The Dutiful Wife by Penny Jordan Read Free Book Online

continued when she simply looked at him in angry rejection. ‘He said it was a matter of duty to our people and to our shared ancestry. I realise that this is coming as a shock to you, and that’s my fault, but please try to see the positive side of things.’
    ‘What positive side?’ Giselle was trembling with rage and dismay. ‘You assured me that ruling Arezzio was the last thing you would ever want, and now you’re telling me to look on the positive side? The positive side of what, Saul? You lying to me? Deceiving me?’
    ‘I haven’t lied to you or deceived you. When I said that, I meant it.’
    ‘But now you’ve changed your mind? Just like that? Without a word to me?’
    ‘It isn’t just like that. I never expected Aldo to die before me, but he has. This country needs us, Giselle. There’s so much we can do here—for the people and for the country. They need our help. We can build schools, educate the people, send them to the best universities in the world. We can build a country that values its people, that supports and encourages them.’
    The passion and enthusiasm in his voice fell against Giselle’s heart like physical blows. ‘You’ve already made up your mind, haven’t you?’ she accused him. ‘You’ve decided what you’re going to do. So much for our marriage being an equal and true partnership. When it comes to the things that matter most you didn’t even stop to think about consulting me.’
    ‘I’ve already told you—I thought you’d guessed. Giselle, I need you to support me in this. I’m sorry if you feel I’ve failed you. That wasn’t my intention.’
    Saul desperately wanted her to understand, and to share with him his determination to find something positive in the dramatic change in their future. He hated seeing her so upset, knowing that he was the cause ofher distress, but at the same time part of him felt that she could have been more appreciative of his position.
    She obviously didn’t intend to be, though, because she said bitterly, ‘How can I trust you any more when you’ve made such an important decision about our shared future without saying a word to me?’
    How could all his plans have gone so badly wrong?
    ‘I’ve already explained. I thought you’d guessed…realised…I believed, and I still believe now, that you would see the potential to do good in what fate has handed us, and that you’d want to respond to that challenge, to that demand on everything we have and are together, for the good of others.’
    ‘What about the good we are already doing through our charity, our plans? You can’t rule this country and still give the time and the commitment we give to that.’
    ‘The charity has reached a stage where a committee and trustees appointed by us can run it in our place. You know that’s true.’
    Giselle did, but she didn’t want to admit it.
    ‘Can’t you see, Giselle? This is a new challenge for us—a new call on all that we know we can give and all that we’ve already learned about that giving. You are the one who gave me the encouragement and inspiration to begin the children’s charity projects. I need that support from you here and now, more than ever. We are soul mates, you and I. We both know that.’
    The pain inside her was unbearable—because all of what he had said was true. Just as it was equally true that she could not go with him into the future he wasplanning. If he went ahead and stepped into Aldo’s shoes then he would have to do so without her.
    ‘You talk about us,’ she told him sadly, ‘but it is your intention to take Aldo’s place no matter how I feel, or what I say, or what promises you made to me, isn’t it?’
    Saul ached to take her in his arms and beg her to understand—but he had a meeting to attend, and once she was in his arms their intimacy would not end with a single kiss. It never did. The magical cord that linked them together meant that to touch one another was to want one another, and to prove