Sins

‘You mustn’t look at me like that, dearest, otherwise I might be tempted to do something naughty,’ she told him softly.

‘I love you so much. I cannot bear the thought of us parting,’ Alessandro responded emotionally.

‘Oh, Alessandro…’ They had reached a remote part of the park, sheltered from the view of others by shrubs. Emerald stopped walking and turned to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

‘Please kiss me, dearest Alessandro,’ she begged him, tilting her face up towards his invitingly, then, once he had started to kiss her, pressing her body into his.

‘I love you. You are my life, my soul. I would do anything for you. You are my everything.’ Alessandro’s passionate declarations were interspersed with equally passionate kisses.

Emerald swallowed down her impatience. His mother’s decision to send him home didn’t leave Emerald much time to do what she had determined she must.

The loathsome Australian was now being accepted everywhere as her father’s heir–accepted and courted by mothers with débutante daughters. Not only was she not now going to be HRH The Duchess of Kent, she was also going to be upstaged by the girl the Australian eventually married. And he would marry, if only to spite her, Emerald knew. She, as the unmarried daughter of the previous duke, would be pushed into the background, whilst his wife, the new duchess, flaunted her title and position. The very thought made Emerald seethe with fresh anger and resentment. She had to marry someone who would make good her boast to Gwendolyn and elevate her above her mother and the future Duchess of Lenchester.

And that someone would have to be Alessandro. It was true that he was foreign, and foreigners were not generally considered good catches, but he was also a prince, a crown prince, and just look at the fuss that had been made over Grace Kelly when she had married Prince Rainier!

As a crown prince he would be expected to marry and produce heirs, so why shouldn’t he marry her? He loved her, after all; he was always saying so.

He had stopped kissing her and Emerald pulled slightly away, feeling satisfied with what she had achieved. All she had to do now was encourage him to propose to her. Which was why she had suggested this private walk in the park.

She was glad now that she had insisted that he behaved so circumspectly with her. The few–very few–rationed kisses she had allowed him only reinforced what she already knew–that he adored her.

But Emerald was no fool. Passionate kisses and a declaration of undying love were not the same thing as a proposal of marriage. Instinctively she knew that she would not be Alessandro’s mother’s choice of a future wife for her son, which meant that Emerald had to ensure that Alessandro committed himself–publicly–to marrying her before he told the princess.

Normally Emerald wouldn’t have wanted to be bothered with such complexities. She was used to people working to gain her approval, not the other way round, but the truth was that she was getting desperate. Her pride was making her desperate. She had believed that her coming-out ball would be an evening of triumph, followed by the announcement of her engagement to the Duke of Kent. Now she had been forced to admit that she had miscalculated badly and must somehow backtrack from that without losing face.

She had to secure the match of the season, and that meant marrying Alessandro. There was no way she was going to let Gwendolyn and the Australian sit there laughing at her. Emerald had spent many hours tussling mentally over her situation. Getting Alessandro to propose to her should be easy enough, but then there would be his mother to contend with. Finally Emerald had had a brilliant idea. She’d read in a magazine about a society heiress who’d eloped to Gretna Green, and immediately she’d recognised what a perfect solution such an elopement would be to her own problems–and, of course, the sooner the better.

‘I cannot bear to leave you,’ Alessandro told her, ‘but there are duties waiting for me at home.’

Emerald knew she couldn’t afford to delay.

‘Duties which would be much easier for you to bear if you had a wife,’ she suggested firmly, moving closer to him.

Alessandro sighed. ‘Mama has said as much to me herself. Because of what happened to my father she is anxious to see me do my duty to the principality and provide an heir.’

Immediately Emerald reached for his hand and said breathlessly, ‘And as the girl you love, and who loves you, there is nothing I want to do more than share that duty with you as your wife.’

Alessandro squeezed her hand. ‘If only that could be so,’ he told her emotionally, ‘I would be the happiest man in all the world.’

‘Of course it can be so,’ Emerald stated firmly. ‘It should be so, when we love one another so much.’

‘My mother—’

Emerald could guess what was going to come next and hurried to head Alessandro off. ‘Your mother loves you–you have told me so often–and she will want your happiness more than anything else. I know this is so because I know that when I have children–sons–that is how I shall feel about them. And besides, why should we not marry?’

Alessandro was wavering, she could tell. Emerald focused on making herself look vulnerable, a skill she had perfected as a child. Her bottom lip trembled and tears filled her eyes.

Adopting a breathy voice she begged him, ‘You do love me like you’ve said that you do, don’t you? Only I don’t think I could bear it now if you didn’t, when I love you so much.’

‘Of course I love you.’

Emerald exhaled in relief. One more push and it would all be over.

‘And you want to marry me.’

She could feel his uncertainty.

‘Well…’