Lady Claire

by Teresa Roman

  “You drive me crazy, Alessandro,” I whispered, caught up in the passionate way he was making me feel.

  “Not as crazy as you drive me, bellissima.”

  I could’ve spent hours walking through the hills of the Russo vineyards, stopping every few feet to kiss Alessandro. But there were only so many hours in the day and as the sun started to go down I knew it was time to go home.

  We said goodbye to Mrs. Russo. I thanked her profusely for not only cooking one of the best meals I’d ever had, but for her hospitality. This time when she gave me a hug and kissed my cheeks I returned her affections without feeling stiff and awkward the way I did when we’d first met. Her open heart awed me. I thought I had a lot of childhood friends, but none of them showed me the kind of love that Mrs. Russo showed Alessandro.

  After Alessandro and I returned to my apartment, he walked me to my door. I unlocked it but instead of following me inside, Alessandro started to back away.

  “You’re not coming in?” I asked. He almost always did after one of our dates, sometimes staying until close to midnight watching TV with me and talking. I’d thought of asking him to spend the night a few times, but I was afraid he’d think me unfair that I wanted to fall asleep in his arms when I wasn’t ready to give him more.

  “Not tonight, bellissima. After those kisses at the vineyard, what we both need is for me to go home and throw myself into a cold shower.”

  “Are you upset with me that I’m not ready for more?”

  Alessandro walked up to me and rested the palm of his hand on my cheek. “Never. But I’m going to give you a fair warning. Things have changed for me. I want to be more than just your distraction. I want to be your man. I want you to desire me the way I desire you. I know you think it can’t work between the two of us, but you’re wrong, and one way or another I’ll find a way to prove it to you.”

  Without giving me a chance to reply, Alessandro turned around and walked away leaving me standing there with my mouth open. I wanted to chase after him, to tell him that there was nothing to figure out, that I wanted him, too, but my feet remained frozen in place. I was just too afraid.

  Chapter 6

  For weeks I agonized over Alessandro’s words to me after our romantic lunch at the vineyard. He didn’t bring it up again, about wanting to be my man, and neither did I. Perhaps his words had been born from all the wine we drank that day, or the romantic mood walking through the vineyard had put us in. Either way, I figured it was easier to keep our relationship as is than to talk about things that weren’t possible.

  His work at the farm kept him busy, as did my studies, so we only saw each other a few times a week. As the days passed, a sense of panic started to take root inside of me. I would complete my classes soon, and then what would I do? Something had changed in me. Ever since Prince Nico’s wedding I hadn’t attended a single social event. At first it had been out of a sense of embarrassment, but as time went on, I realized I had no real desire to go. I liked spending my time with Alessandro more, and sometimes I just liked being by myself. Perhaps if I hadn’t spent so much of my life trying to fill my social calendar I would’ve realized that a long time ago.

  My mother fretted about it, while my father decided it was a good sign and that it meant I was taking my studies seriously. I didn’t have the heart to tell him he was wrong and that the real reason I’d never finished school in the first place was because I absolutely abhorred sitting through classes. I hated studying and writing papers. I preferred doing just about anything else. My former recreational activity of choice, shopping, had been replaced by a new one, spending time with Alessandro. He made concentrating on schoolwork even harder than it already was. When I whined to him about the hard time I was having getting through my studies, he laughed.

  “Maybe I can help you,” he offered.

  “What would you know about International Studies?”

  He picked up my textbook from the table, the one that I was using for a business class. “Believe it or not, running a farm is about more than just throwing some seeds onto the dirt. I may not have a fancy degree, but I know a thing or two about business.”

  “Well you’re ten steps ahead of me then,” I grumbled. “I’ve never been so bored out of my mind.”

  “Is this even what interests you?” Alessandro asked, flipping through the pages of my book. “Perhaps that’s what the problem is, you’re studying what your parents want you to instead of what you enjoy.”

  “The thing is, I don’t know what I like. I’m starting to think every decision I’ve ever made has been because someone else convinced me I should.”

  “Except your decision to go out with me,” Alessandro said with a smile, pulling me onto his lap. “That shows what a smart woman you are.”

  I swatted at him playfully. “Full of yourself, aren’t you?”

  “There’s a difference between being conceited and being confident.” Alessandro reached around the nape of my neck and pressed his lips against mine. I loved the way he believed in himself—it was one more thing that attracted me to him.

  “I have an idea,” he said after showering me with kisses that left me breathless and hungry for more. It was getting harder and harder for me to not give in and tell him how badly I wanted him. The only thing that stopped me was fear. If we made love, I doubted I’d ever be able to walk away. And then what? My parents would cut me off, and what if things between me and Alessandro didn’t work out? What if he realized that I wasn’t really the woman he wanted to be with, that I was just some spoiled bratty girl that he had succeeded in winning over, but no longer desired? I’d have to go crawling back to my parents on my hands and knees, begging for their forgiveness and never hearing the end of it from them or my friends about how stupid I’d been.

  “Claire, Claire.” Alessandro waved his hand back and forth in front of my face.

