Was that good?Bad?She had no idea.
“Many women would have been scared.”
“Of what?”
“My face.”
She stared at him and made a point of looking into his eyes.“I’m not like a lot of women.”
“Clearly, you have impressed my son.Tell me, Adelina, will you turn on him?Are you just using him to get your family into higher places?Are you interested in his money?His title?”
“I don’t know his title.I don’t know his wealth.”
This made the man before her scoff.
“I honestly don’t.I was aware that many people think of him as a monster, and I did watch at a couple of the dinner parties as men and women approached him.He sent them away crying or embarrassed.I’m not exactly sure why.I don’t even know why I approached him.It was like he was ...lonely.I don’t think that is true, but it seemed like the right thing to do.I wasn’t looking for anything.We kind of hit it off as friends.I made him laugh.”She offered the man before her a smile.“And I think he took pity on me.”She frowned.“The last dinner party we were at, I had been made aware that I was betrothed to another man.”
“I know,” he said.“I’m more than aware of the circumstances.”
“And I’d resigned myself to a death sentence,” Adelina said.“All the women Diego is near don’t last.I knew if I married him, that was what was going to happen, and Massimo made a comment, I think, about at least having me for company.I was just warning him that he wasn’t going to have me there much longer.I was so surprised when my parents told me I would be marrying him.I have no interest in personal gain, or any of that.I like Massimo.”
“There’s more thanlikein your eyes,” he said.
She looked down at the ground and then back up.“He doesn’t know it, but I love him.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“And you think love comes easily?”
“Not at all,” she said.“I know Massimo doesn’t love me.I know I’m not who you would have wanted.I’m not pretty enough, nor right enough.You don’t want my family connected to yours, and I am sorry about that.”
“Youaredifferent,” he said.
“If there is anywhere you don’t want me to go—”
“Don’t be absurd.I can see why my son likes you, and I didn’t get it at first, but I do now.You’re like a breath of fresh air.Isabella has told me all about you.How your family treated you.Especially the incident over the wedding dress.”
She felt her cheeks start to heat.
“My name is Vincent,” he said.“You may call me that, seeing as you are my daughter-in-law, I think it is only fair.”
He moved toward her and held out his hand for her to shake.Only, she didn’t shake his hand, instead, she went to him and embraced him in a hug.
