The Scorsolini Marriage Bargain

“I know. You expect everything in your life to go smoothly, every person to fulfill their role without question. Your schedule is regimented to the nth degree and surprises are few and far between.”

“I take great pains to make it so.”

“Even to the point of marrying a woman with all the proper qualifications. You had me investigated, tested and then tested me yourself to be sure of my fit as your principessa and future queen. I am certain you never expected me to be a source of frustration for you.”

She was right, but he didn’t understand the bitter undertone in her voice. She had not seemed to mind his endeavors to make sure of her suitability at the time. “You are everything I wanted in a wife. Naturally in my position, I would make every effort to make certain our future was assured, but you were and are perfect for me, cara.”

She flinched at the endearment, much as she frequently flinched from his touch anymore. As if any allusion to intimacy between the two of them hurt her. But they were intimate. They were husband and wife. There was no relationship more intimate than that.

So why did he feel like they existed in completely different hemispheres at the moment?

He pulled her close, ignoring the subtle stiffening of her body. “We do not have to go down to dinner, you know.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Your father is entertaining dignitaries from Venezuela.”

“They are his fishing buddies.”

“They are official diplomats.”

“He will not care if we send word we are not coming. And there are far more interesting ways for us to spend the evening than listening to fishing stories.”

“Talking?”

“That is not what I had in mind.”

Her face set, she pulled away, her rejection as obvious as it was final. “That would be rude.”

Had Therese found someone else who engaged her affectionate nature? Perhaps she had even taken a lover. Rage poured through him at the thought, but in his arrogance he could think of nothing else that would explain the way she rejected him physically. Add that to the fact that at times she acted like her mind was definitely not in the here and now, and he had a compelling argument for believing she had found someone else.

So compelling he was not sure he could control the fury his reasoning evoked. He hated feeling like that. He had married her in order to avoid this kind of emotional upheaval in his life.

Which was the primary reason he had never voiced his suspicion. He knew Therese better than most men knew their wives. He’s made sure of it and everything he knew of her character said she would never, under any circumstances act so dishonorably as to have an affair. That was one of the reasons he had married her. She was a woman of fierce integrity, but she had also used to be a woman of intense passions.

If the one could change…could the other? Did some unknown man have claim on her secret sensuality that used to delight Claudio so much? He could not believe it of her, but as unlikely as it might seem, he had to know the truth.

He would call the detective agency Tomasso had used to trace and investigate Maggie and order an investigation of Therese’s present activities and past movements for the last year. Hawk, the owner of the international detective agency, was wholly discreet and the very best at what he did.

One way, or another, Claudio was going to get to the bottom of the mystery of his wife’s behavior. If another man was involved, he would find out and deal with the situation accordingly.

The thought brought a surge of primitive anger he had no intention of giving in to.

Therese regretted rejecting Claudio’s invitation throughout dinner. So what if all he wanted was sex? She could have made him listen. The problem was, she didn’t want to. As long as she kept the news to herself, part of her could go on pretending her marriage had a chance. But even if they had talked…even if they’d made love and it had hurt a little, she would have one more memory stored up for a future without him. Instead she was sitting with a smile pasted on her face while conversation she had no interest in flowed around her. Claudio had been right. King Vincente and his fishing buddies from Venezuela were too busy swapping stories to even notice her and Claudio’s presence at the table.

Claudio had gotten a phone call halfway through dinner and disappeared to answer it, leaving her entirely to her own devices. Not that he’d been all that communicative beforehand. He was too much the crown prince to make his displeasure with her obvious to the others at the table, but she had felt it.

Just as she had known he would not come back once he had left to take the phone call. He had often chosen work over her company. Tonight would certainly be no different. So, when it came time to take their coffee in the other room, she excused herself.

She’d been feeling twinges of pain in her pelvic area all day even though her menses were not due for a few days. Every month the pain got worse and it no longer limited itself to the days of her monthly. According to her doctor, that was typical for her condition, but it certainly wasn’t pleasant.

