The Marcelli Princess

7

“That poor girl,” Grandma Tessa said as she expertly stitched a bead into place on the piece of white satin she held in her hands.

Grammy M rolled her eyes. “She should be more trustin’ of the man she’s marryin’, or she shouldn’t be marryin’ him a-tall.”

“Trust is a tricky thing,” Mia said, hoping to avoid an argument between her grandmothers. There was already enough tension between them about Rafael. “I see her point. I mean, hey, it’s me.”

Grammy M smiled. “You are a special one, Mia, but you’re not all that.”

Mia laughed. “Not all that? Where did you learn that expression.”

“HBO,” Tessa said with a grin. “We watch it all the time.”

“Okay. Now I’m scared.”

“Don’t be,” Tessa told her. “Amber is a sensible girl and she loves David. That’s plain to see. But she’s cautious.”

“Why?” Grammy M asked. “David is a good man. She’s lucky to be gettin’ him.”

“Sometimes a little caution is a good thing. A smart woman isn’t taken in by a pretty face, fancy words, and an accent,” said Tessa.

Grammy M put down her piece of white satin. “I suppose you’ll be meanin’ me when you make that remark. As if I could be taken in.”

“You have been. What do we know about Rafael, eh? What he tells us. Charming manners are nice at dinner, but they don’t say anything about his character. Mia is smart to hold back.”

“Okay, I don’t want to get in the middle of this,” Mia said quickly. “Really. Let’s change the subject. How about those grapes? Are they growing or what?”

“I don’t think Mia should go running off with Rafael just because he smiles at her,” Grammy M said, her voice clipped. “I’m saying she should give the man a chance to prove himself before she accepts his proposal.”

There was a moment of perfect silence. Mia paused in the act of reaching for another bead. While her grandmothers sewed on the front of David’s wedding vest, she’d been trusted with two tabs in the back.

She replayed that last sentence, lingering on the final word. How on earth did her grandmothers know about Rafael’s proposal?

There was only one possible explanation. Damn the man. She’d asked him not to say anything. She hadn’t wanted the pressure. She didn’t know what she was going to do herself and she wasn’t looking for advice.

“He told you?” She tossed the tabs onto the table and glared at them both. “He told you?”

“He might have mentioned it in passing,” Grammy M said as she continued to calmly sew.

Mia couldn’t believe it. “How, exactly, does that happen? You’re discussing the weather and you ask if he’s proposed recently, then he chuckles and says as a matter of fact he has?”

Her voice rose with each word until it ended on a shriek.

“Who else knows?” she demanded.

“No one,” Grammy M said soothingly. “It was just the three of us in the kitchen. We were talking about you and how smart you are. Rafael seemed to like that. He mentioned you would be a beautiful and compassionate queen.” She sighed. “Imagine. Our little girl a queen.”

Right then Mia wanted to throw something, which didn’t feel very royal to her. She turned to Grandma Tessa.

“What did you say? Do you think it’s a good idea?”

“I think you should get to know the man before making any decisions that take you so far away.”

“Okay, maybe. But doesn’t it bother you that he told you?”

“Not as much as you not telling us,” Tessa said.

Mia sank back into her chair. “I needed to think about it. No, I needed to find out a way to tell him no.”

Grammy M dropped her needle. “No? But he’s the father of your child, Mia. Danny’ll be needin’ a father as he grows up.”

“He has Joe.”

“An uncle isn’t a father.”

Mia looked at Grandma Tessa. “You can’t want me to marry him.”

“I want you to be happy. And sensible.”

“He shouldn’t have told you,” Mia insisted. “It’s not right.”

“We’re your family,” Grammy M said, as if that explained everything.

But it didn’t. Rafael went behind her back. What was up with that? Did he want to pressure her into saying yes?

Even as the thought occurred, she dismissed it. Hello, they were talking about royalty. Princes didn’t need to push women into their lives. Women went willingly.

“I have to go talk to him,” she muttered.

“He’s outside playing with Danny,” Grammy M offered.

Mia waved her thanks and stomped through the kitchen toward the back door. Something about this just didn’t feel right. The word manipulation kept popping into her mind, which seemed both harsh and unfair.

She stepped out into the warm afternoon and immediately heard the sound of childish laughter.

“You’re dead,” Danny said gleefully as he poked at an action figure in Rafael’s hand. “Dead, dead, dead.”

