CHAPTER 47

CHAPTER 47

My now future husband seemed a dark, silent phantom against the wall, but I finally realized he excelled at blending into the shadows.

I sank down on the chair Nurse had set for me, propped my elbow up on the marble tabletop—which was frigid, by the way, but I wanted to present a relaxed, authoritative mien. "Prince Escalus." I beckoned him to approach.

Yes, yes, you're right. Without a long sword with a sharp point and a fast running head start, I couldn't have kept him from approaching. But by God, I wasn't going to approach him, not even to slam my foot into his privates again, not even for the pleasure that would give me.

Let me correct myself. The great pleasure it would give me.

"Lady Rosie." He moved forward into the light.

I'll give him credit. He walked lightly, as if trying with silence not to annoy me. He didn't look smug as most men would when faced with the woman who encouraged him to kiss so wildly and returned that kiss with such enthusiasm.

Please remember, this was no significant praise, for I'd never before enjoyed a lover's kiss. I couldn't compare it to anything, could I?

But never mind that. I asked that which was foremost in my mind, "Where is Lysander?"

"He was unavoidably detained, but quite safe." His voice was pitched low and had a reassuring tone.

Like that was going to soothe me. "Detained being the operative word?"

Prince Escalus said nothing, by which I concluded we were done discussing my One True Love, Lysander. I could see how the subject might make the sucking louse feel less noble and more like a rooting swine.

I smiled with patently false amiability. "Prince Escalus, you have concluded the bargaining for my hand and body in marriage?"

A patter of footsteps sounded on the walk, and Nurse appeared, carrying a steaming cup and a small plate of biscotti. She hesitated until I gestured her forward, then placed them within reach of my grasp. "I'll remain close. If you need me, you have only to call."

"Thank you, Nurse, but there's no need. My reputation is ruined. Nothing worse can happen." As soon as I said it, I knew myself ridiculous since I was still technically a virgin, but it did feel as if this night, every life I'd hoped to live had been ended, and I groped down a dark tunnel blind and alone.

Nurse aimed herself between us and curtsied.

Prince Escalus placed his hand on his chest and bowed, not ignoring Nurse but his attention clearly on me. "The deal is struck, Lady Rosaline. Your reputation is intact. You are to be mine, as you said, hand, body, and any other parts you wish to bring to our marriage bed."

I took a sip from the cup of stewed camomilla weeds that were supposed to calm me, then placed it on the table because blech. "Why?"

He tilted his head. "Why?" he repeated as if he didn't understand the question.

I knew perfectly he did, but I felt compelled to spell it out. "All the reasons that applied to Duke Stephano's inexplicable proposal to me also apply to you. My family has little dowry to settle on me, I'm outspoken, I'm now twenty years old (we'd celebrated my birthday during my illness), ancient among the current crop of—"

"Virgins?" He inserted the word as if it was the only one he knew.

I spoke with chill ill humor. "Quite. But tonight was a deliberate ruse to close all other avenues to me. Except the convent, and that's a route I'll not take unless forced. You're rich, you're respectable, you're influential. You could have any maiden in the land. So why me?"

"I've been watching you for quite a while." As he explained, he watched my face most intently. "It started after I saw you maneuver your way out of your third betrothal, and it occurred to me you'd make a master diplomat. That's a very useful trait for the podestà's wife."

"My third betrothal was almost three years ago." He'd been watching me for three years? "How . . . creepy."

"While I considered the possibility of you as wife and whether your bad temper would cause more havoc than your diplomatic skills could fix, your parents betrothed you again."

"I remember. That one was a fast turnaround."

"He was a wealthy young man and would have been an asset to your family, so you matched him to your own sister. Again, a brilliant and statesmanlike move." His admiring tone might have been flattering, if I'd been in the mood to be flattered.

"That was almost exactly two years ago."

"At that point I had to deal with the issues caused in Venice by the Acquasassos. They fomented revolt, and the Venetians wanted them gone, and they wanted Verona to take them back." He grimaced. "I had to negotiate mightily to keep them in exile. Due to those actions, I had no time to bother with marriage, and I told myself I could relax. I believed you could dodge any potential threat of marriage without any help from me. As you did. Unfortunately, while I waited for the time to woo you, I began to notice other admirable traits about you."

