He gave a slight shrug. “If the mood strikes me.”
“Does it ever strike you?”
His eyes met mine, and it was like sitting too close to a fire that suddenly roared to life. I stumbled over my own feet, but he righted me quickly.
“On occasion I have been known to cook.”
He cooked too? Could he at least try to not be like the totally perfect man? “Please don’t tell me you wash your own dishes.” I wasn’t sure my heart could handle it.
Nico looked completely amused. “I am saddened to say that I leave them for someone else. Have I lessened your opinion of me?”
“It’s actually sort of a relief. I was worried you were too perfect. No one would believe anything I said when I wrote about you.”
“Did you hear that?”
“What?”
He looked smug. “That was almost a compliment.”
“Only almost.”
“I am going to consider that progress.”
I couldn’t help smiling back. Nico went on to explain that if I didn’t want to get something myself, I could ring for a servant to bring it for me. Ring for a servant? I pressed my lips together with a suppressed glee. Holy crap, it was like being in a real-life Downton Abbey.
But before I could ask him if he had an evil under-butler, he was opening two large doors into another high-ceilinged room that stunned me with its expensive elegance. I saw chandeliers, ivory and silver wallpapered walls, and an enormous, beautifully decorated dark wooden table that had Nico’s whole family sitting at it.
Two men stood when we walked in, and I realized they were identical twins. Lemon was seated between them. Chiara waved at me, and I waved back while Serafina stood in her chair and yelled, “Hello, Kat! Come sit by me!”
“Introductions first,” an older woman said. She sat at the end of the table. “Please sit down, Serafina. Remember your manners.”
Serafina rolled her eyes and slunk back down in her chair.
Nico walked me across the room to the woman who had to be his mother. For reasons I didn’t understand, I really wanted her to like me.
“What am I supposed to do here? Bow? Curtsy? Kneel?” I whispered to him as we got closer to the queen.
He leaned down slightly to whisper back, his breath hot against my neck. It almost felt like a caress. “You’re an American. You don’t have to do anything. She’s not your queen. Just follow her lead.”
We stopped in front of her, and my body tensed. I did not want to mess this up. It struck me how beautiful she was. I could see where Nico had gotten his looks from. There was a regal elegance to her, but also a kindness in her bright blue eyes that made me relax.
“Mother, may I present Miss Katerina MacTaggart? Katerina, this is my mother, Her Royal Highness, Queen Aria of Monterra.”
The queen nodded at me. “It is very nice to meet you, Miss MacTaggart.”
“Kat, please. Your, uh, Majesty.”
That seemed to please her for some reason. She reached out for my hand, and I gave it to her. She squeezed it. “Then you must call me Aria.” Yeah, I couldn’t see that ever happening. She let go of me to gesture toward the table. “I hear that you are already acquainted with Chiara and Serafina.”
“She’s my best friend, Mamma!” Serafina called from her end of the table.
“This is my eldest daughter, Violetta.” A sullen teenage girl who also had Nico’s blue eyes glanced up at me with a withering look. I saw the earbuds attached to the phone she held under the table. “No technology at the table, please.” Violetta let out a loud sigh as she yanked the buds out and turned her phone off.
The two men were still standing as Nico walked me over to them. “These are my brothers, Dante and Raphael.” They had the same black hair as the rest of their family, but their brown eyes were a lighter shade than the rest. The one called Raphael wore a pair of silver-rimmed glasses.
It shouldn’t have surprised me when Dante leaned in to kiss me on my right cheek, then my left. I didn’t think that I would ever get used to that particular European greeting. “Welcome,” he said with a mischievous grin.
“Thanks.”
His twin leaned in to greet me in the same fashion, but added before he pulled back, “Anyone who puts that kind of smile on my oldest brother’s face can call me Rafe.”
Lemon just smiled at me knowingly before Nico led me over to the only empty spot remaining at the table. It was situated near the end of the table with Serafina on my left, who bounced up and down with excitement, and Nico on my right, who sat at the foot of the table. The twins and Lemon sat across from me. I was glad she was in my eye line.