  I shook my head trying to clear out all my crazy thoughts. “Yes?”

  “You’re a thousand miles away. What’s on your mind?”

  “Nothing.”

  Alessandro frowned. “Well, is it a yes?”

  “Is what a yes?”

  “I just finished asking you if you wanted to come and see my family’s farm.”

  Before I gave myself a chance to think about what I was agreeing to I wrapped my arms around Alessandro and said, “I’d love that.”

  “Magnifico,” Alessandro said. “I can’t wait for you to meet my Papa and my brothers. They are going to adore you.”

  “Wait. What? You want me to meet your family?” I said realizing what a stupid question that was. If he was taking me to his family’s farm then of course I would meet his family.

  “Is that a problem?”

  “No, of course not,” I said trying to hide the dread that was creeping its way across my chest. What if they saw right through me, to the demons I tried my best to keep tucked away from Alessandro? What if they told Alessandro I was all wrong for him and succeeded in convincing him they were right? The idea terrified me.

  *

  On the day Alessandro planned to bring me to his farm, I was tempted to call him and back out, but I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint him. Instead, I dressed in a pair of jeans and a button up short sleeve shirt and stared at myself in the mirror almost laughing at my appearance. I never dressed this way. My hair was loose and I wore almost no make-up. If my mother saw me she would have a fit. And yet, I kind of liked how comfortable I felt.

  Alessandro showed up at my place on his motorcycle and I hopped on, telling myself that I was ready for whatever happened at lunch when I met his family for the first time.

  The drive to the Conti family farm took less time than I anticipated. Alessandro parked his motorcycle under a covered carport beside his house—a two-story rustic home built out of natural stone with a clay tile roof. He took my hand, led me toward the backyard, and helped me up into a large two-seater farm tractor. It was a surreal experience. I was used to designer suits and luxury
cars, not jeans and tractors, but I loved every second of the bumpy ride and marveled as Alessandro pointed to orchards and crops explaining to me what was growing. The farm was enormous. The Conti family grew strawberries, artichokes, tomatoes, figs, almonds, hazelnuts, and peaches and even had their own small vineyard.

  “My father uses those grapes to make wine, but the vineyard isn’t really large enough for mass production. We sell some of the wine to a few local restaurants, the rest we enjoy and give as gifts,” Alessandro explained.

  “I love it here,” I said, unable to contain my excitement. It was easy to understand why Alessandro never wanted to leave. There was so much land, and the peace and quiet made it feel like the rest of the world had dropped away and there was only the two of us.

  Alessandro stopped the tractor in front of a field of strawberries and the two of us got off. He walked over to me and snaked his arm around my waist. “Maybe you are better suited toward farm life than sitting in a stuffy office conducting business.”

  I looked up at him with a smile on my face. “Nice try. But don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Trying to convince me not to return to England when I’m done with school.”

  A while back, Alessandro had asked me what I planned on doing after I finished my classes at the university. I told him I was going to return home, because it’s what my parents expected me to do, and that Monterra wasn’t my home.

  “Is it because of Nico?” he had asked.

  “Nico? No. I don’t even think about him at all any more. In fact I wish him and his new wife nothing but the best, but there is nothing for me to do here.”

  “What if an opportunity came up?” he had asked. The knowledge that he wanted me to stay made me happy, but I had already resigned myself to the fact that one day we would have to part ways.

  Alessandro stepped in front of me, wrapping his other arm around me and pulled me closer to him. “Would that really be so terrible?”

  “My parents would disown me.”

  “I don’t understand the world you come from,” Alessandro said, shaking his head.

  “Can we please just talk about something else?” I had a hard time explaining my way of life to Alessandro. He didn’t feel the same pressure to live up to everyone else’s expectations that I did. And compared to other people, mine weren’t even that bad. I almost felt a sense of relief that Nico and I hadn’t married. The constant attention of being queen would have driven me mad in the end.

  Alessandro took my hand and led me down a path between two rows of strawberry plants teeming with ruby red fruit. He bent down and picked a few handing them to me. “Go ahead, try one.”

  My mouth watered at the sight of the shiny fruit in the palm of my hand. I took one bite and had to keep myself from moaning out loud. “These are amazing,” I said putting another in my mouth. “How do you keep yourself from eating the entire bloody farm?”

  Alessandro laughed. “Don’t eat too many or you won’t be hungry for the massive meal my father is cooking.” He looked down at his watch. “In fact, we better head back to the house now, it’s almost lunch time.”

  “Already?” I asked, feeling my face blanch.

  “Oh come on,” Alessandro said noticing how pale I’d gotten. “You’re not that bad.”

  I frowned. “Very funny.”

  During the ride back to Alessandro’s house I tried mentally readying myself for meeting his family by anticipating the questions they might ask and thinking of appropriate answers. I didn’t want to come off as a snob when they realized I knew nothing about farming. I still didn’t even clean my own home. I had someone come once a week to do it for me.

  The aroma of garlic and spices filled the air as Alessandro and I stepped foot inside his home. A narrow entryway led into a dining room that was just off the kitchen where Alessandro’s father, who looked exactly like him, only older, was busy stirring something in a sauce pan on the stove. He turned his head as the two of us came into the kitchen.

