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“Queen Mouse, ruler of your schedule.” She waved her hand in a grand gesture. “Grand Duchess of your daily routine. Chancellor of your meetings. How could I resist?”
“Mother of my children.”
She felt like he had shot her in the stomach with an arrow. So deep and hard was the pain that ran through her body. It resonated between her thighs, around her heart. Oh, she wanted to kill him.
There were no weapons handy in this empty apartment.
This was a farce.
She had not anticipated him playing quite so personal. For she had thought that if anything, he would go straight into his brand of logic, as he was a big fan of his own reasoning. But no. He had brought up children.
Oh, she wished that she could...
“The fact you consider that an enticement says a lot about you.”
“What life do you think you’ll have here? You could be like everyone else, I suppose. But you’re not like everyone else, and we both know it. You are gritty and strong, it’s true. You are resilient. Brilliant. Far too brilliant for most men, don’t you think? I do. I think most of them wouldn’t know the first thing about how to handle you.”
“Your concern for me and my future is touching. And you obviously think...”
“It has nothing to do with me. And everything to do with you. Don’t you think that after everything, you’re worthy of a position as Queen? What are your concerns, Livia?”
Her name. When he used her name she...
“My concerns?” She cut her own thoughts off.
“Come now, surely you must have them? You come from a very particular position in life. You must see flaws in the system that I don’t. You’re correct, I’m arrogant. I’m a product of my environment. Resolutely and deeply, and I have never pretended to be anything else. I am suited to my position. I spent all of my life training for it. But my father was not concerned with the plight of his people. He made it worse. He plunged them into poverty. And you were swept up in that. You well know it. So tell me, what things am I overlooking? What causes could you spearhead in your position that you would otherwise be unable to do? How much more would you contribute than a woman of a different sort?”
“Yes, you’re very concerned about this now, but you made a card table bargain with Violet King’s father for her to be your wife. She’s the daughter of a rich man who has made herself even richer. Where was your concern for the sensibilities of the impoverished at that time?”
“I wanted her American sensibility. For they are a country with flaws to be certain, but the perspective of someone from a family of those who have been self-made... I thought it would be useful. But you... You, Livia, are even more self-made.”
“I was plucked off the street by your royal hand, Matteo. Surely you don’t truly mean that I made myself.”
“I think you have. Because it was you who caught my attention, you who moved through the ranks of staff at alarming speed. You and your brain that inspired me to promote you to assistant. Yes, Livia, I would say that you are self-made.”
“Careful, if you keep referring to me by my name, I might start to think that you see me as a woman and not a rodent.”
He frowned, staring at her for a long moment. “Is that what you think? That I see you as a rodent?”
“You call me Mouse.” Such a love/hate relationship she had with that too. For he had nicknames for no one else. No one but her. He had casual endearments for his women. He called his brother by his name.
Only she had a nickname.
It was just an ignominious one.
“I’m the lion,” he said, his voice soft but firm. “Didn’t you know?”
Something hollowed out in the pit of her stomach, and this was where she despised herself. Because she was truly unable to resist that. Unable to stand firm in the face of such naked flattery.
His attempt to spin the interactions between them going back years. That somehow she meant something to him, mattered to him. Oh, she wanted to throttle him.
“Get out of my house, Matteo. For the first time in our interaction, I am not under your roof. And I do not need you.”
“But Monte Blanco needs you.”
“That’s too bad. Because I need to become something else.”
“Give me a chance.” And for the first time in her memory...his arrogance broke and he had truly asked for something.
“Give you a chance to what?”
“Prove what manner of husband I will be to you.”
And then, he closed the space between them, wrapped his hand around her neck and drew her forward. Then his lips came crashing down onto hers.
