Page 37 of An Heir Made In Hawaii (Hot Winter Escapes)

“The castle is coming up,” Anika said, her soft voice breaking the silence between them.

Nicholas glanced out the window at the orange-red roofed turret rising above the tree line in the distance.

“I haven’t been.”

Anika smiled. “It’s worth a look. It definitely belongs on your recommendations for your guests.”

Surprised, he looked over at her. It was the first time she had brought up the Hotel Lassard of her own volition.

“Why would you recommend it?”

“It’s over a thousand years old. Small, but it has a nice museum, plus a wine cellar where guests can bottle their own wine. The restaurant is amazing. But,” she said as her smile widened, “it’s the view for me. The view is unlike anything else in Bled.”

Nicholas flipped on his blinker.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” he asked with a grin. “With a recommendation like that from a woman who’s basically a local, how can I resist driving by without seeing this incredible view?”

He saw the twitch of her lips even as she looked away. “Don’t you have some billionaire stuff to do back at your hotel?”

“Billionaire stuff, no. Reviewing the latest reports on projects in Greece and England, including the status of delayed construction supplies and a summary from one of my engineers, yes.”

He didn’t miss the line that formed between her brows as he pulled into a parking lot surrounded by trees.

“Surprised I can read?” he teased as he opened her door for her.

“No.” She bit down on her lower lip, a simple, unconscious gesture that sent a bolt of heat straight to his groin. “You’re very different than what I expected when I first met you.”

“I noticed your chilly reception.”

She winced. “Sorry. I made some assumptions about you based on the way you dressed, the way you looked, the way women responded to you.”

A satisfied smirk stole across his face. “So you were jealous.”

“More wary,” she said with a small smile of her own. “Bled is my home. I was afraid you were going to change things up too much, not understand the culture here and just blaze in with crystal chandeliers and diamond-encrusted silverware.”

“I’ve never used diamond-encrusted silverware.”

She chuckled. “I know. And everyone in town has said nothing but great things about you acclimating to the community. It’s just...you’re unlike anyone who’s ever come here, at least since I’ve been here. Then when you wanted to buy the inn...” She sighed. “I don’t deal with change well.”

“I disagree with that.” He glanced down, noted the surprise on her face as they crossed a small drawbridge and passed under a stone arch. “Look at what you’re doing now, how quickly you adapted to the idea of becoming a mother. Pivoting to be the sole owner of the inn. Moving halfway around the world and adapting to living in a new country. I’d say you deal with change very well.”

He glanced down to see her rapidly blinking.

“Anika?”

“Thank you,” she finally said. “It feels good to hear that.”

He paid for their tickets, silencing Anika’s protests by pointing out he had invited her on the ride and counted the visit as research. She grumbled but finally agreed and led the way into the lower courtyard, flanked on either side by the walls of the castle. In front of him, the cobbled gray stones of the courtyard ran up to a short wall with views of Bled, the lake and the mountains beyond. He breathed in, savoring the architecture, the history pouring out from every stone.

“Wait,” Anika said, grabbing his arm as he moved toward the wall. “Your first view should be from the upper courtyard. Nothing compares.”

He allowed himself to be pulled along, enjoying the excitement building on her face. It reminded him of how she’d been when they’d snorkeled off the coast of Kauai. When he’d gotten his first glimpse of who Anika truly was at heart.

“Why do you think you don’t deal with change well?” he asked as she tugged him past a well with a shingled roof toward another stone staircase that curved back into the depths of the castle.

“Maybe a more accurate description is I don’t like change,” she said. “I used to. I used to feel adventurous. I wanted to travel the world like my mother, but I also wanted that home to come back to in between. But being away from the inn and Marija...” Her voice trailed off as she frowned. “Sometimes I felt scared, like if I was gone too long something would happen. Other times I felt guilty, that wanting to travel and not be as invested in the inn as Babica was made me a bad granddaughter. So, I’d come back and work twice as hard to make up for my absences.”

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