"Look, your parents want a chemical plant. I need a wife and your name came up through IT. I read your resume and was very impressed." He sat straight. "We don't have to love each other, but you've been preparing to be a royal bride all your life. Your parents sent you to the best schools. You work and live in the best areas. And you probably understand politics better thanme."
There was so much that she couldn't say. Overwhelmed, she played with her pearls. Of course, she thought about sex, but she didn't bring it up. As his wife, would he expect her in his bed? "I find politics interesting and studied hard but I never thought it was to marryyou."
Studying had been her escape to avoid her parents’ plans to find her ahusband.
"I knew you watched me, from behind your stack of books. I figured you had a crush." Lucio winked at her and sat more relaxed as servers came into the small fiber optic screen with the silver tray that must hold food. They quietly set the table and lit the candle between her and Lucio. Once the plates were laid, they disappeared. She didn't even remember ordering but perhaps the private table came with certain foods. She didn't ask. "And now you'll be mywife."
"I was a teenager!" Her face heated and her stomach was in a huge knot. "What I felt or thought I felt doesn'tmatter."
"So you agree that who we were as teenagers doesn't matter now that we are adults." Lucio folded his napkin over his lap. "At fourteen and fifteen, we weren’t at our most capable for thinking. And as for my offer, why don't you take tonight and think about it. Let’s eat." He picked up his fork and bit into his lemon butter chicken. He swallowed, wiped his lips and leaned closer, "So we eat this delicious dinner that's being delivered to ourtable."
His confidence rattled her composure. He must have spoken to her parents as well as her sister and now they thought to trade her in for a contract. There was no way she'd agree, but her stomach churned. She’d never learned to say no to them, ever, using evasion to avoid a directconfrontation.
She’d gone on some awful dates to appease them, men with the right lineage but nochemistry.
Yet Lucio remembered that she’d reread Pride and Prejudice over and over again and that when, finally, he read it, years later, he’d thought ofher.
Drat, Lucio was even good at making her feel comfortable. She swallowed, but in her heart of hearts, she feared she’d give in to himtoo.
3
The limo pulledup to her apartment and she jumped out before anyone opened her door. All she could think about was a good night kiss. Lucio rolled down his window and winked at her. "Goodnight."
"Night." He’d charmed her in the restaurant and her lips tingled as if he’d actually kissed her. She unlocked the door on the street and raced up the steps to her flat. Once inside, she locked her apartment door and leaned against it while she took a deepbreath.
Of course, Lucio hadn't followed her. The idea of a medieval wedding where she was the prized maiden was ridiculous. She imagined her parents signing contracts with her as the main offering. This wasn't the 14th century anymore. If they tried to force her, then she'd hop on a plane and take off to some remote corner of theplanet.
How far had her parents gone in their quest to secure her marriage to Lucio? Her sister remained the apple of their eyes. She picked up the phone, dialed, and listened to the ring until she reached voice mail. Great. She sighed, listened to her mother's instructions and heard the beep. "Mom. Dad. Are you up? I don't know where you two are, but I'm looking for you. I met with Lucio Aussa and he wants to marry me and said it was your idea. Call meback."
She clicked off her phone. So much for immediate answers. She sank down on her couch. Her parents probably didn’t view what they’d done as medieval. They were always about business. If they played hardball with her, everything she thought she’d achieved on her own might disappear in a blink of an eye. Her career as political analyst was rewarding but there were a lot of qualified people with her degree to take her job at Whitehall andFisk.
With her knees to her stomach, she curled tight and wished none of this had happened. Then she let her legs go, stood and took a deep breath. She would be strong and make her opinion completely clear—no feeling sorry forherself.
The ring of her phone broke the silence. Hoping it was her parents, she reached for it and answered without checking the screen. "Hello?"
"So, have you seen Lucio yet,sis?"
Amy jerked the phone away from her ear, like that might help her escape her sister'swrath.
"Yes, we had dinnertonight."
"He's as good looking as ever," Evie said. "He came to see me yesterday and if I wasn't already engaged, I'd have been all over him. Where did yougo?"
Amy's insides quivered but she brought the phone back to her ear. "AlainDucasse."
Evie's voice grew hard. "Sure beats the school cafeteria. His family wants him to marry you, and our parents agree. I guess my years of working on them paid off foryou."
Their parents hadn’t been the reason Evie lost Lucio. Since the incident, Evie spent her life working to ensure no one disagreed with her ever, which didn’t make for a pleasant family dynamic. Amy refused to acknowledge the butterflies in her stomach. "So he told you his plan?"Before even askingme!
Evie's voice had more of an edge when she said, "Lucio looked me right in the eyes, said that I was nothing more than a memory to him, and that he intended to meet youtoday."
"Evie, I didn't know he was coming, going to see you or anything else." Amy prayed her sister didn't go on a warpath. The last thing she needed was her sister's decision to throw away everything she had with the duke for another shot with Lucio. "Michael loves you. That has to count forsomething."
Evie huffed and let out a long sigh. "I thought Lucio used to love me, but he was so...cold."
The man Amy had sat across from at dinner tonight hadn’t been cold, but he hadn’t exactly been warm either. They’d talked about political leanings of Italy and England's removal from the European Union, though neither of them expressed much of an opinion other than sharingknowledge.
The conversation could have been with any of her clients—polite and neutral—though Lucio's sexy full lips and dark eyes made her think of things besides politics. She hugged her sofa pillow to her stomach. "Evie..."
