The Marcelli Princess

8

“You’re trying to make me feel bad on purpose,” Mia muttered as she flopped on her bed.

“Not at all. I dance in the corps and I live in San Francisco, which, as you know, is about the most expensive city next to New York, so it’s not like I have a lot of extra cash.”

Mia eyed Kelly as the tall, slender redhead pulled on a skinny-strapped sundress Mia hadn’t been able to fit into since before Danny was born.

“So go to the mall.”

“Your closet is closer.” Kelly turned and studied herself in the mirror. “It’s too short.”

“And too loose. God, I hate you.”

Kelly grinned. “I happen to know you adore me, despite my height and lack of body fat.” She spun in the pale green dress, then pulled it over her head. “What’s next?”

“Have at it,” Mia said, pointing at the closet. “My old clothes are your old clothes.”

Kelly flipped hangers. Mia studied her narrow back and the clearly visible bones of her shoulders and ribs.

“Not to get too maternal on you,” Mia said lightly, “but are you sure you’re eating enough?”

“Uh-huh.”

“But you’re so-”

“I’m a dancer, Mia. In my line of work, they don’t like chunky. I’ll eat when I retire.”

“Most people just want to garden.”

Kelly shrugged, then dove back in the closet. She emerged with a long dress in a muslin bag. “I know what’s in here.”

“Me too.” Mia sat up. “I haven’t looked at that in years.”

Kelly unzipped the front and pulled out the handmade wedding gown all the women in the family had lovingly beaded when Mia had been planning on marrying David.

“That was what, more than eight years ago?” she asked more to herself than Kelly. “I can’t believe it. Was I ever really that young and foolish?”

“You were in love,” Kelly reminded her. “I think it’s very romantic.”

“We were babies. Just eighteen and still in college. What were we thinking?”

“That you wanted to be together.”

Mia remembered the heated longing of her first real love. “We were worlds apart,” she said as she fingered the stunning beadwork. “I’d started college at sixteen, so I was already a junior. He was a freshman and had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. I was going to get my master’s in international relations and be a diplomat.”

Kelly settled next to her on the bed. “What happened with David? Was it horrible?”

“No. We both realized we weren’t as in love as we thought. Better to find out before the marriage than after.”

“But it was very close to the actual date of the wedding,” Kelly said.

Mia fingered the dress. “Obviously.” She looked at Kelly.

“Don’t try to make the situation romantic. We were kids pretending to be grown-up. We could have made a disaster of our lives. We got lucky.”

“I suppose,” Kelly said. “Do you have any regrets?”

“Ian,” Mia told her. “I don’t even have to think about the question. When I think about how he tricked me. Used me.”

She didn’t want to get angry, but she could feel her temper growing.

“He didn’t plan to use you,” Kelly said.

Mia looked at her. “You’re defending him?”

“Of course not. I think it’s awful that he tried to kidnap Darcy and hold her for ransom. I’m just saying when you met Ian, he was a regular guy.”

“He was a domestic terrorist in disguise. That doesn’t exactly fit my definition of normal.”

“You know what I mean. It was only after he realized Darcy was here that he hatched his plot.” Kelly flopped back on the bed. “Hatched his plot. That sounds so exciting.”

“Darcy nearly died,” Mia said flatly.

“Oh, I know. I didn’t mean in her circumstances. Just in general. Besides, you can’t regret Ian.”

“Why not?”

“If he hadn’t been a total dick, you wouldn’t have become a spy and gone to Calandria. You wouldn’t have met Diego, a.k.a. Danny’s father, and you wouldn’t have gotten pregnant. I know you, Mia. You would never regret Danny.”

Kelly had her there, Mia thought as she smiled. “I can’t regret him. He’s my world. But the rest of it kind of blows.”

Kelly rolled onto her stomach. “I have a secret that you’re not going to like.”

Considering how much Mia didn’t like Etienne, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear. “What is it?”

“I don’t like Rafael.”

“You don’t know him.”

“I’ve spoken with him a few times. He’s too…I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it, but he’s not a nice man.”

Mia didn’t think her niece by marriage was in a position to cast judgment in the man department. “And here I thought only Grandma Tessa and Joe didn’t like him. Joe wouldn’t like him on principle, because he’s a sweetie who loves his sister. I’m not sure what’s up with Grandma Tessa.”

“Does it matter?” Kelly asked. “Isn’t the important question whether you like him?”

“I like him,” Mia said cautiously.

