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“My belief doesn’t matter because we’ll have a prenup.”
“A prenup,” Marianna repeated. “Right.”
“If you have any ideas about blackmailing me, then you can forget it now. I have a team of lawyers at my disposal who will make sure neither you nor your brothers pull the wool over my eyes.” He speared her with a look. “We’ll marry, but only for the sake of the child.”
If she agreed to that, then what other motive could she have unless she was telling the truth? He waited for a moment while she thought it through. Then she nodded.
“And you’ll have a room here, people to wait on you and look after you,” he said. “You’ll want for nothing.”
“I’d prefer to want for everything,” she said, her deep, brown eyes full of strength. Full of emotion. “What’s the point of living if you have nothing to want for?”
Well, fuck. Nico shook his head. Not many people had the ability to render him speechless, but damn if this woman couldn’t slay him with one question.
“This isn’t about us,” he replied. “We’re doing this for the sake of the child.”
“You don’t even want to try?” she asked. “We slept together because there was a spark. Because there was something special.”
“Sparks fizzle out when things get tough. Trust me, I know that for a fact.”
Marianna looked at him curiously, her angry expression melting. Dammit, he shouldn’t have given his vulnerabilities away. But all his feelings were too close to the surface right now. She’d flipped everything on its head.
You don’t even know if she’s actually pregnant, let alone if the baby is yours.
“You didn’t answer my question before,” she said, as if reading his thoughts. “Do you believe me?”
“Why is that so important?”
“Because if we’re going to be married then I need to know that you trust me.”
“Trust is earned.” He didn’t add that it was something he rarely doled out, even to those who’d proven themselves over and over. It was a product of his past, an old wound that refused to heal.
Marianna wrapped her arms around herself. In the extended pause of their conversation, the world impressed itself on the silence. Outside, birds chirped, and a breeze made the trees brush against the windows. It was a quiet, peaceful day. Usually he would be on the couch with his computer in his lap or a book in his hands. Nico feared he might never have that kind of peacefulness again.
Because Marianna did things to his concentration. Bad things.
“Well,” she said eventually. “This definitely isn’t how I’d wanted my life to turn out. But I do think it’s what’s best for the baby.”
It wasn’t how he wanted his life to turn out, either. His plans to grow old alone and in risk-free solitude were currently being burned to the ground.
“And you might not want to try,” she said. “But I do. I’m not going to be shoved away in some dark corner like I’m a shameful secret. You can bet on that.”
Nico watched her beautiful face glow with emotion. She could try, but she wouldn’t get anywhere. He wasn’t capable of giving her what she wanted. The sooner she learned that, the easier life would be.
…
Marianna looked down at the rings adorning her finger. The two simple bands were made of yellow gold. One had a marquise-cut diamond, which sparkled like nothing she’d ever seen before.
The past three weeks had gone past in a blur. Marianna had returned to Australia only long enough to pack her things and say goodbye to the people in her life. Outside her family it was a short list of one: her best friend, Jules. He’d been her savior over the years—a shoulder to cry on, an ear for her problems. His home was a haven when she’d needed to escape her brothers. Leaving him behind was just as painful as leaving her family, and they’d both shed a tear at the airport.
As of an hour ago, Marianna had become Nico’s wife.
She smoothed her hands down the simple white silk sheath that she’d chosen from the flashier options presented to her by Nico’s assistant, Helena. It was like liquid against her skin, so light and perfectly smooth, and it skimmed over her stomach, which was yet to show any signs of the life inside. The ceremony had been small. Private. Only Nico’s best friend, Dion, and Helena had attended as witnesses. She wanted her family there, but since Daniel and Matthew hadn’t gotten many backers for their software yet, money was tight. And her eldest brother couldn’t afford to pay for them all. It was sad, but they hadn’t missed much. It was a glorified form-filling exercise more than it was a ceremony.
The priest had conducted a short mass and then bound them in the eyes of the church and the law. There had been no celebration afterward, no champagne or dancing. Instead, Nico and Marianna had returned to his house, and her suitcases had been delivered from the hotel she’d stayed in the previous night. Their marriage might not feel real yet, but she wanted to do as many of the traditional things as possible: a white dress, not seeing her groom the night before the wedding.