Nico stood behind my chair, waiting. Another situation where I had no idea what, exactly, I was supposed to do. Everyone stared at me as I sat down and started scooting myself in, with Nico assisting behind me. Once I was settled, he walked back to his chair.
In front of me sat several china plates, all rimmed in what I suspected was real gold, with an embroidered ivory linen napkin laid across them. There was a row of crystal glasses in front of me, and next to my plate there were more forks than the Colorado River. I found myself feeling overwhelmed again. Not to mention the fact that I was totally underdressed. The men were all in suits, the women in dresses.
And I was in jeans.
Please, please, don’t let me screw this up any more than I already have.
Somehow I made it through without doing anything too embarrassing. The only time I seemed to step in it was when I asked about the king joining us. That brought a lot of exchanged glances and a physical, awkward charge in the atmosphere. The queen looked at me for a moment before she said, “He is not feeling well this evening,” and the subject was quickly changed and forgotten.
The food was, literally, the best I had ever tasted. For our main course (yes, main course—we had several courses, including an incredible tiramisu for dessert) we had steak and some kind of roasted potato, which surprised me. The few meals we’d had at the resort before the accident had consisted of one variety or another of pasta. When I pointed that out to Nico, he gave me a boyish grin that warmed my insides. “Lemon said it was your favorite.”
My heart sank. I should have been touched, but I was just sad. He needed to stop being so nice to me. I was not someone who was capable of being nice back to him. This would all end badly.
No matter how attractive I found him.
When we were finished with our dessert and I considered the real possibility that I might never eat again because I was so stuffed, I asked, “Can I help clear the dishes?” It seemed like the polite thing to do.
The queen gave me a sweet smile. “No, dear, but thank you. That is very kind of you to offer.”
The men in matching uniforms who had been bringing in our food all night came in to clear away the dessert plates. I noticed Violetta hadn’t touched her tiramisu at all while I’d had to refrain from licking my plate.
“I understand that Nico plans to give you a tour this evening,” his mother said to me. I felt a little like I’d been on display all night, with just a touch of third-degree interrogating going on by his brothers. All very kindly and nicely done, but there had been a lot of questions. This was a statement more than a question, but it still felt like I was under scrutiny.
“Yeah, he mentioned that.”
“But only if you’re feeling up to it,” Nico said, and I wanted to melt at the look of concern on his face.
“I’ll be fine.” I wanted to reassure him when it probably should have been the other way around. I couldn’t help it. Besides, it was true. I barely even felt the pain any longer, which was probably due in part to the fact that I no longer felt like I was going to die of starvation. The food had helped, as I’d hoped it would.
“Then shall we?”
I went to stand up, and Nico practically knocked his own chair over rushing over to help me out of mine. The twins again got to their feet. Serafina jumped up and threw her arms around my waist
, and I put my arm around her shoulders. “Goodbye. I wanted to come with you, but Mamma said I can’t because you and Nico are going to be alone,” she announced in a stage whisper voice. Everyone around the table hid their smiles, and I willed myself not to blush. Had Lemon recruited all of them into her plan to find me a boyfriend?
“Maybe next time,” I said to her. I wished she could come. I was worried I might find myself in need of a chaperone.
“Make sure you show her the moonlight gardens,” the queen said as Nico and I walked to the door. “They’re my pride and joy. After my children, of course.” They all laughed, but I could barely muster a smile as my stomach screwed itself into tiny little knots.
“Shall we?” Nico asked as he opened the door.
I was about to walk around with a too-attractive-for-his-own-good prince in a romantic, darkened castle and go someplace called a moonlight garden. I should have said no. I should have said I was in pain and needed to go back to my room. I should have let Serafina come with us.
But I didn’t do any of those things.
Nico did not take my arm this time, but kept his hands clasped behind his back. I didn’t know if that was his natural stance, or if he was avoiding touching me.
