But Jack wasn’t accustomed to being ignored. He grabbed her wrist and towed her farther from the activity by the caves’ entrance. “Did you hear me?” he said. “Stevie, I love you.”
She shook her head, then looked around, desperate to find out who had set her up to be punked.
“I want to get married.” His hands came to her shoulders and he gave her a little shake. “I want to marry you.”
“So not a good idea.” Surely, surely this was a practical joke. She curved her lips to make clear she understood this was nothing more than a colossal gag. “I’m not cut out for royal life.”
“Of course you are.” A small smile turned up the corners of his lips. “Think. What’s the name of your business? Napa Princess Limousine.”
“That’s a joke.” She turned away from him so he wouldn’t see the tears spark in her eyes. “This whole thing is a joke.”
He spun her to face him again. “No, no, it’s not.”
“Jack, you can’t be serious.” But he looked serious so she found herself answering in that same vein, God help her. “The world of your parents and family … how you grew up … I don’t fit in. I’d always be saying the wrong thing.”
“Stevie. You’ve met my mother. Surely you realize saying the wrong thing isn’t such an impediment.”
Desperation had her looking around again, still seeking the punch line, the gotcha, the ah-ha.
Jack caught her face in his hand and his eyes bore into hers. “You really don’t believe me? You don’t believe I can love someone?”
“I didn’t say that.” Her nose was stinging again. “What’s wrong with you? I know you’re capable of loving.”
A moment passed, then knowledge dawned over his face. His fingers gentled on her. “You don’t believe I could love you,” he said.
She averted her gaze.
“Stevie…”
She whispered the truth. “Of course I don’t believe that.”
‘Merde.“ He was silent another long minute and then his hand dropped. ”I thought my biggest obstacle would be convincing you I’m deserving of you.”
“You can have anyone you want,” she said, stating the obvious. “Anyone would want you.”
His laugh was short. “Except you.”
“I explained that.” Bucking the social order never worked, the debacle between her and Emerson had proved that. “We don’t suit - how could we? The chauffeur and the prince.”
He was silent a moment, then his eyes narrowed. “Bullshit,” he said. “You don’t buy that, not really, and neither do I. You’re Stephania Baci, the toughest girl in Edenville. Some medieval notion of class isn’t going to keep you down. It’s just a convenient excuse.”
Her throat was closing. “I … I…”
“So let’s get to the real truth, why don’t we? If you let yourself believe in my love, if you were willing to have a relationship with me, then you’d have to let me in.”
“Jack -”
“Strong Stevie Baci would have to drop her armor and let a big, bad man close.” He crossed his arms over his chest. There was a ruthless gleam in his eyes. “She’d have to reveal her innermost secret - that inside she has a vulnerable, breakable heart, just like the rest of us.”
She stiffened. “No one can break me.”
“Then take me on,” he said instantly.
Take him on? Prince Jack Parini? He was too rich, too smooth, too elegant, too … He wanted too much. “You don’t understand,” she heard herself say. “It’s not that simple.”
His expression hardened. “I understand you’re a coward, Stevie.”
“I don’t want to have this discussion with you.” If her heart was so well protected, how come it hurt so much?
“Too bad,” he said, hundreds of years of royal authority in his voice. “We’re going to have to talk anyway.”
“I just said I don’t -”
“The kicker is, sweet thing” - his expression remained stony - “you can’t get rid of me so easily.”
“Jack -”
“The condom broke.”
She gaped at him. “What?”
Strangely now, he looked almost … smug. His hands slid into his pockets and he rocked back on his heels. “We might have made a baby.”
*****
Just then, the crowd by the caves turned noisy enough to yank Jack’s attention away from the woman who was twisting his insides into knots. Stevie’s brother-in-law caught his eye and filled in the blanks as to what he’d missed. “Emerson Platt just shocked the hell out of people - most particularly his mother from the looks of things - by stating he’s not running for any political office. Ever.”
Surprised himself, Jack peered over the knot of people toward Emerson. Roxy stood beside him, looking relieved and as ecstatic as a bride-to-be should. The king and queen of Ardenia emerged from the caves’ entrance to snare some of the press attention.
But others followed an obviously agitated Senator Platt as she pushed through the small crowd. Passing Jack, she brushed his shoulder, and her high heels wobbled on the pea gravel. His hands shot out of his pockets to steady her and she glanced at him, then froze as something that had caught on his sleeve dropped to the ground at her feet.
She gasped and her voice rose over the hubbub. “My missing bracelet! It’s you! It’s you who took it.”
Qu’ils aillent tous se faire foutre. He might have guessed the piece belonged to her. Rubies, diamonds, and sapphires. Red, white, and blue. And clearly real. Shit!
“You stole my bracelet.” Her tone was accusatory as she bent to snatch it up. “It’s worth thousands of dollars.”
Yeah. Real.
A sick feeling roiled in his belly and time slowed to molasses drips. He thought about finding the bracelet in the bridal boudoir and he thought about Roxy’s impulse control disorder. Before, she’d only stolen things of little value, but her stress level these last few weeks had been through the roof.