They sat on a blanket in the shade. Around them were the remnants of what had obviously been a hard-fought war. Plastic soldiers lay discarded in heaps. Mia would bet that nearly every military toy had been hauled out for today’s game.

“I die, I die,” Rafael said in a high-pitched voice. “You shot me and I die.”

Both he and his plastic soldier fell to the blanket. Danny doubled over with laughter, and Mia found herself smiling.

Interesting that the imperial prince had allowed himself to be defeated. So maybe Rafael was good with his son. That had to count for something, didn’t it?

He looked up and saw her. “You are in time to attend my funeral. I am killed.”

Danny grinned. “He’s not a very good soldier.”

Rafael pressed a hand to his chest. “How you wound me with your words. I am an excellent soldier. Perhaps you are simply better.”

“I am!” Danny crowed. “I’m the best. I’m the heir.”

Mia narrowed her gaze. “You are, huh? Maybe in Calandria but not here. Here you’re just Danny Marcelli. Okay, kid. Why don’t you head inside and ask the Grands to fix you a snack.”

“Okay.”

He scrambled to his feet and raced to her. She dropped to her knees for his kiss and hug, then stood as he ran into the house.

“He is the heir,” Rafael told her from his place on the blanket. “Do not discourage him from knowing his own importance. He will one day be king.”

“Not something I can readily imagine. Besides, he already has a very strong sense of self. Trust me, you don’t want to make him feel any more important than he already does.”

Rafael patted the blanket. “Join me,” he said quietly. “It is very nice out here.”

She glanced around. “Where are the boys with the guns?”

“Oliver and Umberto have taken a tour of the winery with Brenna.”

“I’m surprised they were willing to let you out of their sight.”

“I insisted. I wanted the time alone with my son. It is not good to always have bodyguards lurking.”

“I agree.” She sank onto the blanket.

He reached for her hand, but she slid away from him.

“Mia, what is wrong?”

“My grandmothers just informed me that you told them about asking me to marry you. That’s not my definition of playing fair. I asked you not to say anything.”

He nodded. “You are right. I should not have mentioned it. Believe me, I did not tell them in an effort to trap you or make you feel obligated. I don’t want you to marry me because you think you have to.”

He gave her a half smile that she found boyish and appealing, but she was careful not to respond in any way.

“Don’t worry about forcing me into marriage. It won’t happen.”

“Good. As for what I said, the words slipped out. I was thinking about us being together and…” He shrugged. “I apologize.”

Really? Rafael was many things, but he was not the type who apologized.

“I mean that,” he said quietly. “I was wrong.”

The W word. So rarely uttered by a male. The combination of his sincerity and his accent was difficult to resist.

“Okay,” she muttered, not sure how to accept his apology without encouraging him. “I, ah, don’t want you mentioning the proposal to anyone else.”

“Agreed.” He moved closer. “May I discuss it with you?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“But if I do not, how can I convince you that you belong with me in Calandria? I know you are not the type to be enticed by talk of jewels or riches, so instead I thought I would talk about my house at the edge of the island. Of the sound of the surf on the rocks and how beautiful your skin will be in the moonlight as we make love. I thought I would admit that I still dream about what it was like to be with you, of the feel of your body under mine and the way you clung so fiercely to me. As if you would never let go.”

She remembered, too. The need to hold on to him had always overwhelmed her whenever they were intimate. Even now, after all this time, she recalled the weight of him as he plunged into her, taking her to the edge of the world and then jumping with her.

“I remember the passion in your eyes,” he murmured as he moved closer still. “How sensually you touched me. Your fingers, your mouth.”

He rubbed his thumb against her bottom lip. She couldn’t help grabbing his wrist and holding him still while she gently bit down on his skin.

His breath caught as their eyes locked. Need filled her. Five years of missing this man exploded inside of her. Her breasts tightened, her thighs squeezed, and she reached for him just as he grabbed for her.

They fell onto the blanket, him on top, their legs tangled. He was heavy and strong and hard, so very hard as his erection rubbed against her belly. She slid her fingers through his hair and guided his mouth to hers.

She opened instantly, needing deep, dark, passionate kisses that would touch her soul. He read her mind, or perhaps he needed the same, because he thrust into her mouth and claimed her.

Her tongue circled his; then she closed her lips around him and sucked. He groaned, then shifted so his arousal pressed between her legs.

Her thighs fell open as she welcomed him home; then she wrapped her legs around his hips and urged him to rub harder and faster.