He took me down to the main part of the castle, showing me the Great Hall, the ballroom, a banquet hall. There was the White Drawing Room and the Green Drawing Room and the Blue Drawing Room. Each room was more luxurious and bigger than the last. Nico kept up a steady stream of information about everything he showed me. But I’d seen one drawing room. I didn’t really need to see all of them.
“How many rooms does the palace have?”
“Including bathrooms and staterooms, over eight hundred.”
Eight hundred rooms? I stopped. He realized I was no longer standing next to him and turned to see what I was doing. “We’re not going to look at all eight hundred rooms, are we?”
He smiled. “I’ll show you one last place that I like, and then I’ll take you to the garden.”
On our way, Nico continued to point out rooms and their names, like some kind of hot, determined tour guide. He nodded toward the library. I was torn between asking him to stop so that I could see it and wanting to hurry this up so the evening could end. I decided to go back and check out the library when I had a chance. Alone. We passed by a conservatory and a lounge.
“I feel like I’m in a real-life version of Clue.”
“Don’t worry. Nobody’s been killed here in decades.” I heard the teasing in his voice, but I immediately wanted to know who had been killed in the palace and why. Before I could ask, he held open another door and led me into a quiet, long room that had floor-to-ceiling paintings.
“This is the gallery. Every member of the royal family has a portrait here.” Some of the portraits looked newer, but many of them looked really old.
“Every time that I am feeling unsure of myself, I come here. All of this history, all of these people, my ancestors, remind me that I can do what needs to be done.” Nico looked lost in his own thoughts, as he moved down the room’s length.
It was the most personal thing he had ever said to me. He seemed so polished, so perfect. Like nothing bothered him. And here he was announcing that he had self-doubts. Actual chinks in his armor. And he had sounded . . . lonely. The wall around my heart lost a few bricks.
“I can’t even imagine what it must be like to be in a room full of pictures of your family,” I told him as we came to stop in front of a massive tapestry that contained his family tree. I saw the latest embroidered entry of Serafina Maria Theresa Aria and ran my fingers over her name. “To have your whole family tree laid out like this. To know who you are and where you come from.”
“You don’t?” He stopped to look at me.
“What little I do know is not fun. Not all of us come from a long line of kings and queens.” I waved my hand up at the wall. “I personally am the proud offspring of a bunch of addicts and alcoholics.”
Nico didn’t say anything, just cocked his head to the side.
I let out a little laugh. “Pretty sure if you put my family tree up on your wall there would be a car wrapped around the trunk.”
“These are not all nice people, bella,” he said. “You think we’re without our share of addicts and alcoholics? I assure you, we are not. There would be too many here to count. And we have worse. Here, look at this one.”
He took me by the hand, and I loved the way our hands fit together, how it felt . . . natural. Right. So right that I forgot to freak out. We stopped in front of an old painting of a woman with black hair and an evil-looking smirk.
“This is Queen Isabella. She was a Spanish princess who married the Monterran king. She decided she would make a better monarch, so she poisoned her husband and her four oldest sons. The nobles had to band together to kidnap her youngest son to protect him from her. That prince grew up to overthrow his mother. And here.”
We moved farther down the line. “This is King Stefan. He used to accuse his wives of witchcraft so that he could put them to death and obtain newer and younger models. My family comes from his fourth wife, who managed to have one son before he had her killed.”
He sighed. “Assassinations, murders, coups, we have them all.” He flashed me a grin. “But look at how well the final product turned out.”
I wanted to roll my eyes. Yes, we all got it. He was gorgeous. I settled for shaking my head.
He tugged on my hand. “The garden is this way.”
He didn’t let go of my hand, and to my surprise, I didn’t let go of his. We walked in silence, only for the first time it wasn’t an awkward one. It was strange to feel this way. To feel comfortable with a man who seemed like he was attracted to me. To think that I might even let him . . . I mean if he tried . . . obviously, I was being presumptuous because he might not have even thought of me that way . . . but if he did . . . would I?
