Callie's Christmas Wish
Page 19
“Yeah,” Joe confirmed, “you will.”
* * *
Callie steered through Rome’s center with maximum concentration and minimal wrong turns. Kate and Dawn twisted to see the Fendi building as they zipped past. The decorations weren’t as awesome in daylight as in the photo Callie had texted, but they both vowed to hit the high-end shopping street before they flew back to the States. Fifteen minutes later Callie squeezed into a parking spot and took them up to her apartment.
They oohed over the warm yellow walls and ahhed over the view of St. Peter’s from the tiny balcony. Then they shed their coats and got down to the serious business of checking out the contents of the boxes sitting on the bed and the dress bag hanging on the closet door.
Chapter Fifteen
Callie couldn’t have imagined a more stunning setting for a wedding than Carlo’s palazzo. When she and Kate and Dawn emerged from the limo Joe had sent to pick them up, they had to fight to keep from gawking at the elegant facade and butler who’d been waiting for them. As tall and aristocratic as his employer was short and muscular, the tuxedoed majordomo bowed and ushered them inside.
He must have sent some silent signal to the prince. As Callie and Kate and Dawn were shedding their coats, Carlo descended a flight of marble stairs wide enough to drive a tractor up. Looking astonishingly royal in a dress uniform crossed by a red sash studded with glittering medals and decorations, he greeted Kate and Dawn with kisses to both hands and cheeks.
His greeting to the bride was no less extravagant. “Ah, Clarissa. You look so beautiful. Are you sure you—”
“Yes,” she interrupted hastily, cutting him off before he could make yet another offer to whisk her off to parts unknown. “I’m sure.”
But she had to repeat her suggestion of a few days ago. “Why don’t you take Simona? You know you want to.”
“I did ask her,” he answered with a scowl. “Her reply still burns my ears.”
Laughing, Callie stooped to drop a kiss on his cheek. “I know you. You’re too much like Joe to take no for an answer.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. But now...” He crooked his arm. “You break my heart, Clarissa, but do me such great honor by asking me to give you away. Shall we go upstairs?”
Her friends led the way. Dawn had brought a gown in her favorite green. Kate wore one of deep crimson. The rich hues formed a glowing complement to the garlands draping the stone balustrade. Callie’s heart tripped as she mounted the marble stairs under the watchful eyes of what looked like ten or twelve generations of Carlo’s ancestors.
Banks of poinsettias ringed the second-floor landing. As Carlo led her past the glorious color, Callie could hear an unseen baritone singing “Santa Lucia.” She’d now adopted the hymn as her own personal anthem. The baritone was good, she acknowledged, but she intended to download Elvis’s version the next time she logged into iTunes.
Then the same majordomo who’d met them downstairs opened a set of double doors. Beyond was a salon as long as the nave of a cathedral and almost as high ceilinged. Rows of gilt-edged chairs lined the salon’s parquet floor. Callie blinked in surprise when she saw every seat was filled.
As though perfectly timed, the hymn finished and a string quartet launched into Mendelssohn’s wedding march. Carlo squeezed Callie’s arm and they followed Kate and Dawn down the aisle between the chairs. She smiled as she recognized the guests. Emilio and his crew. Marcello Audi, his daughter, Arianna, with her husband and kids. Sabeen and Leela and the other residents of the center. Amal and her baby in the second row with Simona.
Callie had to suppress a gasp at the director’s altered appearance. Simona had tamed her flyaway hair and actually applied some lip gloss and blush. Even more astonishing, her floor-length skirt and fitted jacket of wine-colored velvet looked as though they might come from one of the boutiques on Via Condotti. Callie felt Carlo’s start of surprise and had to hide a grin.
Travis and Brian and Tommy were in the front row. The men smiled and the boy beamed as Callie floated past. They were her family now, as much as Kate and Dawn. Integral threads in the fabric of her life.
But it was the man waiting for her at the end of the aisle who filled her heart. So tall, so awesome in his hand-tailored tux. Her very own Louis Jourdan, Callie thought with a lump in her throat.
“I must ask,” the prince murmured, pressing her arm to his side. “Are you sure you’re sure?”
She gave a helpless laugh. “Oh, Carlo. I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”
Then she put her hand in Joe’s, and her Christmas wish came true.
* * * * *
EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT
Crown Prince Armando enlists Rosa Lamberti to find him a suitable wife—but could a stolen kiss under the mistletoe lead to an unexpected Christmas wedding?
Read on for a sneak preview of
WINTER WEDDING FOR THE PRINCE
by Barbara Wallace
“Have you ever looked at an unfocused telescope only to turn the knob and make everything sharp and clear?” Armando asked.
Rosa nodded.
“That is what it was like for me, a few minutes ago. One moment I had all these sensations I couldn’t explain swirling inside me, then the next everything made sense. They were my soul coming back to life.”
“I don’t know what to think,” she said.
“Then don’t think,” he replied. “Just go with your heart.”
He made it sound easy. Just go with your heart. But what if your heart was frightened and confused? For all his talk of coming to life, he was essentially in the same place as before, unable or unwilling to give her a true emotional commitment.
On the other hand, her feelings wanted to override her common sense, so maybe they were even. As she watched him close the gap between them, she felt her heartbeat quicken to match her breath.
“You do know that we’re under the mistletoe yet again, don’t you?”
The sprig of berries had quite a knack for timing, didn’t it? Anticipation ran down her spine ceasing what little hold common sense still had. Armando was going kiss her and she was going to let him. She wanted to lose herself in his arms. Believe for a moment that his heart felt more than simple desire.
This time, when he wrapped his arm around her waist, she slid against him willingly, aligning her hips against his with a smile.
“Appears to be our fate,” she whispered. “Mistletoe, that is.”
“You’ll get no complaints from me.” She could hear her heart beating in her ears as his head dipped toward hers. “Merry Christmas, Rosa.”
“Mer…” His kiss swallowed the rest of her wish. Rosa didn’t care if she spoke another word again. She’d waited her whole life to be kissed like this. Fully and deeply, with a need she felt all the way down to her toes.
They were both breathless when the moment ended. With their foreheads resting against each other, she felt Armando smile against her lips. “Merry Christmas,” he whispered again.
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WINTER WEDDING FOR THE PRINCE by Barbara Wallace
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Copyright ©2016 by Barbara Wallace
ISBN: 978-1-474-04188-1
CALLIE’S CHRISTMAS WISH
© 2016 Merline Lovelace
Published in Great Britain 2016
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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