The Marriage He Must Keep

She moved to pick up the silky wrap that matched her nightgown, pulling it on in a swirl and tying it off. “I’m not a bitch to be left in the kennel, you know.” Oh, it felt good to say what she thought. “What was that?” She pointed with accusation at the twisted sheets. “Was it just something to sweeten me up so I wouldn’t be upset this morning?”

“You started that,” he shot back. “And I am more than happy to stage a do-over if it will sweeten you up.”

She glared daggers into him, letting him see every last ounce of her fury.

The tails of his suit jacket bunched over his wrists as he pushed his hands in his pockets, but he wasn’t as unperturbed as he was trying to pretend. His hands had formed fists in those pockets and his jaw was like iron. He was just as mad and refusing to show it.

“I wasn’t going to leave this room until I’d spoken to you,” he said, tone pithy, then firm. “I’d like you to come down, too, as soon as you can be ready.”

“Why?” She glanced at the clock. “It’s not even seven.”

“I know, but Nonno is making an announcement once everyone else comes down. I want us there when he does. We’re not going back to the town house, cara. We’re living here from now on.”

“What?” Of all the things he might have said... “Are you serious?” She moved to the bed and sank onto the edge, drawing the blankets over her legs, feeling cold. Stunned. “Really? What about...?” She couldn’t even compute how many people this would affect. “This is not going to halt a mutiny,” she told him.

“I was shocked when he suggested it last night, too. I only asked him whether he thought he’d set up false expectations, letting Giacomo move in when he was campaigning for election. He hadn’t expected them to stay on, he said, or that my cousins would inveigle their way into moving in, but...they’re family. He sees now that his generosity has created a gray area.”

She supposed it was better for Ermanno to announce his wishes now than for Alessandro to inherit sometime in the future and then what? Turn everyone out at that point? That really would be a mess.

“Where will they go?”

“They have homes. Some are rented out.” He shrugged, not saying aloud that they were collecting income while living off Ermanno’s good graces. “I’ll be offering the town house to Giacomo until they are able to move back into their own. That’s one of the reasons I’m going into the city, to set up the movers, along with finalizing the restructuring at the office. I’m not leaving you in a kennel, Octavia,” he added with disdain. “Kindly don’t insult me like that again. I’m asking you to stay here as a statement that this is our home now. This is where I live with my wife and son.”

She could only stare at him, hands squeezing her knees while she took in that running his town house was nothing compared to overseeing the running of a house this size on a huge estate with a working winery among other things. The task intimidated her down to the bottoms of her bare feet.

“Will your grandfather stay here with us? To run the estate?” Please say yes.

“I’ve asked him to, but he wants to move into his grandmother’s rooms attached to the old stable house. We’ll have to take a hard look at its condition. My sisters used it as a playroom when we were young. It may be three or four months before he actually makes the move, but he seemed determined.”

“I don’t know what to say.” She really didn’t.

“You could say that you understand and agree.” He ambled the few steps to bring himself to stand in front of her, then he caught her wrist and drew her to stand. He hooked his arm around her and pulled her tight against his tailored clothes. “You could say that you’ll come downstairs and stand beside me. If you wanted to add that last night was as good for you as it was for me, I’d like to hear that, too.”

She blushed, but he kissed her, not letting her talk as he made her remember exactly why she hadn’t been able to keep her hands off him. With a moan, she softened under his hard kiss, smoothing her hands up the stiff fabric of his jacket to curl around his neck.

He smelled good and molded her against him with that confident way of his, making the silk she wore grow warm and slide against her skin, turning her on even more.

But he wasn’t trying to manage her. With his own swift loss of control last night, he’d made it clear he was as reactive to her as she was to him. He wasn’t trying to persuade a pawn right now. They were equals in bed, and he was asking her to be his partner out of it.