Guido heard the deep love in her voice, unvarnished by any kind of vanity, and he gave a small cry, as if he had been wounded. A sweet, answering emotion began to lick warmth into his cold heart. He tightened his arms to enfold her closer and thought what a fool he had been. He buried his face in the sweet nectar of her hair, and for the first time in his life allowed his feelings to wash over him.
They bathed him with a bitter pain and regret until he thought he could bear it no longer, and then, inexorably, the tide turned and they gave way to a blessed kind of peace and hope. He raised his head and looked down at her.
‘Will you forgive me, cara?’ he said shakily.
‘Why?’ Her eyes widened. ‘What have you done?’
Now he could read her own fears. Dio, but he had never stopped to think about how she might really be feeling herself, deep down. Was that because he had not cared? Or had not dared?
He touched her lips with his own. ‘Not enough,’ he said gently. ‘Not nearly enough.’
‘Guido, you’re talking in riddles.’
‘Then that does not bode well for the future, cara mia,’ he responded. ‘Since I have just come to my senses!’
‘Guido! Please! What is it?’
‘I want you to listen to me now, and hear me out. Do you think you can do that?’
She closed her eyes, praying that he hadn’t decided he couldn’t go on…not before she had had a chance to tell him that she was prepared to change. If he didn’t want love then she would deal with it—because she wanted to work at her marriage. To do anything in her power to make it better. Weren’t some Royal marriages based on that kind of understanding anyway? All she knew was that she didn’t want to lose him.
‘I have been a selfish, stupid fool, Lucy,’ he said bitterly. ‘I have just taken and taken—without even considering what it is that you might want. Without bothering to give anything back.’
‘Guido, I—’
‘Weren’t you going to hear me out?’ he queried gravely.
She nodded, because now she doubted whether any words would come, for her throat was knotted by the terror which was beating hotly through her veins.
‘It was insensitive a
nd thoughtless of me to expect you to live in New York.’
She wanted to say But… Except that she had promised to listen…
‘Yesterday I went to visit Lejana—do you know where it is?’
‘Isn’t it on the coast by the Western Isles?’
A smile of satisfaction curved his lips. ‘You know your Mardivinian geography,’ he approved.
‘Well, our daughter will need to—it’s her heritage!’ she retorted, and his smile grew wider. ‘What about it?’
‘There is a big plot there that we could build a house on.’ He saw her frown. ‘But if you want to stay in Solajoya, then you can—any damned part you choose!’ He then made what was, for him, the ultimate sacrifice. ‘We can even carry on living at the Palace if that’s what you want.’
‘But I don’t!’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘Don’t what?’
‘I don’t want to live on Mardivino—I want to live in New York!’
Now he was confused. ‘You do?’
‘Yes!’
He frowned. ‘So what’s changed your mind?’
‘I want to make our marriage work, Guido. You won’t be happy living here, and if you’re not happy then I won’t be either—and everyone knows that women are much better at adapting than men.’ She drew a badly needed breath. ‘So I will.’