The Scorsolini Marriage Bargain (10 page)

The words hurt because according to
Claudio
, she was no match at all, but
Therese
forced a smile. “Please, won’t you let me stay with you?”

“There are things my son and I must discuss. Just in case. I will not rest afterward if I am worried about you not getting your rest.”

“Don’t talk like you are going to die, please.”

“We must all face death sooner, or later, child.”

“But I want it to be later. Tomasso said you will be fine. The doctors said so.”

The king shrugged, the casually confident movement at odds with his frail appearance. “The surgery has a very high success rate, but there is always a risk in things like this. It will be as God wills.”

“I don’t believe it is your time.”

“Neither do I,
cara
, but it would be remiss of me not to settle last minute issues with my heir.”

Therese
looked to
Claudio
. She did not know why. He was no longer her champion…if he ever had been. Certainly she could not expect any sort of comfort from that direction, but she’d gotten used to relying on him.

Their eyes met and his dark gaze held…nothing. She blinked and turned her head, unable to deal with that as she all at once realized that while their marriage had not been the love match of the century, there had been intimacy. She recognized it only now that it was gone.

Always before when their gazes met, she had seen a recognition of herself and her place in his life in his eyes. To see nothing of the kind now made her realize that perhaps there had been more to her marriage than she had thought, but whatever there had been—it was gone now.

“Go home and rest. I will it,” King
Vincente
said, managing to sound arrogant and in charge even in his weakened state.

She had no trouble seeing how he had kept news of his heart attack from his sons until he desired it to reach them.

“I will leave,” she said, knowing he would take the words for acquiescence. But she’d lived enough years around politicians to know how to appear to make a promise without doing anything of the kind.

She would leave…the hospital room.

“Good.”

She leaned down and kissed both his cheeks. “Be well, Papa. For all our sakes.”

“I will do my best.”

She forced another smile. “I’m sure you will.”

She could not make herself meet
Claudio
’s gaze again. “See you later,” she said in his direction and walked from the room.

She went directly to the waiting room where she knew she would find the others and she sent Tomasso and
Maggie
on their way.
Maggie
was dead on her feet and it didn’t take much persuasion to get Tomasso to leave so his pregnant wife could be put to bed.

Therese
took up residence in the waiting room, having the small comfort that if King
Vincente
took a turn for the worse, this time she would be on the spot. She curled up on the sofa and watched the television sightlessly as it created a sort of white noise to the background of her unhappy thoughts.

She woke up to the sound of voices.
Claudio
, his brother
Marcello
, his wife Danette and Flavia were talking in hushed tones as if trying not to wake her.

Therese
sat up. A suit jacket that had been placed over her like a blanket fell off one shoulder.
Claudio
’s scent and warmth from his coat surrounded her, comforting her when it should do anything but in the current situation. He must have found her here earlier and covered her.

He turned to face her, even though she’d made no sound. His face was an impenetrable mask. “You did not go back to the palace.”

“I never said I would.”

“You said you would leave.”

“I did.” She looked away from his regard, no more capable of dealing with this new remote
Claudio
than she had been earlier. “The hospital room.”

“But not the hospital.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I wanted to be here in case something else happened.”

“You knew Papa and I assumed you would leave with Tomasso.”

She shrugged, dislodging the suit coat further. “I am not responsible for assumptions brought about by two men’s arrogant belief that the rest of the world will fall in with their plans simply because they say so.”

Flavia chuckled. “That is telling him,
Therese
. Do not let this bossy son of mine believe he rules you completely.”

“There is no chance of that, Mamacita.”

Therese
was fairly certain she was the only one who heard the harsh undertone in
Claudio
’s voice, but to her ears it was as loud as if he’d shouted out how much he disliked her.

“I am glad to hear it. You are far too much like your papa, believing you control the world around you and everyone in it. Life does not work that way, as I am sure Vincente is realizing for perhaps the first time.”

“He is more than aware, I assure you,”
Claudio
said, his voice now subdued.

“And you, my son?”

“Content yourself with knowing that he and I are both aware how little our will carries the day.”

Flavia’s face softened with concern. “I am sorry,
Claudio
. Times like this are difficult, but Vincente will be fine. Believe it.”

“I hope you are right.”

“I am always right, it is just the males of this family are slow catching on sometimes.”

Danette laughed out loud while both Scorsolini brothers smiled wryly. Neither one would hurt the older woman by arguing with her, but both were too arrogant to believe anyone else ever knew better than they did. It was all
Therese
could do not to blurt out that Flavia had been wrong about one thing.

Like King
Vincente
, she had always believed that
Therese
and
Claudio
were the perfect match and had been vocal in saying so. Once his father’s health could withstand the blow,
Claudio
would make sure everyone knew just how wrong both his parents had been.

Flavia said, “I would like to see Vincente.”

“Yes, of course,”
Claudio
replied. “He is sleeping now, but may waken again. He will be glad to find you by his bedside.”

Marcello
nodded. “I will stay as well.”

“In that case, I shall see our wives to the palace. It appears that is the only way I can be assured that
Therese
will return to rest.”

“When is the surgery scheduled for?”
Therese
asked, ignoring the barb and doing a fair job of avoiding his gaze while making it appear she was looking at him.

“Five hours from now.”

“I want to be here.”

“Then you will return with me now to the palace and get at least some semblance of rest beforehand.”

If there were shares in the bossy market, he had a stranglehold on them. “I don’t need you telling me what to do.”

“I’d prefer to stay here with
Marcello
and Flavia,” Danette said before
Claudio
could answer.

Marcello
gently put his arm around her slightly thickened waist and pulled her close, kissing her temple. “You are pregnant,
cara
mia, you need to rest for both your sake and that of our unborn child. Please do me the favor of returning to the palace with my brother.”

Therese
wondered if
Claudio
would ever have been as tender with her…even if she had been pregnant. A tiny voice inside her heart said it wouldn’t have mattered. She would have had her dreams with, or without he extra bit of tender care. Seeing her deepest wish living out fulfillment in another woman’s body brought a poignant pain that had nothing to do with envy.

She adored Danette and wanted only the best for her, but
Therese
could no more stifle the urgent longing inside herself for a child than she could pretend that
Claudio
loved her.

Danette turned in Tomasso’s arms and kissed him on the lips, right there in front of the rest of the family and he did not even sort of flinch. “If that’s what you really want, all right. But are you sure you don’t want me here as moral support?”

“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.

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