‘Why?’ Nothing in his voice betrayed any emotion other than mild curiosity at her answer.
‘Because I always thought I’d be married, and married for the right reasons, married for love. I’m as traditional as you are, Abe, but I do recognise that this is the twenty-first century and people no longer feel that they have to shackle themselves to one another because they happen to have had an unplanned baby together.’ She looked around her, at the opulence. ‘I know I can’t provide this level of material comfort for Tilly but there’s more to life than that.’
‘I agree that money isn’t everything, but that’s being incredibly simplistic about our situation,’ Abe told her quietly, his eyes suddenly intent on hers. ‘You told me about Tilly because you felt I had a right to know. Now, you want me to believe that you have our daughter in mind when you out of hand reject my offer of marriage. Are you sure you are not only thinking of yourself?’
‘That’s not at all what I’m saying,’ Georgie protested heatedly. She leant towards him, her slight body trembling with tension. ‘I’m saying that marriage without love would be a disaster and you don’t love me.’
He closed his eyes and when he opened them she could have cried at the bleakness in them. ‘And you say this in the full knowledge that every marriage that starts with declarations of love ends up with living happily ever after?’
‘No, of course not...’
‘Because there are no guarantees, even if love is involved, are there, Georgie? If my memory serves me right, you told me yourself of the many hours you spent with the children of divorced parents...’ Whether parents chose to separate, or it was forced on them through death, the true victims of love, he considered, were always the children. Love hadn’t given either his or Georgie’s parents a happy ever after, only grief for the remaining adult and child. Perhaps, if coming together to start a family was approached in a more logical way, as he was proposing, there would be fewer casualties along the way?
‘Which is just what I don’t want for Tilly!’ she declared.
‘And I repeat, you imagine that love will be a guarantee against that? It won’t. Listen to me, Georgie. I have no intention of being a part-time father. I wouldn’t want that if I were Joe Bloggs from the house next door and I certainly cannot andwill notaccept any such arrangement given my position. Tilly is a princess in her own right, will be wealthy in her own right, even if you refused to marry me, and she will need qualified protection as she grows up. Can you provide her with that?’
Driven onto the back foot by questions she hadn’t even considered, Georgie scrambled to make a case for herself but there was a trickle of doubt in her mind. Surely she wasn’t being selfish in wanting love to be a part of the equation? But could love trump Tilly’s safety? She shivered at the thought.
‘Tilly also has a heritage here that is centuries old and it is one she deserves to know. Not to beacquainted withbut toknow. Would you willingly deprive her of that too, Georgie? In your quest to find love?’ he asked with a raised eyebrow.
‘It’s not a crime for me to want a life with someone who loves me,’ she protested in a whisper.
‘No, of course it isn’t. But in this case, surely you agree that yourwantscannot take precedence over theneedsof a child too young to make decisions for herself? I want my daughter to grow uphere, to inherit what she is due, to be safe while she is doing so, and to have the best possible upbringing. Will you stand in the way of that because you crave a fairy-tale life that largely doesn’t exist?’
Assailed by doubts on all sides, Georgie blanched. How could the life she wanted, which was one she had been brought up to expect, suddenly seem like a self-serving dream only attainable at the expense of the most important person in her life?
Her heart was thudding. Would she be willing to sacrifice Tilly’s future for her own?
‘There is no point in going round the houses,’ he said, voice flat. ‘Tilly deserves the best that life has to offer her and, more than anything else, that means being here and having the unity of both her parents at hand for her. Together. Married. And the business of love has nothing to do with it!’
Georgie marvelled that he could wipe out something as important as that with a dismissive slash of his hand, but then, as she had just discovered, he was nothing like the warm, passionate man she’d once known. Now, he was a man as cold as the Arctic waters when it came to emotions.
And she had fallen for him. She, with her belief in love and her casual acceptance that her life would follow the same path as her parents’, a loving union that stayed the test of time.
She had fallen for him and she hadn’t managed to clamber out of the hole she had dug for herself four years ago because she still had feelings for him, even though everything inside her railed against the injustice of that. Wasn’t that why she was so conflicted over marrying him? He made her hope and made her yearn for the impossible and she hated him for that. Every second with him was a reminder of the perils of still having feelings for him when he had none for her.
‘I will do everything within my power to do what I think is right for my daughter and, by extension, for you,’ Abe said quietly, almost sympathetically, ‘but, as a matter of interest, can I ask how you would feel if you got your own way on this?’
‘Sorry?’ She rubbed her temple with her finger, tiny circular motions to relieve the tension.
‘Here is another scenario for you, Georgie. In pursuit of an impossible dream, you return to London. Tell me how you would feel when Tilly is old enough to understand that inyourbest interests, you decided to deny her the sort of life she could have had here, and how would you feel when shedoescome over here to be with me and whoever I may marry in the future, a woman who will have a say over how Tilly fills her time, what she does, a woman who will doubtless bond with her and with whom I will make joint decisions about things we choose to do as a family? How will that play out with you? What if, at that point, you still have not found Mr Right? What if, when you wave goodbye to Tilly, you return to life on your own knowing that our daughter will be absorbed in family life on this side of the ocean? What if, by walking away from my proposal, you discover that the very stability you want Tilly to enjoy ends up with me and a new family here, rather than with you over there?’
Georgie stared at him in consternation, for he could have said nothing more destructive to her peace of mind.
She waded through the imagery in her head and surfaced to acknowledge one thing, and that was, however damaging he might be toher, his number one concern was, without doubt, for his daughter. Everything he had said was out of consideration for Tilly. She had overturned the direction of his life in the most devastating way possible, but he had not turned away or tried to fob her off with money to buy her silence. He openly wanted to admit Tilly as the legitimate heir to his kingdom, to marry her, Georgie, even though that meant sacrificing the more normal route he would have wanted to take to find his bride.
In other words, he had not baulked at self-sacrifice.
And now that he’d asked, howwouldshe feel if he married someone else?Whenhe married? Because of course he would. There would be no angst-ridden questions about finding the right woman. He would interview some suitable candidates and choose someone fitting for the role of wife to a prince and he would make it work. Emotions wouldn’t be involved and, with a child to consider, the imperative of a wife would be pressing. He was right, whileshelooked for Mr Right, he would simply move on with his life and by Tilly’s next birthday would probably be wed and ready for the next phase in his life.
‘I don’t want to have to fight you,’ he said softly.
‘What does that mean?’
‘I will fight for full custody of my daughter, if needs be.’
‘I’m her mother!’ But Georgie’s blood ran cold. Yes, she knew her rights, but could those rights be undermined by the extraordinary circumstances of their situation? Could he hold the trump card just because he was a prince? And was that something she wanted to risk?
