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His hold shifted on her, one long finger catching her beneath the chin and tilting her face up so his hot gaze met hers. ‘Did you think I would leave you out of the equation? No,princesa.I know what it is to have a desperately unhappy mother and I wouldn’t wish that on any child, still less our own. So all you need to do is tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you.’
You want his heart.
The thought came out of nowhere and she shut it down hard. Because, no, she didn’t want his heart. Her feelings for him were large and powerful, but it didn’t involve hearts, not at all.
‘What I want is for you to kiss me,’ she said, instead, and it wasn’t a lie. She did want that.
So, he bent, his mouth brushing over hers in a surprisingly delicate kiss. Her lips tingled from the slight pressure, the heat of him warming her straight through and making her hungry for him again.
She shouldn’t have these doubts. They’d have all the time in the world to discuss them later and, anyway, it would be all right. This marriage between themwouldwork. What with her stubborn determination and his cold focus, how could it not?
‘You won’t regret it,’ Rafael said as he lifted his head, a fierce expression rippling over his face, as if the door to a furnace had been opened and the heat of the flames had licked out. ‘I promise, Lia, that I will do all I can to make you happy.’
He meant it, she could see the resolve in his face, and it made her chest go tight. What more could she want?
You want love.
Lia ignored the thought, since it was wrong. She already had love from her parents and that was enough of a burden to bear, heavy as it was with expectations and pressures. She didn’t need that same burden from Rafael.
Instead she rose on her tiptoes and lifted her chin, brushing her mouth over his. ‘You’d better start now, then,’ she murmured. ‘Because I’m deeply regretting the fact that you’re not kissing me.’
‘Then I’d better remedy that, hadn’t I?’ he said, before sweeping her up in his arms and carrying her upstairs to his bed.
Rafael was feeling well satisfied about a great many things by the time they came back downstairs to the living area.
Lia had picked up his discarded shirt from the bedroom floor and had put it on as if it was hers, a possessive gesture that made him want to take her back to bed and teach her a few more new ways to pleasure each other. Except they were both ravenous and she, especially, needed something to eat.
He led her back out into the living area where the refreshments had been laid, making her sit on the couch while he brought her more food. Then he sat next to her and asked her questions as she ate, because he wanted to know how her pregnancy had been.
He’d promised her she’d never regret agreeing to be his wife and he wanted to start by making sure she was well physically.
Luckily, apart from some early morning sickness that had faded, things had gone fairly smoothly, though it was clear as she talked, that she’d found her situation distressing in the extreme.
He could understand that and he understood, too, why she’d thought marriage to Matias was the only answer. She’d wanted to protect her baby and that was the best way to do it.
Still, he was here and now he would take care of both of them.
He sat back on the couch and watched her as she sat cross-legged, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up, taking delicate bites of the sandwich she was in the process of eating.
She looked very young and very beautiful, reminding him once again of the young woman behind the desk in her father’s study, challenging him with a lift of her pointed chin and a glint in her blue eyes. Making him have to defend his arguments and explain his thinking. Forcing him to think past his own natural arrogance and his tendency to reduce things to black and white.
He hadn’t thought one young woman could have taught him so much about himself and the flaws in his thinking, yet she had.
‘I know the treasury needs money,’ Lia said, waving her cigar at him. ‘But how do you balance that with what the people need?’
‘Do the people not need money?’ He took a sip of his own whisky, irritated that he had to explain himself. ‘Santa Castelia’s treasury has been decimated by Carlos’s rule. That’s why I was brought in, Lia. To help fill the coffers so when Matias takes over, he can implement all the social programs he wants.’
Lia shifted in the armchair, leaning forward to put her elbows on the desk, her blue eyes glowing with fervour. A strand of black hair fell over her face, but she made no move to push it back. She held his gaze without fear, as if he wasn’t the ruler of her country and not given to taking kindly to people disagreeing with him.
‘But people need some of that money now. Leaving it in the treasury won’t help anyone.’
‘Interest will be accruing—’
‘The poor can’t live off interest accruing.’ She met his gaze head on. ‘You need to implement some of those social programs now.’
Rafael stared back, for a moment unable to think of a single thing to say because no one had ever interrupted him before, still less about fiscal policy. Oh, people did challenge him on occasion, but it was always very carefully done and often in the form of ‘advice’ rather than a command.
But not Lia. Out in the palace she might be shy and quiet, saying nothing, but in the privacy of Gian’s study, she wasn’t like that at all. She was blunt with her opinions and passionate, with a strong sense of justice and fairness.
