The Scorsolini Marriage Bargain

“Thank you, mi precioso. Your offer is appreciated, but I will feel better knowing you are taking care of yourself.” Then he kissed her, putting enough enthusiasm into the effort to show that he was not in the least embarrassed by the public show of affection from his wife.

Therese could not help comparing the way Danette and Marcello interacted with the way that she and Claudio did. She would never have dared to kiss him in something as public as a hospital waiting room. She’d never even kissed him in front of any of his family members in the private apartments of the palace.

Looking back, she realized that in three years, she could probably count on one hand the number of times she had kissed him when they were not already in the process of making love. She had never felt the confidence to instigate lovemaking, but she had always responded…with more passion than she had believed possible.

He’d praised her for it, but now she wondered if she had been too enthusiastic. He’d grown bored with her…because she’d been too easy?

And even before he had told her he had grown bored with her, she’d known he hadn’t felt anything tender toward her like his brothers did for their wives.

She looked at Marcello and Danette, so close they were obviously two halves of the same whole and an ache seared Therese’s heart. She would never know that kind of love because she knew she would never stop loving Claudio, even if right now she disliked him almost as much as she loved him.

Her future stretched out like a bleak, lonely wasteland ahead of her.

What was wrong with her that she did not inspire love in the people who were supposed to hold affection for her? Her parents had only ever seen her as a means to an end or a sore disappointment and Claudio had given her only a marginally more important role in his life. That of lover and helpmate, but he was only too happy to snatch it away.

Danette’s parents adored her, if they were a bit overprotective. Therese had seen that at the wedding. What did the other woman have that was so lacking in herself?

Envy was a sin that she had always been determined never to feel, but as she looked on at her sister-in-law so obviously loved and pregnant with the child Therese craved but would never have, she ached so badly for those things herself that her teeth hurt. She would die rather than see them taken from the sweet Danette, but was not sure her own life was worth a counterfeit dollar without them.

She surged to her feet, needing to get out of there and the suit coat fell to the floor. She bent down and grabbed it and then held it out in Claudio’s general direction. “Here.”

He took it, his fingers brushing her own and she yanked her hand back, stumbling against the couch as her body instinctively retreated as well.

“Therese, are you all right, child?” Flavia asked, her voice laced with concern.

“Fine. J-just tired,” Therese choked out, her eyes burning with tears that were only partially linked to the man lying so fragile in a hospital bed down the corridor. “I’ll wait in the car.”

And dismissing etiquette for the first time in her adult life, she rushed from the room without a single farewell to any of its occupants.

Therese was like a quiet wraith sitting on the seat beside Danette during the car ride to the palace. She spoke only in response to questions from Danette. Claudio, she ignored entirely. Luckily his family had already decided she’d taken his father’s ill health hard and he did not think her behavior would give rise to speculation on his sister-in-law’s part.

But when Therese had gone rushing from the waiting room, he’d had to convince his stepmother not to follow her. He had suspected that her distress had not been centered solely on his father’s condition and he hadn’t wanted to take the risk of his family finding that out.

She’d refused to meet Claudio’s gaze for the past few hours. He didn’t know what she’d seen when she’d looked to him for solace in his father’s hospital room. He’d been certain that his anger toward her did not show because he had not wanted to upset his father. Yet, something she had seen in his eyes had upset her to the point that she had looked away with an expression on her face that made him want to grab her and hold her, no matter how stupid that desire made him feel.

After that, she did not look at him again…not then and not later.

If the prospect of imminent divorce was so upsetting, then why the hell had she asked for one? Or was the reality of her perfidy coming home to roost?

She was beloved by both his parents and he knew they would be hurt deeply if there was to be a divorce. Particularly if they were to discover that Therese had betrayed her wedding vows. She adored both his father and his mother and would not want to see either hurt by her actions.