by Julia James
‘Let’s go and get changed,’ she said. ‘Captain Falieri,’ she acknowledged.
He bowed his head in return, but did not speak. He looked disbelievingly after her as she set off, hand in hand with a protesting Ben.
But Rico was not concerned that his father’s chief of police was stunned by the transformation in the appearance of the woman he’d last seen looking so very different in England. He stretched out a hand and picked up his shirt, shrugging it over his shoulders.
‘Well?’ he asked.
Falieri’s eyes snapped back to him.
‘His Highness, your father, wishes to see you.’
Rico’s mouth pressed together. Then, with a nod of acquiescence, he headed off after Lizzy and Ben.
‘Ten minutes,’ he called back to Falieri.
It was hard, punishingly hard, to take leave of Lizzy and Ben. But it had to be done. For these past days he had shut out the outside world, ignoring its existence, but that did not stop it existing. Now, he just wanted it sorted.
He took Lizzy’s hands. She’d showered and changed, like him, but whereas he had put on a formal suit, knowing his father’s preferences, she was wearing a simple sundress. Ben had been peeled out of his trunks and put into shorts and a T-shirt.
‘What’s going to happen?’ He could hear the fear in her voice.
‘My father has a very clear choice—he can accept our marriage with outward good grace, and keep everyone happy. Or he can have an open breach with me. I don’t care which. Whichever he’s chosen, it makes no difference—we’re married, you’re my wife, Ben is our joint legal charge, and my father cannot get his hands on him.’ He took a breath. ‘I don’t want to leave you, but it’s the best thing in the circumstances. I don’t want you and Ben setting foot in San Lucenzo till all this is settled. I’ve asked Falieri to stay with you, and he’s consented. I trust him. He’s not my father’s stoolie and he will do nothing illegal. He was not involved with the deception my father and brother practised on us at the palace.’ His expression darkened. ‘It was clever of Luca to send him to England with me—he knows I trust him, and he also knows that Falieri would have refused to be party to their despicable scheme had he been back at the palace.’
‘When will you be back?’ She was trying to keep her voice steady, he could tell.
‘Tonight. There’s a helicopter waiting for me at the marina, and the flight won’t take long. Nor will whatever my father has to say to me. I’ll be heading right back here.’
He gave a sudden smile, dispelling the grimness of his expression.
‘Put the champagne on ice, get Ben to bed early, and…’ his long lashes swept down over his eyes ‘…slip into something comfortable.’
For one last moment he held her gaze. Then, letting go her hands, he ruffled Ben’s hair and walked out.
Lizzy watched him go. Her chest felt tight.
Ben tugged at her skirt. ‘Where’s Tio Rico going?’ he asked.
‘He’ll be back later,’ said Lizzy absently. She took a breath, trying to focus. ‘Let’s go and see if Captain Falieri would like a cup of coffee. I’m sure he would.’
‘Can he stay to tea, then?’ Ben asked, pleased.
‘I think he can now. Yes.’
She took Ben out along the terrace. On the far side of the villa she could hear a car moving off, taking Rico down to the heliport.
Captain Falieri walked out of the house. For a moment he seemed a familiar, reassuring figure. Then he turned to look at them as they approached.
There was something in his face that made the blood freeze in her veins.
She stopped in front of him.
‘What is it?’ Her voice was high, and faint. The tightness in her chest was squeezing hard, so hard.
For a moment he just looked at her. His face was sombre. And in his eyes, most frightening of all, was pity.
‘I have,’ he said gravely, ‘unwelcome news.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE helicopter churned through the air, descending to the palace. Rico must have made this landing a thousand times or more—it was one of the most convenient ways of arriving and departing. He gazed down at the white towers astride the rocky promontory on which the original castle had been built. It was one of the most familiar sights in the world to him.
And yet now it seemed very alien.
He didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want this confrontation. But it had to be done. And the sooner it was over and done with the better.
Which way had his father chosen? Either Falieri did not know, or he was under strict instructions to give no clue. Well, the waiting would be over very soon, and then Rico would know either the best or the worst.
But it wouldn’t be the worst. His father would not risk the scandal of an open breach with his son—he would accept what Rico had done. He wouldn’t like it, but he would accept it. For the sake of convention, propriety. For the sake of appearances.
He felt a hardening in his guts. Appearances were all they would be. There could be no real reconciliation with his father. Not after what he had tried to do.
No one, no one took a child from its mother. Parted a mother from her child.
No one.
The landing pad soared up to meet them, and there was the familiar jar of impact. The noise of the rotors lessened. Rico released his seat belt, nodded his thanks to the pilot, and slid back the door. Lithely he jumped down and ducked out from under the slowing rotors, then straightened.
As he did, he saw a quartet of figures emerging from the palace. Palace guards in their duty uniforms. He paused, frowning, waiting for them to approach.
‘What is it?’ he demanded sharply.
The senior officer among them stared straight ahead, not looking at him. His face was expressionless.
‘I regret to inform Your Highness,’ he said, ‘that you are under arrest.’
