The Cost of the Forbidden (Irresistible Russian Tycoons) Read online

  “This wasn’t official palace business.”

  “That is apparent,” she said, standing suddenly, reaching out toward his desk and taking hold of the stack of papers that had been resting there, unnoticed by him until that moment.

  “Are you angry because you wanted to come?” He had well and truly given up trying to figure his wife out.

  “No,” she said, “but I am slightly perturbed by the red smudge on your collar.”

  Were it not for years of practice controlling his responses to things, he might have cursed. He had not thought about the crimson lipstick being left behind after that brief contact. Instead, he stood, keeping his expression blank. “It’s nothing.”

  “I’m sure it is,” she said, her words steady, even. “Even if it isn’t nothing it makes no difference to me.”

  He was surprised by the impact of that statement. By how hard it hit. He had known she felt that way, he had. It was evident in her every interaction with him. In the way she turned away when he tried to kiss her. In the way she shrank back when he approached her. She was indifferent to him at best, disgusted by him at worst. Of course she wouldn’t care if he found solace in the arms of another woman. So long as he wasn’t finding it with her. He imagined the only reason she had put up with his touch for so long was out of the hope for children. A hope that faded with each and every day.

  She must have given up completely now. A fact he should have realized when she hadn’t come to his bed at all in months.

  He decided against defending himself. If she didn’t care, there was no point discussing it.

  “What exactly are you doing here?” he asked. “Drinking my scotch?”

  “I have had a bit,” she said, wobbling slightly. A break in her composure. Witnessing such a thing was a rarity. Tabitha was a study in control. She always had been. Even back all those years ago when she’d been nothing more than his PA.

  “All you have to do is ask the servants and you can have alcohol sent to your own room.”

  “My own room.” She laughed, an unsteady sound. “Sure. Next time I’ll do that. But I was actually waiting for you.”

  “You could have called me.”

  “Would you have answered the phone?”

  The only honest answer to that question wasn’t a good one. The truth was, he often ignored phone calls from her when he was busy. They didn’t have personal conversations. She never called just to hear his voice, or anything like that. As a result, ignoring her didn’t seem all that personal. “I don’t know.”

  She forced a small smile. “You probably wouldn’t have.”

  “Well, I’m here now. What was so important that we had to deal with it near midnight?”

  She thrust the papers out, in his direction. For the first time in months, he saw emotion burning from his wife’s eyes. “Legal documents.”

  He looked down at the stack of papers she was holding out, then back at her, unable to process why the hell she would be handing him paper at midnight on New Year’s Eve. “Why?”

  “Because. I want a divorce.”

  Copyright © 2016 by Maisey Yates

  ISBN-13: 9781488000492

  The Cost of the Forbidden

  Copyright © 2016 by Carol Marinelli

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  ® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.

  www.Harlequin.com