The Scorsolini Marriage Bargain (21 page)

“There is no other man,” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe we are back to that.”

“Then why?”

“It’s for the good of the country,
Claudio
. You would see that if you were thinking with your brain and not your pride.”

“No.” He glowered. “The good of the country is best served by you staying as my wife.”

She couldn’t believe he was being so stubborn. “Not if I can’t give you children.”

“If you cannot, I have brothers and a nephew who are in line to the throne.”

“You heard your brothers last night. They don’t want their children to have the pressures of growing up to be king.”

“Tough,” he said without the slightest hint of apology. “While they may not have been born first, they were born to a king. If I were to die before having a child, Tomasso would have to take my role and his son would then inherit the throne. It is the way of our bloodline.”

She put both her hands on his chest, needing the feel of his warmth under her fingers. “Don’t talk about dying.”

“Do not talk about leaving me.”

“It isn’t the same thing.”

“No. It is worse, for a man does not choose when he may die but you are talking about willfully killing our marriage and removing yourself from my life.”

“For your own good. Don’t you understand that?” she appealed in a choked voice.

“I understand you believe it is for my good, but you are wrong.”

“But—”

“Stop arguing with me. You made a lifetime commitment to me, Princess
Therese
Scorsolini
. I will not let you break it. I will not let you leave me.”

“You can’t stop me.”

“I can. Even if you walk away, I will not remarry. There will be no other chance at heirs for me.”

“Once the divorce is final, you’ll change your mind,” she said, hurting because she was sure it was true.

“There will be no divorce. Perhaps I am not so archaic that I will physically keep you against your will, but there will be no other marriage for either of us.”

“You can’t stop it.”

“I may be powerless to stop some things, my intransigent little wife, but we are talking the divorce laws of
Isole
dei Re
here, not American law. You cannot divorce a member of the royal family without their consent. I will not give it. Ever.”

“That is archaic.”

“Perhaps.” He shrugged, obviously not in the least offended by that judgment. “But it is our law. And we were married here,
Therese
…not in the States. Remember that.”

“But—”

“There are no buts.” He seemed supremely pleased by that statement, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

She didn’t understand it. Surely marriage to her was the weight. “You want to be a father.”

He smiled and one hand settled gently over her lower abdomen. “Yes, and I would like nothing more than for you to carry my child, but we can adopt if you cannot conceive. You will be such a good mother once you get this notion of divorce out of your head.”

“We can’t adopt,” she gasped. “What about progenitor?”

“Of course we can. As for the ascension to the throne, I will have to name my nephew my successor, but it can be done. We are modern royalty, not one of my ancestors.”

“This from the man who just told me he was sticking with an archaic law to keep me married to him?”

“I have had enough of this talk of divorce.” He carefully lifted her from his lap and set her on the bench. Then he stood up and looked down at her, his eyes filled with censure. “You are one of the most compassionate people I know, but you do not seem to care when you stomp with hobnailed boots all over my feelings and my ideals. If all you wanted was a sperm donor when you married, why did you not go to a sperm bank instead?”

“What?” Had he lost his mind? “I don’t think of you as a sperm donor!”

“But the moment you discover I cannot get you pregnant you are ready to divorce me.”

“Not for my sake, for yours,” she stressed, but she was beginning to doubt the validity of her own arguments.

He patently did not want a divorce. Whether it was guilt, a sense of responsibility, pride or just plain physical desire not spent that was prompting him, he wanted to stay married…to her. She’d never anticipated this reaction.

He was still glaring down at her. “It is not for my sake if it will make me unhappy.”

“Would divorcing me make you unhappy?”

“What the blasted hell do you think I have been saying here?”

She stared at him, totally unsure what to say.

“Say something.”

“I’m in shock.”

“And that makes me angry. What have I done to make you believe our marriage meant nothing to me?”

“We married for convenience. It wasn’t about love. I knew that when you asked me to be your wife. I fit your requirements. All of them.”

“You are right…I married you because you were the ideal woman for me. That being the case, what made you determine I have no feelings for you? Of course I do.” But he looked like the words shocked him, as if he was having some kind of major inner revelation.

She refused to speculate about what that could be. She’d hurt herself too much already believing in moonshine and manmade miracles.

“You are everything I wanted in a woman and more,
cara
,” he said more quietly.

“But you don’t love me.”

“What is love, if it is not what we have?”

That at least, she had a definitive answer for. “It’s what your brothers have with their wives. I’ve seen a Scorsolini male in love…first Tomasso, then
Marcello
and even lately your father with Flavia. It is not the way you are with me.”

“So, what is it you think I feel for you?”

“Desire. I think you like me…or at least you used to. I think you feel guilty now…because you wish you’d noticed my condition before, and maybe even because you were so cruel about the divorce before you knew why I had suggested it.”

“But you are certain I do not love you?”

