Carolena gave him a covert glance. “There wasn’t one farmer who didn’t want to be a part of your plan to keep people on the farms and grow more profits.”
He sat back in the seat looking relaxed, with his arms stretched out on either side of him. “You charmed everyone. Being a farmer’s daughter and granddaughter got them to open right up and express their concerns. I marveled at the way you were able to answer their questions and give them the vision of what we’re trying to do.”
“I had a script. You didn’t. Give yourself the credit you deserve, Val. They fell over themselves with joy to think their prince cares enough about the farmers to honor them with a personal visit. Securing their future secures the entire country and they know it.”
“I believe Vincenzo and I are onto something, Carolena, and you’re going to be the person who puts this marketing strategy over. After a hard day’s work, this calls for a relaxing dinner. I’ve told the driver to take us to a restaurant here on the water where we can be private and enjoy ourselves. I called ahead to place our order.”
This was the part she was worried about. “I think we should go back to the palace.”
“You’re worrying about my mother, but since she’s been worrying about me since I turned sixteen, it’s nothing new. I hope you’re hungry. We’re going to a spot where the tunnacchiu ’nfurnatu is out of this world. The tuna will have been caught within the last hour.”
It was impossible to have a serious talk with Valentino right now. After they’d eaten, then she’d speak her mind.
The limo pulled down a narrow alley that led to the back entrance of the restaurant he’d been talking about. Valentino got out first and reached for her hand. He squeezed it and didn’t let go as he led them to a door one of the security men opened for them.
Cupping her elbow, he walked her down a hallway to another door that opened on to a small terrace with round candlelit tables for two overlooking the water. But they were the only occupants. She shouldn’t have come to this romantic place with him, but what could she do?
The air felt like velvet, bringing back memories of their night on the yacht. A profusion of yellow-and-orange bougainvillea provided an overhang Carolena found utterly enchanting.
He helped her to be seated, then caressed her shoulders. She gasped as his touch sent a white-hot message through her. “I’ve been wanting to feel you all day.” Between the heat from his body, plus the twinkling lights on the water from the other boats, she sensed the fire building inside her.
“Benvenuto, Valentino!” An unfamiliar male voice broke the silence, surprising Carolena.
Valentino seemed reluctant to remove his hands. “Matteo Tancredi, meet my sister-in-law’s best friend, Carolena Baretti. Carolena, Matteo is one of my best friends and the owner of this establishment.”
“How do you do, signor.” She extended her hand, hoping his friend with the broad smile and overly long brown hair didn’t notice the blush on her face.
“I’m doing very well now that Valentino is here. He told me he was coming with the new star of a video that is going to make Gemelli famous.”
She shook her head. “Hardly, but we’re all hoping this venture will be a success.”
“Anything Valentino puts his mind to is certain to produce excellent results.” She heard a nuance of deeper emotion in his response. Still staring at her, he said, “I’ll bring some white wine that is perfect with the fish. Anything you want, just ask.”
“Thank you.”
The two men exchanged a private glance before Matteo disappeared from the terrace. Valentino sat down opposite her. A slight breeze caused the candle to flicker, drawing her attention to his striking features. She averted her eyes to stop making a feast of him.
“Where did you meet Matteo?”
“At the college in Catania.”
“Is he married?”
“Not yet. He was studying geology when his father took ill and died. The family needed Matteo to keep this place running, so he had to leave school.”
“Wasn’t there anyone else to help?”
“His mother and his siblings, but his father always relied on Matteo and didn’t like the idea of him going to college.”
“Matteo’s the eldest?”
“Yes.”
“Like the way your father relied on you rather than your younger brother?”
He stared at her through shuttered eyes. “Yes, when you put it that way.”
“I can see why. After watching you as you talked with the farmers today, I think you should be the one featured on the film, Val. You’re a natural leader.”
Before she could hear his response, Matteo brought them their dinner and poured the wine. “Enjoy your meal.”
“I’m sure it’s going to taste as good as it smells. I think I’m in heaven already,” she told him.
“Put it in writing that you were in heaven after eating the meal, and I’ll frame it to hang on the wall with the testimonials of other celebrities who’ve eaten here. But none of them will be as famous as you.”
Gentle laughter fell from her lips. “Except for the prince, who is in a category by himself.”
“Agreed.”
“What category is that?” Valentino asked after Matteo had left them alone.
“Isn’t it obvious?” She started eating, then drank some wine.
He picked at his food, which wasn’t at all like him. “For one night can’t you forget who I am?” Suddenly his mood had turned darker and she felt his tension.
Over the glass, she said, “No more than you can. We all have a destiny. I saw you in action today and am so impressed with your knowledge and caring, I can’t put it into words. All I know is that you should be the one featured on the video, not me.