"Did you?" Talk about sweep a girl off her feet with all the sweet talk. "What would those be?"

"I like your family."

"My family."

"You must know they're charming."

"Yes, I like them, too."

"You're close with them all, your parents and siblings, so as your husband, I'd have to spend time with them. It's a good thing to like your in-laws."

"Um-hmm." I wanted to point out that my family was not one of my admirable qualities, but I'd clenched my jaws. Surely this couldn't get worse?

"Plus I knew Isabella needed more in her life than a too-busy elder brother."

Worse. Much, much worse.

Oblivious, he continued. "You're efficient. You direct your parents' household through calm and crisis, seemingly without malfunction. The kitchens here are exemplary, and mine at the palace need a firm hand."

I nodded and ran my hand back and forth over the cold marble table, trying to cool my . . . my everything, and to remind myself that making a fist and pounding it on the table would result in possible injury and not really much satisfactory noise.

"An addendum to your family situation is the fertility your parents have shown. As podestà, I not only need to have a male heir, but the palace is large and empty. I'd like to fill it with children's laughter."

Let's see. He wanted to marry me for my diplomatic skills, to fill his need for a family with the ready-built Montagues, my housekeeping skills, and for my womb, which he assumed would be generous. I unclenched my jaws to ask, "Anything else?"

"Your breasts are perfect, exactly the size to fit into the palm of my hand."

I sharply looked up and found his gaze, not on my nipples, which were hard—no, no, not because I was secretly aroused, but because it was cold out here and getting colder—but into my eyes.

He had that inscrutable expression on his face, the one he had perfected with much practice. "But there was still the issue of your temper, which I noted broke out repeatedly, and you do shout." Consideringly, he said, "All your family does, but in that issue only you are of concern to me."

"Wouldn't want to disturb the podestà unduly." I sounded so cordial! So sincere! As if I wasn't wondering how much harder I could kick him in the hairy hangers!

"Next I did as I so often do when faced with an important choice." He seemed to think he was imparting something of great importance to me. "I made a list."

I couldn't tear my eyes away from his. "A list."

"I take a parchment and a quill, and with ink I divide the paper in half"—he indicated top to bottom—"and then a line near the top, creating four uneven boxes. In the two small top boxes, I wrote, ‘Reasons to wed Lady Rosie' and ‘Reasons not to wed Lady Rosie.' In the larger boxes, I listed all the reasons, pro and con, for our union to proceed or not."

Friar Laurence and my parents had pointed out my logic and methodical faults.

This guy had them beat by cubits. He was so pedantic he could make your eyes roll into the back of your head—except that he was talking about me. Me, as if I were a cipher to be figured and the answer, once found, would be immutable.

"You ask, why am I telling you this?" Apparently not even he was completely oblivious to the insult he offered me. "Do you remember I told you that I was the reason Duke Stephano wanted to marry you? For power?"

I did remember. Prince Escalus had said so in Friar Laurence's shop and then Nurse had run in with news of Porcia's death. Now I made an inspired guess. "You're not going to tell me that you left your list sitting around and Duke Stephano found it, read it, and—"

Prince Escalus was already nodding his head.

"He decided he'd have power over you if he took possession first and used me to control you? Because you made a list that commended my family, my diplomatic skill, and my tits and those reasons would make me a suitable wife for the podestà?" My voice was rising. "Are you jesting?"

He conceded, "There might have been a few more items on the list that convinced him he'd be holding me by the short hairs."

"What short hairs? The ones on the back of your head? Or—" Then I got it and blushed. "Oh."

"Duke Stephano didn't share my thoughtful habit of waiting on events. As soon as Titania was dead"—the prince paused as if unsure how to phrase this—"the first time, he made the deal with your father and by the time I'd heard of it, it was too late."

"He who hesitates—"

"Yes, I lost. I wasn't worried—"

Remembering the way he'd announced our betrothal at the party, I allowed my sarcasm to overflow. "I could tell."

"Because I intended to remove you from Duke Stephano's sphere by whatever nefarious but necessary means were required."