“Yes.”

“I suppose that makes us even,” he said on a sigh. “But things are about to change around here.”

With that he turned and walked away.

* * * * *

With King
Vincente
’s return to the palace, things were too hectic the rest of that day for
Therese
to think much about
Claudio
’s final statement in the garden. However, that night when she was alone in their apartments while he attended a function in his father’s stead, her mind chewed on it endlessly.

She had suggested she should go with him to the State dinner, but
Claudio
had refused and no amount of arguing on her part would change his mind. She had even had to assure him that she was feeling much better, which she was, before he had been willing to go himself. Which was a hundred and eighty degree turn around for him.

Duty came first, last and always for
Claudio
Scorsolini
.

Or it had…maybe it still did. He said his duty to her as his wife was of primary importance, but it hadn’t always been that way. She knew it hadn’t. There was too much evidence to the contrary. What had changed? Or, maybe she was tipping at windmills to think anything really had. Only, was guilt really strong enough of a motivator to make someone as entrenched in his responses to life as
Claudio
change so much? It seemed a stretch, even for a Scorsolini.

Equally as important, what had he meant in the garden?

In saying they were even did he mean that he agreed with her and that he didn’t think he loved her, either? Or was he saying that he didn’t believe she loved him? And in either case…what did he mean that things were going to change? No matter how she looked at it, the implication was that love was entering into their marriage bargain…by
Claudio
’s say so.

* * * * *

Despite her final plea to the contrary, he told his family about her condition the next day. He also told them that she would be having surgery for it, and how soon. In a move that was again totally out of character, he had gone on to tell them that while surgery would hopefully take care of her symptoms, enough damage had already been done to her female organs that without IVF, she was for all intents and purposes infertile.

His brothers and father were clearly stunned by his openness, but the other women treated the news as if it was something that the whole family should know. But just as
Therese
had thought it would, the news caused a minor uproar in the family with Flavia taking it hardest of all.

She and King
Vincente
were sitting together on the butternut-yellow suede leather sectional sofa in the family reception room.

The family reception room was the only one in the palace that was decorated with comfortable modern furniture.
Therese
had insisted on disposing of the formal pieces and furnishing the room in warm tones and comfortable seating arrangements. King
Vincente
had informed her that the two recliners she’d had installed were the only ones that had ever been allowed in the palace. A month after the room was finished, he requested a recliner for his own apartments as well.

She’d wanted a place to congregate comfortably as a family once their children came along. It had been important to her to raise her sons and daughters with a sense of normalcy pocketed into every aspect of their lives. She’d wanted warmth and togetherness to be a natural part of their lives, not an anathema. The Scorsolinis were warm and loving people and cooperated with her despite their royal heritage.

Everyone was in there now except Tomasso’s children, who had gone to bed already. King
Vincente
should probably have been sleeping as well, but that was not an option. While he had been willing to sit with his feet up on the chaise lounge at one end of the sectional, he had drawn the line at being sent to bed like a child as he had put it. Flavia had grumbled, but she had fussed around him to make sure he was comfortable and then taken her seat beside him.

Therese
was sitting on the part of the sectional catty-corner to her mother-in-law.
Claudio
had pulled her down to sit beside him rather than allowing her to take an armchair which was her normal habit. Then he’d draped his arm over her shoulders with casual possessiveness. It felt nice, if a bit strange.

Tomasso was seated in one of the recliners with
Maggie
settled snugly in his lap. Which was a lot more intimate…so
Therese
was not embarrassed.
Marcello
and Danette were at the other end of the sectional, his arm around her waist and her back against his body rather than the sofa.

Flavia’s beautiful dark eyes filled with stricken emotion. “I knew something was wrong, but I hesitated to say anything. I am so sorry. Many times, you must have been in pain and hiding it.”

Therese
couldn’t deny it, but she didn’t want her mother-in-law to feel guilty because of it. It was hardly Flavia’s fault that the endometriosis was so painful. Or anyone else’s for that matter.

She reached out to touch Flavia’s hand. “It’s all right. Saying something would not have made a difference.”

“On the contrary, had we known sooner, your treatment could have happened sooner.”

She glared sideways at
Claudio
. “It’s hardly your mother’s fault.”

“I did not say it was, but had you said something earlier, it would have been better for your own sake and much could have been avoided between us.”

She couldn’t believe he was saying that in front of his family. “Let’s not get into that right now,” she hissed.

“If that is your wish, but it is the truth.”

She couldn’t quite stifle her sigh of irritation.

Tomasso made a choking sound on the other side of the room and
Maggie
nudged him with her elbow.

“What is so amusing, fratello mio?”

“
Therese
is frowning at you.”

“You find this funny?”
Claudio
asked, sounding far from amused himself.

“You must admit, it is not like her,”
Marcello
said, his own eyes shimmering with amusement.