Kelly rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking about the mild affection one would have for an acquaintance. I mean like as in ‘This guy is incredibly cool and I must have him.’ ”

“Is that how you feel about Etienne?”

“We’re not discussing Etienne. I know Rafael proposed.”

Mia groaned. “Did he take out an ad?”

“The Grands told me, which means they’ve told everyone. You know they believe the phrase ‘Can you keep a secret?’ actually means ‘Tell everyone you know.’”

“He said the words,” Mia told her. “I’m not sure he means them. He’s a prince. I’m not sure he’s able to simply marry whomever he wants.”

“A prince. Sometimes I forget that.” Kelly slid to the floor and began stretching. “I want to be you when I grow up. I want your life.”

“No you don’t,” Mia said. “I’m not a good example, Kelly. I’m the cautionary tale. Trust me, you need a different role model.”

Kelly stretched her legs in front of her and then bent over until her forehead rested on her knees. When she sat up in a graceful, fluid movement Mia couldn’t dream of replicating, she said, “But you’re happy, right?”

“For the most part.” When she didn’t think too much about everything going on. “And you?”

“Delirious. I’m living my dream, dancing with the most amazing company on the planet. What’s not to like?”

Mia wasn’t sure, but she sensed something was off in Kelly’s world.

“You have Etienne,” she reminded her niece. “Does he play into this?”

“Most of the time. I don’t want to settle down,” Kelly said. “I take lovers. Usually the one who buys me the best presents gets to keep me until I’m bored.”

It was something Mia would have said at Kelly’s age, so why did it sound so wrong now?

“Kelly, I’m all for having fun, but you should also think about finding relationships that actually mean something.”

“Like Ian?” Kelly asked innocently. “I distinctly recall you saying you were just using him for sex. And aren’t you the one who constantly threatened to sleep with all Joe’s Navy SEAL friends and let the others watch?”

Mia winced. “I didn’t mean it.”

“Maybe I don’t mean it either. Maybe I’m just being outrageous. Jeez.” She stood and walked to the door. “You used to be fun. What happened with that?”

Kelly stalked into the hall and disappeared. Mia stared after her, not sure exactly what had gone wrong. Apparently being confused about one’s life was contagious and Kelly had just caught the bug.

“Look!” Danny demanded. “I’m tall.”

He stood with his back to the wall, his hand at a sharp angle, pointing up so that the place he marked on the height chart was at least three inches higher than his head.

“You are growing,” Mia said, feeling both proud and wistful. Her little baby wasn’t a baby anymore.

Rafael lined up several small race cars on the floor. “The men in my family are tall,” he said. “You will be tall, too.”

“Did you hear that?” she asked Danny. “You are going to be tall.”

Danny beamed. Mia didn’t bother pointing out that she was barely five foot three, the runt of the Marcelli litter by several inches.

Danny stepped away from the wall and grabbed his scepter. No matter how many times Mia managed to put it on a top shelf, it found its way to the floor. She was beginning to think Rafael had a hand in that.

“Tell me about your birthday party,” Rafael said.

Danny grinned. “I have cake and presents and everyone comes.”

“I’m looking forward to your party and you turning four. It is a very great age.”

Danny looked at Mia. His eyes widened as if he’d just that moment understood his father would be at his birthday party. His mouth stretched into a grin as big as the morning and he launched himself at his father.

Rafael caught him and stood. “What’s all this?” he asked as he swung the boy in the air.

“I think Danny just figured out you’re sticking around.”

“Of course I am,” he told the boy. “I’m your father.”

“I want presents,” Danny said.

“That will put you in your place,” Mia told Rafael before reminding Danny, “It’s not polite to ask people to give you presents.”

“But I want ’em.”

“Sometimes social niceties get lost on the post-toddler set.”

“I want my daddy at my party.”

“I will be there,” Rafael said.

“Promise?”

“Of course.”

Rafael set the boy on the ground. While he appreciated Mia’s attempt to educate the child on ways to behave, he couldn’t help being pleased with Danny’s demanding personality. He would need that strength as he navigated his way through all the potential pitfalls of growing up royal.

“There will be presents,” Rafael told his son. “Many presents.”

Danny grinned. He grabbed the scepter and banged it on the bed. “I’m the heir. I’m the heir.”

Mia took it from him. “Not a toy,” she said. “How about that race we were going to have?”

Danny collapsed to the floor and began pushing the cars around.

“You do well with him,” Rafael told her as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“Practice. My mom and the Grands have really helped.”