He was taken to his own apartments. His phone was removed from him, and he realised that all other communication devices, from PC to laptop, had been removed or disabled, including both the house phone and the phones with outside lines.
Disbelief sent shock waves through him.
What the hell was going on? Fury, disbelief, shock—all warred within him.
He paced, rigid with rage, across his sitting room.
The double doors opened and he snapped round. The doors had been opened by two of the guards standing outside. Through them was walking his father.
‘What the hell is this?’ Rico demanded.
His father walked in, The guards closed the doors again.
‘I have placed you,’ said Prince Eduardo, ‘under arrest.’
‘On what charge?’
Rico’s voice was hollow, disbelieving.
There was a silence for a moment. His father’s eyes rested on him. They were cold. Rico had never seen them look so cold.
‘You have committed a crime against the principality of San Lucenzo.’
His voice was as cold as his eyes.
Rico stared.
‘What?’
‘It is a crime dating back to medieval times. It has little modern enforcement, with one salient exception.’ His father paused again. ‘Royal marriages,’ he said.
‘I don’t understand,’ Rico answered slowly. He was holding still, very still.
His father’s cold eyes rested on him.
‘Any member of the royal family requires the consent of the Prince before they may marry. You failed to obtain it. Therefore your marriage is void.’
Rico let the words sink in. Then he spoke.
‘You can recognise it after the fact.’
‘I shall not do so. The marriage is void. You have married without my consent.’
Rico looked at him.
‘Why are you doing this? Does it mean nothing to you that the boy is Paolo’s son?’ His voice was strange, remote.
‘Paolo is dead—because of this boy. Had that greedy, overambitious girl not sought to entrap him
he would never have lost his life.’
Rico shook his head in denial.
‘We know nothing of the nature of their relationship The girl might just as easily have been in love with him, and he with her.’
Something flashed in his father’s eyes, and then it was gone. Before he could speak Rico continued.
‘And whether or not it was love—or entrapment—Paolo did the honourable thing. He married her for the sake of his unborn child.’
His father’s face was like marble. Cold and hard.
‘He had no business doing so. His first duty was to his name. He was impetuous and self-indulgent.’ His voice grew more heavy. ‘I blame myself for that. He was indulged as a child—spoilt—and that was the consequence.’
A chill went down Rico’s spine, like ice crystallising in his nerve fibres. His father was speaking again. Rico forced himself to listen.
‘Nevertheless, when the existence of the boy was discovered—although I would have preferred to have ignored the matter, whatever repellent drivel the gutter press produced—I was prepared, however reluctantly, to acknowledge Paolo’s brief marriage, and thereby accept his son as legitimate. Given the circumstances, it seemed the most…advisable…course of action. With the mother dead there would be no…unwelcome entanglements. The boy would be raised in an appropriate manner, without the indulgence that ruined his father, and accepted as a member of the royal family. Unfortunately the obduracy and ambition of the aunt proved a serious impediment.’
Rico’s eyes hardened.
‘She is more than his aunt, she is his mother—his legal guardian. I made it crystal-clear that she would not be parted from her son—and your attempt to do so was despicable.’
His father’s eyes flashed coldly again.
‘You will not address me in such a fashion,’ he said freezingly. ‘However, you will be glad to learn that the boy is no longer a requirement. I have rescinded my decision to recognise Paolo’s marriage.’ The cold eyes rested impassively on Rico. ‘The boy is therefore illegitimate within the state of San Lucenzo. His future is of no concern to me.’
It was said with an indifference that chilled him to the core.
‘He’s your grandson,’ said Rico. ‘Does that mean nothing to you?’
His father’s face did not change. ‘Royal bastards are not acknowledged. He has no entitlements and can have no claim on Paolo’s estate. Nevertheless, arrangements will be made for suitable maintenance, and an appropriate capital sum will be settled on him for his majority. The issue is now closed, and I will discuss it no further. Luca will handle the matter with the lawyers, and you will not be involved. As for yourself,’ the cold voice continued, ‘you will undertake to have no further contact or communication with the woman or the boy. When you have given this undertaking, the charge will be lifted.’ He gave a sharp intake of breath. ‘That is all I have to say to you.’
Rico looked at him. Looked at this man who was his father.
He was standing only a few metres away from him—but the distance between them was much more than that.
Then, without another word, Prince Eduardo walked from the room.
The doors shut behind him, and Rico was alone once more.
How long he stood there he did not know. He could feel his lungs breathing in, and out, he could feel the steady beat of his heart—but he could not feel anything else.
There were voices outside the doors. A sharp voice, and then a deferential one. A door swung open—only one this time.
It was Luca.
Rico looked at him. For a long moment the brothers’ eyes met and held.
‘Why did you do it?’ There was almost resignation in his brother’s voice as he put the question, Rico thought. ‘Are you completely insane—or just extraordinarily stupid? Not just to do what you have, but then to think you could pressurise our father into accepting it. Good God, do you not know him well enough by now to know he would never back down before you?’
‘I thought he would consider the scandal of an open breach with me more repugnant than forcing himself to do the decent thing by Paolo’s son.’
