While she was picturing it in her mind, two of the guards handed them their equipment. She put her purse around her neck and donned her helmet. Nicco followed suit, then slipped on his jacket.
Once he’d climbed on his bike, he turned to help her get on. At his signal, the lead limo guided them along a private road to another guarded gate at the rear of the estate. Soon their motorcade joined the main street and made its way along the boulevard at a fast pace.
They traveled a good fifteen minutes before Nicco suddenly made a left turn, leaving the limousines and heavy noon traffic behind. He drove the bike into a private marina leading to the river.
They went down an embankment toward a shady spot where a small barge was moored. A narrow plank of wood made it possible for Nicco to drive right on to the boat from the shore.
Only an expert biker on a supreme machine like the Danelli could have performed such a faultless maneuver without having an accident. He moved her and the bike to the side of the barge where he propped it and helped her down.
While she took off her helmet, he pulled the plank onto the floor of the barge. Shocked because they hadn’t gone back to the prince’s apartment, she watched in a daze as Nicco undid the ropes and cast off. Only then did she realize she’d missed an opportunity to jump ashore and get away from him.
The river looked deeper and swifter than she’d first supposed. If she dove into the water now, she might not make it to safety.
“I wouldn’t try it if I were you,” he muttered before disappearing inside.
Within seconds she heard the motor start up. What plan had he and the prince hatched now? Determined to have it out with Nicco, she entered the cabin.
The boat was no royal yacht. She had to remember what Nicco had told her. The prince couldn’t afford anything more expensive, yet it contained the essentials like a bathroom, kitchen, living room.
And bedroom.
All the comforts of home. Callie would have loved it if she were on a real honeymoon with the husband she adored.
Nicco sat in the forward engine room with the door open. He had removed his jacket and helmet. His disheveled black hair along with the shadow of a beard against his olive skin should have made him less attractive. But somehow they underlined his stunning masculinity until she couldn’t look anywhere else.
He sat sideways in the captain’s chair. His piercing black eyes narrowed on her features.
“Welcome aboard the Serpentina, Princess. I happen to know you must be starving. You’ll be happy to hear that around the next bend in the river, Prince Enzo will be joining us. Then you can eat.”
She lounged against the doorjamb. “You’re good at what you do, Nicco. No wonder he employs you to carry out his dirty work. While you’re at it, why don’t you return this to him.”
For the second time in twenty-four hours she relieved herself of the betrothal ring and tossed it at him. In a deft move he caught it and put it in his pocket.
“Is there anything else I can do for your highness?”
His taunting drawl was the last straw. Feeling a trifle nauseous, she wheeled around and went back out on deck. After watching the wake for a moment, she decided it was making her sicker.
She closed her eyes and clung to the rail. The weakness she was experiencing didn’t have as much to do with hunger as it did an impossible situation.
Nicco had managed to cut her off from civilization. Here she was hidden away on some river thousands of miles from home, at the mercy of two unscrupulous men who were playing a diabolical game at her expense.
She hadn’t been far off when she’d suspected the prince of having a streak of madness in his genes. Today she’d been forced to marry him. But that didn’t mean she would sleep with him!
There had to be some life preservers on board. As soon as she found one, she’d jump over the side and swim for help.
Spying a foot locker, she ran toward it and lifted the lid. Sure enough, there were a dozen or so preservers along with some rope and a paddle. Without hesitation she reached for one and put it on.
After she put the top in place, she used it for a step to get up on the railing.
“Going somewhere?” Nicco’s familiar male voice spoke before two arms of steel pulled her back against his hard-muscled physique.
“Let me go!”
“Before you do anything as rash as throw your body in the river, I suggest you hear what Prince Enzo has to say. He’s waiting for you in the cabin.”
Callie blinked.
Sure enough there was no engine noise. They’d pulled up to the landing while she’d been unaware of it.
“I’ll relieve you of this.” In a swift move, he freed her from the preserver. “Do you need assistance to walk?”
She tried pushing him out of the way, but it was like attacking a wall of granite.
“If you don’t want your behavior exploited in the tabloids, try to behave with some decorum. Not only his bodyguards, but members of the press are watching from the shore taking pictures.”
“Good!” she fired back. “Maybe they’ll figure out I’ve been kidnapped!”
“Actually they heard about your reaction at the airport yesterday. Watching you almost fling yourself into the shadowy depths will have added truth to a growing rumor.”
“What rumor are you talking about?” she blurted in fury.
“That the prince has managed to marry an incredibly shy virgin. I assume they’re having a good laugh right now.”
“Then let’s hope they choke on it!”
So saying she stormed back into the cabin and came face-to-face with Prince Enzo.
He’d changed into tailored trousers and a sport shirt. Without all the trappings, he looked like a guy her age who was totally approachable. His face broke into a gentle smile.
“Signora—before you say anything, I want to thank you for being in that Hollywood benefit and following through on your commitment to me. Because of you, I’m now married to the woman I love.