  “Hey, hey, Ale,” he said before turning the burner off. He walked over to the two of us, gave his son a hug and me a kiss on each cheek.

  “Papa, this is Claire,” Alessandro said.

  I stuck my hand out waiting for Mr. Conti to shake it, but instead he pulled me into a hug. “So you are the girl that’s been keeping my Ale so busy.”

  My tongue stuck to the bottom of my mouth. I didn’t know what to say. Instantly, I felt bad that Alessandro had told his family about me, yet I had been too ashamed to tell my family about him. Sometimes, I wondered what he saw in me at all. I felt selfish, horrible. Not a good way to start out a lunch with his family.

  “It’s so nice to meet you, Mr. Conti.”

  “Come, come, take a seat.” Mr. Conti led me into their living room where Alessandro and I sat down beside each other. A moment later two young men, his brothers I assumed, joined us.

  Their names were Angelo and Antonio, and they were just as handsome as their older brother.

  “Seriously, Mr. Conti, how do you keep all these A names straight?” I asked.

  “I had nothing to do with naming the boys, that was my wife’s decision. She said to me that since she carried them for nine months, she got to name them. Who was I to argue?”

  There was an infectious joy that lived inside the walls of Alessandro’s home. The Conti’s were affectionate with each other, generously doling out hugs and playful slaps on the back while teasing each other mercilessly. I had been nervous for absolutely no reason. Alessandro’s family treated me like an old family friend, drawing me into conversation without asking prying questions.

  Lunch was pasta in a red sauce made from scratch. “These tomatoes come from our farm,” Mr. Conti told me after I remarked how delicious everything was.

  The pasta was followed by an almond butter cake that we ate outside on the backyard patio. As I sat there enjoying the view Alessandro leaned in to whisper in my ear, “So you’re enjoying yourself?”

  “I am. Your father and your brothers are so nice…and funny.” A sense of humor was something that clearly ran through the Conti family’s blood.

  “They like you, you know.”

  “It appears the Conti men are not very particular.”

  “That’s not true, you just don’t see yourself the way I do. I know you see yourself as an ice princess, but once you let your walls down the real you has a beautiful heart.”

  Alessandro’s words left me speechless. He thought I had a beautiful heart? That wasn’t something I ever imagined someone saying about me, but as I looked back on the past month and a half since Nico had married, I realized a lot about me had changed. Was it because of Alessandro, or because I had given up on the silly dream I’d once had of marrying a prince and living happily ever after? Or maybe it was because I had been avoiding all my old friends. Either way, I rather liked the new me.

  I smiled at Alessandro and leaned in to kiss him, letting my lips brush over his. I tried pushing the doubts out of my head, the ones that told me that Alessandro was wrong about me. That this new person I had become was just a phase, and, once I returned to England and spent time around my family and friends, I’d go back to being Lady Claire Sutherland again.

  Chapter 7

  Two weeks passed. My classes had gone from plain boring to downright grueling thanks to midterms. Alessandro had insisted I needed a break from studying and had taken me to dinner. As he pulled up in front of my apartment I only barely noticed the black limousine parked on the street. I got off the back of his motorcycle and removed my helmet. Alessandro took it from me and as he turned to reach for my hand the door to the limousine opened and out walked my mother.

  “Is something wrong?” Alessandro asked, noticing my expression and the fact that my feet had become as heavy as lead.

  “My mother’s here,” I managed to say. Alessandro swung his head around. As my mother approached he dropped my hand.

/>   “Mum. What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “A mother can’t come by and check on her only daughter?”

  I searched in my purse for my phone checking if I’d missed a call from her. Nope. Not one missed call. “Why didn’t you call first?”

  “And miss finding out what my daughter has been up to?”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  My mother gave a steely glance to Alessandro. “I think you know exactly what I mean.”

  Alessandro cleared his throat. “I better go,” he muttered.

  “No,” I said, surprising myself as much as Alessandro and my mother. “I don’t want you to go.”

  “I’ve come all the way from England, darling.”

  “Your mother’s right,” Alessandro said. “You two need to catch up. When you need me you know how to find me.” He gave me a kiss on my cheek before throwing his helmet on, revving his motor and taking off.

  “Really, Claire,” my mother huffed crossing her arms. “I knew something was going on with you, but I never imagined this sort of foolishness.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, pulling the keys to my apartment out of my purse.

  My mother followed me inside and closed the door behind us before launching into a tirade. “So the reason you haven’t been seen or heard from since Nico’s wedding isn’t because you were busy with school, it’s because you’ve taken up with some…Monterran peasant.”

  I almost felt like laughing and telling my mother this wasn’t the middle ages anymore. Instead I said, “Alessandro is not a peasant. And just because I’ve been spending time with him doesn’t mean he’s the reason I haven’t been attending parties.” I pointed to the stack of books on the table. “For your information, I have been busy with school, because it’s what you and Dad wanted. Even though both of you know I’ve never been very good at this sort of thing.”