Page 46 of How to: Seduce Your Wife

“Forget it,” Soren immediately responded. “I’m not leaving so you can wiggle out of this with lies. You and Carina excel at that, don’t you? Well, this Christmas is too important to have it screwed up by another Donati.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m a Starr and not a Donati,” she bit out. She returned her attention to her husband, struggling to hold all emotion at bay, particularly the tears that threatened to escape. Tears wouldn’t help her right now. In fact, they’d probably hurt her cause, since they’d be seen as a weapon or a way to manipulate him. “Brand, please.”

“I’ll ask again,” Soren interrupted. “How much do you want?”

She turned on him. “Nothing! Idon’t want anything from you or Brand or your family. I’m here to help Toni and that’s it.”

Soren appeared about to protest, but Brand jerked his head in the direction of the front door. “You’ve done enough damage. I’ll handle this from here. Please leave.”

“Brand—”

“No, Soren. This is my wife. My marriage. Iwill handle it.”

Soren inclined his head and without another word, heleft.

“Where’s Toni?” Brand asked grimly, his tone so cold, so distant. Sohard.

“In her room playing with her dolls.”

“I want to make sure we have this discussion in private.” He gestured toward his home office. “She knows not to interrupt me when I’m in here.”

The minute they entered the room and shut the door, he bit out, “Explain.”

She flinched from the single, furious word. “I need something from my bedroom before I do.”

He took a stance behind his desk, and for an instant, he looked like he’d refuse. Then he nodded. “Get it. Quickly, Mia.”

She suppressed a shudder. “I’ll be right back,” she whispered.

Her mind raced. Why did it matter so much what he thought of her? Because he was the most handsome man she’d ever laid eyes on? No, that wasn’t it. Because the only thing that’s haunted her more than her ghost was the memory of that Halloween night with Brand? Closer. Because she’d fallen in love with him, despite swearing she wouldn’t?

She closed her eyes. Oh, damn. What had happened to her determination to treat their time together as temporary. At some point, temporary had slipped away, leaving permanent behind.

She paused on the steps, struggling to catch her breath, awave of dizziness sweeping over her. Once she managed to gather herself, it only took her a few minutes to run upstairs to the master bedroom, remove her suitcase from the closet, and gather up the tattered mask she’d worn to the Halloween masquerade party.

Returning to Brand’s office, she set it carefully on his desk. Over the years it had lost most of its feathers, but it remained recognizable.

He stared at it for several long seconds, afrown settling across his brow. “Did Carina give you that mask?”

“No. She couldn’t have. She never had it.”

“Then how did you end up with it?”

She looked up at him, her heart in her eyes. “Because I wore the mask to your Halloween party six years ago.”

“What…?”Shock swept across Brand’s face and he shook his head. “That’s not possible. Imet Carina that night.”

“I’m assuming Carina told you she was Juliet?”

“Yes.” He closed his eyes, torturous lines carving a path across his brow and along the sides of his mouth. “No. Not exactly. She never said the words, but the implication was there.”

Mia nodded. “She told me the two of you met when you came to our apartment.” She struggled to sound impassive instead of heartbroken, and failed miserably. “And that you preferred her. That you knew it wasn’t her at the party, but you liked her better.”

“Then she lied to us both.”

Pain ripped through Mia at her cousin’s deception. Pain at Carina’s selfishness. Pain at her death. Pain that Toni would grow up without her mother. “Yes, apparently she lied to us both,” she whispered.

“I would say I’m sorry, but—” His gaze flickered in the direction of the stairway and Toni’s bedroom.

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