‘The decent thing?’ A dam seemed to break inside Luca. ‘God Almighty, Rico. You’ve lost us Paolo’s son. His son. Do you know, do you have any idea, how hard I had to work to get our father to recognise Paolo’s marriage? When I told him that there was a story brewing in the press, and what it was, his first and immediate reaction was to ignore it. He was so furious with Paolo that he couldn’t think straight. But he finally agreed—after endless persuasion on my part—that the best thing to do would be to recognise the boy as legitimate. That meant he could come here. That meant he had to come here. On his own,’ he spelt out. ‘That went without saying. Do you seriously imagine for a moment that our father would have anything to do with the family of the boy’s mother?’
Luca’s mouth set grimly. ‘But how the hell could I have known that the girl would kick up such a fuss, and that you—you of all people—would let her get away with it? Dio, Rico—you were the one who was supposed to have her eating out of your hand, not the other damn way round. I never had you down for an idiot—let alone an insane one—but I do now. And now, thanks to your insane stupidity, you’ve gone and lost us Paolo’s son. Thanks to you he’s been declared a bastard. A bastard—Paolo’s son. That’s what you’ve achieved. And it’s not something I’m going to forgive you for lightly.’
Bitter fury stung in his accusation. Then his slate eyes flashed again.
‘It’s time to grow up, Rico. To take some responsibility. Not to play infantile games and be led around by your damn overactive sex-drive! Because that’s what’s happened, obviously. That much is clear from the photos you sent. You had her done up and moved in on her. Well, I hope you’ve had your fill of her—because it’s over now. You won’t be allowed to go within a hundred miles of her. From now on she doesn’t exist any more. And maybe finally you’ll learn some responsibility, Rico. You’d better, because this really is your last chance. He’s made that very clear, our father—very clear indeed. You came this close to stepping over the edge. This close. From now on, no more stepping out of line by you—not one more breath of scandal. From now on you learn to conduct yourself with some responsibility.’
He fell silent, his eyes heavy on his brother.
‘Responsibility?’ said Rico slowly. His eyes rested on Luca. Nothing showed in them. ‘I’ve always had a problem with responsibility. Because I never had any. My sole responsibility was to stay alive, that was all. In case you dropped dead. Turned out gay. Refused to marry. Proved infertile. And in the meantime, until and unless any of that happened, I passed the time. Any way I could. Because that was all I could do. All I was allowed to do. Pass the time. However pointlessly. Until—’ his voice changed ‘—until I found out there was something I could do, after all. Something, in fact, that only I could do—no one else could. I could save Paolo’s son.’
His eyes never left Luca’s, not for an instant, boring into him, burning into him. ‘I could save Paolo’s son from the hellish childhood that was being cooked up for him. The one you told me about when I delivered Ben and his mother into your tender hands like a fool—the fool you’d played me for. You wanted to throw his mother away like garbage and condemn Ben to a childhood that was going to be even worse than the one we had, Luca. Do you remember our childhood? Do you? Or has that just conveniently been blanked out of your memory? Because it hasn’t from mine, and there was no way—no way on this earth—that I was going to let that happen to Paolo’s son. There was no way that I was going to let him be taken from the woman he regards as his mother, loves as his mother, or let her lose her child. I could stop it happening—and I did. And I don’t regret it for one second. Not one instant.’ His voice was a low snarl now. ‘Even though I’ve discovered just what kind of callous scum you all are.’
He took a harsh intake of breath. ‘And now, if you don’t want me to knock you out cold again, I suggest you get th
e hell out of my quarters.’
He saw his brother’s lip twist.
‘Thinking to use your Boy’s Own secret passage and head for the hills again, Rico? It won’t do you any good this time. It won’t get you out of the hole you’re in now. You’ve run out of options. Your marriage has been declared void, and you’re under arrest.’
Rico’s mouth whitened.
‘I don’t give a—’
‘Allow me,’ bit out Luca, cutting through the expletive, ‘to explain to you exactly what San Lucenzan law in respect of royal marriages allows the Prince Regnant to do.’
In precise, exact and comprehensive terms, he did so.
Rico listened. And as he listened, his face slowly froze.
Lizzy was sitting very still. Very still indeed. She had sent Ben to the playroom, telling him to watch a DVD until she came for him.
‘I am so very sorry,’ Captain Falieri was saying, ‘to be the bearer of such…unsettling…news, Miss Mitchell.’
Lizzy said nothing. What could she say? Yet she had to say something.
She swallowed. There seemed to be a stone in her throat.
‘So…so what happens now? To Ben and me?’
Her voice was thin, and she was trying to stop it shaking.
Captain Falieri was being kind—so very kind. Somehow that just made it worse.
‘I am to escort you both back to Cornwall. Perhaps you would instruct the staff to pack what you intend to take? Needless to say, all…’ he hesitated minutely ‘…all personal effects purchased for your stay here will be considered yours.’
She said nothing. She would allow Ben to choose his favourites from amongst the toys that he had acquired here. As for herself…
She felt her heart crushed, as if heavy weights were squeezing it.