A Night of Royal Consequences

by Susan Stephens

  ‘You said you’d let me go.’

  ‘I didn’t say I wouldn’t come after you.’

  Callie shook her head while her heart went crazy. ‘I belong here, Luca.’

  ‘You belonged in the lemon groves too. You belonged in the five-star hotel, whether you chose to believe it or not. The staff there love you. You belong anywhere you choose to be. You have a positive slant on life that infects the people around you. That’s why they love you. That’s why I love you, and want you for my wife.’

  ‘And a royal princess, mother of your heir,’ she said quietly.

  ‘So you’re going to believe Max, not me.’

  ‘I make my own decisions. This has nothing to do with Max.’

  ‘Who has been reminded that he’d agreed to stay away from Fabrizio for life,’ Luca explained, ‘in case you were wondering.’

  ‘Stop here.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Here,’ she insisted. ‘There’s a park. We can walk.’

  Luca dipped his head to stare around. ‘I had intended taking you somewhere more romantic.’

  ‘It’s all a matter of scale,’ Callie insisted, ‘and this is fine. This patch of green might not look much to you, but I can tell you that it’s appreciated around here as much as you appreciate your royal parks.’

  ‘I didn’t play in royal parks as a boy,’ Luca reminded her as he slowed the car. Parking up, he killed the engine. Getting out, he came around to open the passenger door. She accepted his help and climbed out.

  The same thrill raced up her arm. Luca’s quiet strength was so compelling. He broke the silence first as they went through the entrance into the small inner-city park, and her breath caught in her throat when he said, ‘I refuse to believe you don’t know how right this is between us.’

  ‘But you’re a prince,’ she protested.

  ‘I’m a man.’ Wrapping his big hands around her lapels, he drew her close. ‘And that man knows we belong together. But though I’ve confided in you, you’ve told me nothing.’

  Shoulders hunched against the freezing wind, Callie lifted her head and stared into Luca’s strong, rugged face. ‘Why do you want to marry me, when you can have your pick of every princess in the world, and all the heiresses, if that grand ball was anything to go by?’

  ‘I keep asking myself that same question,’ Luca admitted dryly.

  ‘This isn’t funny,’ she said.

  ‘This I know,’ he agreed. ‘All I can come up with is that there is no reason to love. You either do or you don’t.’

  They had stopped in front of the bandstand where, only that morning, she’d sung carols with the Browns while the local band played their hearts out.

  ‘I know why you don’t trust easily, Callie. You had a hard life with your father. Ma Brown told me a lot of it over the phone.’

  ‘She shouldn’t have.’

  ‘Yes, she should,’ he argued. ‘She cares about you, and the Browns thought I should know. When you didn’t answer my letters, I got in touch with them. They told me to stay away and give you time to take everything in. Has it worked?’ He gave her a fleeting smile.

  ‘And love,’ she said. ‘What conclusion did you come to?’

  He considered her question. ‘I came to the conclusion that love isn’t rational, and there are no answers. There’s only this...’ Dragging her close, he kissed her, gently to begin with, and then with increasing fire, until they were kissing each other as if they were the last two people on earth.

  It felt as if they were finding each other all over again. ‘I’ve missed you,’ she breathed when they finally broke apart.

  ‘You have no idea,’ Luca murmured as he smoothed her hair back from her face. ‘When I say that I want to know all about you, I’m not talking about the heavily edited facts you’ve fed me in the past, but the truth, all of it, good and bad. I want to face the trials and triumphs together, so we can share the feelings we’ve both steered clear of in the past. I’m still learning when it comes to emotion, but I owe it to my country to change, and I owe it to you most of all. If we don’t know sadness, how can we recognise happiness, and if we don’t feel regret, how can we look forward and plan for the future? Tell me everything,’ he insisted. ‘I’ll know if you’re holding back.’

  She thought back, and started with her mother. ‘I can’t remember her...’ She paused, saddened. ‘My father blamed me for her loss. She died in childbirth,’ Callie explained. ‘And he could have been so much more,’ she said as she thought about her father.

  ‘But none of this is your fault,’ Luca insisted. Taking hold of her hands, he brought them to his lips and kissed them. ‘You don’t need to tell me how hard you’ve worked. Your hands speak for you.’

