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Yet she couldn’t seem to break the spell. Any minute now she was going to do something inexplicably stupid.
Pushing her chair back with as much dignity as she could muster, she forced herself to smile. ‘Just need the loo,’ she said and, resisting the urge to run, she forced her feet to walk towards the door.
* * *
Stefan breathed out a deep breath he hadn’t even been aware he’d been holding and tried to ignore the fact that his pulse-rate seemed to have upped a notch or three. This reaction to Holly was nuts. All he could hope was that his lawyers came through soon and this enforced proximity would come to a close.
Goodness only knew what it was about her... Yes, she was stunning, but it was more than that. There was something vulnerable about her, and that was exactly why he should be extra-wary. Thanks to the will Holly was on the opposite side of enemy lines, so any knight in shining armour urge needed to be tamped down. In truth, vulnerability did not usually appeal to him; he was no knight and well he knew it.
He took a few surreptitious deep breaths and kept his expression neutral as she walked back to the table, sat down and took up her knife and fork almost as if they were weaponry.
‘So,’ she said. ‘Now the plan is to fight it out what happens next?’
‘The truce holds until my lawyers call and then, depending on what they say, all bets are off. No loophole and we race to the nearest altar with whoever will marry us. If there is a loophole we fight it out in the courts.’
His mind whirred, looking for another option, because in truth neither of those appealed.
‘Hard to know what to wish for.’
‘The no marriage option has my vote.’
‘But if it ends up in the court
s it will come down to who has a better case. And how on earth can any judge decide that? It could drag on for years, and if it does Il Boschetto di Sole will end up with Crown Prince Frederick by default.’
Stefan’s mouth hardened; there was no way on this earth he would let that happen.
He looked at her. ‘So you’d prefer to duel it out through marriage?’
‘I wouldn’t call it a preference, exactly.’ Her expression was suddenly unreadable. ‘But maybe it would be easier?’
Stefan shook his head. ‘It would be an equally big mess. For starters, let’s say I find a bride before you find a groom. That still doesn’t mean I win. I have to stay married for a year. What do I do if six months in she decides to divorce me, or threatens to divorce me?’
Not happening. He would not put himself in anyone’s power. Ever again. As a child he’d been in his father’s control. As an adult he controlled his own life, and the best way to maintain that control was not to cede it to anyone else. Physically or emotionally.
‘Hmm...’ She took a contemplative sip of wine, rubbed the tip of her nose in consideration. ‘Or I could marry someone and stay married. Then I win and then he divorces me and demands half of Il Boschetto di Sole.’
Stefan watched her brooding expression and had a funny feeling she wasn’t talking about a mythical person here.
‘Or, even worse,’ he offered, ‘what if I marry someone and at the end of the year she wants to stay married and refuses to divorce me?’
Holly considered that for a moment and narrowed her eyes. ‘What if it happens the other way round? She wants a divorce and you want to stay married?’
‘Not happening.’ Not on any planet, in any universe.
‘Arrogant, much?’
‘It’s not arrogance. Most women in my experience are keen on the starry-eyed, happy-ever-after scenario. They must be overwhelmed by my good looks and rugged charm. Or could it be my bank balance and royal status?’
‘Cynical, much?’
‘Realistic, plenty.’ Not one of the women he’d been with in the past years had been unaffected by his status.
‘And that doesn’t bother you?’ Curiosity tinged her voice. ‘That women want to be with you because of your assets—?’ She broke off, a tinge of pink climbing her cheekbones as he raised his brows. ‘Your material assets is what I meant. It must bother you.’
‘Why? It makes it easier; we both make our terms clear at the outset. I always explain there will be no wedding bells ringing, that any relationship has no long-term future but I am happy to be generous in the interim and hopefully we’ll have fun.’
‘So, to sum you up: Stefan Petrelli—excellent taste but short shelf-life and no long-term nourishment.’