“While Maria and I are on our honeymoon, be thinking about something we can give you in return. Something you want but would probably never buy for yourself.”
Maybe it was because she felt so faint that Callie thought he’d said he was going on a honeymoon with someone named Maria.
“I don’t understand. Didn’t you and I get married today?”
She could hear a limousine horn honking outside.
“Yes, but not to each other. I have to go now. My brother will explain everything.”
“Who’s your brother?”
He frowned. “Nicco didn’t tell you?”
“Not yet,” Nicco spoke up behind them. “First we’re going to eat, then talk.” He said something else in Italian that made the prince grin before he disappeared out the door.
“Shall we?” Nicco held a chair for her.
Confused and bewildered, she sank down on it and stared at the sandwiches and salad Nicco must have put out for them while she was looking for a life preserver.
Nicco sat opposite her and poured them both a glass of wine. For once in her life she decided she needed a strong drink and took several swallows.
“Better now?” he inquired.
“Not really.” Still holding her wineglass she said, “Would you please tell me what’s going on?”
“I’ll be happy to as soon as we’ve finished our lunch.”
“I won’t be able to eat a bite until you explain what Prince Enzo meant. If he married the brunette woman I thought was his sister, then the only man I could have married in that chapel was you.”
“Si, signora.”
The wineglass slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor of the barge. Fortunately it only broke in two pieces. Nicco picked them up and put them on the table.
“That’s impossible! The priest called me Princess.”
“Father Luigi has a twisted sense of humor.”
“Perhaps he does, but he wouldn’t have said it if it weren’t true. Dear G
od…you forced Enzo to trade places with you because you’re the prince!”
His arresting face darkened with lines. “An accident of birth. When I turned twenty-five, it was my duty as the firstborn Tescotti to accept the throne and marry a girl my parents had chosen for me. But I wasn’t in love with Princess Benedetta and knew the life of a royal wasn’t for me.
“Therefore I renounced the throne along with my properties and money. Unfortunately my father chose to take that action personally. I couldn’t convince him that my decision had nothing to do with my love of our family.
“We quarreled and I left the palace with only the clothes I was wearing. With his marriage today, my brother Enzo has inherited everything I rejected.”
Brother?
Suddenly an image of his dark-haired father swam before her eyes. Certain things Nicco had said to her yesterday came rushing back to her mind.
This close to the ceremony I have sworn a sacred oath to protect you with my life. In fact I am the only person in the world who has Prince Enzo’s complete trust.
“I should have guessed at the relationship between you two long before now.” She raised troubled green eyes to his. “Now I’m more confused than ever. If Enzo was already in love, why in heaven’s name did he go all the way to Hollywood pretending to be looking for a woman to marry?”
Nicco’s expression grew bleak. “Because I needed a wife.”
“I’m sorry, but this isn’t making any sense to me. My sister signed a document with his name on it.”
He shook his head. “If you’ll take time to read the marriage document carefully, you’ll see my legal name as the prince you promised to marry, not Enzo. He went to Hollywood to confuse you. It was a risk that paid off. You were right about my Machiavellian tendencies.”
Callie’s thoughts reeled as she remembered a certain conversation with her sister.
This morning, before I flew up here, I asked my attorney to look over the contract I signed. He says there’s no way I can get out of it. That’s why you’re the only person on the planet who can help me.
Ann’s attorney hadn’t even caught the mistake!
Nicco darted her an enigmatic glance. “Enzo should have married Maria on his twenty-fifth birthday and inherited the throne I rejected. But Father was so embittered over what I did, he refused to give Enzo his blessing. He was hoping I’d change my mind.
“Last month I found out Enzo and Maria were expecting a baby. At that point I realized something had to be done so Father would allow them to wed with the blessings of the church. I spent the night thinking about a plan, then went to see my father the next day.
“After disabusing him of the notion that I wanted my title back, I explained that at long last I’d met the woman for me. As a concession to my parents, I consented to be married in the family chapel provided it could be a double wedding so Enzo and I could take the leap together.”
No matter how many scenarios Callie could have conceived of, what she’d just heard would never have come to mind.
“Ten years of my living away from home seemed to have mellowed Father enough that he finally agreed. Naturally I was elated for Enzo, but I found myself in a dilemma of a different kind.”
“You mean because you’re allergic to marriage as well as thrones.”
“Sì.”
CHAPTER FIVE
NICCO sat back in the chair eyeing her shrewdly. “As I told you yesterday, you’re more intelligent than I had originally assumed.”
The knowledge that he preferred his bachelor status shouldn’t have hurt so much. It shouldn’t have hurt at all!
“You’re very clever yourself, Nicco. No wonder you chose some dim-witted American from Hollywood who loved the limelight and wouldn’t expect to stay married when she found out you were a has-been prince.”
His lips twitched, provoking her to retaliate.
“You’re in luck because you signed the contract with my sister Ann, not me.”
“You still insist you have a twin.” It was a rhetorical question.
