“Then you don’t know me at all.”
“No,” she whispered. “I guess I don’t.” She felt dizzy and still a bit sick. She’d barely made it to Sonoma in Nadia’s old car without being sick, she’d been so nervous. And now he wanted to marry her? She licked her lips, feeling as though she might cry. “You want to help raise our baby?”
Alessandro’s jaw was tight. “I will protect you both. I will give the baby my name. It is my duty.”
Her heart, which had been soaring in blind hope, crashed to the ground. His duty? She exhaled. “You don’t need to marry me to be involved in our baby’s life.”
“Yes. I do.”
“Why?”
“Because it is necessary.”
“You’re old-fashioned.”
“Yes.”
“But you don’t love me!”
He folded his arms. “Irrelevant.”
“Not to me, it isn’t!” She exhaled, clenching her hands. “Listen, Alessandro, I’ll never try to keep you from seeing your child—”
“I know that you will not, once we are wed.”
“I’m not going to marry you!”
“Of course you will,” he said coldly.
She shook her head, causing wet tendrils to slap against her cheeks. “Be in a loveless marriage for the rest of my life? No thanks!”
“I understand. You still want your knight in shining armor.” He set his jaw. “But whatever either of us might have once planned for our lives is over. We are expecting a child. We will wed.”
“No—we would be miserable!”
“Miserable?” he said incredulously. “Don’t you understand? You will be my bride. A princess. Rich beyond your wildest dreams!”
“I don’t care—I don’t want it! Not when I know you don’t love me and never will!”
He grabbed her by the shoulders, his hands sliding against her wet skin. “You would deny our child a name out of some childish yearning for fairytale dreams?”
“It’s not childish.” She closed her eyes, which suddenly burned with tears that he’d used his knowledge of her heart against her. “You are cruel.”
“I am right,” he said grimly. “You have no reason to refuse me.” He paused. “I will even be faithful to you, Lilley.”
He spoke the words as if being faithful to her would require a huge sacrifice, practically more than any billionaire prince could bear. And it was probably true. “Gee, thanks,” she said sarcastically, glaring at him. “But I have no interest in being your duty bride.”
“Your objection is to the word duty?” He narrowed his eyes. “What do you think marriage is?”
“Love. Friendship. Having each other’s backs. A poetic union of souls—”
His grip on her tightened. “And passion?” His voice became husky beneath the rain. “What of passion?”
Her heart fell to her sandals and back again. She felt his strength, his warmth, the irresistible pull of his power. Against her will, she craved him.
“It was good between us.” He ran his fingers lightly along her jawline, his thumb along her sensitive lower lip. His soft stroke caused a spark down her body that made her suck in her breath. “You know how it was.”
Memories shuddered through her of how it had felt when he’d made love to her. Her breasts felt heavy, her nipples aching and tight. She swallowed. “It was a fling,” she breathed. “You said so yourself. I’m not the right woman to be your bride.”