EXCERPT:

"What the heck is wrong with you?" He was breathing hard, his face white and shocked, his hair dishevelled.

My heart raced. I was both scared and oddly excited to see him in such a state, so unlike his typically controlled self. "I-I don't know."

"You hate me," he said firmly, as though trying to make it true. "You-you hate me. So why the hell would you risk your life for mine?"

"Because," I stammered, and of course he was asking questions I had no answers for. "I might not love you. You might be an awful, despicable person, but... that doesn't make it right for me to stand by and watch you die, not when I could do something about it, not when-"

There were no answers, no words left in my mind or my mouth when he crossed the room and kissed me.

-

ALEXANDER STEELE: Cold-hearted. Hard-headed. Absolutely jaded. And he doesn't believe in love - or expect that any of the above will change with the marriage contract he signs.

KATERINA DEVEREAUX: Gentle. Selfless. Just as stubborn as her future husband. She doesn't know if she can change him - but she has faith that God will.