Forbidden Noble

  Clara was like her in that.

  He picked up a children’s book about bedtime. He would never forget how she’d read to him before sleep. The door opened and for a second he hoped that Clara had come back.

  His arms ached to hold her, but his sister’s dark hair was visible first and then she fully entered the library. He put the children’s book back and Olivia closed the door. “Astorre.”

  The car to take her to Clara’s had gone a while ago and the storm sounded worse now. He faced the books as he said, “I thought you’d left me too.”

  She placed her hand on his shoulder. Once he turned around to face her, she said, “Yeah, we’re not going anywhere now.”

  He squared his shoulders. No one needed to be near him and she’d seen that long ago. He narrowed his gaze. “You wanted to.”

  She shook her head and then glanced at the children’s books he stood in front of as the winds blasted against the windows of the library. Olivia smoothed a wrinkle out of his collar and said, “I wanted to keep Sophia a secret from Max, but Clara solved that issue. Now it’s done. We’re family and we’re home. But I really liked your Clara and I followed her to get her to come home. She… loves you and you love her.”

  Yeah. He didn’t deny it. He probably did. No other woman had ever made his heart ache like he’d lost part of himself. His hands fisted at his sides to hold it together, but he couldn’t admit to his sister how love made his muscles tense. “How did you like her right away?”

  Olivia backed up but she then fixed one of the books on the shelf. “She saw straight to the point, and didn’t hesitate when she asked him what he wanted to go away. I never thought it would be as simple as writing a check.”

  Complicating problems was a family trait it seemed. He took a deep breath and wished he didn’t need Clara’s brightness. “Clara’s very smart.”

  His sister placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head. “And you sent her away, because why?”

  Love meant letting her go and never hurting her, ever. He stared out the window, not that there was anything other than sheets of rain to see. “She deserves to live a full life.”

  His sister’s voice sounded like their mother’s exactly as she asked, “How is that possible when she loves you and you sent her away?”

  Once he’d been a happy boy but that hadn't mattered. “That will fade. I never should have touched her.” She’d been innocent, truly.

  “Touched?” Olivia repeated like she was offended. He turned toward her when she said, “I don’t think that’s the problem. She loves you and you love her, but you are both too blind to see.”

  Blind was how he had to be. He couldn’t risk Clara’s safety, not now that she finally had security—home, and money. He shrugged. “So what about Clara?”

  “She thinks she’s unlovable.”

  Olivia’s words struck him like she’d punched him in the boxing ring and knocked him cold. He widened his stance and crossed his arms. “Impossible.”

  “That’s what she said when I left her.”

  His ears burned. He needed to protect her, not hurt her. He hadn’t meant to do that. Clara was the most loveable person he’d ever met. She was the only woman he’d ever… He swallowed and asked, “What?”

  Olivia pushed her hair behind her ear. “She said you sent her away because she’s unlovable.”

  But that wasn’t why. She had to know that much. “I sent her away to protect her.”

  Olivia shrugged like she didn’t believe him. “Did you tell her that?”

  He massaged his temples against the ache. He’d screwed everything up if she thought that. “No. Yes. I don’t know if she believed me.”

  She snorted. “And I used to think you were the lucky one who never had to deal with our parents’ deaths.”

  Olivia had aim with her words in a way no one else did. He put his hands in his back pockets and said, “Murder and suicide aren’t exactly easy to forget.”

  She looked down her slim nose as thunder roared outside. “I saw it. First hand. I was here. You weren’t. But I had to get over what I saw because I don’t want Sophia to ever experience anything like that, but you… you didn’t see. Rumor is that you were having sex with a tourist.”

  He jerked his head back. Lies his own people believed about him. “What? No.”

  She asked in a small, curious voice, “What were you doing that morning?”

  Not protecting the ones he loved, which was something he couldn’t forgive himself for. He kept his voice low as he prayed his mother forgave him. “I was… reading, in my secret cave near the ocean no one knew I went to.” He hadn’t minded the bats at all.

