Page 28 of The Legionary Seduction (Roman Heirs #2)

“A bsolutely not.” Rufus glowered at Max from across his desk.

Volusia sighed. She’d been afraid that her stepfather would be stubborn about their betrothal. She’d tried to convince Max to let her put forward the proposal on her own, knowing that Max’s presence tended to inflame Rufus, but he’d insisted that the honorable thing to do was to ask for her hand himself.

Max wasn’t making any efforts to endear himself to Rufus, though. He was sprawling languidly in a chair, his long legs stretched out before him and his hands clasped loosely over his stomach. She wished he could try to look a little more deferential.

Rufus continued. “I will not consent to my stepdaughter marrying this, this—”

Max straightened up. “Man who saved her life not once, but twice?” He cast a meaningful glance at the bruises on Volusia’s neck, now faded to shadows after a week. “What more could you want in a son-in-law?”

Volusia cleared her throat. “Father, allow me to remind you that I don’t need your consent to marry Max. According to the terms of Avitus’s will, I am emancipated, free to do what I wish.”

Rufus’s eyes darkened. She could tell that he knew it was true, knew that he couldn’t stand in her way, and he hated it.

She softened her voice. “But I do want your blessing, because I love you, and I want us all to be a family. I love Max, and I know he’s the right man for me.”

Max grinned smugly.

Rufus leaned forward, his gaze intent upon her face. She recognized the posture as the one he used when he was trying to negotiate, to broker a deal, to convince a fellow politician of something. “My dear, are you sure there are no better options you wish to consider? I heard that the consul Hortensius had expressed interest. He’s a fine man, with excellent prospects. Think of all the doors he could open for Lucius.”

“Yes, but I don’t love him,” she replied. “I spent ten years married to a man who never truly loved me, nor I him. I want something different for the rest of my life. I want to love and be loved without restraint, without condition.” Tears rose to her eyes. That would work in her favor—Rufus hated seeing her cry.

Max reached over to gently brush away a tear as it rolled down her cheek. “I hope this is the only time you’ll cry on my account.”

She caught his hand and held it. “These are happy tears, my love.”

Rufus grimaced and made a noise of disgust. “Fine,” he ground out. “You have my blessing. On two conditions.”

Volusia had risen to her feet to hug him, but paused. “Yes?”

“First, you must wait the customary ten months after your first husband’s death to remarry.”

“Ten months?” Max exclaimed. “That’s an eternity.”

Volusia shot him a quelling look. It was a reasonable condition, after all. “It’s already been nearly two months since Avitus died. So it’s only eight months.”

He grumbled but said nothing.

“The second condition?” Volusia asked.

“Lucius must agree to this as well,” Rufus said. “I don’t want my grandson to be saddled with a stepfather he dislikes.”

Volusia nodded. “That’s fair.” It could present a problem, as Max and Lucius were different as could be—Max gregarious and irreverent, Lucius studious and disciplined. But she felt certain that if she could show Lucius why she loved Max, he’d grow to love Max too.

“Then I suppose we are agreed,” Rufus said reluctantly.

Volusia walked around the desk to hug him. “Thank you, Father. This means a great deal to me.”

He kissed her forehead. “You know you will always have a place here if—or when—you tire of your choice.”

“I’m sure I won’t, but thank you.” She kissed him on the cheek. Despite his high-handed ways, she knew her stepfather had only her best interests at heart. He and Max were more alike than they knew, and she hoped one day, they’d grow to realize that.

The next day, Max made his way to Volusia’s house once more, this time leading Elephant with him. The sun had never shone so brightly, and every step felt buoyant with joy. He’d never imagined that he would actually be engaged to Volusia. And in eight months, she would be his wife.

If her son agreed. His mission for today, and for however long it took, was to endear himself to Lucius. He had little experience with children, much less trying to get one to consent to him marrying its mother, but he remembered how delighted his nephew Tullus had been by Elephant. He figured all boys liked horses, so his plan was to introduce Lucius to Elephant and hopefully impress him that way.

“I don’t like horses,” Lucius informed Max when Volusia brought him outside.

Max blinked. “You don’t like horses?” He had not accounted for this possibility.

“They’re big and they smell and they could trample me.” Lucius shrank back, clutching a handful of Volusia’s dress.

Volusia patted his shoulder. “It’s all right, dear. Max’s horse is very gentle. I’ve ridden her myself.” She gave him a little push. “Why don’t you go pat her nose?”

He resisted, planting his feet stubbornly. “I don’t want to.”

Max suppressed a sigh of frustration. This was not going well. Lucius’s eyes were wide, and his slim shoulders were tense. He was clearly terrified.

“I can’t do much about the smell, but I can show you that she’ll never trample you.” He walked several paces away and laid down flat on the ground, then clicked his tongue in the signal for Elephant to come to him.

She trotted toward him, then stopped as she reached him, her hooves a handspan from his ear. She lowered her head and nudged his shoulder, as if asking what in the world he was doing down there.

Max grinned and got to his feet, brushing dirt from his tunic. “See? No trampling.”

Lucius still looked unconvinced, but this time, he allowed Volusia to gently propel him toward Elephant. He reached out a trembling hand and allowed Elephant to sniff his fingers, though he took a hurried step back when Elephant snorted and tossed her head.

“It’s all right,” Max said. “She won’t hurt you.”

Lucius crossed his arms over his chest and set his jaw. At least he wasn’t running back into the house, so Max decided to make the most of the moment. “Her name is Elephant.”

Lucius's nose wrinkled. “Elephant? That’s a stupid name for a horse. Though I suppose she was already named that when you got her, and you had to keep the name?”

