This time he rolled his eyes. “Shows you how well you know me. I may wellprefera daughter.”
“What?” She blinked, her brow wrinkled in a frown. “Why?”
“I understand you and your dynastic roots love male heirs, but my father was from Italy and girls are cherished there.”
“Yes, but your family—”
“I prefer not to speak about therestof my family.” He clenched his jaw.
She gave him a tight smile. “Oh, yes. I know only too well how sore a subject the rest of your family is.”
“Good then. We agree not to discuss it.” He spent a few moments rearranging his silverware next to his plate.
“Very well. Is that your condition, that you spend time with your child? I’ve already told you that can be arranged. I have no objection.”
Mark shook his head. This was a fraught subject for him. Family. Any family. All family. He’d loved and been loved by his mother and father, but he’d hardly been wrapped in a familial embrace by the rest of the clan. His mother had tried for years to convince her father to accept her husband and son. When that didn’t work, after a final insult from his grandfather that Mark remembered all too well even though he’d been a lad of eight, his mother had given up. She and Mark’s father had moved their little trio to a small town in Devon and lived a quiet, simple, happy life. His father worked as a shoemaker in a village. To Mark’s knowledge, his mother never tried to contact her family again.
As for Mark’s father’s family, they had lovingly sent letters, but they lived in Rome, so far away they might as well have been on another planet. None of them ever visited, and Mark’s father and mother never took him to Italy. He’d been an adult before he met his Italian relatives.
Because of his childhood spent with no siblings, Mark’s thoughts about family mostly centered on the damage his mother’s relatives had done. She’d been devastated by their rejection. That was not how family should act.
When Mark married Nicole, their courtship and marriage had been quick. He’d barely had a chance to think about their future before they’d become estranged. In the years since, he’d been so focused on his career and political ambitions he’d never considered the fact that being without Nicole meant he was giving up his only chance at siring an heir. He purposely hadn’t allowed himself to think about it.
Now that possibility was sitting next to him enjoying turtle soup. Nicole’s confronting him with something he’d pushed out of his mind made him uneasy. He wasn’t prepared, but he sure as hell wasn’t about to have a child of his be born into this world and not know him. He also found the notion of having emotionless sex in order to produce a child repellent. Children should be conceived from love and passion… and pleasure.
“I would like to spend time with my child, yes. But that’snotmy condition,” he finally told her.
“Then what is?” Her eyes flashed green fire. She was clearly growing impatient.
He let his gaze linger on her face, then meander down to her décolletage. “I find the notion of merely copulating unacceptable. We have to make love or all bets are off.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Nicole’s spoon hit her soup, splashing liquid onto the pristine linen table cover as she shot to her feet. “What? No. No. No!” The man had obviously gone mad.
Mark merely sat back and regarded her calmly, blinking his unfairly long eyelashes at her. “Why are you so upset about this?”
She braced her palms against the tabletop and glared at him. “No, absolutely not. Simply no. I can’t. I won’t.” She could not explain to him why but she couldn’t live through such a condition. Why was he making this so difficult?
“I fail to see what your objection is. If you recall, we had some remarkable times in bed.” His grin was unrepentant. She wanted to slap it off his handsome face.
She recalled all right. She was doing her blasted bestnotto. “That has nothing to do with it.”
He lifted his wineglass and slowly swished the liquid around. “It has everything to do with it. If we’re going to create a child, we might as well enjoy ourselves.”
“No. Absolutely not.” Her heart was doing its best to pound straight through her bodice. He was being an ass on purpose. There was no other reason for him to make this demand. He wanted to see her squirm.
A footman came bustling into the dining room. When he saw that Mark had moved to the other end of the table, surprise registered on his face. The servant hurried to deliver Mark’s bowl of soup to him.
Mark waited until the footman left before prodding Nicole again. He continued to swirl the wine in his glass slowly. “Are you refusing my condition?”
She narrowed her eyes. Two could play this game. He wanted his blasted promotion, didn’t he? She’d do well to remember that. “Yes. I refuse.” She raised her chin in the air and stared down the length of the table, declining to look at him.
“Fine.” He set down his glass and crossed his arms over his chest. “Then I’ll return to England and do my best to get my promotion without you, and you can remain childless.”
Her lip curled. Damn him to hell. He was calling her bluff. “You’d give up your promotion over such a ridiculous demand?”
“I refuse to be used as a stud horse. I have a chance of getting promoted without you. You, however, havenochance of having a legitimate child without me.”