He didn’t dare glance toward his sister to gauge her reaction. She was marrying into the Platt family tomorrow. The senator would be her mother-in-law in less than twenty-four hours and he’d take a bullet before doing anything that might redirect the blame to Roxy.
He couldn’t look at Stevie, either. But he could see her in his head, standing in the wedding cottage on New Year’s Day. We’re strangers, she’d said. For all I know you’re a thief.
And with the old stories and the ugly rumors swirling around again, everyone from Edenville to Ardenia would believe that.
Another day with Stevie flashed into his mind. Her voice again. What would you hate to lose, Jack? Is there something you care so much about you’d do just about anything to keep it?
He turned his head and there she was, her expression stricken, her soft lower lip caught between her teeth. Is there something you care so much about you’d do just about anything to keep it?
Good God, no, he’d said then, but now the answer burned in his chest. That something was Stevie. What he’d hate to lose was her.
He was so in love with her, but because of this, she’d be out of his reach in the space of half a dozen more heartbeats. He was about to lose that future that had so recently opened up before him.
Oh, mon chat. So this is the real good-bye.
Then his father was at his elbow, his mother glued to her husband’s side. “Mein Gott,” the king said, his clipped German matching his austere expression, “is that bauble yours, madam?”
Senator Platt shifted her gaze to the king. “Uh … yes.”
“Earlier, I found it myself, over … over…” his accent had thickened and he made a vague gesture as if he couldn’t come up with the proper English word for wherever he’d supposedly discovered the thing. “And then -”
“The king turned it over to me,” Stevie put in, stepping closer. “And once I realized it was the one you’d been looking for, Lois, I handed it off to Jack so he could give it to you when he got to the rehearsal dinner.” She smiled
, brighter than sunshine.
Jack’s mother’s matched it as she moved closer to admire the gaudy piece of jewelry. “Hot damn, I wouldn’t have wanted to lose that fistful of sparkly rocks, either,” she said, and her accent was pure magnolia. “We girls gotta stockpile goodies like that in case some dumbass husband decides to trade us in for a younger model.”
Lois Platt blinked. “I… uh…”
The queen linked arms with the senator. “C’mon, now, say thank you to everyone and we can get inside and get ourselves a drink!”
As directed, the other woman stuttered out some grateful words and then was dragged away by Jack’s mother. He looked after them instead of looking at the two people who’d come to his rescue. The moment stretched awkwardly. Finally he cleared his throat, his gaze sliding first to his father. “Thank you, sir,” he said.
His father clapped his hand on his shoulder, squeezed. “What happened ten years ago … we were out of our minds with worry and fear. When it was over, I didn’t say the right things, Jack, and I’m sorry.”
Now Jack knew something about not getting the words right, too - even when they mattered so very much. Reaching up, he covered his father’s fingers. “Thank you for that, too.”
He paused now, staring at his feet instead of looking at his second rescuer. So much to say. He’d wanted to promise to slay her dragons, but like always, she’d turned his intentions on their head by stepping up and slaying his. God, he loved her. “Stevie…” he began, turning to confront her.
She was gone.
*****
The next day, Stevie knew she should have avoided the wedding cottage once evening fell, when the ceremony was slated to begin. She’d advised herself to stay away, and she’d listened at first, ensuring she’d obey by staying in jeans, sweater, her ratty sneakers. As guests climbed the shallow front steps, she’d detoured toward the tent that had been set up for the reception.
Inside, ringing a dance floor, round tables had been covered with embroidered cloths of navy blue on blue satin. The tableware was blue and white china. Blue votives circled the lush arrangements of pink, purple, and burgundy flowers, with fiddlehead ferns curling outward to snag attention.
There were patio heaters and romantic lighting and delicious smells. The bar was being stocked and she knew that plenty of the Tanti Baci blanc de blancs was chilling for the toast. Musicians had already set up their equipment and the cake was also assembled, four layers with icing that looked like lace. White roses were scattered around it on the table.
What color roses are your favorite? Jack had asked. She wondered if he’d follow through with his promise to send her a dozen every day.
Of course he would, she thought. She’d never doubted his honor. She would never doubt his word. She remembered that mask his face had donned when Lois Platt had accused him of theft, and a caustic pain filled her chest. He hadn’t deserved that.
Rubbing at the spreading ache at her breastbone, she admitted that he deserved more from her, too. He deserved the truth that she’d avoided sharing with him for the last twenty-four hours.
She waited until Roxanne and Emerson’s wedding ceremony was over. When the guests began trickling into the tent, she made her way to the cottage. The bride and groom had bucked tradition, she knew, and taken photographs with each other and family before the ceremony so that the celebration could get started right away. Still, they were among the last to leave Anne and Alonzo’s former home, and from the shadows, she watched the couple walk arm in arm toward the reception, followed by their parents.
Smiles all around. Good.
Jack wasn’t with them. Good, too.
Her feet made no sound as she crossed the porch. The double doors were flung open and it was warm inside, thanks to the previously full house and the fire crackling on the hearth. He stood in front of it, staring into the flames.
