THE EMPTY CHAIR AT HER SISTER’S WEDDING WAS SUPPOSED TO PROVE HER FIANCÉ HAD LEFT HER—BUT WHEN A QUIET STRANGER SAT BESIDE HER, KORA NEVER IMAGINED HE OWNED THE HOTEL, OR THAT HIS FAMILY WAS ALREADY PLANNING THE MARRIAGE THAT COULD DESTROY THEM BOTH

and now reacted to it like a test.

Instead, she said, “No.”

He absorbed that without flinching.

He did not press.

He glanced at the empty chair under his hand.

“Is this seat yours as well?”

“It’s empty.”

“May I sit in it?”

Kora looked up at him properly for the first time.

His face was neither open nor closed, neither soft nor sharp. It was the kind of face continue reading …