“There are traditions,” he began.
“There’s also reality. It’s a new century, Rafael. How about pushing the monarchy into it? I’m not sending Danny away to school.”
She also was fairly sure she wasn’t going to be marrying Rafael anytime soon, although the idea was fun to think about.
“You are right,” he said, stunning her into silence. “I did not enjoy being sent away. I was angry and resentful. I vowed it would be different for my son.”
“You might want to remember that,” she said, trying not to melt at the thought of a scared and lonely seven-year-old Rafael.
“Was it too horrible?” she asked.
“I survived. I had my uncle Vidal, who visited me frequently. My father’s brother,” he added. “We were close. Much closer than I ever was with my father.”
She imagined it would be tough to get close to the king. “It’s too bad your father didn’t remarry. Having a woman around would have helped.”
“Perhaps, but my father had done his duty and saw no reason to do it again.”
Marriage as duty—an interesting concept. “What about marrying for love?” she asked.
Rafael took her hand and lightly kissed the tips of her fingers. “Such a thing would not occur to him.”
“What are your thoughts on the concept?”
His blue eyes darkened with emotion. “I have turned down three acceptable arranged marriages and I have been unable to tell my father why. Each of the women was exactly what I said I wanted, and yet when the time came, I was not willing to marry for duty.”
“What did you say you wanted?” she asked.
He smiled. “You know that is not important.”
“I want to know how close a match I would be.”
“You are Mia,” he told her. “That is enough.”
Great response, she thought. He was good at saying exactly the right thing. She really was going to have to go online and become more familiar with his past. Was he serious about the three potential princesses?
“You worry for nothing,” he said as he stood and came around to her side of the table. He pulled her to her feet. “Remember what it was like between us. Think of how it could be again.”
Dangerous territory. She knew she could easily get lost in the past, and that wasn’t a smart place to hang out. She had a pretty big present to worry about, including an almost four-year-old son who would—amazingly enough—one day rule Calandria.
“Rafael, I’ve been thinking, and it’s the reason I’m up so early this morning. What you proposed…” Bad choice of words. “Your suggestion is really flattering, but I can’t see how we could ever make it work.”
“I will show you.” He moved in close and wrapped his arms around her.
She already had a good idea of where this was going. Not her favorite thing before she finished her first cup of coffee, but based on how great his kiss had been last night, she just might make an exception.
But before his mouth could claim hers, she heard footsteps in the hallway.
“Okay, that would be a chaperone on demand,” she murmured as she stepped back and did her best not to look flustered.
David walked into the kitchen, took one look at them, and started back out. “Sorry,” he muttered. “Just came down for coffee. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“You didn’t. Really.” Mia lunged toward him and grabbed his arm. “Rafael and I were finished.”
Rafael smiled. “I would not say ‘finished,’ but we can certainly pick this up again later. Go ahead, David. Have your coffee. I will go and wake my son.”
“Danny will like that,” Mia said, more grateful for the interruption than she could say. Things were messed up enough without her getting lost in a sensual fog with Rafael. Sexual chemistry had never been their issue.
David crossed to the coffeepot and poured himself a mug. When Rafael had left, he looked at Mia.
“You always did do things in a big way.”
She sighed. “This time, I didn’t mean to. It was just one of those things.”
He grinned. “Having a baby with the crown prince of a European nation doesn’t just happen.”
“It did to me. A week ago my life was perfectly normal. I had my plan. Finish law school, get a good job, get Danny into a nice private school in L.A., buy a condo. Suddenly I’m worried about co-parenting with a future monarch. It’s unnerving.”
“If anyone can handle it, you’re the one.”
She didn’t feel like the one. She felt inadequate to the task and uneasy about Rafael. He was too charming, too everything. How was she supposed to resist him?
“It’s good to see you,” she said.
“I always like coming up here. The fact that we’re planning a wedding here only gives me more excuses.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Dinner turned into a disaster.”
“What’s up with Kelly? She was wasted.”
“I don’t know. I thought Francesca was going to pop a blood vessel. And Etienne. Yuck. Why is it some men think avoiding regular hygiene makes them sexy?”
The timer on the oven dinged. She grabbed a hot pad and pulled out the cinnamon rolls.
“You were always a frequent bather,” she said. “I appreciated that. I just want you to know.”
“Not a very high standard.”
“I have others.”
David was good-looking, in an easy all-American kind of way. While he and Mia were exactly the same age, their lives were so different. He’d graduated from college, gotten a great job at an investment firm, and had the perfect life. He was engaged to someone Mia liked a lot, owned his own home, and knew exactly where he wanted to be in twenty years.
She was a single mother, still living at home, with another year left in law school. Okay, yes, she had a master’s and had been a spy, but she still felt as if she were waiting for her grown-up life to start.
David leaned against the counter. “I need your help.”
She perked up. “Is this a shopping thing, because I am in the mood to spend some serious cash and it’s always better if it isn’t mine.”
“It’s not a shopping thing.”