“More,” she gasped as she dropped her hands to his butt and squeezed the tight flesh.

He grabbed her, then shifted so that she was on top, her center resting on his erection. They were both panting, needy, and she couldn’t seem to stop looking into his eyes.

Blue instead of brown, but she had grown used to that difference. The missing scars no longer mattered. On the surface, Rafael might look different from Diego, but her body recognized its most significant lover.

“Kiss me,” he demanded even as he reached for her breasts.

She braced herself on the blanket and lowered her head. At the same time he cupped her curves and began to tease her tight nipples.

The combination of sensations-his tongue in her mouth, his hands on her breasts, her swollen wet center rubbing against his cock-was too much. Despite the fact that they were outside and fully dressed, she shuddered into orgasm.

The release stunned her, but she couldn’t stop moving against him, couldn’t stop kissing him, and would have killed him if he’d stopped touching her nipples.

But he didn’t. As wave after wave of pleasure claimed her, he stroked her and kissed her and urged her on.

Somewhere in the house, a door slammed. Mia came back to reality with a thud. She wasn’t a wild teenager anymore and she had a child to think about. Did she really want Danny running outside and seeing his mother acting like this?

Reluctantly, she straightened.

The reality of what had just happened slammed into her. How had a petting session gotten out of hand so quickly? And was she so damn needy that she was only seconds away from an orgasm, regardless of the circumstances or the fact that they hadn’t even gotten naked?

“Second thoughts are not allowed,” Rafael told her in a low voice, thick with passion. “I forbid them.”

“You’re not the boss of me.”

“Very mature.” He smiled. “Are you angry?”

She shook her head. “Just…embarrassed.”

“No. Not that. Never that. You are so responsive. Each man likes to believe he is a master in the bedroom. I more so than most.”

“All that practice,” she said wryly.

“Perhaps. But with you, I know it to be true. However I touch you, you are pleasured.”

As if to demonstrate, he slid his fingers between her legs and rubbed. He immediately found her swollen center and circled it. Another climax claimed her.

She sucked in a breath, then pushed his hand away. “Stop that,” she said as she stood. “You’ve made your point.”

He rose and grabbed her wrist. “I think not. You are fire, Mia, and there is no greater gift to a man than to burn for him.” He brought her palm to his mouth and kissed it. “I have missed your flames. No one else burns as you do.”

She still felt funny about what had happened. No one enjoyed being a living example of a life of celibacy. She doubted Rafael had done without for more than fifteen seconds.

“Whatever,” she said as she walked away.

He grabbed her again. “Mia. Do not dismiss what we have together. It is magnificent.”

She wanted to believe him. She very nearly did. For her part, he had been amazing. Not just because he knew how to arouse her and make her whimper, but because the chemistry between them was so powerful. That couldn’t have gone away, she told herself. He had to have felt it, too.

So if he had then, did he now?

She stared into his eyes and willed herself to see the truth. There was need and desire and nothing else. No hint of secrets, no holding back. It was as if she could see down into his soul.

“All right,” she said. “I won’t do the regret dance, but we’re not doing this again. It’s a very powerful form of persuasion and I’m not interested in being coerced.”

He smiled his agreement, then took her hand in his. “I will concede to your wishes on the condition you show me the regret dance. Do you perform it naked?”

She sighed. “It’s a figure of speech.”

“No. It must be real. I will it so.”

She rolled her eyes. “Welcome to the new world, prince. Here we’re all equal and no one cares about your will.”

He leaned close and whispered in her ear. “Perhaps you ignore my will, but what will you do with my wants?”

A shiver of desire rippled through her. An excellent question, she thought, and one for which she had no answer.

That evening Rafael escaped the loud chaos that signaled the end of the Marcelli evening meal by stepping outside for a few moments. He crossed to the fence by the garden and stared up at the stars.

Usually he enjoyed the conversation and animation of the family, but not this evening. Tonight they had been an annoyance. He had wanted to command them all to leave so that he could be alone with Mia.

He had not bothered to express his will-no one would have listened. How he longed for Calandria, where his word was law and he could drag Mia into his bed without anyone interfering.

Their game this afternoon had started as a way for him to convince her to accept his proposal. He’d been sure if she felt the fire again, she would be unable to resist him. Unfortunately, the fire had burned both ways, and no matter how he tried, he could not forget the feel of her body against his.

