The Scorsolini Marriage Bargain

THE SCORSOLINI MARRIAGE BARGAIN

BY

LUCY
MONROE

THE SCORSOLINI MARRIAGE BARGAIN

Lucy
M
o
nr
o
e

ISBN: 1-55254-446-X

First North American Publication 2006.

Copyright © 2006 by
Lucy
Monroe
.

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. ® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries. www.eHarlequin.com

For
Marilyn
Shoemaker
, a dear friend and valued reader. Your support and encouragement means the world! And thank you for helping me to name the secondary islands Diamante, Rubino & Zaffiro, of
Isole
dei Re
for this trilogy.

Hugs
,
Lucy

Chapter 1

“Some days, being
a p
rincess is right up there with long-term incarceration on Alcatraz.”
Therese
muttered the words as she pulled up the zip on her favorite mint-green sheath dress while preparing for yet another formal dinner in the Palazzo di Scorsolini.

It wasn’t the prospect of one more dinner eaten with King
Vincente
and the dignitaries who had come to visit him that made her cranky, though. It was frustration with a day spent in her own version of purgatory. She loved the king of
Isole
dei Re
and was closer to him than her own father.

But there were still times she wished she and
Claudio
had their own home, not just a set of apartments in the royal
palace
of
Lo Paradiso
. No matter how beautiful, the suite afforded little privacy when she and
Claudio
were expected to eat most meals in the formal dining room. The fact that her duties as princess ruled even her personal time could be a major drawback. Especially tonight, when she was jittery with the need to share the news she’d received from her doctor in Miami. She’d gone to the States for this particular examination in order to guarantee absolute discretion.

She almost wished she hadn’t now. Because if the press had gotten hold of the story, at least she would be saved from having to impart the news to
Claudio
.

It was a craven thought and she was no coward.

But even she, with years of training as a diplomat’s daughter, could not look on the end of her marriage with equanimity. Unlike her parents, she did not see life as a series of political and social moves and countermoves. For her…real life hurt.

Claudio
finished putting on his second cuff link and pulled both sleeves straight with precise, familiar movements that made her heart ache at the prospect of losing that familiarity. His lips twisted, giving his gorgeous face a cynical cast. “I will be sure and tell your mother you think so.”

Therese
stopped on her way to the table where she had left the jewelry she planned to wear tonight. “Don’t you dare.”

Claudio
found her mother’s social climbing tendencies a source of amusement, but
Therese
was not so sanguine. She, after all, was the ladder her mother expected to climb up on.

“I have no desire to listen to Lecture 101 from Mother on how lucky I am to be a princess, or how privileged my life is.” Not to mention the bit about how amazing it was that
Claudio
had chosen
Therese
from amongst all of the eligible women in the world. She really didn’t want to hear that particular treatise, right now.

“Perhaps she will be able to understand your apparent disenchantment with your lot in life better than I can.” The edge in
Claudio
’s voice said he was only partially kidding and his dark gaze was serious and probing.

“I’m not disenchanted with my lot.” Merely devastated by it, but now was not the time to tell him so.

And she couldn’t help feeling her charmed life had been cursed…probably from the beginning, but she’d been too blind to see it. She’d bought into the fairy tale only to discover that love on one side brought pain, not pleasure. The happily-ever-after was only for princesses in storybook land…or those who were loved for themselves, like the two women married to the other Scorsolini princes.

“Then what is this comparing being my wife to that of a convict incarcerated in prison?”
Claudio
towered over her with his six-foot-four-inch frame, his scent surrounding her and reminding her just how much she would miss the physical reality of his presence when it was gone.

He was every woman’s dream, the kind of prince that fairy tales really were made of. She had woven enough fantasies around him to know. He had black hair, rich brown eyes and the dark skin tone of his Sicilian forefathers, but the height of a professional athlete. His body was muscular, without an ounce of fat anywhere and his face could have been that of an American film star…perhaps of a different era, though. No pretty boy looks, but rugged angles and a cleft chin that bespoke a strength of character that she had come to rely on completely.

She had to swallow twice before speaking. “I did not say being your wife was like that.”

“You said the life of a princess, which you would not be if you were not married to me.”

“True.” She sighed. “But I didn’t mean to offend you.”

He cupped her cheek in a move guaranteed to send her nerve endings rioting. He so rarely touched her when they were not in bed that when he did so, she didn’t know how to handle it.

“I am not offended, merely concerned.” She could hear that concern in his voice and it made her feel guilty.

He had done nothing wrong…except choose the incorrect woman to be his princess. “It has been a rough day, that’s all.”

His second hand joined the first and he tilted her face up so she could not hope to avoid his discerning gaze. “Why?”

She licked her lips, wishing again they were not going downstairs for dinner with his father. She wished even more that the twinges of pain in her pelvis were just the regular preperiod cramps she had believed them to be when she first went off the pill so they could try for a baby. “I spent the whole morning with representatives of
Isole
dei Re
’s foremost women’s organization discussing the need for day care services and preschools on the islands.”

He frowned as if he couldn’t understand what bothered her about that. She’d had many such meetings and they had all gone rather well. However, all he said was, “I thought Tomasso’s wife was spearheading that.”

“The helicopter flight between the islands exacerbates
Maggie
’s morning sickness, but she didn’t want to put the meeting off. I convinced her to let me take her place. Looking back, I should have had the delegates flown to Diamante to meet with her instead.”

His hands dropped from her face and she felt an immediate chill from the withdrawal, though she was sure he hadn’t meant it that way. “Why? You and
Maggie
share views on this subject. You have certainly discussed it enough to cover all the points adequately.”

“Not according to the delegates.” She grimaced. “They felt that a woman without children, moreover one who had never been forced to work for her living, could not comprehend the challenges faced by working mothers. They believe that
Maggie
is ideal for this endeavor and that I should keep right out of it.”

“They said this to you?” He didn’t sound offended on her behalf, merely curious. He could have no idea how much the other women’s disapproval had hurt.

She felt both exhausted and savaged, especially after the phone call from her doctor in Miami. “Yes.”

“It is a good thing that you grew up learning political diplomacy then.”

“Meaning it might have upset you if I had told them all to take a flying leap?”

Claudio
gave a masculine chuckle as if he could not imagine such a thing. “As if you would.”

“Maybe I did.”

But he just shook his head. “I know you. No chance.”

“Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.” In fact, she knew he didn’t. After all, he’d never once latched on to the fact that she’d married him because she loved him. The marriage of convenience aspect had been a plan hatched in his and her mother’s more mercenary brains.

“Did you?” he asked with a sardonic brow raised.

She wanted to say yes just to prove him wrong, but told the truth instead. “No, but I wanted to.”

“What we want and what we allow ourselves to do are rarely the same thing. And it is a testament to your suitability to your position that you live by this stricture.”

She turned away from him and started putting on her jewelry. “And you wonder why I compared being a princess to being a prisoner?”

“Are you unhappy,
Therese
?”

“No more than most people,” she admitted. She’d been raised from the time she was a tiny child to hide her true emotion, but she was so tired of pretending.

“You are unhappy?”
Claudio
demanded in a voice laced with unmistakable shock.

The man so well-known in diplomatic circles for his perspicacity was thick as a brick where she was concerned.

“Two of the delegates were less than subtle in expressing their belief it was past time I gave you an heir,” she said instead of answering.