Page 193 of Snowbound Surrender

“All women have secrets,” she said lightly. “And this is one I am not yet willing to share. Tell me a little more about your family. How is it possible that you are the heir to be a Czar, and yet you are here?”

Maxim had knownthis question would be coming – it was always asked eventually. So why did he find his tongue utterly unable to repeat the same old excuses he had trotted out for everyone else?

Could Anne be trusted? He felt closer to her than anyone else in the world, and yet that was not saying much. It was incredible to think they had only met four days before.

Anne Marsh was everything he could ever have wanted in a woman, but could it all be over in another four days?

It seemed madness now, to think that they could be nothing to each other in a few days.

“I have no wish to force a confidence from you.” Her words were light, her breathing billowing out into the freezing air. “I am not the sort of person who would attempt it.”

Maxim smiled. “I know. ‘Tis a long story, and I have no wish to bore you, but a short history should suffice.”

In the thin candlelight that escaped through the curtains of the court, he could just make out her expression as they walked around the walls, and it was trusting. Maxim swallowed. It would be wrong of him indeed to put this woman in danger. Not when he was starting to find his heart just as desperate for her as his loins.

“My father had two wives,” he said slowly. “It is not uncommon in Russia, to have a wife recognised by the church and then another recognised by common law. I am the eldest son of his first wife, but they had a disagreement when I was thirteen years old. My mother…disappeared.”

He glanced at Anne, who was staring. “Disappeared?”

Maxim shrugged. He would not dwell on this; he would not allow the pain of those years to return. “She went for a walk in the snow, and never returned. A year later, my father’s second wife became his wife in church, and their eldest son, one of my half-brothers, became the heir. I was disowned, and the line of Czardom moved to Dmitri. The throne of Russia should have come to me three years ago, but the disagreements within my family line forced the court to choose another cousin for the crown.”

There was silence beside him, and as he looked into Anne’s face, she looked nothing like he had expected. Even a little…sceptical?

“I would have thought news such as that would be in the papers,” she said slowly, not meeting his gaze. “Such a huge injustice, and in a royal family.”

“Are you questioning my story?” Maxim could not keep the words in, his shock was so great. “Questioning a Czar?”

Even in this dim light, he could see Anne’s cheeks flush. “It is not in my nature to say what a person wants to hear, but merely what is on my mind.”

Her honesty slowed down his rapidly beating heart, and softened his irritation. “Of course,” he said quietly. “‘Tis the first time you have heard the story, and so it is natural for you to be a little curious. I admire that quality in you, truly. I hope you will always be that honest with me.”

“Really?” Anne did meet his gaze now, and she was smiling as she teased, “Even if that is to say that I do not wish to marry you?”

Maxim laughed, but it did not cover the pain that wrenched through his stomach. The idea that she could say no to him…

“Well,” said Anne quietly as they turned a corner. “No matter what the truth is, by claiming to be a Czar publicly, you certainly have everyone talking.”

He could not prevent a smile creeping over his face. “That is half the fun.”

Maxim could feel the tension in Anne’s arm and wondered whether he had made a mistake. When she spoke, he knew he had.

“Tell me truly, Maxim – I must know. Are you just a…a confidence trickster? Someone out for what they can get, with no thought to the consequences?”

Anne’s voice was full of nerves and when Maxim stopped walking, she looked up with a strange expression on her face.

“What answer do you want?” Maxim whispered, her arm still in his. “What do you want to be true?”

Anne licked her lips and Maxim felt a tug in his stomach he knew all too well. “I do not know,” she said quietly. “The idea that you are a Czar, or a prince in disguise…it is a heady thought. But I do not want to be lied to, secrets or no secrets.”

Before Maxim could answer, a loud noise wrenched through the silence of the night – a large black dog, tied to a chain affixed into the wood, bounded up to them, snarling, dribble falling from its teeth.

Anne stumbled backwards in terror but Maxim’s arms reached out and caught her, pulling her several steps back around the corner they had just turned. Her hands scrabbled at him in terror and he caught sight of her face, absolutely terrified.

“I have you,” he said quickly, “it cannot get you – you are safe with me, Annika.”

Anne leaned against the wall, breathing heavily, and Maxim tried to ignore the visceral effect that rescuing her and seeing her so breathless had on his body.

“Annika?”