Never Kiss an Exile: Exile Love Biker MC Series Book 1

by Kara Summers

  I was packing up a few of my things when Ivana came into the office. I’d told her to stay home, but it was clear that she was getting more than a little antsy. She was the type of person who needed to stay busy all the time. She stopped dead in her tracks when she entered the office and saw me packing up a few things.

  “What’s going on?” she asked, her brow furrowed.

  I stood up and smiled softly. “Oh, Ivana. I’m glad you came in. I wanted to talk to you.”

  “About what?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Well, Jasper came to see me.”

  She stiffened and looked away. “Well, what did he want?”

  “He wanted to explain everything to me and apologize for the way he acted,” I said, packing a few specialized tools into a box.

  “And you believe him?”

  I glanced up at her and sighed. “Well, I do not think he’d ask me to come live with him if he did not mean it.”

  “What?” she gasped, running forward and grabbing my wrist. “You’re leaving the city for him? You’re going to just leave me here and forget about this agency?” she said, sounding panicked.

  I put a hand on her shoulder and smiled gently. “Of course not. I’ll still have to come into the city to handle business, but I know you can run the office while I’m not here. Jasper is even going to send someone here to teach you to send telegrams so we can communicate faster,” I explained, smiling gently.

  Tears came to her eyes and she just stared at me helplessly. “No! It can’t be like that! We work together, we’re partners.”

  I sighed and pulled her in for a hug. “I’m not abandoning you,” I said gently, pushing her away and looking her in the eyes. “I promise you that. I am not leaving you in the dust. We’re still partners. I still want you to be a part of this business and a part of my life. I’m not kicking you out. In fact, if you want, you can move into my loft.”

  “Because you won’t be there anymore,” she said softly.

  I frowned and sighed. “I need to do this, Ivana. I care about him and I need to know what else there is for us. I want to know him completely.”

  I was babbling now and her face just kept falling, becoming more and more pained with every word that left my lips.

  “You said he was a mistake,” she reminded me.

  “I wasn’t thinking clearly and I did not understand everything,” I told her.

  She opened her mouth to speak but the door opened and Jasper came through it, a group of young men behind him. He glanced between Ivana and me, frowning. “Is everything okay?”

  “Everything is fine. Right, Ivana?”

  She turned her head to look at Jasper, her eyes burning into him. There was a deep hatred in her gaze that confused me and frightened me all at the same time. I could not understand it.

  “Right. Everything is just fine,” she murmured, pushing past Jasper and the boys as she left.

  Jasper glanced at me, eyebrow cocked questioningly. I sighed and shook my head. “Do not worry about it.”

  “She seemed upset.”

  “She is,” I said.

  “Why?”

  “She thinks that everything is going to change. I think she’s afraid of losing her job,” I explained.

  He nodded and pulled me close, brows furrowed as he watched her go. “You sure everything is alright?”

  “Positive. Who are these men?”

  “They’re going to help get your equipment down the carriage,” he said, offering me a kiss.

  I was thankful for the help. A lot of my equipment was going to end up in Jasper’s house if this was really going to happen. I was hesitant to pack up everything because a part of me was still afraid this wasn’t real. There was a very loud voice in the back of my head telling me I was being tricked. There was fear tucked underneath all of my adoration and the desire to be in love. I could hear my nanny’s voice loud and clear.

  ‘Men do not fall in love with girls like you.’

  Chapter Fifteen

  Despite all the fear and anxiety, I was excited to go back to the mansion. I was excited to start a life with Jasper. Many would have frowned on our cohabitation since we weren’t married, but that did not bother us at all. Jasper was powerful and wealthy enough that not many people wanted to risk getting on his bad side. Most people just moved along without giving us so much as a second glance.

  The workers in the house accepted me with ease and some of the younger women even became interested in the work I did. I was happy to share my knowledge with them, offering them insights into how the technology I worked with functioned.

  As promised, Jasper sent a man to teach Ivana how to send telegrams and Jasper himself taught me. Learning to use the telegram was one of the most amazing things in the world to me. It made working between two places much easier.

  I still saw Ivana multiple times a week since I still had to go into town to investigate crimes. She was warming up to me again, but there was still a certain amount of strain in our relationship. She was not happy with me in the least. She tried to convince me to come back to the city to live, but I was far too happy with Jasper.

  One day, he’d convinced me not to work, and while it was hard for me to pull myself away from my desk, I was happy to do it for him. I wanted to spend as much time with Jasper as possible. The weeks that passed since I’d moved back into the house had showed me that he truly was the one for me. I knew I loved him, though I was far too stubborn to say that aloud.

  We were walking through the massive gardens and I could not help but smile a little. This was the first place we’d kissed. I leaned into him, our fingers tangled together. He glanced down and smiled.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  “How things just fell into place so perfectly,” I whispered, closing my eyes and looking up at him. “I never imagined I could be this happy.”

  He reached down and tucked some hair behind my ear. “Neither did I. I thought I was done with love after Josephine.”

