Since Scarlett had been admitted without so much as a toothbrush, she had been grateful. This morning’s shower and new clothes were a step toward feeling like her old self.
Since her old self knew how to hold her ground when she had to, she put on her unfazed expression and her most matter-of-fact tone. “Niko is no longer at the island villa. There’s no reason you shouldn’t come wi—”
“No,” he cut in.
She had known it was a long shot; still, she bit back a sigh.
“You said you weren’t intending to shut me out of his life,” he reminded.
“I’m not,” she assured him. “I want you to have as much opportunity to bond with Locke as I have. I just thought we would spend time discussing all the options open to us, then make a decision jointly, not crash straight into the train wreck of a loveless marriage.”
“The fact we’re not lying about our feelings is the reason it won’t derail at the first pebble on the tracks.”
“And your feelings are?” she prompted, holding tight to a blasé expression while her lungs seized on either side of her trembling heart.
“Unashamed,” he said in a level tone. “But protective. I would have married you immediately if you’d informed me sooner.”
“People don’t care about illegitimacy these days,” she argued.
“Some do. Val was teased partly because his mother’s affair with our father was such a notorious scandal. I didn’t participate or encourage it. I fight my own battles with him,” he said, as though it was important to clarify. “And I didn’t come away unscathed. I was mocked for being schooled alongside my bastard half brother. So you and I will do whatever is expected to ensure Locke doesn’t needlessly suffer. On that note...” He reached into his pocket. “My team informs me it’s customary these days for new mothers to receive a ‘push present.’” He held out the square velvet box.
“Resorting to bribery?” She shoved her fists deeper under her elbows. “You gave me clothes. Flowers.” She indicated the obscenely extravagant bouquet.
“And this.” He opened the box, revealing a necklace of intricate platinum links. It held a charming pendant shaped like a padlock with diamonds inset in the hasp and around the keyhole. A miniature skeleton key hung next to it, lined with diamonds with a blue-for-a-boy sapphire decorating its head.
It was too beautiful to refuse, too extravagant to accept.
“It seemed appropriate.” A hint of gruffness entered his tone. “But if you want something else—”
“No! It’s beautiful. But I didn’t expect anything.” She didn’t know how to reject it gracefully so she spoke the truth. “Accepting it makes it seem as though I really did get pregnant to enrich myself.” She bit her lip in misery.
The corner of his mouth twitched in cynical agreement, the small action like a flick of a whip against the center of her heart.
“Your motive doesn’t matter. You did the work,” he said darkly, none of yesterday’s solicitude in his demeanor.
“I did the work so I could have a son, not so I could have that.”
His mouth tightened. “Nevertheless, inquiring minds expect you to wear it.” Carefully he drew the necklace from its nest and circled his finger to indicate she turn around.
She remained facing him, her chin jutting out with hurt.
“Paparazzi are gathering outside. That’s why I requested the early departure.”
“To Spain,” she choked. “I’m supposed to go with a perfect stranger—”
“Far from perfect. I’m sure we agree on that.”
“Well, you’re strange enough I don’t want to marry you!”
A thundering silence crashed between them, so voluminous it should have knocked their sleeping son from his bed. Her internal heat became embarrassment. Shame.
“That wasn’t what I meant,” she mumbled, looking to her feet in the low sandals he had provided her. Forceful he might be, but he wasn’t stingy. Or repulsive. “I’m not saying I would never marry you. Just that we should wait to make that decision.”
“After you see what can be accomplished with cosmetic surgery?” His crooked lips gave a cynical twist.
“After you quit thinking my motives are purely materialistic and superficial.” She fought to make herself understood. “We don’t know each other, Javiero. I know a version of you that your father told me. You know nothing about me.” Once he did, he would thank her for refusing him.
“We’ll learn. Marriage isn’t complicated. Like any partnership, you bring your strengths to the table and work toward advancing mutual interests.”
Was that how he had regarded his engagement? She’d been informed that his arranged union was about financial compatibility, not affection or passion. It had still made her sick to contemplate him being tied to another woman. Sleeping with her.
He wasn’t offering love here, either. That shouldn’t sting when it was unrealistic, given the circumstances. They really were strangers, but she’d like him to like her. To want to like her at least.
She cleared that yearning from her throat.
“What I know about partnerships is that they require compromise.” As opposed to being controlled by your husband until you were too exhausted to fight anymore, the way her mother had been by her father. “I’ll agree to go with you to Madrid. In return, you agree to hold off on marriage.”
“No.” Just that. The same aggravatingly pitiless refusal he’d always given her.
She wasn’t Niko’s envoy any longer though. This was about her and her son. She narrowed her eyes and tightened her ponytail.
“If we ever marry, I want Kiara and Aurelia there.” On that, she would not budge.
His expression hardened, exactly the reaction she expected.
“You don’t have family?”
“I do, but...” If she thought her mother would come, she would make the arrangements. The rest of her family was a wedding photo he didn’t want. “We’ll discuss the guest list if we agree to marry—which I haven’t. I have my hands full, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Locke had begun to fuss so she picked him
