by Tara Wylde
I hear voices as I reach the door to Carlo’s office. It’s slightly ajar, and the granite and marble act as amplifiers for the conversation inside.
“I don’t know what I’ll do if she says no.”
It’s Dante! I should really go. Dad always taught me it’s wrong to eavesdrop.
Of course, he probably would have taught me it’s wrong to fuck with a woman’s life just because she might help you keep your fortune, if he knew that was even a thing. I didn’t even know it was a thing until this afternoon.
So I hunker down and stay right where I am.
“I assume that you’ve abandoned Prince Emilio’s suggestion?” I hear Carlo say.
“Of course I have,” Dante sighs. “He meant well, but marrying a nun would have been a disaster.”
He was going to marry a nun? Just when I thought this couldn’t get any more fucked up. But it does make a crazy kind of sense – another one of Dad’s sayings is if you want to hunt ducks, you go where the ducks are. I guess it’s the same for virgins.
“Sir, perhaps if you told her about the children…”
Oriana and Vito? What about them? I lean closer to the door.
“Absolutely not,” Dante says crossly. “I will not use them as bargaining chips. They’ve been through that already. Luckily, they were still young enough that they won’t remember. I have no doubt she’d still like to get her hooks into them.”
She?
“Is Amanda aware of what could potentially happen to them, at least?”
“I told you, I’m not bringing them into the equation.”
“But perhaps if she understood that they might end up separated from you, that Vito might be placed on the throne…”
My heart skips a beat. Whatever faults Dante may have, he clearly adores those twins, and they love him. I once read an article in an archived issue of Time about Dante’s life after his parents were killed. He was only a boy, but he was suddenly thrust into the role of monarch. In the photo that ran with it, he seemed so… withdrawn, I guess.
My heart broke for the boy in that photo. I just think kids should be smiling and carefree, not crushed under the burden of authority.
“We’ll deal with whatever comes,” says Dante. “We have to. There’s no other choice.”
Yes, there is. And I’m the one who has to make it.
I slip from behind the door and tiptoe back down the hallway to the main concourse, and from there I head straight for my chambers.
“Twice in one week?” Dad says. “What’d I do to deserve this?”
He’s got Skype down now, looking at me head-on in the tablet’s screen. It’s early afternoon in Montana and there’s a sheen of midday sweat on his face.
“Well, it is a special occasion,” I say, trying to keep my voice upbeat. My heart is still stretched in a hundred directions, but I don’t want him to know that.
His face drops suddenly. “Aw, shit,” he says. “It’s not my birthday again, is it?”
He’s not joking: my dad has forgotten his own birthday every year for as long as I can remember.
“Not for another three months,” I say. “No, this is sort of a once-in-a-lifetime occasion.”
Sure it is. For a year, anyway.
“Well, now you got my ears pricked up, girlie. What’s the big secret?”
God, if you only knew.
“First, I want you to sit down,” I say. “You’re getting fat and your ticker isn’t what it used to be.”
“Hey! Get yer own jokes!”
“I’m serious, Dad. You really should sit down.”
His Clint Eastwood eyes narrow, but he does as I say.
“All right, I’m sittin’ down and I’m calm. But that’ll change real quick if you don’t hurry up and tell me what’s got you actin’ so mysterious.”
How do I tell him? No matter how I do it, he’s going to freak. Might as well just pull off the Band-aid and hope he doesn’t have a coronary.
“Dad,” I say, mustering my courage. “Prince Dante has asked me to marry him.”
His shaggy eyebrows go up and he fixes me with a look. For a full five seconds, neither of us says a word.
Then a grin creeps out from under his mustache.
“You almost had your old man goin’ there for a second, pumpkin!” he hoots. “Oop, sorry – I mean Princess Pumpkin.”
“It’s not a joke, Dad. He proposed this afternoon.”
Sort of. Not exactly get-down-on-one-knee. More like I’ll-have-my-lawyer-call-your-lawyer.
Dad frowns. He and I joke around all the time, but he knows when I’m being serious.
“Sweetie, he’s a prince. Don’t get me wrong, I think you’re the greatest catch in the world, but don’t these royal types go for their own kind?”
Yes, they do. But I guess the supply of noble virgins is low at this time of year.
“What can I say?” I shrug. “We hit it off right away and one thing led to another… next thing I know, he’s asking me to marry him.”
“What about all that stuff about him in the supermarket papers?”
“You know you can’t believe the tabloids, Dad. If you could, Elvis would have a show in Vegas right now.”
“But you haven’t had a boyfriend since high school, least not one that you’ve talked to me about. Suddenly you’re gettin’ engaged? To a man on the other side of the world that I’ve never met?”
I can see my smile in the little window in the bottom right corner of the screen. It’s so strained, I look like I’m in labor.
“I’ve never done anything the normal way, have I?”
He runs his catcher’s mitt of a hand down his ruddy face. Dad is a simple man – smart as a whip, but simple – and this is way too much for him to process.