Damn. David had taken her with him to pick out Amber’s engagement ring. They’d found the perfect set, with a 1.6 carat cushion-cut center stone. Mia considered it one of her crowning achievements in spending other people’s money.
“It’s Amber.”
“What about Amber? She’s fabulous.” Mia grabbed the ingredients for frosting and set them on the counter. “Don’t you dare tell me you’re having second thoughts.”
“I’m not,” he said quickly. “How could I? Amber is incredible. Pretty and gentle and kind, and she thinks I’m funny.”
“It’s a miracle,” Mia told him.
“Gee, thanks. She adores me, and I can’t imagine ever loving anyone as much as I love her. I want to have kids with her. I want to grow old with her. I want to buy an RV with her.”
“RV buying means it is serious.” She measured out powdered sugar and butter. “So what’s the problem?”
“You.”
Mia paused in the act of pouring milk. “Excuse me?”
“She doesn’t understand how I could have been in love with you once and not still be in love with you.”
“Oh, please. You had me and realized you didn’t want me.”
He winced.
“I don’t mean that in a bad way,” she added quickly. “We were young and thought we were in love. We weren’t. End of story.”
“She doesn’t see it that way. Every time we come here, she can’t stop talking about you.” He held up his free hand. “Before you say anything, I already thought about staying away, but we’re supposed to get married here. It was Amber’s idea. There are family holidays and gatherings. There’s no way to avoid you.”
“Kind of like flu season germs.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do and I feel bad. Have you told her there’s
nothing between us? That we’re like brother and sister—not that we were when we were having sex, because ick.”
He grinned. “I’ve mentioned the brother/sister thing. And that you weren’t very good in bed.”
She glared at him. “Ha!”
“Mia, seriously. I need help.”
“I’m not an expert,” she told him. “Look, be honest with her. Tell her you don’t want to lose her. Tell her no one else has ever mattered as much. That you’d be lost without her.”
Sort of all the things she’d felt when she’d flown away in that helicopter after thinking she’d just watched Diego die. It had been the worst moment of her life.
“Tell her she’s your world.”
“You think?” he asked.
“I know. It’ll work. Trust me.”
“Thanks.” He put down his coffee and held out his arms.
Mia abandoned her frosting and stepped into his embrace.
David felt good—solid and familiar. Like family.
“I mean this in a very nonromantic way,” she said. “But I never stopped loving you.”
“I know exactly how you feel.”
Life being what it was, the short, friendly, comforting silence didn’t last long. Mia distinctly heard a gasp. She turned just as David swore, and wasn’t the least bit surprised to see a wide-eyed Amber quickly backing out of the kitchen.
David pushed Mia away with a speed that was almost comical. Mia watched him hurry after the woman of his dreams.
She finished with the frosting. Then, despite her earlier hunger for cinnamon rolls, she left them on the counter and climbed the stairs to her room. Once inside, she crossed to the dresser and pulled out the bottom drawer.
There were all kinds of mementos inside. Yearbooks, pictures from school, postcards from everywhere she’d traveled.
She wondered if she should help David explain, then shook her head. Nothing she could say would make a difference. The situation wasn’t actually about her—it was Amber’s inability to trust her fiancé and his feelings for her.
Funny how easy it was to see what was wrong with everyone else while she still wrestled with her own demons. Speaking of which…
She pulled out a small jewelry box from a corner of the drawer. Inside was a simple silver ring. Nothing fancy, no stones or engraving. But Diego had bought it for her one afternoon. He’d slipped it on her left ring finger and had kissed her.
“Now you are always mine,” he told her. “For as long as the ring survives, so does our love.”
She’d worn it nearly a year after she’d come back home. Then, after Danny had been born, she’d removed it and stored it away. The love that had been so precious to her was not destined to last.
Or was it? Diego was back, in a different form. The same man, a different person.
Could she trust him? Did he mean what he’d said? Did he want to marry her?
And if so, what did she want? Hadn’t she just spent five years wishing for the impossible—the return of her one true love? Was she going to let him get away just because he happened to be the heir to a throne?
7
“That poor girl,” Grandma Tessa said as she expertly stitched a bead into place on the piece of white satin she held in her hands.
Grammy M rolled her eyes. “She should be more trustin’ of the man she’s marryin’, or she shouldn’t be marryin’ him a-tall.”
“Trust is a tricky thing,” Mia said, hoping to avoid an argument between her grandmothers. There was already enough tension between them about Rafael. “I see her point. I mean, hey, it’s me.”
Grammy M smiled. “You are a special one, Mia, but you’re not all that.”
Mia laughed. “Not all that? Where did you learn that expression.”
“HBO,” Tessa said with a grin. “We watch it all the time.”
“Okay. Now I’m scared.”
“Don’t be,” Tessa told her. “Amber is a sensible girl and she loves David. That’s plain to see. But she’s cautious.”
“Why?” Grammy M asked. “David is a good man. She’s lucky to be gettin’ him.”
“Sometimes a little caution is a good thing. A smart woman isn’t taken in by a pretty face, fancy words, and an accent,” said Tessa.
