His Merciless Marriage Bargain

“I am not an actress, Gio. I am not good at pretending. I can’t even lie well. I don’t know why, but if I tell a fib, I immediately blush—”

“That is why you will marry me. Then you won’t have to worry that about your acting skills. You won’t have to act, or lie. There would be no faux engagement, just a real one, ending in a real wedding. Michael will have his family. You will be able to focus on the baby. I can focus on my business. Everything will be as it should be.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

EVERYTHING WOULD BE as it should—for him.

He would have an heir for his business. He’d have a mother for his nephew. He’d have a warm body for his bed. It was all so easy and convenient for him. She’d made it so easy and convenient.

She inhaled, and then exhaled, face hot, chest on fire. “You don’t even regret having a marriage of convenience, do you?”

“I don’t romanticize marriage anymore, no.”

“But you once did?”

He shrugged. “Once upon a time I was naive.”

“What happened?”

“We got engaged, we nearly married, but in the nick of time I discovered she didn’t want me. She simply wanted a rich husband.”

Rachel went cold, suddenly understanding just why he loathed Juliet so much, and why he’d been so mistrustful of her, too. “I don’t want a rich husband,” she whispered. “I don’t want a husband at all—”

“I understand. But there are consequences in life. We both know that, and we both know marriage would be the best thing for a child that has lost both mother and father before he’s even seen his first birthday.”

“Everything is suddenly we and us, but three days ago you wouldn’t even say his name!”

“Three days ago I had an attorney working on custody.” Giovanni’s gaze met hers. “I was preparing to take him from you. And then you showed up on my doorstep with him…and left him. You played right into my hands.”

“I don’t believe it. You’re just saying that. You’ve never acknowledged him. You’ve refused to acknowledge him.”

“I have spent these past few months researching the legitimacy of your claim, and then considering my options, including suing for sole custody, cutting you out completely. Before I could decide what was the best course of action, you appeared here, forcing my hand.” He studied her from across the table. “Suing for custody might still be the best option. That is, if we don’t choose to raise him together.”

“As a married couple.”

He nodded.

She laughed shortly. Why was she not surprised? “You do not play fair.”

“Life isn’t fair. But I am doing my best to make it as fair as possible for our nephew, whom I believe you care for.”

“I love him dearly.”

“Then it cannot be such a huge sacrifice to stay here and raise him with me.”

She held her breath, heart pounding.

He filled the silence. “You strike me as an extremely capable woman. I have full confidence in you, and that you’ll be able to adjust to your new life. Otherwise, I wouldn’t marry you. I’m marrying you, I’m making you my wife, a Marcello, because you have the qualities I admire in a woman, and the qualities that would make a good wife and an excellent mother.”

“And it doesn’t bother you that I don’t love you?”

“It would bother me more if you said you did.”

Her stomach lurched. “That’s horrendous.”

“I don’t trust romantic love. It’s false and changing.”

“And I think a loveless marriage is horrific. It makes marriage sound lonely and cold.”

“I promise you our marriage won’t be cold, not if we’re sharing the same bed.”

“Sex isn’t the answer to everything!”

“Then you haven’t had the right partner. Great sex is deeply satisfying.”

She couldn’t stop blushing. “You are overly confident.”

He looked at her for an endless moment, before smiling faintly, looking every bit the confident, arrogant man she’d met her first day here. And when was that? Just two days ago? God, it seemed like a lifetime. Everything was changing, the tides were rising, flooding her world, and she couldn’t seem to save herself. “I’ll make you a deal then. You come up with a plan that is better. A plan that immediately protects Michael and gives him a family, as well as financial security. Then tell me and we will do that. But if you can’t propose anything better, we will marry and move forward with our lives.”

He glanced at his watch and grimaced. “I hate to leave on that note, but I have a conference call in a few minutes, and it’s one that I can’t miss.” He pushed back from the table and started from the room, but then stopped before he reached the door. “This is not an easy situation, not for either of us, and I’m sorry.”