‘Why three months?’ Then, as the penny dropped, ‘As an insurance policy against me leaving.’
‘Yes.’
‘So…this is blackmail.’
At least he didn’t correct her to ‘incentivising’ again.
‘How long would you see this “marriage” lasting?’
‘As long as my grandfather lives,’ he murmured.
‘Well, hang on,’ she demurred. ‘That might be a very long time. You don’t know yet. And for your sake, of course, I hope that’s the case. I just mean…’
‘You don’t want to be indefinitely tied to me.’
She nodded once.
‘Then let us put a time frame on it. Two years?’
She stared at him, her heart racing. In two years, she’d be twenty-five. ‘And then what?’
‘We divorce quietly. You would receive, at that point, a large settlement.’
‘How large?’
‘Large enough that you would never need to work a day in your life. You will never need to worry about paying rent, or buying a single thing.’
She couldn’t even imagine what that would be like. Finances had been a struggle for her all her life. Her parents had been broke, and it had got worse after her mother had left. Only, Amelia’s goal wasn’t to not work. It was to work in the field she was most passionate about. To go to university, study medicine, become a doctor. And with money behind her, she could do that without having to worry about juggling a job at the same time. She could also, depending on how much money he was talking about, help people, like her father, get access to the medications they couldn’t currently access. Her eyes lifted to his, trying to see beneath the impenetrable mask of determination. What was this manactuallylike? Just who was she considering making a deal with?
‘And our actual marriage?’ she asked, looking at him with a face that felt as if it were on fire. ‘Would you expect…?’ Her voice trailed off and she glanced down at the table.
‘No, Amelia. This is not a sexual proposition.Cristo.You are far too young for me.’
She glanced up at him sharply. ‘Am I?’
‘There are twelve years between us,’ he pointed out. ‘I can barely remember what it was like, being twenty-three.’
She bit into her lip to cover the disappointment that washed over her.
‘But we would need to live together. In order for this to work, my grandfather must believe we are genuinely marrying for love. Knowing your grandparents as I do, this would also be the best way to spare them any further pain.’
She blinked across at him.
‘They are proud people, Amelia. I expect they will only accept my help if they know it comes from the actions of a man in love.’
‘Oh. So we would have to pretend…’
‘Yes. Around our families, we would pretend.’
‘But behind closed doors?’
‘We would live our own lives.’
‘In the same house.’
‘My apartment is large enough for you to have plenty of privacy.’
Having shared a two-bedroom, one-bathroom flat with three other girls for the last few months, she couldn’t even imagine that.
