Free Her Roman Holiday by Jamie Anderson Page B

that?”
    He frowned.   “Do what?”
    “Make nasty, sexist comments all the time?”
    The corner of his mouth lifted.   “You are very easy to provoke.   Sometimes I cannot resist.”
    “So you don’t really believe all that stuff?”
    “I did not say that.   But I will confess I am not usually so blunt in stating my views.”
    She let out a puff of breath.   “I see.   Well, for the record, I get it.   You don’t trust women — and nothing I say is going to change your mind.   You figure we’re good for one thing and one thing only.”
    He grinned.   “You do me a disservice, Calia — it is simply not true.   Women are good for many things.   Having babies, keeping house, cooking…”
    Calia rolled her eyes as a smile tugged at her own lips.   “Heaven spare me.   Okay, so you’re provoking me, but I have a creepy suspicion you actually believe what you’re saying.”   She shook her head.   “I have the deepest sympathy for whatever woman you eventually condescend to marry — for dynastic purposes, no doubt.”
    “Why else?”   He shrugged.   “You can hardly expect I’d do it for the companionship.   But I have no plans to marry for some time yet.   I have decided to wait as long as possible before burdening myself with a spouse.”
    “At which point you’ll marry some docile girl who’ll be content with whatever crumbs you throw her way when you get around to remembering you have a wife.”
    “I intend to marry a woman who knows her place, if that’s what you are trying to say.”
    “A woman who knows to call your secretary and make an appointment when she’s fertile, so all that stuff can be conducted in the most expedient manner possible.”
    He laughed.   “What an excellent idea.   I shall have to remember that.”
    But despite the facetious tone of their banter, Calia couldn’t help visualizing the kind of marriage he was describing.   Something distant, cold and probably very lonely, with two people inhabiting the same spaces, while never really being together at all.  
    “All joking aside though, Gio, that’s kind of sad.   I mean, I think you have a lot to offer a woman and it would be a pity for all that to go to waste or be sublimated into your work.”
    “Do not worry yourself about my future wife, Calia.   She will have no reason to complain.   She will have full access to all that I have to offer — the houses, the assets and the funds.   Within reason, of course.”
    “That’s not what I meant, as I’m sure you know.   You can’t think much of yourself if you believe a woman would only marry you for your money.”
    “Your naïveté is touching, but misguided.”
    She groaned and threw up her hands.   “I give up, all right?   Happy, now?   And I can only hope that whatever poor girl you do decide to marry will be content with that and won’t do anything crazy like — oh, I don’t know, fall in love with you or something.”
    He gave a mock shudder.   “Heaven forbid.”
    They drove in silence.   Then,   “So why the solicitude about my future wife?”
    “What you’re describing just seems very bleak, that’s all.”
    “And what of you?   You claim to have no plans to marry at all.”
    She shrugged.   “Well, not for a while, at least.   I want to have kids someday and if I find a man whom I can love, then I’ve got no objection to doing the family thing with him.”
    “Am I to infer that you plan to have children, regardless?”
    She nodded.   “Not for a while.   But definitely once I’m established.   It won’t be easy, but I’m fine with that.   I’d rather that, than relinquish my independence to some guy I don’t love or respect, just for the sake of the children he could give me.”   She noted his sardonic expression and grinned.   “And no, I’m not trying to make a point about your notions of matrimony.   It’s just the way I happen to feel.”
    “So do you plan to trick some hapless fool into