“There’s an intelligence in you that would convince anyone of anything. First thing tomorrow, I’m flying back to Arancia while you get this video done on your own. Then your mother will have no more reason to be worried.”
His brows furrowed in displeasure. “Much as she would like you to be gone, you can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re under contract to Vincenzo and me.” As if she could forget. “The economic future of our two countries is resting on our new plan of which you are now an integral part.”
She fought for breath. “But once I’ve finished the other video session in Arancia, then my work will be done. Just so you understand, I’m leaving Gemelli tomorrow after the filming and won’t be seeing you again.”
“Which presents a problem for me since I never want you out of my sight. Not ever,” he added in a husky whisper.
She couldn’t stop her trembling. “Please don’t say things like that to me. A relationship outside a royal engagement or marriage could only be a tawdry, scandalous affair, so why are you talking like this?”
“Because I’m obsessed with you,” he claimed with primitive force. “If it’s not love, then it’s better than love. I’ve never been in love, but whatever this feeling is, it’s not going away. In fact, it’s getting worse, much worse. I’m already a changed man. Believe me, this is an entirely new experience for me.”
Incredulous, she shook her head. “We hardly know each other.”
“How long did it take you to fall in love with your fiancé?”
She let out a small cry. “How did you find out I had a fiancé?”
“Who else but Abby.”
“I wish she hadn’t said anything.”
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
“Berto and I were friends on neighboring farms before we fell in love. It’s not the same thing at all.”
“Obviously not. At the swimming pool last week you and I experienced a phenomenon as strong as a pyroclastic eruption. It not only shoo
k the ground beneath us before we were up on the volcano, it shook my entire world so much I don’t know myself anymore.”
“Please don’t say that!” She half moaned the words in panic.
“Because you know it’s true?” he retorted. “Even if you weren’t the perfect person to do this video for us, I would have found another means to be with you. I’ve given you all the honesty in me. Now I want all your honesty back. Did you agree to do this video because you wanted to help and felt it was your duty because of your friendship with Abby? Or are you here because you couldn’t stay away from me?”
She buried her face in her hands. “Don’t ask me that.”
“I have to. You and I met. It’s a fact of life. Your answer is of vital importance to me because I don’t want to make a mistake.”
“What mistake? What on earth do you mean?”
“We’ll discuss it on the way back to the palace. Would you care for dessert?”
“I—I couldn’t.” Her voice faltered.
“That makes two of us.”
When Matteo appeared, they both thanked him for the delicious food. He followed them out to the limo where they said their goodbyes.
Once inside, Valentino sat across from her as they left the restaurant and headed back to the city. He leaned forward. “Tell me about your fiancé. How did he die?”
She swallowed hard. “I’d rather not get into it.”
“We’re going to have to.” He wasn’t about to let this go until he had answers.
“Th-there was an accident.”
“Were you with him when it happened?”
Tears scalded her eyelids. “Yes.”
“Is it still so painful you can’t talk about it?”
“Yes.”
“Because you made it happen.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“In what way?”
Just remembering that awful day caused her lungs to freeze. “I was helping him with his farm chores and told him I would drive the almond harvester while he sat up by the yellow contraption. You know, the kind that opens into a big upside-down umbrella to catch all the almonds at once?”
“I do. More almonds can be harvested with fewer helpers.”
She nodded. “He said for me to stay back at the house, but I insisted on driving because I wanted to help him. I’d driven our family’s tractor and knew what to do. We’d get the work done a lot faster. Berto finally agreed. As we were crossing over a narrow bridge, I got too close to the wall and the tractor tipped. Though I jumped out in time, he was thrown into the stream below.
“The umbrella was so heavy, it trapped his face in six inches of water. He couldn’t breathe—I couldn’t get to him or move it and had to run for help. By the time his family came, it was too late. He’d...drowned.”
In the next second Valentino joined her on the seat and pulled her into his arms.
“I’m so sorry, Carolena.”
“It was my fault, Val. I killed him.” She couldn’t stop sobbing.
He rocked her for a long time. “Of course you didn’t. It was an accident.”
“But I shouldn’t have insisted on driving him.”
“Couldn’t he have told you no?”
She finally lifted her head. Only then did he realize she’d soaked his polo shirt. “I made it too difficult for him. My grandmother told me I could be an impossible child at times.”
Valentino chuckled and hugged her against his side. “It was a tragic accident, but never forget he wanted you with him because he loved you. Do you truly believe he would have expected you to go on suffering over it for years and years?”
“No,” she whispered, “not when you put it that way.”
“It’s the only way to put it.” His arms tightened around her. “Abby told me he was the great love of your life.”
No. Abby was wrong. Berto had been her first love. Until his death she’d thought he’d be her only love. But the great love of her life, the one man forbidden to her, was holding her right now. She needed to keep that truth from him.
