long time. He’d never heard her phrase things quite so eloquently before and he had to admit that she had a very convincing argument. “One hour for each lesson,” he said.
Marabeth was confused. “One hour of what?”
“I get one hour for each hour I teach you. But I have to teach you whatever you’re going to learn.”
“What do you mean, you get one hour?”
He leaned forward and crossed his arms over the table in front of him. “I get one hour with you where you don’t argue with me or try to avoid me.”
She considered that. It seemed reasonable. “The wedding is delayed for six months and I get out of it if I find out you’re totally unreasonable.”
“No way.”
“Why not?” He smiled cheekily. “Because I know I can be unreasonable. I’m not giving you an out that easy.”
Marabeth couldn’t help it. He was too charming for her own good. Her laughter bubbled up despite her vow to make her point. “Fine, but we delay the wedding for at least six months and don’t announce it for three.”
“We keep the date set for two months and don’t announce it for four weeks. And you continue to get ready for the wedding with all the enthusiasm you would if you would just admit you’re in love with me.”
Marabeth wasn’t sure if she should gasp in horror or laugh at his comment. Both seemed applicable. “I get karate, hang gliding and I want to go to an amusement park,” she said. And as if it were an afterthought, “And I get to go out once in a while,” she finished. “These security restrictions are going to really get to me soon.”
“You stay within the confines of the palace unless you’re with me, I’ll teach you both but no amusement park. Too many security issues.”
“When would the security issues be resolved?”
“Do you agree?” he asked.
“Is there an alternative?”
“Sure, you can not learn karate or hang gliding, you can continue to fight me and avoid me and we don’t get to know each other, but we still get married in two months and I get to take you to bed like I want to do right now.”
Marabeth couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing, enjoying the arrogance and irritating confidence he had. Her mother was right about that part. Those two qualities really were two things that attracted her to him.
“Is that a yes?” he asked.
“That’s a yes,” she said.
“Good.”
Their meals arrived conveniently at that moment and there was a great show of freshly grated cheeses and tossing of the salad. The wine was poured and the bread delivered. By the time all the waiters had gone, Marabeth was ready to yell at them all to go away but she kept her mouth shut and waited patiently.
Once they were alone again, she took a big bite of her pasta, knowing she was hungry. “Oh, this is wonderful,” she said as soon as she finished the first bite. “I love this restaurant.”
“When were you here before?”
“My mother had me go out with this irritating Italian count about six months ago. He was yet another in a long line of hopefuls.” She considered that for a moment. “Why didn’t they ask you to take me out a long time ago?”
“They did.”
“They did?” she said, extremely hurt suddenly. If they’d asked, that meant he’d said no. “Well, this is delicious pasta,” she said again, looking down at her meal.
Sam realized where this was going and he put his fork down. “Marabeth, stop right there. Look at me,” he said.
She looked up and tried to hide the hurt but it must have come through on her face.
“At the time, I had one month before I was to take over a new job and all I knew about you was that you were a princess who had just lost her fiancé and you had a beautiful mother.”
She nodded and thought she understood. “So you think the same thing everyone else thought about me. That I was some spoiled little princess who needed to be married off as quickly as possible. But you took it one step further and thought I was an ugly hag, huh?”
Sam nodded his head. “Well, yes. That about sums it up.”
Marabeth wanted to feel hurt, but his honesty somehow made her feel better. “What time is my first lesson?’ she asked, changing the subject.
“Tomorrow morning. Be in the gym at five o’clock.”
“Five in the morning?” she asked, her fork clanking against her plate.
“Yes. Five in