A Virgin for His Prize(49)
Provided the divorce was amicable, but he’d never had a bad breakup. Of course just the thought of Romi walking away from him annoyed Maxwell.
Not something they had to discuss right now however. “Tell me about building houses in Haiti.”
“It could be anywhere in the world really, but Maddie and I did it three summers in a row in Mexico. We always said we wanted to participate in a Haiti build, though.”
“I’m having a hard time picturing Madcap Madison and Romi Grayson, well-known activist heiress, building houses in the Mexican heat.”
“It was the most amazing experience. Everyone works like dogs to get these really simple dwellings built in a week, but the families are so grateful. The children…they’re incredible. I loved working with them even more than working on the house team.”
He could well imagine and said so.
She smiled, mischief glinting in her gaze. “You know what I can’t imagine?”
“What?”
“You pouring concrete in the Haitian sun wearing scrubs and a sun hat.”
Neither could he. Surely he could wear something else.
She must have read his look because she laughed. “Some people wear jeans and long-sleeved T-shirts, but scrubs are the most comfortable. They let air circulate and are easy to get clean. Both are important.”
He wondered if his tailor did scrubs. “I see.”
“So, what about you?”
“What about me?” He’d never had dreams of building a house in Haiti, that was for sure.
“What would your ideal honeymoon be?”
He liked that she asked, so he told her the truth. “I would like to visit Russia, meet the family that turned their backs on my mother and show them the success she raised without their help.”
“I bet they regret pushing her away and miss her.”
“If they do, they’ve never contacted her to say so.”
Romi frowned. “Maybe they don’t know how. Did she tell them she was emigrating to the United States?”
“I do not know.”
“She changed her name, right?”
“Yes.”
“So, neither of you would have been easy to find.”
He refused to let them off the hook of responsibility so easily. “Where there is a will, there is a way.”
“For men like you? Absolutely. For lesser mortals, not so much.”
He didn’t want to discuss his mother’s estranged family any longer. He didn’t even consider them his relatives. “Tell me you made your decision.”
“I won’t say I don’t care about Maddie’s shares.”
“But…” he offered, because her tone implied it.
Damn. Was she going to say no? He did not believe it.
She fiddled with her silverware, looking down at the table before meeting his gaze, her own filled with certainty. “And you know how important my dad’s health is to me.”
“Yes.”
“But I won’t let you use either to blackmail me into marriage.”
“You won’t.” A flurry of curse words fought to come out of his mouth. Maxwell bit them back.
Romi reached out and picked up the ring box. “So, you’re going to have to deal with the fact that I’m agreeing because I can’t imagine living the rest of my life without you in it.”
Everything inside of Maxwell went still. “What?”
Romi’s gaze warmed with emotion he refused to name. “I will marry you.”
Totally unexpected and extremely unfamiliar panic filled him. “I don’t love you. I won’t love you.” Double damn. Why did his code of honor insist on rearing its head right now?
“So you’ve said.”
“And you are okay with that?” he asked, his mouth spilling words his brain had not authorized.
“Does it matter?”
She should ask. He’d been willing to give her compelling motivation to do what he wanted.
But this…this offer of herself because she wanted to do it? He had no frame of reference for it, zero sense of control with it.
“It does,” he admitted shortly.
“You don’t sound happy about that.”
“I don’t like the rules of the game to change.”
“Unless you’re the one doing the changing?”
“That goes without saying.”
“I’ll sign the prenup,” she offered, like a lollipop to a crying child.
He frowned. “Yes, you will.”
She grinned. “Feel better?”
“I did not feel badly to begin with. You are accepting my deal, whatever your reasons.” That was exactly what he wanted.
“Yes, I am.”
Why did he feel like that was entirely on her terms and because it was what she wanted? She’d agreed to sign the prenup. She’d agreed to the marriage. His plan had led to exactly the outcome he wanted, but somehow it had become her plan, too.