The Power of Vasilii Read online

  Laura didn’t pretend not to understand him. There wasn’t any point. Not now.

  ‘I was girl—a teenager. The Vasilii I fell head over heels in love with didn’t exist—had never existed and never could exist—so it was no wonder that I never met a man who could match up to that foolish ideal.’

  ‘But you gave yourself to me—to this Vasilii,’ he pointed out. ‘You cried out my name in your pleasure. You—’

  ‘I will not love a man who has already told me that he can never love me back.’ Laura stopped him, unable to bear any more. ‘I cannot.’

  Because it would destroy her. It was already destroying her. Marriage to Vasilii would be a pitiless, merciless descent to a place where she would give herself over to a hope that would ultimately crush the life from her heart and bring her only pain.

  ‘I lied,’ Vasilii told her quietly.

  Two simple words, but said with such sincerity and truth, such strength and intent, that they had the power to smash down barriers and create out of the dust a shimmering place of hope and belief.

  Laura looked at him and waited. The next move had to come from him.

  And miraculously, cleansingly, it did. ‘I love you, Laura,’ he told her firmly. ‘I think I knew that you had the power to command love from me right from the start, but—predictably, I suppose—I fought against that knowledge because I was afraid of what it meant. I was afraid of loving you. The night we made love, though—when you turned your back on me I wanted so much to hold you and keep you to me. I wanted to hear you say that you cared about me … that you were glad it had been me … that you had wanted me. I knew then what my real feelings for you were. I want us to marry because quite simply my life will be empty without you. I thought the worst pain I could ever know was losing the person I loved. I know now that the worst pain of all would be never being able to tell that person that I love them. Never being able to hear them say back to me that they love me.’

  As he spoke Vasilii closed the distance between them, his movements towards her strong and sure—the action of an alpha man. Her man, Laura acknowledged, and she let him take her in his arms, let him kiss her, woo her, with the sweetest and most tender of lover’s kisses as he covered her lips with his own. Slowly and deliberately he caressed them into willing compliance with the desire he was inciting within her, so that within seconds she was clinging to him, and returning the increasing passion of his kisses with her own.

  ‘I love you, Laura, and there is nothing in this life that is more important to me than having you love me back willingly, happily, and knowing that from now on your trust in me, your love for me, will be the most precious things I have.’

  ‘I do love you,’ Laura admitted. ‘I didn’t want to, but I do. I love you, Vasilii. Not the one-dimensional romantic fantasy of my girlish dreams, but the real man—the real Vasilii.’

  ‘Whatever you want I will give you, Laura.’

  ‘Whatever I want?’ she questioned him.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘All I want is your love, Vasilii. Your love, and for you to take me to bed—right now, please.’

  ‘You do not need to ask. I am the one who should be begging you to allow me the pleasure of loving you.’

  He couldn’t say any more because Laura was putting her arms around him, her mouth on his, whispering that she wanted him to show her how much he loved her.

  Their lovemaking was intense and passionate—a physical and emotional commitment to one another so special and so private, with so many promises given and healing words exchanged—that at the end of it, when they lay together in the post-coital calm of one another’s arms, it was Laura who gently kissed away the traces of Vasilii’s emotional tears from his damp eyelashes. Her heart was filled past bursting with love and pride for this wonderful man who had grown so much through his love for her that he was willingly letting her see his vulnerability.

  EPILOGUE

  ‘YOU are such a darling for being so understanding about that lie I told Vasilii,’ Alena told Laura as she stood at Laura’s side on the church steps in her role as Laura’s matron of honour.

  They were both waiting for Vasilii to finish thanking the minister who had married them at a pretty church in the small village close to the school where Laura had first seen him. It had been the most wonderful day—a simple, traditional service, attended by Vasilii’s half-sister and her husband, Kiryl, as well as Laura’s aunt and their closest friends.

  Amongst the guests was Wu Ying, along with her husband, and Laura had been delighted to see how much happier and closer the Chinese couple seemed.

  Alena went to join her husband and Vasilii turned back to her, taking hold of her hand and raising it to his lips to brush a tender but discreet kiss across the back of her knuckles.

  ‘It’s been a wonderful day,’ Laura told him.

  ‘But you are sad because there are people special to us who are missing?’ Vasilii guessed, perfectly understanding the reason for the small shadow that momentarily darkened her gaze.

  ‘Our parents,’ Laura agreed.

  ‘They are here, my darling wife. I am sure of it. They are here with us and happy for us, even though we cannot see them. Love is a very powerful force, and what I have learned through my love for you tells me that the love our parents had for us won’t have died. It is still here—with us and for us.’

  ‘Yes,’ Laura agreed. ‘Yes, you are right.’

  The look she was giving him was causing Vasilii to tense his body against the sudden fierce flood of desire that surged over him.

  ‘If you keep looking at me like that we’re going to be the first bride and groom on record who don’t make it to their own wedding breakfast because the groom is too busy making love to his bride and showing her just how much he loves her. You have changed my life, Laura. You have shown me what real love is. I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much you mean to me.’

  She was trembling, Laura recognised. Trembling with joy and love, and that same longing to be alone with him, so that they could express their love for one another in the most intimate way possible.

  The church bells were ringing, their guests were waiting, and their love was a river of emotion that would carry them together throughout the journey that would be the rest of their lives.

  ‘I love you,’ Laura whispered as they headed for their waiting car.

  ‘And I love you, too,’ Vasilii said back.

  All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

  All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  ® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

  First published in Great Britain 2011

  by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited,

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

  © Penny Jordan 2011

  ISBN: 978-1-408-92621-5

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  Penny Jordan, The Power of Vasilii