The center aisle would take her to him and she stepped forward, even though she felt self-conscious using that route. The ends of the benches were still dressed with satin ribbon and hanging vases filled with flowers that matched those at the reception. Soft music filtered from the stereo speakers. Here comes the bride, she thought. Not.
Halfway to him, he turned. She jumped, and her feet stopped moving. Maybe he was a vampire after all, because at the thought that this might be the very last time she saw him, her body went limp, as if all the blood had been drained from her veins.
But she couldn’t die just yet.
“I have just one thing to say to you.” She forced herself to keep walking, because she was, after all, still the brash Baci.
He lifted a brow, and it was elegant, casual Jack who was gazing on her, at home in his tuxedo with a boutonniere tucked in his lapel. A white rose.
Her feet stuttered to a halt again, and she cursed herself for being such a stupid, silly girl. Flowers, cake, fancy dresses, the whole wedding business was making her soft. And irritated, she suddenly decided.
She scowled at him. “Do you realize I had to learn what a tussy mussy is? I’m a woman comfortable with carburetors and oil filters, Jack, but now I have to know about tussy mussies. Don’t get me started on headpieces.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Jack murmured, sliding his hands into his pockets. “Is that the one thing you wanted to say?”
“What? No.” She stomped toward him, feeling much better with a little ire running through her bloodstream. If he’d emptied her of the regular stuff, then indignation would have to do.
Annoyance still edging her mood, she poked him with her fingertip, right between the studs on his tuxedo shirt. “And what do you mean, even wondering for a second if I thought you capable of loving someone?”
“I -”
“Don’t you realize I saw how kind you are to your sister? How far you were willing to go to protect her?”
“I -”
“What about your relationship with your mother? Obviously you care about her deeply. As for your father, well, I think you should wake up and smell the espresso, Jack. I don’t have parents anymore so I’m entitled to say you’re seriously wasting time by not realizing that man loves you just as much as you love him.”
“I’m working on it,” Jack said quietly, then paused. “So is that the one thing you came to say?”
“No.” She stared at his handsome face, his aristocratic beauty almost too much to bear. It leeched away her indignation and she didn’t know what was going to keep her standing up now. Her nose started stinging again and she pressed it with the back of her hand. “The one thing I have to say is…”
Here it was. The end, the real good-bye, the smashing of the chance that she could have held on to him for a tiny while longer. If she stayed quiet, she could let this play out a few more days, maybe even a couple of weeks. But playing with Jack had only led to disaster.
She took a breath and the air smelled like wood smoke, candle wax, roses. Those damn white roses.
“There’s no way I’m pregnant.” She forced herself to stay focused on his face, watching for the expected relief. “I’m on birth control.”
He flinched, and then he spun away from her, his hand lifting to his face. Taken aback at his abrupt movement, she stared at his broad shoulders.
They … trembled?
“Jack…” Was he laughing? No. Was he
“Jack?”
He didn’t answer. There was something new in the room with them, charging the atmosphere. A feeling. Sadness? Disappointment? Regret? She shook her head. It couldn’t be. “Jack?”
“It was foolish of me, I know,” he finally said, his voice thick, his back still turned. His laugh was rough. “In so long I hadn’t considered my future, I hadn’t thought of having my own family … I’ve been so cut off from everyone. Then to imagine…”
Stevie froze, trying to absorb what Jack was talking about, what Jack’s reaction really meant. And then, when it sank in at last
Oh, hell. Just like that, it happened. What she’d been runni
ng from since New Year’s Eve had finally caught up with her. She pressed one palm to her chest and tears sprang to her eyes. “Damn you,” she whispered.
Her voice gained strength. “God damn you, Jack Parini.” She thwacked him with the flat of her free hand, right between his shoulder blades.
He didn’t turn. “What now?”
She thwacked him again. “You just broke my heart.”
He froze.
“And you’re going to pay for that.”
He slowly turned. “How?”
Oh, God. His eyelashes were wet. And there was pain everywhere now, probably all the hurt she’d held on to leaking from her ruined heart. She’d guessed right. Jack had … she could hardly wrap her mind around it. Jack had really wanted them to have made a baby.
Which meant his offer of marriage and pretense of love hadn’t been a noble act because he’d thought she was pregnant. Of course that answer had crossed her mind the minute he’d said the condom broke. But now she realized he must really want her, or else he’d already be breezing out of the cottage, whistling like a boy let out early for recess.
Which meant … Now her eyes were stinging and she reached up to rub her aching chest. She was loved by Jack Parini.
Her shattered heart stayed in pieces, so perhaps it was just the armor she’d built around it that had broken, she thought, as she felt it beating beneath her hand. At fourteen, when she’d lost her mother, she’d started her construction project, desperate never to hurt so much again. But the walls had come tumbling down at the knowledge of his feelings for her.
She was loved by Jack Parini.
She heard her mother’s voice again, though not a memory this time. You’re beautiful just as you are.
Even strong girls can use a hand to hold.
Don’t be afraid to love.
Jack thumbed away the tears she realized were streaking her cheeks. “How’re you going to make me pay, mon ange?” His voice was soft.
Then He Kissed Me Page 26