‘Well, my dear,’ he said, keeping his stare fixed on Callie as he turned to address his obviously heavily pregnant companion, ‘this is the little snip my brother intends to put on our throne.’
‘Surely not?’ his elegantly dressed companion protested as she stared disapprovingly at Callie. ‘Who is she, anyway? And where did she get that dress?’
Callie ground her jaw, refusing to demean herself by responding. Max’s friends could laugh all they liked. They wouldn’t drive her away.
‘Goodness knows, my dear,’ Max replied, still staring at Callie through mocking eyes. ‘Perhaps she got it from the same thrift store that sold her the dye for that ridiculous hair colour.’
As everyone laughed Callie reached up instinctively to touch her hair, and regretted the lapse immediately. She hated letting them see they’d upset her. ‘Well, at least I don’t have a cruel tongue,’ she said mildly.
‘Oh, she speaks,’ Max exclaimed, turning to look at his friends. ‘I imagine she learned that skill in the pub back home.’ He made each vowel sound grotesque and ugly.
As Max and his friends roared with laughter, Callie made sure to remain impassive.
‘He only keeps her around because she’s pregnant,’ Max drawled, quirking a brow in an attempt, Callie thought, to elicit some sort of response from her. ‘He’s desperate for an heir, and when you’re as desperate as Luca I suppose it’s a case of any port in a storm. Seeing you pregnant,’ he added to the woman at his side, ‘must really have disturbed him. That’s the only reason he’s chosen this girl. He’s trying to compete with me—imagine that?’
‘He’s quite obviously failed,’ one of Max’s cronies derided.
‘That’s all this is,’ Max assured Callie, bringing his cruel face close. ‘Don’t think for one moment that you’ve bagged yourself a prince, let alone that this is a fairy tale. This is a cold-blooded transaction, my dear. Luca doesn’t want you. He doesn’t want anyone. The only thing Luca wants is an heir. That’s the only way he can hope to keep the throne of Fabrizio. It’s written into our constitution. Two years, one baby at least, or I take over.’ Coming even closer, he sneered. ‘You’re nothing more than a convenient womb. Shall we?’ he added to his gloating companions with an airy gesture. ‘I’ve had enough of this ball. The quality of guests at the palace has really gone down. The casino beckons. A few spins of the wheel holds far more appeal than these provincials can ever hope to provide me.’
* * *
‘She’s gone? What do you mean, she’s gone?’ Luca stared down at Michel in surprise. The elderly retainer seemed more than usually confused. ‘Take your time, Michel. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you.’
‘I saw her talking to Max,’ Michel told him in a worried tone.
‘What?’
‘You said you wouldn’t shout,’ Michel reminded him.
‘You’re right,’ he admitted, placing a reassuring hand on the older man’s shoulder. ‘But who invited Max?’
‘Does Max need an invitation to visit his family home?’
Luca ground his jaw. He should have known that Max would never keep to their agreement that he stay out of Fabrizio. ‘So, where the hell is she?’ he repeated as he raked his hair with tense fingers.
‘I saw her running out of that door not ten minutes ago,’ Michel informed him, staring across the ballroom towards the French doors leading onto the garden and then the lake. ‘And that was straight after talking to Max.’
‘Ten minutes?’ Luca exclaimed, frowning. ‘Did I leave her alone for that long?’
‘The ambassador can be garrulous and difficult to get away from,’ Michel said in an obvious attempt to placate him. ‘And His Excellency was more than usually talkative tonight.’
Luca could not be placated. His one concern was Callie. He should have told her long before now what she meant to him. The convenient plan that had fallen into place when he found out she was pregnant hadn’t figured in his thinking when he’d made the announcement that they would be married.
All right, so maybe it had, he conceded grimly as he made a visual search of the ballroom to make sure she’d gone. Would he stick around under similar circumstances? So, where could she be? In her room, or had she tried to return to the island? His heart banged in his chest at the thought that she might have taken the rowing boat. Navigation was easy for him in the dark. He’d been rowing on the lake for most of his life. So he knew about the clinging weeds and treacherous rocks. If Callie took the wrong route, she could be in serious trouble. He didn’t wait to consider his options. Cutting through the crowd, he hurried away.
He ran to the shore. The boat was gone. There was no sign of Callie. Everyone had been shocked by his announcement of their engagement, and now Max was causing trouble again. He had a stark choice to make. Callie, or the future of Fabrizio. There was no choice. Stripping off his clothes, he dived into the lake.
Relief surged through him when he spotted her pacing the shore. ‘Callie,’ he exclaimed, springing out of the water. Striding up to her, he seized hold of her and demanded she look at him. ‘What’s wrong? What happened back there?’
‘You happened,’ she said.
Her voice was faint, but the fire in her eyes was brighter than ever. She was hurt, bitterly hurt. He knew all the signs. Max had always been an expert when it came to wounding with words.
‘Thank you for telling me how badly you needed an heir,’ she said tensely, sarcastically.
‘Meaning?’ he demanded.
‘I’m told your constitution demands it, if you’re to keep the throne.’ There were tears of anger and distress in her eyes. ‘I would have been quicker off the mark getting pregnant, if you’d told me.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he flared. ‘What on earth has Max said to you?’
‘Only the truth, I believe.’
A muscle jerked in his jaw. He couldn’t even deny it, and had to listen to his brother’s poison flooding from Callie’s mouth.
‘Max said that making an heir is the only reason you had sex with me.’
‘I didn’t have sex with you,’ he insisted. ‘I made love to you.’
‘Maybe.’ She hesitated a little. ‘But how do I know that’s true, now I know you had a motive?’
‘Why can’t you believe in yourself, Callie? Why won’t you believe how much I need you?’
‘Because it’s convenient for you to have me,’ she exclaimed. ‘A convenient womb, Max called me. He says your primary concern is to build a dynasty.’
‘My primary concern is you,’ he argued fiercely.
‘It doesn’t feel that way to me, Luca. You made the announcement of our engagement without asking me first, without giving me chance to consider what I’m getting into. My late father used to tell me what I could and couldn’t do, and I swore that I would never fall into that trap again.’
‘This isn’t a trap. You’re not thinking straight, Callie.’
‘I’m thinking perfectly,’ she fired back. ‘It’s just a pity I haven’t been thinking perfectly from the start.’
‘That’s your hormones talking.’
‘Don’t you dare,’ she warned him. ‘What was your plan, Luca? We marry, I have the baby, and then your people organise a convenient divorce? You don’t have much time to play with, do you? Pregnancy sets a clock ticking, and so does the constitution of Fabrizio, Max tells me. Tonight was the perfect