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calmly.
‘Even though you don’t know me.’
She hesitated, and he took another sip of wine, watching her over the rim of his glass. He wondered how far he would have to push her to evoke some response—any response. Further than that, clearly, for she didn’t answer, merely sipped her own wine, her expression coolly serene.
‘It doesn’t bother you,’ he pressed, ‘that we barely know each other? That you are going to pledge your life to a stranger? Your body?’
Awareness flared in her eyes at his provocative remark, and he took a step towards her. He wanted her to admit it did, longed for her to say something real, something about how strange or uncertain or fearful this arrangement was. Something. Anything.
She regarded him for a moment, her expression thoughtful and yet still so shuttered. ‘So you asked me earlier,’ she remarked. ‘And yet I thought that was the point of this evening. To get to know one another.’
‘Yet you came to Maldinia prepared to marry me without such a luxury.’
‘A fact which seems to provoke you, yet I assume you have been prepared to marry me under the same circumstances?’ She was as coolly challenging as he had been, and he felt a flicker of respect, a frisson of interest. At least she’d stopped with her milky thank yous. At least she was being honest, even if he despised such truth.
‘I was and still am,’ he answered. ‘I have a duty to provide an heir.’
The faintest blush touched her cheeks at the mention of heirs and she glanced away. ‘So you are acting out of duty, and I am not?’
‘What duty insists you marry a king?’
‘One it appears you wouldn’t understand.’
‘Oh, I understand,’ he answered, and she pressed her lips together, lifted her chin.
‘Do you? Why don’t you tell me, then, what you understand?’
He stared at her for a moment, and then decided to answer her with honesty. He doubted he’d get even a flicker of response from her. ‘You want a title,’ he stated flatly. ‘A crown. Wealth and power—’
‘And in exchange I will give you my allegiance and service,’ she answered back, as unruffled as he’d suspected. ‘Children and heirs, God willing. Is it not a fair trade?’
He paused, amazed at her plain speaking, even a little admiring of it. At least she wasn’t pretending to him, the way so many others would. He could be thankful for that, at least. ‘I suppose it is,’ he answered slowly. ‘But I would prefer my marriage not to be a trade.’
‘And yet it must be, because you are king. That is not my fault.’
‘No,’ he agreed quietly. ‘But even so—’
‘You think my reasons for this marriage are less than yours,’ Liana finished flatly. ‘Less worthy.’
Her astuteness unnerved him. ‘I suppose I do. You’ve admitted what you want, Lady Liana. Money. Power. Fame. Such things seem shallow to me.’
‘If I wanted them for my own gratification, I suppose they would be.’
He frowned. ‘What else could you possibly want them for?’
She just shook her head. ‘What has made you so cynical?’
‘Life, Lady Liana. Life.’ He glanced away, not wanting to think about what had made him this suspicious, this sure that everyone was just out for something, that people were simply to be manipulated and used. Even your own children.
‘In any case, you clearly don’t relish the prospect of marriage to me,’ she said quietly.
‘No, I don’t,’ he answered after a pause. He turned to meet her clear gaze directly. ‘I’m sorry if that offends you.’
‘It doesn’t offend me,’ she answered. ‘Surprises me, perhaps.’
‘And why is that?’
‘Because I had assumed we were in agreement about the nature of this marriage.’
‘Which is?’ he asked, wanting to hear more despite hating her answers, the reality of their situation.
She blinked, a hint of discomfiture, even uncertainty, in the way she shifted her weight, clutched her wine glass a little more tightly. ‘Convenience.’
‘Ah, yes. Convenience.’ And he supposed it was convenient for her to have a crown. A title. And all the trappings that came with them. ‘At least you’re honest about it.’
‘Why shouldn’t I be?’
‘Most women who have wanted my title or my money have been a bit more coy about what they really want,’ he answered. ‘More conniving.’
‘You’ll find I am neither.’
‘How refreshing.’
She simply raised her eyebrows at his caustic tone and Sandro suppressed a sigh. He certainly couldn’t fault her honesty. ‘Tell me about yourself,’ he finally said, and she lifted her shoulders in a tiny shrug.
‘What is it you wish to know?’
‘Anything. Everything. Where have you been living?’
‘In Milan.’
‘Ah, yes. Your charity work.’
Ire flashed in her eyes. ‘Yes, my charity work.’
‘What charity do you support again?’
‘Hands To Help.’
‘Which is?’
‘A foundation that offers support to families with disabled children.’
‘What kind of support?’
‘Counselling, grants to families in need, practical assistance with the day-to-day.’ She spoke confidently, clearly on familiar ground. He saw how her eyes lit up and everything in her suddenly seemed full of energy and determination.
‘This charity,’ he observed. ‘It means a lot to you.’
She nodded, her lips pressed together in a firm line. ‘Everything.’
Everything? Her zeal was admirable, yet also surprising, even strange. ‘Why is that, Lady Liana?’
She jerked back slightly, as if the question offended her. ‘Why shouldn’t it?’
‘As admirable as it is, I am intrigued. Most people don’t live for their philanthropic causes. I would have thought you simply helped out with various charities as a way to bide your time.’
‘Bide my time?’
‘Until you married.’
She let out an abrupt laugh, the sound hard and humourless. ‘You are as traditional as my parents.’
‘Yet you are here.’
‘Meaning?’
He spread his hands. ‘Not many women, not even the daughters of dukes, would enter a loveless marriage, having barely met the man in question, in this day and age.’
She regarded him coolly. ‘Unless, of course, there was something in it for them. Money. Status. A title.’
‘Exactly.’
She shook her head. ‘And what do you see as being in it for you, Your Highness? I’m curious, considering how reluctant you are to marry.’
His lips curved in a humourless smile. ‘Why, all the things you told me, of course. You’ve detailed your own attributes admirably, Lady Liana. I get a wife who will be the perfect queen. Who will stand by my side and serve my country. And of course, God willing, give me an heir. Preferably two.’
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