  Jasper did not talk much of the woman who’d broken his heart and I did not really mind that. I did not want to hear about her. All I wanted was for Jasper to feel loved and safe and I hoped he felt that with me. When I thought of all the possible thigs that woman could have done to him, I felt anger flare in my chest, but I ignored it. I hated that he’d had to hurt so bad, but I was happy that I was able to be the one to make him smile now.

  He stopped near a rose bush and smiled, reaching out and plucking a flower from it. He tucked it into my hair and cupped my cheeks, smiling down at me. “My lovely Irish rose,” he whispered, kissing my forehead.

  My heart fluttered excitedly and I nearly melted into him. The sun was kissing our skin and the birds were singing around us. In this moment I felt like the luckiest woman in the world. I wrapped my arms around his waist and put my head to his chest, listening to his heart beat.

  “Is this how it’s going to be forever?” I asked softly.

  “I hope so,” he said, rubbing my back. “I would be more than content to hold you in my arms for the rest of my life.”

  I smiled up at him and looked around for a moment and then gave him a little push that caught him off guard and he stumbled back into the rose bushes.

  “What are you-”

  We were hidden in the bushes now and it was easy to ignore the scrape of the thorns against my skin as I pressed my lips to his in a long kiss. He did not hesitate to wrap his arms around me and I smiled softly, eyes fluttering open to look up at him adoringly.

  “I did not get to meet you when I was a mischievous teenager, so I want that experience now,” I said with a grin, laughing a little.

  He chuckled and pulled me close. “Is it exciting sneaking kisses in the rose garden?”

  I nodded and kissed him again, brushing my lips along his jaw as I pulled back. “I do not want to lose this magic.”

  “We won’t, my love. This is real,” he murmured, reaching down and running his fingers through my wild
red curls.

  Looking up into his eyes made me almost forget to breathe. He was so beautiful and the way he made me feel was even more beautiful, if that was even possible. He made me want things I’d never considered before. He made me want to get married and have children. He made me want everything I was always told I’d never have. I was always an outcast and I was made to feel unworthy because of it, but here I was with the man of my dreams. His arms were wrapped around me and he was kissing my face.

  There was a swell of emotions in my chest and I felt like my heart would burst with the feelings. My fingers curled into the hairs at the nape if his neck and the words the left my lips were breathless and even a little desperate.

  “I love you, Jasper.”

  He looked at me for a long moment, clearly shocked by what I’d just said. Fear started to replace the feelings of adoration and I was feeling the uncontrollable urge to run. My eyes widened and I took a step away from him. Before I could turn and flee from the bushes, he reached out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me flush to his body. My cheeks went hot with embarrassment and he ran his thumb over my cheek, looking at me so intently I thought my legs might give out. He just stared at me, a smile starting to spread over his lips. He pulled me closer and kissed me until I could not breathe anymore. When he finally pulled away he said the words I’d wanted to hear so badly.

  “I love you too, darling.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  I was still floating. It had been a few days since Jasper had told me he loved me and I still hadn’t come down from the high. Everything felt right for the first time in my life and I was excited to tell Ivana what had happened. Maybe knowing that he truly loved me would help comfort her a little. At least she would know that it was real and the he wasn’t pretending to be interested in me for physical pleasure.

  When I opened the door to the office, I was a bit surprised to find it empty. It was still early in the day and Ivana should have been in. I frowned deeply as I started to wander through the office. It looked like no one had been in here for days. That did not seem right.

  I went upstairs to the loft Ivana had moved into and when I did not find her there either, a panic began to set in. I all but ran downstairs and went to the cabinet where we kept the only gun in the agency.

  When I threw the door open and saw that the gun was gone, my blood ran cold. There was something very, very wrong here. My heart was beating far too quickly and I sat at the desk, putting my hands flat on the top of it, eyeing the telegraph machine. I pulled it close and started to think of what I was going to say to Scotland Yard. I was fairly certain someone was on the loose with a gun and had taken my assistant hostage.

  Just as I was about to reach over and start tapping out my message, I saw that there was a set of finger prints in a half open drawer. I picked them up and frowned a little. They were partial finger prints that had accidently transferred while someone was taking a sample. Since Ivana was the only person who took samples for me, I had to assume that they were hers.

  They caught my eye because they happened to be sitting near enough to the kit that I’d been using for investigating Jasper’s nanny’s murder and they were similar enough that it made me want to take a closer look. I knew I was on borrowed time, but I grabbed a magnifying glass anyway and put the two samples side my side. As I started to look them over I felt my heart beat quicken. The fingerprints on the shears matched Ivana’s sample perfectly. There was no doubt in my mind that Ivana’s prints were on the murder weapon. I fell back into my chair, staring at my desk.

  How could her prints have gotten on the shears? She’d never even been at the crime scene. The answer was starting to become obvious and even though I didn’t want to think about what the truth might be; I knew I couldn’t ignore it. My hand shook a little as I ran it through my hair.

