Page 29 of Stranded with His Runaway Bride

‘What boy? Was he a sweetheart of yours?’

An odd gruffness to his voice made her look up. Those blue eyes were unreadable in the low light, but his expression was curiously intense.

‘No, nothing like that. I actually only met him on one occasion but the memory of it has stayed with me for years.

‘I was only eleven, I’d accompanied my parents on an official visit to a food festival. We’re big on those in San Nicolo. Food and wine make up our biggest exports. A teenage boy had entered his farm’s cheese in one of the competitions and he should have won. It was the best there that day, but my parents gave the prize to one of their cronies. I tried to argue with my mother about it, but she told me, in no uncertain terms, to be quiet and remember my place.’ She shrugged. ‘I know it probably sounds insignificant to you.’

‘Not at all. It’s those small moments that shape who we are.’

‘I don’t know why I even tried to make a difference. My parents never listened to me. I was a second daughter when what they wanted was a son. My mother used to look at me as if it were my fault. She tried to raise us in the way she thought appropriate to our futures but there was no love in it.’

‘Did you love her?’ Leo asked.

‘Who doesn’t try to love their parents? Until it becomes obvious you’re a big fat disappointment to them. Is it terrible to say that I didn’t miss them much after they were gone? Uncle Guido at least showed some minor interest in me, even if it was only to get me ready to be a wife to you.’

‘And we know how successful he was doing that!’ Leo said. But this time she couldn’t feel any humour in it.

‘My parents poured all their efforts into getting Francesca ready to be your grand duchess, but in the end she hadn’t even wanted it. How could she have forgotten? The duchy is everything, our people needed her.’

Leo’s eyes glittered. ‘So you hatched a plan to take power yourself?’

She’d come to terms with how Leo affected her physically, she hadn’t reckoned on her prospective husband being so emotionally attentive and that he would take the time to listen and even take her seriously.

‘Yes. I did. I was about to be married and that would mean losing the thing I wanted most. I had to act. If I want to truly serve the people, I have to be free.’

‘Freedom,’ Leo said, almost wistfully. ‘That’s a rare commodity indeed.’

‘But you’re a man and a powerful one at that. You’re telling me you don’t have freedom to choose?’

‘The only son of a monarch, my future was mapped out for me from birth. I had no choice in the matter. How different is that from your situation?’

‘Seriously? You think there’s a comparison? You chose to marry Francesca and at any time you could have said no without any consequences. What choice did she or I have?’

He took her left hand and ran his thumb gently across her ringless fingers. ‘And yet here you sit, having said an emphatic no. That looks like a choice to me.’

She should have tugged her fingers free but the warmth and strength of his were so comforting.

‘I may have said no but you still came after me. You plan to change my mind, don’t you?’

‘You’ve already stated what you want is freedom to run the duchy yourself. I doubt you’ll be persuadable.’ He watched her from hooded eyes.

Her stomach did a flip. If he kept looking at her like that she might be persuaded to do anything.

But it was just a ploy to get her back on side. He might not have been responsible for the dismissal of Luisa and Rolfe, or that sudden decision for her to spend last night in Grimentz, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still to be avoided. As soon as this storm cleared, he’d want her to go back to Grimentz with him and be married, she was sure of it.

She snatched her hand free and pushed to her feet.

‘It’s been a trying day and I’m tired. I’d like to rest for a while.’

He lounged back in his seat.

‘There are two rooms in the servants’ quarters we can use. Take whichever you prefer. Though if you want to bathe, now that we are without power, sadly the water will be cold in both.’

He smouldered up at her, with an added wicked curve to the corner of his mouth as he saw the blush spreading across her cheek. ‘Though perhaps you’d welcome the effects of a cold shower, Grand Duchessa?’

CHAPTER SIX

LEOSATNURSINGhis glass of wine.

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