Page 34 of The Pakhan's Arranged Bride

Before he leaves, I am still sleeping, exhausted from the shock of what happened, but he comes to gently wake me up.

“Ulyana?” he says my name, just a whisper.

His hand brushes down my back, and I stir awake, looking up at him as he leans over me, the fuzzy blur of sleep still covering me.

“Mm,” I moan sleepily, wishing he was lying in bed next to me with his arms around me.

“I have to go now,” he says.

I wake up fully, blinking away the daydreams of standing naked in the shower with him.

“Oh,” I murmur, trying to sit up.

“No, don’t get up, relax. I just wanted to check on you before I left.”

My heart tightens, confused. Last night he was so angry and so sweet.

“I’m fine, thanks,” I say, rubbing my eyes.

“Alright. I won’t be home too late. If you want anything specific for dinner just let the chef know.”

“Okay.”

He smiles, hesitating before he moves away from the bed.

“Have a good day. Call if you need anything.”

“You too,” I say, watching him leave, wondering if he expects me to stay in the house while he’s gone. We didn’t finish that conversation, and he was pretty adamant about me not being allowed out.

He’s going to be disappointed when he realizes I have no intention of obeying that. I refuse to be a prisoner in this marriage. It’s not even a real marriage.

I stretch my legs out under the blankets, pointing my toes like a ballerina and arching my back as I yawn.

My body hurts from being thrown by the aftershock of the explosion. I can’t even imagine how much pain some of those men are in today. My heart breaks for them. What a horrible thing to go through. I’m happy I could help. I feel like I did something good there. Even if Miron got away, I will find him again. Somehow.

Climbing out of bed, I wiggle out of my comfy clothes and into a pair of jeans. I can’t stop thinking about how gentle Benedikt was when he washed me last night.

Even in my shocked state, I was hyperaware of how incredibly sexy he was, how his body was absolute perfection. But he was a complete gentleman, taking care of me, making that his priority over everything else.

When we argued on the bed, and he pinned me down I thought he was definitely going to kiss me—and I wanted him to. Badly.

I was ready to lift my lips to his when he pulled away, and honestly, I’m grateful he did, even if I’mstillpulsing with desire the next morning.

I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to trust my own decisions.

And I’m still so angry with him about the fight.

I won’t stay at home. I won’t stay trapped in this house.

For how long?

Does he never want me to go anywhere?

No.

I have a life to live, things to do.

Even though the only place I would technically want or need to go right now would be to look for Miron, and I have no leads to do that, I still want to go out just to make a point of not accepting his demands.