  Callie laughed ruefully. She didn’t exactly have a princess’s hands. They were red and work-worn, having never quite recovered from scrubbing floors at the pub, but they were part of her, and she would rather have her work-roughened hands than all the pale, floaty things she’d seen at the ball.

  ‘What was life like before your father died?’ Luca prompted when she fell silent.

  ‘Life’s always been great, thanks to the Browns. Well, most of it,’ she conceded. ‘But if I didn’t have the Browns...’ That didn’t bear thinking about.

  ‘Good friends are beyond price,’ Luca agreed. ‘But now you have to ask yourself what you want out of life now.’

  You, she thought, but you without complications, and she knew that wasn’t possible. ‘I wish life were simpler,’ she said. ‘I wish we could go back to working in the lemon groves, when I thought we were both holiday staff.’

  ‘We’re the same people we were then.’

  ‘But now you’re a prince,’ Callie argued.

  ‘I’m a man in love with you.’

  Or in love with the thought of great sex going forward with the woman carrying his child? she wondered. ‘I just don’t know if it could work out,’ she said, speaking her doubts out loud. ‘The Princess bit, I mean.’ Lifting her chin, she stared directly at Luca. ‘Being royal seems so confining to me.’

  ‘Not once you learn how to pin on a tiara,’ he said. ‘I’m sure you’ll soon get the hang of it.’

  She shot him a warning look, but Luca was in no way deterred. ‘I’ve got homes across the world where we can be alone as much as you want, and I’ve got a superyacht to escape to.’

  ‘That’s just the point, isn’t it? This is all normal to you, but it’s crazy mad to me.’

  ‘So?’ he prompted.

  ‘So, no, thank you.’

  ‘Think about it carefully.’

  ‘I have,’ she assured him.

  ‘I realise it’s a huge commitment to make. Most people would jump at the chance of marrying into royalty and wouldn’t give a second thought to the practicalities. But that’s not you, Callie. You’re cranky, challenging, and real, and that’s why I want you at my side.’

  ‘Compliments?’ she said dryly. It was hard to remain neutral when Luca was working his charm. She was already warming and thrilling inside, and she didn’t need anyone to tell her how dangerous that was. ‘Or are you saying I keep your feet on the ground?’

  ‘That’s not the reason I want you,’ Luca assured her with one of his dark, gripping looks. ‘And, in the interest of clarity, I should make it clear that your feet won’t be on the ground for long.’

  * * *

  ‘So,’ Callie murmured, shooting him a troubled look when they got back in the car. ‘You love me.’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘And you want to marry me.’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘And not just because I’m pregnant with your convenient heir?’

  Pressing back in the driver’s seat, Luca sighed heavily. He owed her nothing less than the truth. ‘When I first found out, I’ll admit that it suited my plan.’

  ‘You needed an heir,’ she supplied.

  ‘Yes, I did. And great sex.’

  ‘Luca—’

  ‘R
egularly.’

  ‘You’re impossible.’

  ‘Seriously?’ he asked. ‘If you want to know what I want? I want a family like the Browns.’

  ‘Fourteen children?’

  ‘One at a time?’ he queried, sliding her a look. ‘That’s not so bad.’

  ‘For you, maybe,’ Callie said, biting back a smile. But then she turned serious. ‘Callie from the docks, the Princess of Fabrizio?’

  ‘Callie from the lemon groves, and my beloved wife,’ Luca argued as he pulled away from the kerb. ‘So, what’s your answer, Callie?’

  ‘The same as it was before,’ she said tensely. ‘I still need time to think.’

  ‘All you need is time to assess your character and abilities to realise that you have everything it takes and more to be my Princess. So I’ll give you until we get to the Browns’, and then I want your answer.’

  ‘And if it’s no?’ she pressed.

  ‘We’ll deal through lawyers in the future.’

  Her face paled. ‘That sounds like a threat.’

  ‘It’s the only practical option I can come up with. Or you can give me your answer now, if you prefer?’

