Chapter 22

Helena stared at that hand, feeling suddenly shy with him, never having quite appreciated before how in other circumstances Bryan might have been Prince Smith. But it was all too easy, in these grand surroundings, to imagine him as such—to recognise his innate air of command, to acknowledge him as the powerful and much-respected head of the Smith family.

Bryan was offering to share all of this with her, to make her his wife, the mother of his child—children…? For she didn’t doubt that Bryan would want more than one child to continue the Smith line. Any other woman would have grabbed the offer with both hands, Helena knew. Was she being rash in refusing to marry Bryan? Was she being fair to their son or daughter by denying its birthright?

She was no longer as sure about that as she had been…

But maybe that had been Bryan’s intent in bringing her here?

Perhaps it was, but being here with him like this, with the magic of Venice and the Smith palace surrounding them, Helena was finding it