He had been hard for hours. Every time he managed to get his desire under control, he remembered the taste of her kiss and the feel of her breasts, and blood rushed to his groin.

Nothing helped, he thought grimly. Not thoughts of sports or finance or discussing the particulars of growing tomatoes with Grandma Tessa. He simply had to hear Mia’s voice or catch sight of her, and he ached to take her.

Ironic that in this one area he did not have to pretend. He meant what he said-she was spectacularly sexual and he was desperate to revisit their passion.

A sharp scent caught his attention. He turned and saw a cigarette tip glowing in the darkness. He moved toward it and recognized the smoker.

“Good evening,” he said.

Kelly Reese glanced at him. “Are you going to rat me out?”

“Of course not. What you do with your life is your business.”

She sighed and continued to lean against the side of the garage. “Whatever. Aren’t you going to lecture me about the perils of smoking?”

He shrugged. “Do you want me to?”

“Not especially. I know it’s not great for my endurance, but it helps me keep my weight down. Let me tell you, being this skinny isn’t pleasant. I’ve been hungry since I was fifteen.”

He looked her over. She had the typical dancer’s build. Powerful, lean muscles without an ounce of body fat to soften the lines. She was tall with perfect posture and wild, curly red hair tumbling down her back.

“So you suffer for your art,” he said.

“That’s me. Cliché girl.”

Her phrasing reminded him of Mia, which made him hard again. He swore silently.

“How long have you been dating Etienne?” he asked, knowing the shadows would keep his secret. He did not want this child to think he was interested in her.

“A couple of months. Everybody hates him. It’s the Euro-trash thing. You’d think I’d know better. My mom married some guy who was supposed to be a count or something and he wasn’t. But, hey, it’s not my problem.”

“Did Etienne tell you he came from a titled family?”

“No. His dad is a policeman and his mother works in a bakery.”

Working class, which fit his accent. Etienne might not be much for personal grooming, but at least he wasn’t a liar. Not that Rafael cared one way or the other.

“So you knew Mia from a long time ago,” Kelly said. “Obviously, what with you being Danny’s father. It’s weird. Why didn’t you come after her before?”

“I was told she was dead.”

Kelly stared at him. “Huh. So she thought you were dead and you thought she was dead. Interesting coincidence.”

“More sad than interesting. I mourned Mia for a long time.”

Kelly’s green eyes seemed to see more than most. “At least it’s a good story,” she said at last.

“You do not believe me.” How could she not?

“What I think doesn’t matter. Mia has always known what she wanted and no one gets in the way of that. If she wants you, no one will be able to change her mind.”

“You don’t like me,” he said.

Kelly inhaled on her cigarette, then dropped it to the ground and stepped on it. “I’m not real keen on the Euro-trash set.”

He stiffened. “I am Crown Prince Rafael of Calandria.”

“I know. I’m sure the housing is much nicer, but you’re still the type. Playing on what you have to get what you want. Right now you want Mia.”

The child saw too much. Old before her years, he thought, recognizing the symptoms. For him the reason had been his upbringing, for her it was her commitment to ballet. He could both admire and sympathize with her position.

She picked up the butt and slipped it into her pocket. “I’m going to give you some advice, I don’t know why. Maybe in exchange for you not mentioning the smoking thing. Don’t screw with her. Joe will kill you.”

“That is not possible.”

Kelly grinned. “You think those two bodyguards could protect you? Not in this lifetime. Nobody gets to Joe’s family, and Mia is one of his favorites.”

Her total confidence surprised him. “He would be killed as well.”

“Maybe, but you’d be dead first. This is a friendly warning, worth what you paid for it.”

Kelly walked away. Rafael watched her go. The child’s words did not frighten him-nor did the thought of facing an angry Joe Marcelli. But he was surprised to feel something like regret.

It was increasingly obvious that Mia could be hurt by his plan. He didn’t want to wound but he did require his son. Was there perhaps another way?

He immediately shook off the question. Sacrifices would be made by all. If Mia’s were greatest, so be it.

Mia sat curled up in an old leather chair in the library. She loved the room with its high arched ceilings and the tall bookshelves filled with everything from rare first editions to her old copies of Seventeen magazine. She loved the quiet and the fact that no one ever thought to look for her here, but mostly she loved that the room reminded her of her grandfather.

Lorenzo had been gone five years. He’d never known about Danny, hadn’t lived to see Joe and Darcy marry. Right now she missed the old man and his gruff ways. She had a feeling he would cut right to the heart of the matter with Rafael.