  She refused to be drawn, and by the time he had stopped the car outside the Browns’, he could feel Callie’s tension. Helping her out of the low-slung vehicle, he kept hold of her hand as they walked to the front door. Each time they talked, he learned a little bit more about her, and what he’d learned today had confirmed his opinion that they weren’t so different. They both had principles, loyalty, and trust printed through them like sticks of rock. Callie was honest to a fault, and still overcoming the scars of a difficult childhood. He’d had the most enormous stroke of luck when he’d met the Prince at the Coliseum, and Callie had experienced a small taste of luck with her surprise win on the scratch card that had allowed her to travel to the lemon groves. It was strange how fate set things in motion. Experience had taught him that sometimes it paid to go with the flow.

  ‘Come in, come in,’ Pa Brown invited as he threw the front door wide.

  Luca might live in a palace with servants on every side, but he hadn’t been joking when he said that he envied the Browns. This was the type of family he had imagined being part of when he was a boy on his own each night with only the ghosts from the past for company. He and Callie were welcomed back into the warm heart of the Brown family just as the Christmas gifts were being opened and happy noise was at its height. Dogs and children were racing around colliding with each other, while Anita tried in vain to keep up with the amount of wrapping paper flying through the air. Rosie was attempting, without much success, to dissuade the younger Browns from opening each of the crackers before they were pulled, to discover what gifts lay inside.

  ‘We saved some crackers for you,’ she explained to Callie and him, as Pa Brown insisted on taking Luca’s jacket.

  ‘And I’ve saved two big dishes of plum pudding,’ Ma Brown added from the doorway.

  ‘I’d like a few moments of Ma and Pa’s time. If I may,’ he said.

  Silence dropped like a stone. Every head turned his way, and then the focus switched to Callie, who shrugged, giving him no clue as to what her answer would be to his proposal.

  ‘Of course,’ Pa Brown agreed, breaking the tension as he exchanged a look with his wife. ‘Come into the kitchen where we can be private, Luca. Would you like Callie to join us?’

  ‘No. It’s something I want to ask both of you. It involves Callie, but she knows all about it.’

  ‘Do I?’ Callie demanded, making him wonder yet again if he had misjudged the moment.

  She was unreadable, and where women of his acquaintance were concerned that was a novelty, and, for a man who had everything money could buy, novelty was the most valuable currency of all.

  ‘You should know how I feel about you by now,’ he insisted, and, grabbing her close, he kissed her, which in front of the younger Browns was tantamount to making a public announcement.

  Before he had chance to leave for the kitchen, young Tom piped up, ‘You’ll need this...’ Holding out a blue plastic ring from his cracker, Tom stared up at Luca expectantly.

  ‘Grazie! Thank you, Tom. Your timing couldn’t be better.’ He stowed the ring away in the back pocket of his jeans, and left Callie to have his conference with the Browns. When he came back, he knelt at Callie’s feet—which wasn’t as easy as it sounded with all the toys scattered around. ‘Will you do me the very great honour of accepting this priceless ring, which has been especially chosen for you by Signor Tom?’

  ‘I’m overwhelmed,’ Callie admitted, starting to laugh.

  The situation was bizarre admittedly, and could only happen, he figured, at Christmas. ‘Take it,’ he muttered discreetly, ‘or I won’t be responsible for my actions.’ As the younger Browns cheered he sprang up and put the ring on Callie’s finger. There were a few tense moments when she didn’t say a word, but then she laughed and threw her arms around his neck, and everyone cheered.

  ‘A Christmas wedding, then,’ Ma Brown exclaimed, clapping her hands with excitement.

  ‘A bit late for Christmas, Ma. It will have to be New Year,’ Pa Brown, who should have known he could never win, argued, frowning.

  ‘Ah, that’s where you’re wrong,’ Ma Brown assured him, ‘because Christmas is celebrated in January in Fabrizio. Isn’t that right, Luca?’

  ‘Quite correct, Mrs Brown.’

  ‘Still, not much time,’ Ma Brown said, frowning as she thought about it. ‘But enough time, if I know our Callie.’

  ‘You do know Callie,’ Luca asserted, giving Ma Brown the warmest of hugs. ‘You know her better than anyone except me.’

  ‘I’ll accept that,’ Ma Brown stated as Callie narrowed her eyes in mock disapproval.

