Free Secrets of New Pompeii by Aubrey Ross Page A

he’d had no way to
contact her. And she had never returned.
    “So you told Vito about me?” He skimmed the
surface of the conflict, unwilling to dive into the murky
depths.
    “Not exactly. It was obvious I’d been with a
lover and that I’d been dumped.”
    “I didn’t dump you. I just returned to my
world and left you in yours.”
    She ignored the justification. “When he
couldn’t talk me out of my depression, he became more aggressive
with his inquiries. He spotted us on the resort’s surveillance
vids. He recognized you immediately and couldn’t decide who he
wanted to kill first, you or me.”
    “Then Vito told your father?
    “Of course not.” Each of his conclusions
seemed to agitate her more. She slipped her hands into her pockets,
which left her breasts temptingly revealed beneath the thin
material of her shirt. “Vito managed the ludus . You were his
responsibility. If he’d told Father, it would have reflected badly
on him. He dragged me back to the palace and told me that I was
banned from Gladiator Games. I wasn’t even allowed to attend the
grand opening of New Pompeii and that was the social event of the
century.”
    “And the betrothal?” He couldn’t help but
smile. That was all he’d really wanted to know. Had she endured a
scandal to be rid of the lecherous old man?
    “Vito told Father I had an affair with one of
his men. He claimed I had sworn him to secrecy and he had no
intention of breaking his word. Vows are important to Father, so he
never pressured Vito for a name. All Father ever asked me was if I
had been pressured in any way. I told him I hadn’t and we never
spoke of it again. The betrothal was quietly dissolved and Father
never contracted another one.”
    Unable to resist the cosmic pull of the only
woman he’d ever loved, Max touched her arm. Her skin was soft and
warm, addictive. “I can’t pretend I’m disappointed. It tortured me
to think of you as another man’s wife. I have missed you so much.”
The admission escaped with his sigh and she took a step toward
him.
    “I’ve had seven proposals since you left, but
I couldn’t bear to think of myself with anyone but you.”
    Had she sought comfort in another man’s arms?
He shouldn’t ask if he couldn’t accept her answer. “Did any of
them…” He couldn’t speak the words.
    She smiled, understanding the unspoken
question. “You were my first and you’ll be my last. That’s all that
matters.”
    “Agreed.” He raised his hand to her neck,
tracing her jaw with his thumb. “Dario fried your chip. We can go
anywhere we want. Are you really willing to leave your life behind?
There is no way I will ever be able to give you the sort of life to
which you’re accustomed.”
    “I understand that.” She licked her lips and
lowered her lashes, shadowing her eyes. “I understood that way back
then. I would have—”
    He pressed his thumb against her lips,
stopping her recrimination. “We cannot waste time on the past. We
can’t change the choices we made. We can only learn from them and
move on.”
    Her lips parted beneath his thumb and she
lightly nipped him. “That’s almost exactly what Bertrom told me
yesterday.”
    “Who is Bertrom?” Her tone lacked the sensual
purr that accompanied thoughts of a lover.
    “He works at the palace and has some
unbelievable abilities.”
    “A colonist?”
    She nodded. “He told me you were about to
reenter my life. He didn’t say anything about you being naked or
that you’d kidnap me.”
    He smiled and wrapped his arm around her
waist. “Technically Dario kidnapped you. I was his accomplice, and
I am not the only one who has been naked recently.”
    “Well, if we’re going to blame all this on
Dario,” she smiled up at him, “he did leave so we could have makeup
sex.”
    Max returned her smile, feeling relaxed and
unfettered for the first time in years. He wasn’t sure where life
was leading them, but they were finally headed in the right
direction.