Grammy M put down her piece of white satin. “I suppose you’ll be meanin’ me when you make that remark. As if I could be taken in.”
“You have been. What do we know about Rafael, eh? What he tells us. Charming manners are nice at dinner, but they don’t say anything about his character. Mia is smart to hold back.”
“Okay, I don’t want to get in the middle of this,” Mia said quickly. “Really. Let’s change the subject. How about those grapes? Are they growing or what?”
“I don’t think Mia should go running off with Rafael just because he smiles at her,” Grammy M said, her voice clipped. “I’m saying she should give the man a chance to prove himself before she accepts his proposal.”
There was a moment of perfect silence. Mia paused in the act of reaching for another bead. While her grandmothers sewed on the front of David’s wedding vest, she’d been trusted with two tabs in the back.
She replayed that last sentence, lingering on the final word. How on earth did her grandmothers know about Rafael’s proposal?
There was only one possible explanation. Damn the man. She’d asked him not to say anything. She hadn’t wanted the pressure. She didn’t know what she was going to do herself and she wasn’t looking for advice.
“He told you?” She tossed the tabs onto the table and glared at them both. “He told you?”
“He might have mentioned it in passing,” Grammy M said as she continued to calmly sew.
Mia couldn’t believe it. “How, exactly, does that happen? You’re discussing the weather and you ask if he’s proposed recently, then he chuckles and says as a matter of fact he has?”
Her voice rose with each word until it ended on a shriek.
“Who else knows?” she demanded.
“No one,” Grammy M said soothingly. “It was just the three of us in the kitchen. We were talking about you and how smart you are. Rafael seemed to like that. He mentioned you would be a beautiful and compassionate queen.” She sighed. “Imagine. Our little girl a queen.”
Right then Mia wanted to throw something, which didn’t feel very royal to her. She turned to Grandma Tessa.
“What did you say? Do you think it’s a good idea?”
“I think you should get to know the man before making any decisions that take you so far away.”
“Okay, maybe. But doesn’t it bother you that he told you?”
“Not as much as you not telling us,” Tessa said.
Mia sank back into her chair. “I needed to think about it. No, I needed to find out a way to tell him no.”
Grammy M dropped her needle. “No? But he’s the father of your child, Mia. Danny’ll be needin’ a father as he grows up.”
“He has Joe.”
“An uncle isn’t a father.”
Mia looked at Grandma Tessa. “You can’t want me to marry him.”
“I want you to be happy. And sensible.”
“He shouldn’t have told you,” Mia insisted. “It’s not right.”
“We’re your family,” Grammy M said, as if that explained everything.
But it didn’t. Rafael went behind her back. What was up with that? Did he want to pressure her into saying yes?
Even as the thought occurred, she dismissed it. Hello, they were talking about royalty. Princes didn’t need to push women into their lives. Women went willingly.
“I have to go talk to him,” she muttered.
“He’s outside playing with Danny,” Grammy M offered.
Mia waved her thanks and stomped through the kitchen toward the back door. Something about this just didn’t feel right. The word manipulation kept popping into her mind, which seemed both harsh and unfair.
She stepped out into the warm afternoon and
immediately heard the sound of childish laughter.
“You’re dead,” Danny said gleefully as he poked at an action figure in Rafael’s hand. “Dead, dead, dead.”
They sat on a blanket in the shade. Around them were the remnants of what had obviously been a hard-fought war. Plastic soldiers lay discarded in heaps. Mia would bet that nearly every military toy had been hauled out for today’s game.
“I die, I die,” Rafael said in a high-pitched voice. “You shot me and I die.”
Both he and his plastic soldier fell to the blanket. Danny doubled over with laughter, and Mia found herself smiling.
Interesting that the imperial prince had allowed himself to be defeated. So maybe Rafael was good with his son. That had to count for something, didn’t it?
He looked up and saw her. “You are in time to attend my funeral. I am killed.”
Danny grinned. “He’s not a very good soldier.”
Rafael pressed a hand to his chest. “How you wound me with your words. I am an excellent soldier. Perhaps you are simply better.”
“I am!” Danny crowed. “I’m the best. I’m the heir.”
Mia narrowed her gaze. “You are, huh? Maybe in Calandria but not here. Here you’re just Danny Marcelli. Okay, kid. Why don’t you head inside and ask the Grands to fix you a snack.”
“Okay.”
He scrambled to his feet and raced to her. She dropped to her knees for his kiss and hug, then stood as he ran into the house.
“He is the heir,” Rafael told her from his place on the blanket. “Do not discourage him from knowing his own importance. He will one day be king.”
“Not something I can readily imagine. Besides, he already has a very strong sense of self. Trust me, you don’t want to make him feel any more important than he already does.”
Rafael patted the blanket. “Join me,” he said quietly. “It is very nice out here.”
She glanced around. “Where are the boys with the guns?”
“Oliver and Umberto have taken a tour of the winery with Brenna.”
“I’m surprised they were willing to let you out of their sight.”
“I insisted. I wanted the time alone with my son. It is not good to always have bodyguards lurking.”
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