It was getting harder and harder to hide the truth from Claudio as well, but soon…she wouldn’t have to. She would tell him the results of the laparoscopy she’d had performed in secret on a trip to Miami. Then she would tell him what the doctor had said her condition meant for the future and he would tell her that their marriage was over.

The thought was far worse than the pain in her lower abdomen and she forced her mind to deal with the present, not the probable future.

Maybe a long, hot soak coupled with a couple of over the counter pain meds would suffice and she wouldn’t be forced to take one of the pain-killing bombs the doctor had prescribed.

They always left her feeling so loopy and she hated it. There were days she couldn’t even remember what she’d done because she’d spent so much of her time in a fog. The shock was that Claudio had never noticed. If she needed proof that she was nothing more to him than a convenience, that was it.

How could a man, even a man as oblivious to the normal issues of life as Claudio, not notice his wife had the behavior pattern of a drug addict? But he never said anything when she was zoned out on pain meds. To give him credit, she did her best to hide her condition from him…in every way. But there was a big part of her that resented the fact it was so easy.

If he cared at all, it wouldn’t be. She was sure of it.

Her heart heavy, she started a bath. No woman should have to live with the constant knowledge that she loved where there was no reciprocating emotion to be had. It hurt too much.

Once the bath was full, she dimmed the lights in the en suite and poured soothing aromatherapy oil into the steaming water. Then, while the whirlpool jets mixed the water, sending forth a soft fragrance, she took her pain meds. She shed her robe, letting the silk fall to the floor and not caring that she should have hung it up. Refusing to even think about how the responsible Therese would have taken care of it so someone else would not have to, the in-pain-and-tired-of-hiding-it Therese slid into bathtub.

She’d been soaking for thirty minutes when she heard sounds in the bedroom. She’d let her mind float, so it only registered on the periphery of her consciousnesses what those sounds meant.

“If you’ve fallen asleep in there, I’m going to be more than mildly annoyed with you.”

Her eyes slid open and the impact of his presence slammed into her like it always did. No man should be this beautiful. “Not sleeping. No need to be irritated.”

“You certainly looked asleep,” he said accusingly, but his dark eyes were eating her up in a way that said bathtub safety was not the only thing on his mind.

His obvious interest found an answering hunger in her body. The effectiveness of the hot bath and painkillers meant she could act on it if she wanted to and she did. Once she told him the truth and he accepted there was only one practical solution for their future, she would have to live the rest of her life without feeling the things his touch invoked.

“I don’t suppose you would consider being my bathtub buddy?” she asked, giving his magnificent body a once-over. “Purely for safety’s sake, you understand.”

His eyes narrowed. “Is that an invitation?”

“What do you think?”

“I think I don’t understand why you forced me to sit through an hour of fishing stories if you were feeling like this.” He made a sound that was suspiciously like a growl of frustration, while his lower body reacted in a basic and obvious way to her suggestion.

She hid her smile of satisfaction at the evidence that if nothing else, the man wanted her. Then she looked up at him from between her lashes. “Are you saying you’re not interested?” she asked in a tone that said she didn’t believe it. “Your body says otherwise.”

“Maybe my body isn’t the one in control here.”

She arched her back, relief coursing through her when the shift in her pelvis the movement caused didn’t so much as result in a tiny twinge of discomfort. “Maybe it should be.”

“Damn it, Therese, what is going on?”

He never swore in front of her. It shocked her so much that she relaxed back into the water. What if he didn’t want her? A man might not be able to control the physical responses of his body, but he didn’t have to give in to them. Not if his mind was turned off in spite of his body’s cravings.

He was upset with her for turning him down earlier. She should have realized he would be, but normally he acted as if her diminished desire didn’t impact him at all. After all, he was a busy man. He had about as much time for sex as he did for meaningful conversations with her, which meant he had almost no time at all.

Saying nothing because she was afraid she’d beg if she did, she stood to get out of the tub.

“What are you doing?” he asked in a low growl.