Finally he looks me in the eye the way only a father can.
“Do you love him?” he asks.
That question is more complex than any of the ones I faced defending my thesis.
“Yes. But I know this is all pretty crazy. I won’t marry him if you don’t give me your blessing.”
He smiles, and for the second time in as many days, I see tears in his eyes.
“Well, then,” he says. “I guess I better give it to you.”
And there goes the last excuse I had not to do this. It breaks my heart to trick him like this, but what choice do I have? I can’t let him lose the ranch. And I can’t let Dante lose the twins. And hey, all I have to lose is my virginity and a year of my life to make that happen.
“Thank you, Daddy,” I say. There are tears in my own eyes now, for a thousand different reasons.
“So when do I get to meet this prince?” he asks. “Do I get to come to the wedding and give you away?”
My labored smile tightens even more.
“Your passport’s up to date, right?”
“Yup. I need it when I bring calves over the border from Canada.”
“Okay, good. And can you get one of the Ross boys up the road to keep an eye on the cattle for awhile?”
“Sure. They’re just out on pasture now. Won’t be sellin’ any till fall.”
“Perfect.”
He gives me a sidelong glance. “You make it sound like the wedding’s right around the corner.”
“Yeah,” I say, taking a deep breath. “About that…”
Here we go. There’s no turning back now.
Chapter 60
16. DANTE
“Your Highness, if you would be so kind?”
“Hm?”
Carlo’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts, his knobby finger pointing at my hand. I look at it and realize my fingers are drumming noisily on the glass tabletop. My coffee cup vibrates in time with my tapping.
“Sorry,” I sigh.
“Quite all right, sir. I feel the same way myself.”
Maria messaged thirty minutes ago that she was bringing Amanda – and her answer – to my private chambers. They’re still not here. The coffee is my fourth one this morning.
I didn’t even go to bed last night, let alone fall asleep.
“What if she says no?” I blurt. Not very princely of me.
“Then we deal with the situation some other way, as we always have. Morova shall endure.”
Morova shall endure. How many times have I heard that in the twenty years since Carlo broke the news to me that my parents had been killed? I sometimes wonder if he thinks I am Morova.
I hear a knock at the door and have to restrain myself from leaping out of my chair.
“Come in,” I say, trying to keep the edge out of my voice.
Maria ushers Amanda into the room and my breath catches in my throat: she’s wearing an impeccable Donna Karan suit, white jacket with a high-waisted belt and a form-fitting black skirt that ends at her knee. It accentuates her curves and highlights those ice-blue eyes.
She’s breathtaking. Sexy, yet understated. Most important, she looks regal. Like a proper princess. My heart soars.
“You look stunning,” I breathe. “Does this mean…?”
Amanda fixes me with a look that says I should stop talking.
“Maria has explained all the details of the agreement to me,” she says. “And I accept the offer.”
I’ve never really given any thought to how a woman might react if I proposed; I certainly never imagined it would end with her saying “I accept the offer,” like she’s signing a business deal.
But that’s exactly what this is, isn’t it? Was I expecting her to jump into my arms and squeal, “Yes!” after the way I “proposed”?
Oh, come on, Dante. Royals have been forced into marriages of convenience for eons. Why should yours be any different?
“Thank you.” I can’t think of anything else to say.
I gaze into her eyes for a moment, but I don’t see any of the passion that was there in the gardens.
“Let’s talk about compensation,” she says. “You said I could name my price?”
“Anything within my power,” I say. “That was the deal.”
I motion for us all to sit. Amanda crosses her legs primly. She knows all the royal protocols already, probably better than I do.
Carlo reaches out and takes Amanda’s hand.
“Morova is in your debt, ma’am. Your actions will have long-ranging benefits for our entire nation, small as it is.”
Amanda smiles warmly. “I told you, Carlo, call me Amanda.”
“I’m afraid I can’t,” he says. “As I’ve told the prince many times, I won’t use familiar language with the royal family.”
She looks at me. I smile and shrug.
“Better get used to it,” I say.
“Back to compensation,” Maria says, killing the mood instantly. “Amanda laid out her terms to me earlier. I found them to be more than fair. Maybe too fair, in fact.”
I raise my eyebrows to Amanda. “What can I do for you?”
“I’ll let Maria go over them,” she says, avoiding my gaze.
“I didn’t even need to write them down,” says Maria. “They’re quite simple. First, you offer Amanda’s father, Isaac, five million American dollars from your personal fortune in return for her hand.”
“The proper term is bride price,” Amanda says. “It’s traditionally been a symbolic gesture to show the groom’s debt to the bride’s family.”
Five million dollars? That’s less than a tenth of one percent of my wealth, in return for single-handedly saving my family from ruin.
“Done,” I say. “What else?”
“My father can’t know that it’s anything other than an unbreakable Trentini tradition,” she stresses. “I know that bride price is mostly an Asian and Middle Eastern tradition, but he doesn’t, and he never has to find out. It should seem like the most normal thing in the world that you’re giving him the money.”