But what would he say? Would he tell her to marry the father of her son and be a good wife or would he shake his head and say that in a world that runs by computers, who needs princes?

The door opened. Mia tensed slightly, not sure she would welcome any interruption. Then Rafael stepped into the room and she felt her heart flutter in anticipation.

Great. She was falling for him again. Just what she needed, because her life wasn’t complicated enough these days.

“I am interrupting?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Not really. I’m going over my classes for the fall term at law school. I’m getting down to the serious stuff for my specialty and it’s…” She blinked at his look of surprise. “What?”

“You plan to continue to attend law school?”

She put the catalog on the desk and scrambled to her feet. “Did you think you would stop me?”

“Of course not, it is just if we are married, you will not be able to practice law. Not in the traditional sense,” he added quickly, then smiled. “You are right. You should complete your education, so when you speak before our parliament, you know exactly what you want to say.”

She wasn’t totally buying the sudden transformation. “Why would I be speaking before parliament?”

“Because you will never be silent, Mia. It is, how do you say…Not your style? You are life and you must be a part of things. I think that if you were to come to my country, you would want to tax the casinos more to pay for education. Perhaps you would start a teaching hospital so our future doctors did not go away to France or England.”

“So you’re saying I could affect policy.”

“Of course. As queen you can do anything.”

Except live a normal life.

He motioned to the chair she’d been in and waited until she sat before claiming the one next to it.

“What troubles you?” he asked. “I know you are finding it difficult to resist my charms.”

She laughed. “That pesky ego. Doesn’t it ever get heavy, carrying it around all the time?”

“No. I am used to the weight.” His smile faded. “Tell me, Mia. I wish to know.”

She drew in a breath, not sure she could even articulate her concerns. “Calandria is very far away.”

“That is true. However, you will have access to several private jets to take you wherever you want. Your family is no more than eight or nine hours away. They would also be welcome to visit us whenever they wanted.”

“I’m not really princess”-she couldn’t bring herself to say queen-“material. I’m not royal or rich or anything special.”

His gaze narrowed. “What more would you require to be special? You are uniquely yourself.”

She sensed that he was going to reach for her hand and snatched it back just in time. He grasped air, then raised his eyebrows.

“I know you enjoy my touch,” he began.

“Too much,” she muttered. “There will be no more touching until I get things figured out.”

He smiled with the contented confidence of a man who knows how to please women. “You are afraid I can seduce you.”

“I’m not afraid, I’m prudent.”

“A good quality in a wife.”

“You could say the same thing about a dog.” She shook her head. “You would have to let go of the hot-and-cold-running women at your house on the rocks.”

“There have been women in my life. Of course, I’m a man. But none at the house. I take no one there, Mia. You will be the first.”

Whoa. “You’re serious?”

“Why would I lie? You could easily check the truth. I have not brought a woman to my house.”

Good to know. “It’s just I…” She clutched the arms of the chair. “You’re different. I knew Diego. I understood him. But Rafael is a mystery to me.”

“We are not so different. Not the Diego you knew.”

“What about the real one?”

He shrugged. “He was angry. By a fluke of birth, he lost the crown. His brother never cared, but Diego was angry from the time he understood what it meant to be king.”

“Did it change you to pretend to be him?”

“I am already a man ready to take what I want,” he said. “But Diego was a fool.” He dismissed the other man with a flick of his fingers. “Now he is dead.”

The ruthlessness didn’t surprise her. She’d seen it in him before. Men only crossed Rafael once. Which made his sense of humor and flashes of tenderness more fascinating. Rafael could laugh at the world. More important, he could laugh at himself.

“Why me?” she asked.

He stared directly into her eyes. “Because in all the years we have been apart, I have never forgotten you. I am very good at forgetting women.”

He rose. “I wish to return home, Mia, but my business there will wait. You are the most important part of my world. I will stay here until you are comfortable with me.”

“And if it takes years?” she asked, not sure she believed him.

“I am a young man. Despite what you have heard, I am also a patient one. You are worth waiting for. Take your time. I will be here.”

He left and she was alone. A normal person would have felt relief, but suddenly she was lonely and wanted to call him back.

He’d always been a smooth talker. She had to remember that. No one came into a situation like this without an agenda. But he had an answer for everything and she didn’t know how to deal with that.

Worse, she didn’t know how to stop herself from wanting to believe it was all true.