Page 202 of Snowbound Surrender

Maxim shook his head, his eyes bright. “No. I like giving gifts. You deserve them. It is simple to me.”

Anne rolled her eyes. Was he always going to be so…well, guileless? It was not that she wanted a more complicated man – someone perhaps more likely to hurt her. But Maxim was so uncomplicated. Sometimes she thought she could see right through him.

Her cold gloved fingers scrabbled at the brown paper around what appeared to be a jewellery box.

Her eyes widened. “More jewels, Maxim?”

He laughed and opened it up gently. There, resting on blue velvet, was a delicate gold necklace absolutely dripping with diamonds.

“Oh, Maxim,” she breathed.

“I knew you would like it,” Maxim said softly, picking up the chain that rippled like water, and placing it around her neck. “And it matches those earrings I – ah, I see you are wearing them.”

Anne’s fingers moved to her ears, her cheeks blushing. “Yes, they are so beautiful, I did not want to leave them in our rooms.”

“What are you wearing, Anne?”

A shy voice had piped up from just behind her. Anne started, turning to see Meredith staring at her curiously.

Her already pink cheeks darkened. A formal introduction with Meredith had been all the interaction Maxim had had, and this was not the time for further interaction – not when she was so close to their marriage day. What if Maxim did not like Meredith…or worse, what if she did not approve of him?

“Go and play with your friend, Meredith,” she said, far more firmly than she felt. As she said the words, she noticed that her kitchen maid friend had come.

“But I want to see,” Meredith insisted, her voice becoming a little stronger now. “Hannah had to go back, and I do not have anyone to play with. Please will you show me?”

Anne hesitated. Should she insist, send Meredith away? Was this really the time for Meredith and Maxim to become acquainted? If only her Father was here, he would be able to extricate Meredith and end this situation entirely.

“‘Tis a necklace,” said Maxim softly. Anne turned to him, and saw he was smiling as he continued, “A gold necklace, with diamonds from where I was born.”

Anne’s eyes darted down to look at the beautiful necklace, which had gained even more importance in that moment. “From where you were born?”

Maxim nodded, and Meredith reached up to touch one of the diamonds. “Truly?”

“Where I come from, there is snow almost all of the year,” he said softly, leaning on his haunches to be closer to Meredith. “The sun sparkles down and makes the whole world glitter, and yet the snow does not melt. There is a fairy tale in my country that no matter how hard the sun tries, it can never melt the snow, because interspersed with the flakes of ice are diamonds.”

Meredith’s eyes were wide, and Anne smiled. Despite her advancing age, there was still much of the child in Meredith.

“Really?”

Maxim smiled. “Of course. But the really exciting part of the story comes later. Come, walk with us and I will tell you.”

Meredith’s gaze darted to Anne, who smiled. “Would you like to walk with us, Meredith?”

“Yes please,” the girl said, a little shyly.

Anne wanted to laugh, but forced down the merriment. “Then let us walk down this path, and Maxim can tell us both the story.”

She placed her arm into Maxim’s without even thinking about it, and seemingly just as unconsciously, Meredith slipped her hand in Maxim’s.

“Hundreds of years ago,” Maxim began as they started to walk together, “there was a fabulous queen in Russia. She laughed at the sun, and ordered her subjects to look for the diamonds hidden in the snow. She was determined to have them for herself, and no one else.”

“And did she find them?” Meredith’s eyes were wide, and Anne smiled. Seeing her and Maxim in this way, it made tomorrow all the sweeter.

“She did, and she made a glorious necklace of the very finest, on a gold chain,” said Maxim impressively, winking surreptitiously at Anne. “She believed she could live forever when she put that necklace on, because something and someone so beautiful could surely never die. And that is why, two hundred years later, when I met her, she was still wearing the necklace.”

“You met her!” Meredith laughed with surprise. “No, you could not have!”

“Are you calling me a liar?” Maxim said in mock outrage. “When I met this queen I could see that she was exceptionally beautiful, but she was also cold, and there was no joy or warmth in her heart. I knew she did not deserve the necklace, and one day, I would meet a woman even more beautiful, and this time with a beautiful heart. So I stole the necklace.”