  Olivia let out a knowing laugh. He took his hands out of his pockets as she nodded and said, “Reading… now that sounds more like the boy you were—you were more of a studious nerd then. I was smaller, but those moments stick like glue.”

  His heart pounded loud but the storm outside masked it from being heard. “Only you know the truth now.”

  Olivia glanced at the door like she’d heard something but then let it go as she said, “Well, it would be nice if you told your bride that you love her and bring her back here.”

  Yet he could hurt her. He still had a monster inside him. “What if one day-”

  “You won’t,” Olivia interrupted like she knew what he was going to say. “You can’t live in fear. You’re a man but that doesn’t turn you into our father.” If only that was true. A voice inside his head agreed with her, but silence clung in the air, except for the rain that beat against the windows. Olivia turned toward the door. “The storm is getting worse. I need to see to Sophia now.”

  Someone knocked as Olivia opened the door. She jumped, startled, but widened it to reveal a guard. The guard then bowed and showed them a tracker in his hand. “My lord.”

  The tracker beeped with a blue dot on the screen. Olivia stood next to him and asked, “Astorre, what’s going on?”

  The guard explained, “We put a tracker on Max Fionella.”

  Astorre studied the map with a sick feeling. If the dot was Max, where was he going? “Yes?”

  The guard pulled up the latitude and longitude screen as he asked, “Did your lady go to her parents’ estate?”

  The coordinates matched her address as he asked the obvious, “Is that his dot near her home?”

  “Yes,” the guard replied.

  Olivia said, “I was just there. She was with her friend, Lady Normanni.”

  “Olivia, call her husband then and inform Stephano what’s happening.” Astorre took the tracker from the guard. “I’ll need my truck.”

  Montelino Bay was always prepared for war, and the trucks in the castle were actually more like war vehicles. The guard calmly, assuredly, said, “It’s pulled in front and we are mobilized to join you.”

  “Thanks.” He motioned for the guard to come with him. “Keep it small. Four warriors to extract the women will be all we need.”

  Warriors trained here were like US Navy seals. They were the best of the best. His sister patted his arm as he passed her.

  His armored SUV with guns mounted was parked in the front with the lights on.

  Two other SUVs with soldiers inside flanked the empty one and he ignored the rain as the blood of his ancestors took over his thinking.

  No one was going near Clara. He wouldn't let anything happen to her.

  If Max did anything before he arrived, he’d not live another second once Astorre found him.

  The SUV all-purpose armored car meant the rain wasn't a hindrance. His beams were lighthouse strength in density--within fifteen minutes he and his team were parked in front of her house.

  Rain pelleted against his skin as his heavily armored men flanked him as he headed to the door.

  He hadn’t suited up in the car because he didn't want to scare Clara. Astorre sent his team to surround the building, two with him, and two to go behind the house and enter through the rear door.

  The secon
d-in-command’s nametag read Primal, clearly his moniker, and easy for Astorre to remember. Primal stayed beside him.

  The outdoor lights were on and he pounded on the door. “Clara, open up.”

  The interior lights turned on from the side to the front. They waited for Clara to open the door to not scare her as more rain and fog surrounded the area.

  The doors unlocked and Clara took one look at him, Primal, and the other soldier and waved them inside. “Astorre, you’re here. The weather is terrible. Get in.”

  The tracker beeped the house coordinates.

  Primal, his commander, directed the plan to secure the area fast. Primal and another man came behind him, into the foyer, while the other two soldiers trekked the perimeter.

  Outside might be pleasant compared to what could happen in here. His muscles were tight as Rossie Durmond, his friend Stephano’s bride, came toward them and said, “Good, now you get your happily-ever-after just like I said, Clara.”

  Love was not why he was here.

  Clara locked arms with her best friend. “Rossie’s visiting with me.”

