Page 6 of A Vow to Set the Virgin Free

He carried her up a curved staircase and kicked open the third door on the left. “Here. You will stay here until I decide what it is I want to do with you.”

His voice boomed less so close, but was no less impacting. He was strong and hot and smelled of sandalwood.

She was suddenly unbearably conscious of the fact this was the closest she’d ever been to a man.

He set her down slowly, and she felt...cold. Bereft of his touch. She tried to move to get a better look at him but the room was too dim.

The room was also not quite what she’d expected.

“A...a bedroom?”

“Would you prefer the dungeon?”

“No.”

“Then do not complain to me, lass.”

And then he stepped out of the room and slammed the door shut. She tried it, but it was locked tight.

Somehow she had leapt from a moving vehicle, right into the enchanted fire.

CHAPTER TWO

“THEREISN’TANYtime left, Cameron. The launch of the product is next month, and if you can’t put on a good showing we’re going to lose every investor who backed us through all of this. I am planning something extravagant. It is not just a dry event where investors and buyers will sit in chairs and watch tech wizards speak. There will be food, and dancing. It will be the biggest event in the history of the company.”

Cameron looked at the screen and growled. “Why can’tyouput on a good show?”

His business partner, Apollo Agassi, looked at him with dark, deeply concerned eyes.

“Because it’syoupeople want to hear from when it comes to technology, Cameron.”

“You said it would not be speeches.”

“I said it will not be all speeches. This is going to be a hub of all that is to come in smart home technology, self-driving cars... Gunnar and Olive Magnusson will be there and you know she is one of the most captivating people in the tech industry right now. I want them there, they will raise the cachet of the event. I do not want them to outshine us. I cannot accomplish what you can. I can raise money, but you need to cement the goodwill of those who are counting on the smart home system to be as comprehensive as you said it would.”

His friend’s doubt was an affront. Cameron’s face might have been ruined, but his mind was as sharp as ever.

“It is. Believe me. I have a medieval castle wired to do whatever I ask it to do. Fire in the fireplace? Done. Meals of all kinds cooked to perfection? Done. Laundry, comprehensive lighting systems. Every door armed. Security. All managed through either voice, but only the user’s voice, or in some cases nonverbal commands accomplished by a device that fits in your pocket.”

“A very good sales pitch.”

“It hardly needs a sales pitch. It is leagues ahead of all other smart home technology in terms of seamlessness and versatility.”

“You say that, but most people—myself included—don’t know what that means in a practical sense. Compared to you, we might as well be children when it comes to the depth of our understanding, and that is why you need to explain it.”

“Flattery will not move me.”

“I will find something that will, by God.” Apollo was quiet for a moment. “This is your triumph, Cam. Get out there, and do what I know you can.”

“What Icould,” he pointed out.

Apollo suddenly looked weary. “The Cameron I knew would never have sat at home for all these years. The Cameron I knew was a fighter. Against all odds, against ever terrible thing that ever happened. He never took no for an answer, and when he was knocked down, he never stayed down.”

Cameron laughed. He had to. Because Apollo’s take was so wildly simplistic. So firmly spoken as a man who had no concept of what the accident had meant for him. “The Cameron you knew could dazzle the world with his looksandhis wits. And that man is dead. There is nothing of him left.”

“I don’t believe that,” said Apollo. “I think it’s a neat story that you tell yourself.”

“It does not matter whether it is a story I tell myself or the reality. Short of dragging me out of the castle yourself...”

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