Her father isn’t the only one who doesn’t know anything about bride price; I’ve never heard of it, either. Having Amanda by my side will be like having a walking Wikipedia of royal history next to me. Beauty, brains, heart – I’ve hit the mother lode with her.
To think I almost started scouring convents for a nun. I have to remember to smack Emilio the next time I see him.
“Of course,” I say. “Next?”
Maria chimes in. “This one doesn’t have to do with money. It’s personal.”
“Name it. As I said, anything within my power.”
Amanda looks at all of us in turn.
“I want to be the one who tells Oriana and Vito that we’re getting married,” she says.
Carlo and Maria both glance at me and then back to Amanda.
“May I ask why?” I say.
“Because I want them to know that they’re important to me. And that they’re part of the process. I want them to feel like this marriage is happening with them, not to them.”
I never would have thought of that, but now that she says it, I realize it’s absolutely the best way to handle this with them. The only way, in fact.
There are serious unplumbed depths to this Montana cowgirl.
“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Maria says, as if expecting me to balk at it.
“As do I,” says Carlo. “Sir.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” I say, prompting the first smile from Amanda since she came into the room. It’s like sunrise breaking through a morning fog.
“Thank you,” she says.
“Please, Amanda, it’s I who should thank you. Your sacrifice will save my family. What else do you desire?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing.”
Nothing?
Carlo leans back in his chair and tents his long fingers under his chin.
“Ma’am,” he says. “You do realize that the prince is quite sincere when he says you are welcome to anything your heart desires? The Trentini fortune is vast, and the royal family’s influence reaches around the world.”
“I do realize that,” says Amanda. “But my father taught me to always do the right thing. He never said anything about attaching a price tag to it.”
It would appear Amanda’s depth was a gift from her father.
“I very much look forward to meeting him,” I say.
“I’ll warn you right now, he’s nothing like what you’re used to. He’s anything but sophisticated. He still can’t figure out the point of a salad fork.”
“What did I tell you about sophistication?” Maria says. “It’s no measure of character.”
Amanda chuckles. “Dad has character up to his eyeballs, and he’s pretty tall.”
“And he knows of your decision?” I ask.
“I told him last night. He’s confused, especially about how quickly everything’s happening. But he seems happy for me.”
Maria stands and smooths her skirt.
“Well, then,” she says. “I’ll arrange for the money to be sent to your father’s bank as soon as possible.”
“Not before the wedding,” Amanda says hastily. “I have to have time to tell him about it.”
“Of course.”
The next step is obvious, and the sooner we get it over with, the better.
“Are you prepared to speak with the twins right now?” I ask.
Amanda nods. “No time like the present. Or as Dad would say, git ‘er done.”
I smile. I think I’m going to like Isaac Sparks. The question, of course, is whether he’ll like me.
As we reach the door of my chambers, I stop and take Amanda by the arm.
“You’re sure you want to do this?”
Her eyes betray nothing. Our passion in the gardens was real – at least it was for me – but the outrageous circumstances that have brought us together would overwhelm anyone. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I forced her into something she didn’t want.
“I’m sure,” she says. “Like I told you before, it’s the right thing to do.”
The right thing to do.
How incredibly romantic. Sigh.
Chapter 61
When I was a girl, I couldn’t wait to finish my chores on a hot summer afternoon and then head for the shores of the Marias River that flows past our place. There’s an oxbow about a half-mile directly south of our house that forms a swimming hole where my friends an I would while away as many hours as our parents would let us.
This is sort of like that, except it’s a lagoon formed by Lake Orta. And it’s about a hundred times the size. And it’s below a royal palace. And it’s the Alps in the distance instead of the Rockies.
Other than that, it’s identical.
“Shark!” Oriana cries, paddling furiously. “Look out!”
Vito, knee-deep and closer to shore, jumps back reflexively before realizing he’s been had.
“There’s no sharks in the lake,” he says. “Everyone knows that.”
“There could be sharks in here,” Oriana says. “Right, Amanda?”
She drops me the most comical wink I’ve ever seen. I work very hard to keep the smile from my face. I shade the blazing sun with my hand and gaze out at the lake.
“You never know,” I say. “Just because no one has ever seen a shark in the lake doesn’t’ mean there aren’t any.”
“Sharks only live in salt water,” Vito says in a tone that says everyone with a brain would agree with him.
“Actually, that’s not true. Bull sharks can live in both salt water and fresh water.”
Oriana sticks her tongue out at him. “See?”
Vito looks vexed, so I let him off the hook.
“Don’t worry,” I say. “We’re about 200 kilometers from the nearest ocean. That’s a long way for a bull shark to walk.”
Vito sneers at his sister. “See?” he mocks.
“Who cares?” says Oriana, jumping up and then splashing back down.
“Who cares about what?”
It’s Dante’s voice coming from behind me. Guess it’s time to get serious about things. I turn in my lounger to face him and almost fall over into the sand.