“Yes. Fortunately for you, she wants no part of anything that doesn’t have to do with acting, so you’re off the hook.
“Now that I’ve stood in as a surrogate fiancée and done my part for God, country, Ann and the Tescotti family, I’m off the hook, too, and can get back to my busy life in Prunedale.”
Having made her declaration, she reached for a chicken sandwich and devoured it. “Um, this is really good. You should try one.” After eating another half, she filled her plate with fruit salad and dug in.
He stared at her for a moment. “Tell me about this Prunedale. I’ve never heard of it.”
She swallowed the last of her salad, then said, “Few people have who don’t live in the state. It’s a farming community in Northern California. Lots of orchards and animals.”
“You must like them in order to have made an instant friend of Valentino.”
“He’s gorgeous.”
“So…if you truly aren’t an actress, dare I ask if you’re a farmer?” He was toying with her now. While he waited for her response, he ate a sandwich.
She bestowed a brilliant smile on him. “Certainly you can dare. However the answer is no.”
Something flickered in the recesses of those black eyes. “Aren’t you going to satisfy my curiosity?”
“Maybe I will if you’ll satisfy mine first.”
“What is it you want to know?”
“How soon can we leave for the airport? I’d like to catch a commuter flight to Milan before the day is out.”
“I’d like nothing more than to accommodate you, but your thirty days aren’t up yet. During this period we must convince my parents we’re madly in love and intend to make our marriage work.”
Her face felt hot. “We’re not legally married.”
His black eyes impaled her. “I’m afraid we are. When you told me to tell Father Luigi ‘I do,’ you sealed your fate whether you go by Ann or Callie Ann. If you have any doubts, ask the priest.”
She didn’t have to. There’d been a point during the ceremony when she’d had the strangest presentiment that she was marrying Nicco. Last night she’d dreamed about him being her husband. Shades of prophesy?
“For all intents and purposes, we’ve already made a good start. By appearing at the church in the same clothes you slept in on the plane, you’ve shown that you’re as much of a rebel as your new husband.
“Needless to say, no self-respecting Italian woman with the kind of royal pedigree my parents chose for their firstborn to marry, would have shown up looking like you did today. It added an authentic touch that worked well for us.”
My son has picked a beautiful bride who appears perfectly suited for him.
Finally she understood his father’s left-handed compliment.
Nicco seemed to be reading her mind because he added, “That’s why you must stay the specified time in the contract. If you leave Italy before a month has gone by, my father will know this was a trick.”
“It was a trick on a par with Machiavelli himself!” she bit out hotly. “I want no more part of it.”
His features hardened. “You already are. I’m afraid you joined me in this dangerous game when that contract was signed.
“For myself I have nothing to lose. However the consequences of a rash decision on your part will come down squarely on the head of my little brother who’s an innocent pawn.”
Alarmed by his words, even if it had been Ann who’d gotten Callie into this trouble, her heart started to pound faster. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly this… If you desert me before my father believes we’ve given our marriage a chance to work, he’ll exact his revenge by taking Enzo’s title away from him.”
“Why?” she cried out aghast. “I thought you said his heart had softened a little over the years.”
“To a point. But if he found out it was all a ruse on my part, he wouldn’t hesitate to hurt me by hurting my brother.
“You could have no comprehension of how much he dreams of being a hero in my father’s eyes, but he can never achieve that if his whole world is cut out from under him.
“For a new husband, that would be a particularly bitter pill to swallow. For a young royal returning from a honeymoon to face that kind of pain while his vulnerable bride is looking to him for help because their baby is on the way, it would constitute a living death.”
He drank the rest of his wine before pushing himself away from the table. “If your conscience can handle breaking the contract I assumed was signed in good faith, then by all means leave before I cast off. Your passport is back in your purse.
“Just be aware that a swarm of reporters is still on the shore taking pictures of us embarking on our honeymoon. They’ll pick up on any breath of royal scandal. But if that’s what you want before my brother’s plane has even left the tarmac…”
How arrogantly male of him to try to make her feel guilty. “I wasn’t the one who signed that contract!”
He sent her a withering glance. “I once knew a pair of identical twins. They felt the same pain at the same time. When one was cut, the other bled. When one needed help, the other sensed danger and came to the rescue.”
“I did come, and look what happened!”
He shrugged his shoulders in typical Italian fashion. “Things could be worse. You could have exchanged vows with a man who wanted to be married.”
Oddly wounded by his statement she said, “But how convincing will it be to your parents if it’s all over in a month’s time anyway?”
“When the thirty days are up, the press will receive a riveting piece of gossip. There will be a picture of the heartbroken elder son of the Tescotti family whose American wife has decided they need a separation because of irreconcilable differences having to do with their nationalities.
“The sympathy of the monarchy will be on my side. Father won’t be able to prevail against it, and Enzo will be allowed to fulfill his destiny. With Maria at his side, at least there’ll be one person in the Tescotti family who’s finally living his dream…”
Bride Fit for a Prince Page 7