Page 71 of The Red Queen

Instead of reacting with anger as she thought he might, he threw back his head and let out a full-bodied laugh. He sounded genuinely amused.

She crossed her arms in pique. She’d expected him to be infuriated by her ultimatum, not treat her like she was a child threatening to tear the head off his favourite toy. She eyed the butter knife in front of her. It would only take a few pounds of pressure to stab it through his eye. She could do it while his reflexes were slowed by his laughter.

She allowed the bloodthirsty thought to pass and opted for a chilling glare as he focused on her face again.

He picked her hand up and pressed a kiss to the back, lingering over the hulking diamond engagement ring she’d chosen and purchased with his money.

“My dear, from the moment you arrived, my home has been a war zone. My housekeeper is missing, my bodyguards are terrified of you and my head vintner is currently not speaking to me because I invited your mortal enemy to our wedding.” His gaze was warm on her face, his rapidly shifting moods, which left her feeling unsettled and wrong-footed, landed on indulgence. “However, you could never make my life hell. I think if you were to put a bullet through my heart right now, I would die a happy man because I died gazing at your lovely face, knowing you will live a safe and happy life shielded by my name.”

Her heart thumped in response to his romantic words, and she felt almost dizzy from the abrupt shift in mood. She didn’t know what to say or do in response. One minute she’d been blazingly angry with him, determined to fight for her independence, and now he was melting her with words and sentiment.

Moving his chair closer, he kept his hold on her hand and leaned over so their faces were only inches apart when he spoke. “I know it hurt you to find out I brought you here to have my child, but I promise you, Desi, my feelings have since changed.”

She swallowed to wet her suddenly dry throat. “You don’t want me to have your children anymore?”

“I do,” he admitted and when she tried to back away, his grip tightened. His voice remained soft, though. “I am a selfish man, but I will never lie to you. Yes, I want to have a child with you. More than one if we can manage it. The difference between the way I felt when we first met and now, is the depth of what I want. I don’t just want your children. I want everything. I want every facet of your heart, your body and your soul.” He touched her arm, then tapped her belly lightly with his fingers. “Any children that come from this body will be loved wholeheartedly by their parents because they will be a product of our magnificent union. We’re going to create a family, Desi, not an empire.”

She blinked rapidly, looking away, her blank gaze landing on the vineyard beyond. “I don’t know if I can do this, Gio. I don’t know if I’m capable of love.”

He took her face in his hands. “You are, because I won’t let you do anything else.”

Chapter Thirty

After their wedding night blowup, life settled into a wary pattern for Desi. She spent her mornings eating breakfast with Giovanni on the sunlit patio outside his office, then wandered down to the winery to catch up with Donada. Occasionally Alina would be there, painting in the stone garden.

Though her new life seemed idyllic, Desi couldn’t settle down. It had been one week since their bloody nuptials and Desi didn’t trust things not to blow up at any moment.

Antonio was still out there somewhere. Giovanni was reluctant to discuss his son with her, so Desi wasn’t sure what he was doing about his demon spawn, but she understood complicated relationships and decided to give Giovanni his space when it came to his son.

Desi and Giovanni made love almost every night, their passion flaring hotter with each encounter. Giovanni was a generous lover and once Desi stopped fighting him, she basked in the glow of his generosity. He wasn’t willing to let her leave the bed unless she’d experienced at least three orgasms.

Before Giovanni, Desi had always believed herself incapable of truly enjoying sex. It was something she could use as a weapon. Men wanted her, and she exploited that to her advantage. But now, she found herself willingly at the mercy of her Italian lover.

Life should have been perfect, and maybe would have been if Giovanni hadn’t found the birth control pills Desi had snagged from a pharmacy in Venice. She’d decided that to be happy with Giovanni, she needed to be able to make choices regarding her own body. She didn’t tell him because she knew what his answer would be.

“What the fuck is this?”

Desi froze.

She’d entered their bedroom, intent on running a bath before dinner. She had believed Giovanni to be in a meeting.

He was standing in the center of their bedroom, a familiar plastic bag in one hand and the small package of pills in his other. His expression was thunderous. An answering anger rushed through her. Anger that Giovanni had forced her hand when it came to birth control and pushed her into sneaking around behind his back. Anger that he was going to ruin their happy week together.

She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at him. “Those are a symbol of my right to choose what happens to my body.”

He laughed, the sound cold and uncompromising. It sent a shiver down her spine, but she forced herself to remain ramrod straight and look him in the eyes.

“The only rights you have over yourself are the rights I choose to give you.” She flinched as he said the words she’d known were true, but hadn’t wanted to believe. “If I hadn’t stopped Mateo in Miami, you would be dead. I took you with the promise that I would control you, but you still defy me at every turn, no matter how much I give you.”

“What have you given me?” she snarled, storming toward him, choosing not to heed the dangerous stiffening of his body. “Money? I had that before you, more than I could ever spend. I have money stashed all over the world. Protection? I can defend myself and you know it. You keep me here so you can control me.”

“Don’t tell me I’ve given you nothing,” he thundered, causing Desi to flinch and take a step back. “You’ve been happy these past several weeks, probably happier than you’ve ever been.”

“How can I be happy when I will never get to choose my own future!” Her voice had risen until she was almost screaming. She whirled around, fists clenched, anger rushing through her. “All of my life I have been told what to do by men. Where to stand, what to say, how to decorate my body, how to have sex. You may be the lesser of the evils I’ve known, but you’ve still stolen my right to choose!”

He gripped her by the arms and forced her to turn around and look at him. He was angry, almost as angry as her. “What right?” he demanded. “Rights are a made-up concept that society uses to civilize itself, but we are not civilized, are we, Desi? We’re savages and I have savagely taken you for myself. I won’t give you back, not even to yourself.”

Desi let out a scream of anger and sent her fist flying toward his face. He had enough time to save his nose, but she still clipped his cheekbone, sending his head rocking back. She followed the punch up with her signature knee-to-crotch move, though she pulled the move at the last second, jamming her knee into his thigh. She might be angry, but she didn’t hate him, and she was still undecided on the future children thing. He stumbled back, one hand going to his balls, while the other clenched. She could tell by the tremor in his fist that he was a hair’s breadth from letting it fly.

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