently and moved her horse forwards.

“Your Czar charm won’t fool me.”

Maxim watched her back as she rode ahead of him, and then remembered he needed to be moving too and touched Thunder into action.

“Yes,” he said, awkwardly. “Czar charm.”

CHAPTER 6

“Absolutely not.”

“But – ”

“No buts,” Anne said firmly. “I promised one more story, and how many more did I read?”

Meredith, eyelids drooping with tiredness, muttered, “Two.”

“Two,” repeated Anne, unable to keep the smile from her face. “And now you have to go to sleep.”