“As I told you before, I’ll always love Berto. Forgive me for having broken down like that.”
CHAPTER FIVE
VALENTINO KISSED HER hair. “I’m glad you did. Now there are no more secrets between us.” Before Carolena could stop him, he rained kisses all the way to her mouth, dying for his first taste of her. She turned her head away, but he chased her around until he found the voluptuous mouth he’d been aching for.
At first she resisted, but he increased the pressure until her lips opened, as if she couldn’t help herself. He felt the ground shake beneath him as she began to respond with a growing passion he’d known was there once she allowed herself to let go.
Because they were outside the entrance and would need to go in shortly, he couldn’t do more than feast on her luscious mouth. His lips roved over each feature, her eyelids, the satin skin of her throat, then came back to that mouth, giving him a kind of pleasure he’d never known before.
They kept finding new ways to satisfy their burning longing for each other until he didn’t know if it was his moan or hers resounding in the limo. “Carolena—” he cried in a husky voice. “I want you so badly I’m in pain.”
“So am I.” She pulled as far away from him as she could. “But this can’t go on. It should never have happened. Have you told Vincenzo about me?”
“No.”
“I’m thankful for that. After being on the yacht with you, I suppose this was inevitable. Maybe it’s just as well we’ve gotten this out of our system now.”
He buried his face in her neck. “I have news for you, bellissima. You don’t get this kind of fire out of your system. It burns hotter and hotter without cessation. Now that I know how you feel about me, we need to have a serious talk about whether I get married or not.”
Her body started to tremble. “What did you say?”
“You heard me. I made a vow to myself and my mother there’d be no more women, and I meant it. So what just happened between us means an earthshaking development has taken place we have to dea—”
“Your Highness?” a voice spoke over the mic, interrupting him. “We’ve arrived.”
Carolena let out a gasp. “I can’t get out yet. I can’t let the staff see me like this—”
He smiled. “There’s no way to hide the fact that you’ve been thoroughly kissed. How can I help?”
“Hand me my bag so I can at least put on some lipstick.”
“You have a becoming rash, all my fault.”
She groaned. “I can feel it. I’ll have to put on some powder.”
“Your bag and your hat, signorina. Anything else?”
“Don’t come near me again.”
“I’m accompanying you to your apartment. Are you ready?”
“No.” She sounded frantic. “You get out first. I’ll follow in a minute.”
“Take your time. We’re not in a hurry.” He pressed another hot kiss to her swollen lips before exiting the limo a man reborn. This had to be the way the captive slave felt emerging from his prison as Michelangelo chipped away the marble to free him.
In a minute she emerged and hurried inside the palace. Valentino trailed in her wake. He followed her into her apartment and shut the door. But he rested against it and folded his arms.
“Now we can talk about us in total privacy.”
She whirled around to face him. “There is no us, Val. If you were a mere man engaged to a woman you didn’t love, you could always break your engagement in order to be with a person you truly care about. In fact, it would be the moral thing to do for both your sakes.”
“I hear a but,” he interjected. “You were about to say that since I’m a prince, I can’t break an engagement because it would be
immoral. Is that what you’re saying?”
A gasp escaped her lips. “A royal engagement following a royal betrothal between two families who’ve been involved for years is hardly the same thing.”
“Royal or not, an engagement is an engagement. It’s a time to make certain that the impending marriage will bring fulfillment. My sister hoped with all her heart the marriage to Vincenzo would bring about that magic because she loved him, but he wasn’t in love with her and it never happened.”
“I know. We’ve been over this before,” Carolena said in a quiet voice. “But you made a vow to yourself and your family after your uncle Stefano’s death. I agreed to come to Gemelli in order to help you and Vincenzo. I—I rationalized to myself that our intense attraction couldn’t go anywhere. Not with your wedding dawning.
“But now for you to be willing to break your engagement to be with me is absolutely terrifying. You’ve helped me to get over my guilt for Berto’s death, but I refuse to be responsible for your breakup with Princess Alexandra. You made a promise—”
“That’s true. I promised to fulfill my royal duty. But that doesn’t mean I have to marry Alexandra. After what you and I shared a few minutes ago, I need more time. Day after tomorrow parliament convenes. You and I have forty-eight hours before my wedding is officially announced to the media. Or not.”
If he was saying what she thought he was saying...
“You’re scaring me, Val!”
“That’s good. On the yacht you had the power to keep me from your bed, which you ultimately did. Your decision stopped us from taking the next step. But tonight everything changed.
“Whatever your answer is now, it will have eternal consequences for both of us because you know we’re on fire for each other in every sense of the word. Otherwise you would never have met with me and Vincenzo to discuss our project in the first place. Admit it.”
She couldn’t take any more. “You’re putting an enormous burden on me—”
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