  He nodded at Primal and said, “Get them both out to the SUV. Clara, where’s Max?”

  Clara let her friend go but put her hand on her hip and refused to leave with Primal. “Max? I have no idea.”

  He showed his wife the tracker and explained, “He’s here… in your house.”

  She shook her head but her face was white. “Rossie and I are alone. We haven’t seen anyone except your staff.”

  He placed his hand on her back to help her along, and a spark raced through him that he realized would never go away. “Go with Primal to the truck. Just give me five minutes.”

  “Rossie, you go,” Clara told her friend, but then she looped her arm in his and said, “I’m coming with you. It’s my house.”

  “Absolutely not.” He widened his stance.

  Clara crossed her arms. “I’m free to make my own decisions, here.”

  This was pointless. She had no skills to protect herself. “I don’t have time to argue.”

  She pointed behind her. “So let’s go.”

  Rossie stared at both of them with wide eyes.

  Primal directed the other soldier to let the others in. They must have finished checking the perimeter which meant Max was already inside. Without another word, Primal took Rossie to the trucks.

  For a moment he didn’t move. Part of him wanted to throw Clara over his shoulder and force her to leave too. But he met her intense stare and decided if she was in danger, he’d send her out fast. For now she was right. This was her house so he said, “Just stay back. I’ll kill him if he intends to hurt you.”

  He glanced at the wedding picture of her parents that now hung near the door and then back at Clara.

  She was even prettier than her mother. Why didn't she see that? Primal returned to the foray after seeing Rossie safe in the SUV and flanked them from behind.

  Astorre guided them further into the house.

  Clara’s face was white. “Or we’ll be rational and find out why he’s here first. What if it’s just to escape the rain…”

  This wasn’t time for her to rationalize. Now that everyone was in place Clara stared out the door at the beams of light coming from their armored vehicles where her friend was now. “How did you get here?”

  He clicked the key to have the locks beep. “My Terradyne Gurkha is parked outside.”

  Primal led them down the hall with guns out as he followed. Clara was glued to his side as the men behind them shut the door. “What is that?”

  They headed toward a basement area. “Tactical armored vehicle.” Primal showed his tracker data and Astorre nodded his confirmation.

  Max was trapped in the basement. He told Clara, “Now stay here.”

  Primal threw open the door and all they could see from the top step down was black. Astorre turned on the lights as they descended and he stood between three men ready to shoot.

  Clara stayed on the top stair, out of sight.

  A moment later, Max came out from behind a dark shadow, the heater, with his hands up. Astorre tipped his head at Primal in a silent well done, and said, “Max.”

  Max, surrounded, sputtered, “Astorre. What are you doing here?”

  He stood close to the stairs to block them. Clara wasn’t stupid to come down here, but he wouldn't let Max near her. “This is my wife’s house and you weren’t invited in.”

  His men inched closer as Max said, “A wife you don’t deserve.”

  Max pulled out a gun and pointed it at him.

  For a second Astorre didn’t move. If he died, and Clara lived, that was good enough. Clara called out, “Seriously? Are you seriously pulling a gun on my husband right now?” Her voice was high-pitched. His men set their sights on Max as Clara turned the lights on and continued to call down the stairs, “You already signed the papers and took the check. Why do you want Astorre to kill you?”

  Astorre’s vision turned red.

  Part of him wanted to just shoot and ask no questions, but he stilled.

  In that moment, Max cocked his gun. “Because if he doesn’t the whole house will blow up.”

  His men moved closer and aimed at Max's head. Astorre didn’t blink though his skin was warm as Clara asked, “Why in the world? You wanted to die too?”

  Astorre’s mind quieted. A bomb was different. He needed to think.

  Max said, “I intended to get lost in the rain, but if I die, everyone is coming with me it seems.”

  Clara said, “That doesn’t seem logical, Max.”

