Thank you for reading, reviewing, likes and follows – they warm my heart! This is a quick, but important chapter that helps us see a little more about Joseph's motivations and how he feels about Clarisse and why. I'll post another chapter (since this one is so short) this weekend. Enjoy!

Chapter 13

Joseph watched as Clarisse slept. Her face was peaceful and serene as she let go of all the strategy, diplomacy, politics, and worry that had accompanied her every day of her life since she was a very young girl.

While she rested, he tried to process all she had shared with him. How the man who he'd barely stopped from raping Clarisse became the man she trusted to keep his promise to her. He shook his head. Even considering everything she'd told him, he had a hard time reconciling the two.

They'd both had similar home lives growing up. They'd simply made different choices. Clarisse believed in a person's ability to change. She'd obviously experienced it firsthand. There was no denying the truth that Jacob had done what he could, in a very precarious situation, to try to protect her while keep his employer happy.

Of course, she engendered that kind of fierce loyalty in those she met. Jacob, while being deceptive the first go around, had the opportunity to see the private side of Clarisse. While that made part of him rage with jealousy, he also knew that being around her like that could make any man … or woman … question the purity of their motives and want to change for the better.

She'd certainly done that for him.

While he hadn't allowed himself to go down the same dark road as Jacob had traversed, Joseph had certainly fought his fair share of demons, both within and without. His motivations might have appeared proper to those looking at him through shallow glasses. But he had known. While he'd loved his mother and had worked to respect his father, even though he was a hard man who lacked ambition as far as Joseph was concerned, Joseph's ultimate goal was to work hard to give himself a way out of the poverty he'd grown up in and get himself as far away from it as possible. That's why he'd made so many of the choices he'd made in his early years. If he hadn't left, who knows where his life would have ended up.

But all of that had changed the moment he'd met the beautiful blonde he now had the honor of calling his wife. It wouldn't have mattered whether she was a peasant working in the pear fields or standing amongst her roses in the palace gardens while people called her Majesty.

It was her eyes and her smile. They reached into his troubled heart and sent waves of healing throughout his entire soul. She'd changed him. Changed his motivations. Changed what he wanted out of life. And even if he'd never been afforded the opportunity to love her in the open and freely, he knew he would never be able to be without her presence. She calmed him. She inspired him. She made him want to be the man she saw inside.

He sighed.

Which meant, if Jacob were anything like him at all…and he suspected he was more than either of them would want to admit…she had done the same thing to him.

He rolled his head to alleviate the tight muscles in his neck. It wouldn't be easy but, for her, he would try.

He would work on forgiving Jacob and try to find a way to make him a part of his life.

With the decision made, he kicked off his shoes and carefully snuggled in next to the woman who had not only made the most significant impact in his life, but apparently his twin brother's as well.

She murmured as he fitted his body against hers. "Mmmm yes, this is much nicer. I love you, Joseph."

An errant tear ran down his cheek as he kissed the back of her heard. "I love you too, Clarisse. Thank you for loving me and bringing me peace."