“Here we are.” He led me into an extremely large greenhouse that had completely clear paneling so that you could see everything outside. The palace must have sat high on a hill as I could see nothing but snow and twinkling lights from valley floors in every direction.
“Beautiful,” I sighed.
Nico looked at me and said, “I was thinking the same thing.”
My heart beat painfully, but I ignored his implication and instead looked at the full moon that hung high in the sky above us, lighting up the entire garden. I heard running water, and Nico led me down a cobblestone path that was highlighted by little paper lanterns with tea candles burning inside them. We went to a sheltered, padded bench that sat situated on a little island in the middle of a large pond where koi fish swam, darting in and out of crimson-colored water lilies. We sat down and I tried to take it all in. In addition to the fantastic view outside, everything here was lush and green and warm. Bright yellow, white, pink, and purple flowers surrounded us. “What is that scent?”
“Casablanca lilies. Did you know that every flower in here only blooms at night?”
“Really?”
He looked up and reached for a white flower above us. “It’s a moonflower. It actually closes up whenever sunlight touches the petals.”
“Cool.”
He reached over, tucking the flower into my hair, just above my ear. I didn’t realize that I was holding my breath until he moved his hand away. He rested his arm across the top of the bench behind me. “My mother has always loved gardens. She created this one not long after . . .” He trailed off, taking a deep breath. “She made it because she wanted us to remember that even beautiful things could grow in darkness.”
I wondered if that could be true for me as well. Could something beautiful grow here and now despite my darkness? I wanted to believe.
Nico stood up, removing his suit jacket. He put it on the bench’s arm, and as he sat back down he was undoing the cuffs of his sleeves and rolling them back. He loosened his tie and undid his top button. He let out a sigh of relaxation.
I won
dered briefly what he’d look like in regular clothes. The closest thing to normal I’d seen him in was back at the ski lodge. That memory sparked a question that escaped my mouth before I could stop it. “Why did you come up to me at the lodge?”
Did everything I say amuse him? “Do you mean besides the fact that you are a beautiful woman?”
I made a face at him. We both knew that wasn’t true. “Yeah, besides that.”
“You were reading Shakespeare.” Had he moved closer to me, or was that my imagination? “Every other woman in the lobby was preening and made up with fake hair and fake”—he stopped and looked at me before continuing—“other body parts and there you sat, uncaring if anyone even noticed you. You were fresh, natural, and obviously intelligent, and I wanted to talk to you.”
“Bet you’d never been shot down before, huh?” I could at least take some pride in that.
Not my imagination. He was definitely closer. “But you didn’t ‘shoot me down.’ We’re here, aren’t we?”
Oh frak, he was right. He had me on a date. He took me to dinner. I’d been tricked. I should have been indignant. Outraged, even. Instead, my lips twitched and I forced myself not to smile. Because it was funny to have gone from that to this.
Now his fingers were playing with the few tendrils that had escaped my bun. I went still and forgot to breathe. “There is something I’ve wondered since the moment I met you.”
“What?” My voice sounded breathy and weird.
“What this would be like.”
He was going to kiss me, and I was going to let him. My heart started trying to pound its way out of my chest.
I should have stopped him. I should have been afraid. But I wasn’t.
His kiss was feathery light, barely touching me. His lips were warm, soft, and strong. If I’d realized earlier they’d feel like this against my own, I probably would have spent a lot more time studying them. My eyes drifted shut as my stomach went completely hollow, and a warm thickness started spreading through all of my limbs. He kissed me again, gentle and persuasive.
“Relax, bella,” he murmured against my lips, running his fingers along my jawbone. I realized that I was clenching his shirtfront with my fists. I loosened my grip. He continued to plant sweet and soft kisses on my lips. “This works better if you kiss me back,” he said with a smile as he leaned back slightly to look at me, his eyes glittery and intense. He ran his thumb along my lower lip, which made all sorts of unmentionable things happen to my insides.
Royal Date Page 4