  ‘How long have you three been conniving?’ Callie enquired, raising a brow as she looked at Luca and then Ma and Pa Brown in turn.

  ‘Four,’ Rosie put in. ‘Don’t forget me.’

  ‘Why, you—’ Callie was still laughing when Luca swept her off her feet. Swinging her around, which was quite a risky manoeuvre in a room full of Browns and Anita, he planted a breath-stealing kiss on her mouth. ‘Have you kept my letters?’ he asked as he set her down. ‘I was just thinking that you might want to read them now.’

  ‘Read them now?’ Rosie exclaimed. ‘The paper they’re written on is almost worn through. Don’t let Callie kid you, Luca. You are the love of Callie’s life.’

  EPILOGUE

  IT WAS UNSEASONABLY cold in the north of England. Brilliant white snow was falling in soft, silent drifts, slowing the traffic and muffling the noise of hooves as Callie’s horse-drawn wedding coach arrived outside the Browns’. To counterbalance the frigid temperatures, every house on the street was brilliantly lit to celebrate the holiday season, which would go on well into the New Year. In the town, stores and corner shops were still crammed with reindeer and stars, and sleighs and plump-cheeked Santa Clauses, as if no one could bear to let go of the Christmas cheer.

  There would never be another wedding like this one, Callie was sure of that. She was going to marry Luca in the area where she’d grown up, surrounded by her closest friends the Browns, Callie’s landlady from the shop in Blackpool, and Anita, and Maria and Marco, who had travelled from Italy. She was wearing a dress chosen by Ma Brown and approved by Rosie. In ivory lace, it fitted her like a second skin—something she wouldn’t be able to indulge in for very much longer, Callie thought, smoothing her hands over her slightly rounded stomach as Rosie arranged her veil.

  The ceremony would be a simple affair in the local church, followed by a small reception at the Browns’. Callie had wanted the people closest to her to know how much they meant to her, and that even when she became a princess and lived in the palace in Fabrizio, they would still be a big part of her life. As far as the world of royalty was concerned, Callista Smith would marry Prince Luca of Fabrizio at a grand ceremony in that country’s cathedral in a couple of weeks’ time.
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  ‘You look beautiful,’ Pa Brown said as he took charge of the young woman he thought of as a daughter. ‘I’ll be a proud man giving you away—though I’m only lending you out,’ he added, frowning. ‘I want you to keep in touch, our Callie, and never lose sight of your roots.’

  ‘I never will,’ she promised, giving Pa Brown a warm kiss on the cheek as Rosie draped a warm, faux-fur cape around Callie’s shoulders. ‘And you must all come and visit me regularly in Fabrizio.’

  ‘Only if I can watch the match while I’m there,’ Pa fretted with a frown.

  ‘I’m sure it can be arranged,’ Callie soothed, knowing how much the Saturday football match meant to Pa Brown.

  They stepped out of the house straight into a snowdrift. Callie howled with laughter as she pulled her foot free from the glistening snow. ‘Not a great start,’ she admitted, ‘but nothing can spoil today.’

  The day was so Christmassy, with crisp snow underfoot and robins chirruping in the trees. It was so evocative of all the optimism inside her. Luca had insisted she must travel to the local church by horse and carriage and she was glad of the hot-water bottle waiting for her beneath the blankets on the leather seat. Two beautiful dapple-grey ponies with white plumes attached to their headbands were waiting patiently to draw her to the church. There were silver bells on their bridles that jingled as they trotted along. People stopped to stare, and waved frantically with friendly approval when they recognised the local girl who was soon to become a princess.

  She’d never change, Callie thought. She’d always be Callie from the docks and Callie from the lemon groves too. All that mattered was love and friendship, and the man waiting for her inside the church.

  Luca’s face was full of pride when he turned around as the grand old organ struck up the wedding march. She had never seen anyone more handsome in her life. In a plain dark suit, without any of his orders of office, or the royal sash with its ornate jewelled insignia, Luca couldn’t have looked hotter if he’d tried. What more could she want than this? Callie thought as Pa Brown transferred her hand from his to Luca’s.

  ‘You may kiss the bride.’