“No, I named her that myself,” Max said, trying not to be defensive. “After Hannibal and his war elephants.”

“Hannibal was an enemy of Rome,” Lucius said staunchly.

“Yes, but he was a great general.”

“Alexander the Great had a horse named Bucephalus. That’s a good name for a horse. Why couldn’t you have named her something like that?”

Max rolled his eyes. This child was somehow equally irksome and endearing. “I liked the name Elephant.”

“Hmph.” Lucius gave Elephant’s nose another tentative pat. “Did you know Hannibal had thirty-seven war elephants when he crossed the Alps? But not many of them survived the crossing. Do you know how many elephants he had at the battle of Zama?”

“No, but I assume you’re going to tell me,” Max said dryly.

“Eighty.”

“That’s a lot of elephants.”

Lucius nodded in solemn agreement. They were silent for a moment. Max noticed that Volusia had slipped inside the house, leaving him alone with Lucius.

As the silence stretched, Max wasn’t sure what else to say. He was on the verge of asking Lucius if he knew any more facts about elephants when the boy spoke.

“Is it true you’re in the army?”

“Yes,” Max said, then corrected himself. “I was. For almost ten years.”

Lucius glanced at Max, something hiding in his gaze, then looked back at Elephant. “Mother says I will have to join the army when I’m grown, if I want to be a consul one day, or a governor like my father.”

Max nodded. Ten years of military service were required before running for any political office. “That’s true.”

Lucius lowered his hand from Elephant’s nose. “Were you scared when you joined the army?”

Max leaned against Elephant’s side, stretching an arm over her warm back. “I was too stupid to be scared.” He realized what was behind Lucius’s question. “Given that you seem to be much smarter than me, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were scared.”

Lucius shrugged and said nothing.

“Listen, that’s a long way off. By the time you’re seventeen or eighteen, I bet you’ll feel differently. You’ll be excited to leave Rome and see different lands. You’ll make new friends and have some adventures. Besides, maybe you’ll decide that you don’t even want to go into politics. Then you won’t have to join the army.”

Lucius shook his head. “Mother wants me to become a great man like my father.”

“There’s more than one way to do that. You don’t have to be a politician or a statesman.” Max hesitated. Volusia might not thank him for undermining her ambitions for her son. But Lucius should understand that he had options. Max had only joined the army because he thought it was his only option to make something of himself, and it hadn’t exactly ended well. “You could become a man of trade, or be a great writer or historian. With a good education, which you seem to have, you can do anything.”

Lucius gave Max a searching, considering stare, then a small nod.

Two weeks later, after a series of similar visits, Lucius had grown confident enough around Elephant to feed her apple slices without shrinking away in fear. He’d become more talkative around Max, too, and Max was starting to find Lucius’s endless stream of obscure facts charming. Max even borrowed one of Lucius’s books on the history of the Punic Wars so he could quiz the little boy on long-ago battle tactics and generals. He tried his best to stump Lucius, but the boy answered every question flawlessly.

One sunny afternoon, Max enjoyed lunch with Volusia and Lucius at a small table in the atrium of her family’s house. Rufus was out for the day on business—as he always was when Max visited—and Volusia’s mother was visiting a friend, so it was just the three of them. This was how it would be once they were married, Max realized with a surge of warmth in his chest. He wanted nothing more than the chance to enjoy a sun-filled lunch with Volusia and her son.

“Darling, you’re not eating your plum,” Volusia said to Lucius. “Is it underripe?”

Lucius had gone to the trouble of carefully slicing his plum into sections, but had piled them in the corner of his plate instead of eating them. “I’m saving them for Elephant,” he announced. “May we go see her after lunch?”

A broad grin spread across Max’s face at the fact that Lucius had reserved a portion of his own lunch for Elephant. “Soon she’s going to like you more than me if you keep spoiling her.”

Volusia wrapped her arm around Lucius’s slim shoulders and pulled him close to kiss the top of his head. “Of course you may go visit Elephant with Max. Do you think you’d like it if you could see her every day?”

Lucius’s face brightened. “Yes!”

“Then I have something very important to ask you, darling.” Volusia reached across the table to clasp Max’s hand. “Max would like to marry me, and become your stepfather. Do you think you would like that?”

Lucius glanced from Max to his mother. Max never imagined he’d feel so nervous about the judgment of a nine-year-old.

“I suppose that would be all right,” Lucius said.

A ringing endorsement if there ever was one.

“He’s not very good at naming horses, though,” Lucius continued.

Max grinned. “Tell you what, you can name the next horse I buy. Deal?”

Lucius nodded solemnly. “Agreed.”

Volusia hugged her son and kissed him on the forehead. “Thank you, darling. If you’re finished with your lunch, run along and fetch a cloak to go visit Elephant.”

Lucius ran off. Volusia rose from her chair and crossed around the table to Max, settling herself in his lap. “Are you ready to be a stepfather?”

Max wrapped his hands around her hips, savoring her weight and warmth on top of him. “He’s too smart for his own good, but I think we’ll get along.”

Volusia laughed and looped her arms around his neck. “I can only hope you’ll be a good influence on each other. But please don’t teach him to swear. At least not until he’s older.”

“Until he’s older,” Max promised.

“We’ve fulfilled one of my father’s conditions. Now we only must wait eight months, and we can be married.”

“Eight months.” Max groaned. “That’s an eternity.”

“We spent ten years apart, and we have a lifetime ahead of us.” She touched his cheek, bringing his face close to hers, and brushed her lips over his. His mind buzzed with the pleasure of her touch. “A few months is nothing. I’ll be your wife before you know it.”