“You care for her.” She made it a statement. She hated that her voice had gone even lower, a total giveaway to him. She ducked her head, unable to meet his frozen gaze. It was difficult to feel stripped raw in front of him when he was so completely in control. She’d practically thrown herself at him, and now she felt uncertain.

“Yes. I do.” When she tried to pull her hand back, he clamped down harder on it, refusing to relinquish his hold. “She was a young, innocent girl. My leopard didn’t care. He was still as savage as ever. I care for Siena as a younger sister, not as a woman I would ever be interested in. In any case, solnyshko moyo, there is only one woman I’m interested in, and it isn’t Siena.”

She felt a little ashamed that she’d been jealous. Alonzo had a past. He’d been with other women. She didn’t want to know their names or how many there were. She had to be secure in the knowledge that he’d chosen her. That he wanted her. Truthfully, she found that very hard to believe.

“Evangeline. Malyutka, look at me.”

His voice was so gentle, her complete undoing. She jerked her chin up and glared at him. “Why me? Really, Alonzo, why would a man like you want to be with a woman like me?”

He frowned. “You need to tell me what that means.”

“My grandfather was Buford Tregre.” She paused, waiting for a reaction, but he just looked at her with his expressionless eyes. Just saying her grandfather’s name sent fingers of ice creeping down her spine. “He was cruel and he liked to hurt everyone around him, especially women. He murdered his own son to keep him on the property. That was Uncle Renard, Joshua’s father. Renard fought him in order to give his wife and child time to get off the property—which they did.”

Alonzo didn’t move. Didn’t blink. He listened intently, fully focused on her. She took a deep breath. “My father wasn’t like Renard. He knew what his father did to women—even his own wife—but he stayed. When I was born, he and my mother took me to a camp in the swamp, and he told my grandfather I was dead. I was female and sooner or later Buford would have done horrible things to me or killed me.”

Alonzo stirred as if he might say something, but all he did was press his lips to her fingertips, his gaze never leaving hers.