  I glanced at my finger printing kit and reached out, grabbing it and starting to pull out samples that I’d taken from around the house. I scrambled to find the ones I’d taken off the bedframe and window sill. Tears were starting to cloud my eyes and I had to wipe them away, starting down at the three samples that looked incredibly similar. It couldn’t be ignored anymore.

  All three samples were identical and pointed to the fact that Ivana had touched the murder weapon, the bed I’d been sleeping in, and the window sill. She’d been the person to kill Jasper’s nanny and she was the woman who’d snuck into my room that night.

  I was suddenly well aware of the fact that Ivana was not the one in danger. It was Jasper.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I ran out of the office, not even bothering to lock the door behind me. Nothing was as important as getting to Jasper before Ivana did. I was wracking my brain for reasons why Ivana would do this, but I just couldn’t come up with any. We’d been such good friends for so long! What would make her turn on me like this?

  I clambered onto my horse and urged it forward, though I feared it would never go fast enough. Tears were rolling down my cheeks and my eyes were wide, terror shining in them. I didn’t know what I was going to do if something happened to Jasper. I had to get there before Ivana.

  The ride seemed to take forever. I rode the horse right up to the porch and jumped off, pushing the front doors open. The house was empty as the staff was off today. Ivana knew I would be going back to the office and she knew there would be no housekeepers or grounds men to protect Jasper.

  I ran through the house until I saw Ivana walking down a long corridor toward Jasper’s office. She had the pistol in hand and turned the corner before I could reach her. I sprinted down the hall and ran into the study, surprised to find it empty. Ivana seemed just as surprised, turning when she heard the floors creaking under my feet.

  She stared at me, her eyes narrowed and full of anger. For a long moment neither of us said anything. We just stared at each other and I struggled to find words to describe my hurt and betrayal. There were so many things I wanted to say and ask, but only one seemed important.

  “Why did you do this, Ivana?” I whimpered.

  She leaned back and stared at me. “Why?” she repeated, a grin starting to spread over her lips. “Because I love you.” Her tone was soft and a bit crazed. There was a glint in her eyes that told me she wasn’t thinking clearly at all.

  Ivana started to close the space between us and when I started to take a step back she raised the gun pointing it right at me. “Don’t move, sweet girl,” she purred.

  I held as still as I could, my eyes trained on her. “How could killing a woman you didn’t even know show your love for me?”

  “Killing him was too risky,” she said simply. “They would have put a lot of money and effort into find the person who killed him, and I probably would have been caught. But If I could kill someone else in the house and pin it on him, the government would take his head off for me. I had his confession all written up and I was in the process of planting all the evidence when he called you and threw a wrench in my plan.”

  My bottom lip was starting to tremble with unfiltered rage. “You thought that plan would work?”

  “It’s worked before,” she said with a sly grin. “For a while anyway. The Russian police caught onto me after my third murder, but I got out before they could convict me,” she said with a shrug. “I admit I got careless. When he kicked you out, I thought we were in the clear. We were finally going to be together. Then that bastard came back and he took you from me,” she growled through clenched teeth. She was still moving toward me, the gun raised and shaking in her hand.

  “I loved you,” she whispered, her eyes wide and manic now. “I loved you more than that man ever could have! We would have been happy!” she snapped. “I would have given you everything! I would have given you the world! We could have lived out our lives together, but now you’re going to force me to end it all here and now.”

  I started at the gun and then back up at Ivana. “Not at all, my darling,” I said, dropping my voice. “That’s not it at all. I didn’t
know you loved me. If I’d known, I would have ended this charade with Jasper ages ago so that we could be happy together. How was I to know that you loved me?”

  “You want to be with me?” She whispered, her eyes widening in surprise.

  “Of course! How could I not? You were always the one who was there for me. You cared about me when no one else would! You’re my rock,” I said quickly, reaching out with one hand. “Come to me, my love. Come to me. We’ll take him out for good and we’ll live in this place together. They’ll never suspect us.”

  The words tasted foul in my mouth. I was so angry that I was struggling to speak, though I could only hope that it came across as a flood of emotion rather than rage. I blinked tears out of my eyes, trying my best to hold myself together.

  Ivana stepped toward me, lowering the gun and closing the space between us. She pressed her lips to mine and in that moment, I raised my knee and forced it into her gut. She gasped as the air was knocked out of her and I grabbed the gun, trying to yank it from her hands, but it was no use. She had a strong hold on it and clearly wasn’t planning on releasing it.

  We fell back and she landed on me, still gripping the gun, struggling to point it at me. I fought with her, struggling and screaming at the top of my lungs, praying that someone might hear it. Her hands were shaking but she managed to press the barrel of the gun into my chest right over my heart.

  “I knew you didn’t love me!” she screamed hysterically. “Don’t worry, you two will be together soon,” she hissed.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and heard the loud pop of the gun. I waited for the pain but when there was none, I realized that Ivana was laying on top of me. A warm liquid was running down my neck and when I opened my eyes I realized Ivana was gasping for breath, holding her neck as blood ran down her chin.