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

a man got from years of listening carefully to people who were politely upset about missing reservations or drafty rooms. His eyes were somewhere between gray and green. A small white scar marked his hairline, the kind of scar a child gets falling off a bicycle.

“You can sit,” she said. “I will not dance.”

He pulled the chair out and sat at an angle continue reading …