“I look forward to meeting your parents.”

“They were really excited to hear all about you. They wanted to come home, but I convinced them you would still be available for meet and greet when they returned from China.”

“Of course,” he said, knowing he would be back in Calandria. Most likely Mia would have returned home by then and they could hear her complaints in person.

He studied the boy, then Mia, noting Daniel had the same color eyes as his mother. The boy was also very close to her, perhaps a result of her being a single parent. There would be a period of adjustment, he thought. But in time Daniel would understand why things had to be that way.

As for Mia…Rafael took in her easy smile, then dropped his gaze to her full breasts. She would not be so forgiving. Her fury would stir the heavens, but there was nothing she could do to him.

He briefly wished for another option, one that did not alter her world so completely and hurt her, but the choice was clear. He would do what was best for Calandria and for his son. She laughed at something Daniel had said. The sound filled him with the need to hear it again. Unfortunately, that was not his only desire where she was concerned.

“What are you thinking?” she asked. “You have the strangest look on your face.”

“Just that I have missed you,” he said, the lie easy and smooth.

“Are you bored here, living in the real world?”

“I am enjoying myself. Normal is more interesting than I had realized.”

“Sorry, but this isn’t normal. Normal means holding down a job and struggling to pay the bills and trying to save for retirement and the kids’ college while hoping your company doesn’t get bought out and you don’t get downsized. This is a really cool vacation.”

“Then I am enjoying my vacation.”

She grinned. “Because you would never make it in Normal Land.”

“I could get a job.”

“Doing what? You’d never last, Rafael. You’re too imperious.”

“You like that I’m imperious.”

“Sometimes.”

She lowered her lashes as she spoke and his gaze dropped to her mouth. He wanted her in his bed. Not only because he sensed that once they made love he will have won, but also because he ached for her.

Their time together when he had played at being Diego had shown him that they complemented each other extremely well. She argued with him and sometimes won. She spoke different languages, understood different cultures, liked to laugh, and treated him as if he were just a man. Just as intriguing, there was a passionate fire that never seemed to go out, and no matter how many times he had her, he always wanted more.

Their recent encounter had left him hungry and restless. She might not be the most beautiful woman he’d ever known, but she was the most sexually exciting. After she’d gone home, he’d tried to figure out what it was about her that got to him. Was it the sharpness of her mind? The sound of her laughter? The way she gave herself to him so completely?

He had never discovered the answer, and now that he was with her again, he ached to claim her.

Danny crashed two of his cars and giggled. Mia glanced at her watch. “Okay, my man, ten more minutes, then we need to run through your lines again.”

Danny wrinkled his nose. “I know my lines.”

“All of them?”

He smiled. “Miss Valdrake will whisper them to me. She does when we practice.”

“Uh-huh. Wouldn’t it be totally, incredibly fabulous if you knew all your lines by yourself?”

Danny nodded as he laughed.

“This is his play for school?” Rafael asked. “He is the lead?”

“He’s a tree,” Mia said. “Get over it.”

A tree? “But he is the heir to-”

“Actually, everyone in this room is very clear on that.”

“But the teacher is not. My son will not be a tree in a play.” It was not acceptable.

“I want to be a tree,” Danny said, his smile fading. “I’m a good tree.”

“Yes, you are,” Mia said, and patted him on the back. “Don’t sweat it, honey. You’re going to be a tree. The Grands have worked too hard on your costume for that to change now.” She looked at Rafael. “Did I mention the imperious bit, because this would be an example. Besides, it’s a production for preschoolers in a summer program. There is no lead. The play is about the forest, and the trees are the really cool parts.”

He was not convinced but told himself it did not matter. No one would be seeing the play except other parents. “When is the play?”

“In a couple of weeks.”

Rafael wasn’t sure if they would still be here or not. “I will attend.”

Danny scrambled to his feet and started jumping up and down. “My daddy’s coming to my play! My daddy’s coming to my play!” Then he threw himself at Rafael and wrapped his arms around his neck.

Danny straightened. “You’re the best daddy ever,” he announced, then kissed Rafael and then Mia. “I’m hungry,” he announced.

“I heard that,” Grammy M said as she stuck her head in the room. “Come along, little man. I’ll be gettin’ you a snack.” She smiled at Rafael, then took the boy by the hand and led him away.

Rafael stared after them. He was still absorbing Daniel’s reaction to his attending the play.

“He wanted me to be there,” he murmured. “And at his birthday party.”

