The Forced Bride
"NO," SAID Emily. She spoke with cool clarity, but her green eyes flashed at the two lawyers on the other side of the desk. "Not a divorce. You will kindly inform your client that I want an annulment."
The younger man gasped audibly and received a reproving glance from his senior, Arturo Mazzini, who took off his glasses, wiped them and replaced them on his nose.
"But, Contessa,'he said gently, "that is surely just--a question of emphasis. The important matter must be the actual dissolution of your marriage, not how it is done."
His placatory smile was not returned. "I can decide for myself what is, or is not important," said Emily. "A divorce--even the no-fault variety that your client is offering--suggests that a marriage really existed between us. I wish to make it perfectly clear to the world that it has not. That I am not, and never have been, the wife of Count Rafaele Di Salis--in the usual sense of the word," she added.
Signor Mazzini looked appalled. "Clear--to the world?" he repeated. "But you cannot mean that, Contessa. Any arrangement between yourself and the Conte Di Salis must be a private one, its terms not meant to be divulged."
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