Sins

This was no time to hesitate. Hurling herself against his chest, Emerald pressed a tearful kiss on his cheek, sobbing, ‘You do, I know you do. Oh, this is so wonderful. You’ve made my dreams come true, Alessandro.’

Well, that, at least, was almost true.

‘I promise you that I’ll be the best wife you could have, I’ll give you lots of lovely sons and your mother will be so pleased to see you so happy that she will love me as much as I know I am going to love her. Oh, I can’t wait for us to be married. I can’t wait…’ she repeated, voice softer and sexier, now the deliberate wriggle of her body against his making her meaning plain as she offered him her lips.

How could he resist? Alessandro had been telling the truth when he’d declared his passion for her. He was besotted with her, totally blinded. Shielded from the realities of life by an overprotective and domineering mother, he knew nothing whatsoever about girls like Emerald. How could he when the princess had taken great pains to make sure that he never met any?

Now, with Emerald in his arms and behaving in such an unfamiliar way, Ale

ssandro’s heart swelled with love and sentiment whilst his body hardened with longing.

‘I want to be yours so much,’ Emerald whispered to him. ‘But we mustn’t until we’re married. You must be strong for us both, darling, darling Alessandro, because I don’t think that I can be.’

Should she urge him on and then use that to put extra pressure on him, or was it true that once you’d let a boy do ‘it’ they thought that you were easy and didn’t want you as much? Emerald wasn’t prepared to take the risk.

Whisking herself out of Alessandro’s arms as speedily as she had flung herself into them, she demanded, ‘You must call on my mother, of course, to ask for my hand.’

Alessandro was hanging his head.

‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ Emerald demanded. She knew perfectly well what was wrong, but she wasn’t going to let him know that.

‘I want to marry you. My heart is given to you for all time. But I am afraid that it will not be allowed.’

‘Not allowed? When we love one another so much? Who could be so cruel? Alessandro, we cannot let anyone keep us apart. I will die without you to love me. You are my life now.’

‘As you are mine.’ He was close to tears again.

‘We must be together. We must get married without anyone knowing. Once we are married, everyone will have to accept it.’

‘It is not possible that we could do that.’

‘Yes it is,’ Emerald told him promptly. ‘There is this place in Scotland called Gretna Green, where people elope in secret to get married.’

Alessandro was starting to look apprehensive. ‘We cannot…’

‘Yes we can,’ Emerald assured him. ‘I will arrange everything. All you have to do is tell your mother that you are going to stay with a friend. She cannot object since she is so busy nursing her cousin.’

‘She will not give me permission to go.’

He meant it, Emerald recognised, inwardly cursing her mother-in-law-to-be.

‘You are a man, Alessandro, not a child, a crown prince, how can you rule a country if you allow your mother to rule you?’ Emerald asked, deliberately wounding his male pride.

‘She is anxious about my safety; she cannot help it. She worries about me all the time.’

‘We don’t want to worry her, of course,’ Emerald agreed. She certainly didn’t want his mother interfering, and stopping Alessandro from marrying her. It was because she suspected that the princess would seek to do just that Emerald had suggested they elope in the first place.

Alessandro looked relieved. ‘I will tell her that I want to marry you. Once she has met you she will love you just as I do.’

‘But what if her cousin dies? Won’t your mother want to go into mourning? That will mean that we will have to wait for ever before we can get married and I can’t bear that. I want us to be together now, Alessandro. Now and for ever. If we elope, then we can be married straight away. Just think how wonderful that will be. I know your mother will be disappointed and perhaps even a little bit cross–my mother will be too–but I know that once they see how happy we are together and that we are meant for one another, they’ll be happy for us. I know that some girls would insist on a big wedding, but all I want is to be your wife, and as quickly as possible.’ How true that was, and she could still have the big wedding party once they were married.

‘Instead of telling your mother in person you can post a letter to her as we leave London, saying that you are visiting a school friend, so that she isn’t worrying about where you are.’

He was looking uneasy so Emerald continued, ‘You said the other day that you have hardly seen her since you came to London because she spends so much time with her sick cousin.’

‘That is true, yes.’

‘You see, it will be simple. All you have to do is tell her that you have been invited by this school friend to visit his family estate. I will help you write the letter. Oh, my darling, darling Alessandro, it will be so wonderful,’ Emerald told him, changing tack. ‘Imagine it, just the two of us under the same roof, waiting to get married and then coming back here to London to tell everyone. How exciting it’s going to be. We shall have a huge party and I shall have to be presented at court again, because that is what happens when you get married. Princess Emerald. Oh, I can’t wait.’