that blow with… marriage. It would take care of her debts and she’d be his wife.
Women all over the world wanted to be his wife. They’d thrown themselves at him since he was 13. He knew women wanted the power that would be his one day, the wealth. Marie had never wanted any of that, she’d only wanted to be his. Now, she needed money, and it was the one thing that would get him what he wanted, what she wanted.
A chance to get each other out of their systems. They could divorce, even if the church would frown on it. Matteo was not a religious man, despite his upbringing, and Marie wasn’t religious either. If, when, they grew tired of each other, they could divorce and get on with their lives.
Simple enough, he told himself. He took a cigar out of a box he kept in a drawer of his desk and went out to the pool. The first place he’d made her come. The night replayed in his mind, the way she’d clung to him, the incredible sounds she’d made, the wonder in her eyes as he got her off. It made him hard just to think about it, and he hoped she wouldn’t make him wait the entire month he’d offered her.
He wanted to fly her off to Vegas or anywhere else that would allow them to be married that day so that he would know she was his, and only his, right then. But she needed to come around to this. He’d seen the hard way she’d held herself away from him and saw it for what it was - a play to look strong.
She didn’t have that shell yet, not the one that so many people he knew had. That amazed him because she’d grown up with a mother that was terrible to her, abusive to the point that Marie probably should have been taken away from her long before her mother even became ill. That she had no defense other than to shrink into herself was amazing.
He’d seen the start of that shell today, that was for sure. The fair thing for Marie would be if she didn’t have to actually grow that shell to protect herself, but he knew that she’d need it to be his wife. She’d have to learn to defend herself from others, to stand apart and away from them. Especially with his aunt.
Celeste would have an absolute fit when she found out what he’d done, but for once in his life, he’d decided to defy the woman that took him from his mother. He’d decided to defy the woman that would give him her empire, even if it cost him that empire because he didn’t just want Marie and her sweet innocence, he craved her.
It would not do to let her know that, but she would probably guess it from his little act of defiance. He was certain she had some nice Italian girl, a good, Catholic, Italian girl in mind for him when the time came, but this time, he wanted something, someone, of his own. Only his.
Marie would need time to become accustomed to his needs, to become used to the idea that she’d been blackmailed into being his bride, but with time she’d come around. If that shell she was growing didn’t become too hard. If he could protect her from most of his aunt’s wrath, and the spitefulness of the women in his world, as well as the worry that came with his life-choices, then he’d get to have the woman he’d come to adore.
He didn’t want Marie to turn into the kind of wife that most of his friends had, tough as nails, brash, and ready to fight at a moment’s notice. He wanted the inquisitive, intelligent woman that wanted to know more about the world, the delicate creature that stepped out with wonder every time he was with her. He wanted to protect her, and that was scary at first.
He’d kept her at arm’s length for a very long time, not because of his aunt’s order, but because he’d known instinctively that Marie was dangerous for him. She was the kind of woman you fall in love with, and he wasn’t sure he was capable of that. If he deserved that. In fact, if it had been left up to him, he’d have gone home the moment he met her. He didn’t want to destroy what she was or taint it.