Page 252 of Alessio

Like she should be happy.

She wasn’t.

It wasn’t Andino as much as it was everything else. She didn’t blame him, either, and she tried to be polite to him—not only because her brothers threatened her, but it was who she was, anyway—but that didn’t mean she wanted any of this.

“Do you talk at all?” Andino asked.

Ginevra looked up from the gross salad in front of her, and frowned. “I do, I’m sorry.”

Andino tipped his head sideways at that reply. “Why?”

It took Ginevra entirely too long to respond to that. Mostly because she didn’t know how to respond. No other man around her, but especially not her brothers, seemed to give even one damn about why for anything in her life. They didn’t ask her questions, they simply told her what to do, and expected her to follow through.

It was that simple.

Andino’s question surprised her.

“Why, what?” she asked.

“Why are you apologizing to me?”

She focused her attention on her plate, using the fork to play with the salad as she spoke. “For not being … whatever you would like, I guess. That’s what I was told to be today—whatever you would like. And with everyone else, that usually means staying quiet and out of sight, if possible. I can’t exactly be out of your sight when I have to sit right in front of you at the table, so being quiet seemed like the way to go. Sorry if that’s not what you want.”

Ginevra didn’t miss the way Andino glanced a few tables over at her brothers where they sat enjoying their steaks and potatoes, while she had been forced—by them—to order a salad. The other thing she didn’t miss?

The anger in Andino’s face.

What was that?

What did it mean?

“I neither want, nor need, for you to be a piece of art beside me,” Andino eventually replied.

Her brow knotted as she met his gaze, confused.

“Pretty, but inanimate,” he added after a moment, shrugging. “If that’s what they expect, then that’s another story. When they are around, you can behave however they deem appropriate as to not cause yourself trouble. With me, you can be whatever you feel like in the moment.”

“Right now, I would prefer to be anywhere else.”

Andino smirked.

That surprised her, too.

Mostly, this man seemed like a statue. Cold, and immovable. Like he didn’t have emotions at all, or rather, none he outwardly showed to those around him. It was why she found it so hard to read him. It was why she didn’t understand his motives here.

“I do appreciate a woman who isn’t a liar,” he said, “but for the sake of appearances, let’s at least play nice.”

Okay.

He didn’t want a liar?

She could do that.

“I don’t want to marry you, Andino. I don’t want to be here, and I certainly don’t want to pretend to give a damn about anything you want to talk about right now. So, if it’s okay with you, I would much prefer to sit here and occasionally nod when you talk so that you might think I give a shit. But really, we’ll both know I don’t.”

It took a second for him to reply, but when he did, it stunned her.

Silent.