“Of course he did. You’re important to him. That was one of the things that stunned me about being a parent. I knew there would be responsibility, but I didn’t expect to be his whole world. At least until he grows up a little.”

His world. Rafael hadn’t expected that either. Until arriving, he’d thought of Daniel in abstract terms. A child. His child. But now the boy was more than that. He was a separate person with thoughts and ideas and dreams.

“Kind of scary, huh?” she asked.

He shrugged. “It is different. He is different.”

She leaned against the bed. “Let me guess. Less well mannered.”

“He has not been raised in a palace.”

“You’re going to have to teach him to salute.”

He narrowed his gaze. “Even the mother of the heir should take care not to mock the crown prince.”

She grinned. “Oooh, will the big, bad prince punish me now?”

“No, because that is what you want.” He picked up one of the race cars. “When I was his age, I could already recite the lineage of my family back to the twelfth century.”

“There’s a party trick.”

“It is not a trick. It is who we are.”

“It’s who you are. And Danny’s not you. He’s not even four yet. Give him a break.”

Rafael appreciated her concern, but he also resented it. How strange. Perhaps if his mother had lived she would have…

He shook off the thought. “Before I left for school in England, I was already attending meetings of state. I would visit with my father three times a week and listen while he explained what was going on in our country and in the world.”

“Arranged meetings?” she asked. “What about just hanging out. Playing, having him read you a story?”

“He is the king. He does not read stories.”

“Right. Because he has a staff to do that.” She leaned over and put her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry.”

He stiffened. “Your apology is not required.”

“I wasn’t apologizing. I was expressing sympathy and compassion. That’s a tough life for any kid. It shouldn’t have been like that.”

He stood and glared down at her. “It was exactly as it should have been. I am crown prince-”

She rose, put her hands on his shoulders, and cut him off with a brief kiss. “Get defensive much?” she asked as she drew back. “I know who you are. You’ve lived a life of great privilege and that’s wonderful, but you’ve also paid a price for that. Everyone has trade-offs. Yours were different from most, but they still existed. That’s okay.”

He hated what she was saying as much as his body wanted to respond to her nearness.

“I do not need you making excuses for me,” he told her.

“I’m not. I’m saying that childhood is a tough gig, even for a prince. No kid should have to get dressed up and have an appointment to see a parent. Parents should be the safest place in the world, and so many times they’re not.”

He didn’t want to think about that-about how his father had been a stranger. There had been other people he could depend on. His uncle Vidal had talked to him about life and been a trusted confidant.

Mia took his hand and tugged until he sat next to her on the bed. “I have a question.”

“That is hardly unusual.”

“True. What would you be or do if you weren’t a prince?”

He stared at her. “I am a prince.”

“Yes, we’re all totally clear on that. The flashing neon sign over your head doesn’t let anyone forget. But if you weren’t, what would you be? How would you make a living?”

“I have never considered such a thing.”

Except he had…once. Rafael had spent a month his summer before university on the private island of a friend of his father’s. There had been no press, no parties, no public appearances. Just the large house and its staff, along with those people indigenous to the island.

None of them had cared who he was or where he came from. They lived their lives bound by the seasons, growing crops, marrying, having children, getting old, and then dying.

“A doctor,” he said without thinking, then wished he hadn’t spoken.

“Really? An actual medical doctor?”

He nodded stiffly. “I would take care of people. I would also do research to fight diseases.”

“You mean help them?” She sounded both intrigued and disbelieving.

“This conversation has no purpose.”

“It does for me,” she told him. “I’m still trying to figure you out. I wouldn’t have thought a doctor.”

It was a moment to push his advantage. He should discuss this more and allow Mia to believe he was everything she wanted. Instead he asked, “And you? When you were a young girl, what did you want to be or do?”

She laughed. “I wanted to rule the world. Sort of the ultimate imperial queen. It’s been a joke in my family for years. Instead I decided to become a diplomat and along the way ended up, very briefly, being a spy. You know the rest.”

He touched her cheek. “You would make a very good imperial queen. But why did you become a spy?”

Her brown eyes darkened. “Someone fooled me. I didn’t want that to ever happen again.”

Rafael stayed where he was, right next to Mia, but a part of him wanted to pull away. He was there to fool her. Perhaps in the biggest way possible. If there was another way…

There wasn’t, he reminded himself. This was for a greater good. There was no choice. Funny how early he’d learned that in his life. For him, there never was a choice.