Page 71 of Guarding Zuri
“It’s okay to be afraid. To feel like you aren’t ready.”
She straightened away, but allowed him to hold her hands. “Are you ready?”
“To be a CEO? No.” A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. “But sometimes life pushes us where we need to be.”
She returned his grin. “My mother used to say something like that. That when it’s time to grow, life will lead you to the soil.”
“Your mother was a wise woman.”
“So was yours.”
“We were lucky, then.”
“We were.”
“I think we’ll be okay. Right?” He searched her eyes for hope. Hope that she would ask him to stay. Hope that she would order him to fly to the Alps. Hope that she wouldn’t hate him for leaving.
A look of uncertainty returned to her face, and once again, she moved her gaze to the window next to them. They were still on course for Bendola.
Staring at her lovely face wouldn’t help him think through all the likely scenarios he could plan for. Good thing he had Parker and David on the ground, also trying to figure this whole thing out. Somebody had to be objective. And if he didn’t plan for every eventuality, the one he missed would be the one that would kill them both.
He’d never lost a client before, and he wasn’t about to start with Zuri. He cared more about her safety than anyone alive. If he had to, he’d make the ultimate sacrifice. They had come a long way since their first meeting, even if it was only a week ago. How had his entire life changed in a few days?
She pulled her hands back and took hold of her father’s journal. “I was reading my father’s journal before I went to sleep. The entry he wrote the night before his wedding to my mother.”
“What did he say?”
Daemon slid close until their thighs touched. He leaned over to view the page. She angled the book so he could get a better view. Daemon stumbled over the Bendolan words. He only had a limited working knowledge of the written language. Spending a couple of weeks in the country had allowed him to pick up phrases and have a basic conversation with the locals.
“How nervous he was. How much he wanted to provide and protect her. He doubted himself. Didn’t think he was man enough to give her everything she deserved.” Her fingers traced an invisible path beneath the words as she spoke. Her eyes brimmed with tears, but she smiled. “He loved her so much.”
He swallowed. The words described how he felt about Zuri. “Sounds like it.”
“In the end, he couldn’t keep her safe. There’s no entry for the day she died.”
“It wasn’t his fault. He knew that.”
“I wish I could talk to my mother. Ask her how she felt on her wedding night. She didn’t keep a journal. And now I’m thinking of all the other sides of the stories I don’t have.” Daemon slid into the seat beside her and draped an arm around her shoulder. She leaned into him, laying her head on his shoulder. “My father never talked to me much about marriage. Only that it was one of the best things he’d ever done—after having me, of course.”
“My father is still in love with my mother—to this day. His heart never mended after she died. I remember they were very happy.”
She looked at him, her face only inches from his. “Do you want to get married?”
He cocked a brow and smiled. His arm hooked around her neck, bringing her lips within a breath of his. “Why, Princess, are you asking me to marry you?”
She punched him in the gut. Daemon let out a sound of surprise and fake coughed for her benefit. She turned her narrow look away, but her mouth grinned. “No, I wasn’t asking.”
“That’s too bad.”
Her gaze snapped back to his. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. He adjusted his arm around her shoulder and fingered her right earlobe. Her mouth opened slightly, and he heard her inhale. “Just that, if you were asking me to marry you, I’d consider it. It would be a way of always protecting you.”
She rolled her eyes and slapped his hand away. “I wouldn’t marry for anything but love.”
Same here.
She continued. “I won’t always need protection when Bendola is in the people’s control.”