  No more. He ensured he wasn’t on kill mode and met Primal’s gaze, giving him their prearranged signal as Max said, “Because nobodies aren’t supposed to get-”

  His men fired and Max slumped to the floor. Primal and the men put their guns away. Clara said, “What did you do? Astorre, are you all right?”

  No blood was on the ground. Montelino Bay would deliver Max to the Avce police as was their custom. He called up the stairs, “We stunned him. Now I need to find his bomb.”

  Instead of running out of the house, she came down the stairs as he and his men searched the four corners of the basement. His gaze fell on a red duffle bag stuffed behind some barrels of wine. Clara rushed over and asked, “You know how to stop one?”

  He snapped his fingers to signal that he'd found the bomb and studied the rudimentary design. This wasn’t sophisticated at all. Primal handed him a dagger that had a dragon on its side that he used to cut the material an inch and reached inside. “Yeah, every child in Montelino Bay does…” He then pulled the wire and stood. “Okay, you and your friend are safe now.”

  Primal checked his work, and nodded that he'd done it.

  His grandfather had insisted he’d learn as a boy.

  The other men all left, grabbing the bomb and Max with them as their prisoner, and now alone, Clara stood in front of him. “Thanks to you."

  The door to the basement closed. His pulse quickened. “I’ll go and take Max with me to face charges.”

  He took a step to walk around the sweetest girl in the world, but she reached out and grabbed his wrist. “Astorre, one minute.”

  If he could give her more, he would. She was sweet and kind. “What?”

  She pressed her lips together and then hugged him. “You had the chance to kill Max and you didn’t.”

  “He’s not worth it,” he said fast. Max was clearly not used to being dismissed. Jail would kill him slower and be more painful than a bullet.

  Her entire face turned red as she said, “Look, I love you. And I know you’ll never hurt me. If you need proof, look at what you just did. You knocked him out and didn’t once lose your temper.”

  His lips tingled to have her again, but it was more than physical. He lifted her hands. “I… I love you, Clara. With Max, it's different. I can live with myself if something happens to him, but I won’t be able to live if something happens to you.”

  She went onto her
tiptoes and her eyelids fluttered closed.

  And he was undone. Astorre pulled her toward him and claimed her lips as his. She was right. As always. And this time he'd choose love.

  Chapter 18

  Clara stepped onto the castle grounds of Montelino Bay as the storm lessened in intensity.

  This time she let Astorre cover her head with an umbrella because they actually worked to keep her dry and it was his way to show he cared. Her sneakers smacked against the damp cobblestones.

  Home had never seemed so perfect.

  In a million years she’d never thought Astorre might love her too. It was like she walked in the clouds as she waved off Rossie’s limo driver that would bring her best friend back to her husband at home.

  Once Rossie's taillights were out of sight, Astorre hugged her side and they turned toward the outer walls of the town. She said, “It’s nice to be home.”

  The huge gate opened for them fully and he escorted her inside. “At least the storm calmed down enough to allow your friend’s driver to take her home.”

  Clara hadn’t seen Rossie so conflicted in a while. She'd wanted her husband just as much as she wanted to hover over Clara to make sure she was truly fine.

  Tomorrow, they'd have a long chat. For now she relaxed and held Astorre's hand as he carried her suitcase back in for her. “Rossie said her husband was worried but she’s coming over tomorrow to check on me.”

  Astorre said, “It’s good to have close friends.”

  Goosebumps grew on her arms as they headed back into the town.

  Windows started to open slightly in shops as the rain was dissipating, but neither said anything.

  His strong fingers on her back helped her through the second gate and into the great hall.

  Olivia wasn’t around but Clara would find her and thank her, later.

  She raised her eyebrow and saw how Astorre’s dark eyes seemed very determined. They headed right to the bedroom, but she held her tongue. Once they were in their room and he put her bag down and closed the door, she spun around.

  This was her place, forever now. All that stood in their way was her questions. She hugged her waist and hoped she wasn’t wrong, but she said, “Now that we’re alone, I need to ask you something…”