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“Do you have any idea how strange it is to hear you of all people say that you’re probably acceptable to my parents now that you have a pedigree that goes back thousands of years? It angers me when I think of how Angelo spoke to you about crossing lines. No human should have to worry about being good enough to associate with another human.”
“Fausta...” He pulled her to him and kissed the tears off her cheeks.
“After that lovely dinner, I’m sorry for being so upset, Nico. Forgive me, but so many things pain me. I wish you could enjoy your parents’ love story. They must have been attracted to the point they couldn’t deny themselves. How hard it must have been for them to part. He never got to see you again.” She buried her face in his neck and wept quietly.
“I’m presuming it was even harder to face his wife with the truth while continuing to rule,” Nico murmured. “I’m glad I knew nothing until now.”
She raised her head and looked into his eyes. “Thank heaven you were taken to safety! Your parents would be so proud of you if they knew what an amazing man you’ve become. Maybe they do know.”
“Bellissima—” Nico embraced her harder.
Fausta ran her hand through his hair. “Isn’t it amazing that after all the searches you made and would continue to make throughout your life, it was Basil who came to you with the information only he could have provided? Does he know if your mother still has relatives living? It’s possible you have aunts and uncles who might be able to tell you more about her.”
He took a deep breath. “We didn’t have time to talk about that yet. He and the prime minister tried to cram a hundred years’ worth of their country’s history into my brain over those five days.”
“I can imagine. What about your father’s family?”
“Aside from the cousin I told you about, all the relatives have passed on due to the ravages of war.”
“I realize I’m brimming with so many questions, it’s driving you crazy.”
“I love it, otherwise I wouldn’t have driven here the second I flew home. I need you to help me make sense of everything. Let’s go back to your room. We have all night to be together before leaving for Domodossola in the morning.”
“That wouldn’t be a good idea, and I’m not talking about our bodyguards keeping watch. I don’t trust myself alone with you, so it’s better if we talk here in the car.”
When she tried to ease away from him, he wouldn’t let her go. “Don’t you know how much I want you? You have no idea how I’ve longed for you.”
“Your father probably told your mother the same thing before they lost their heads. Look what happened! Their lives were ripped apart. You and I can’t afford to do the same thing.”
“You’re not making sense.”
“Oh, yes, I am. Anything could happen in the next thirty days. I’m convinced you’ll hear from the queen. She loved your father once. In the end she’ll want you to return to La Valazzura and go before the parliament endowed with the many qualities that made him a great king even my own father admired.”
“Then you have a lot more faith than I do.”
“Please listen, Nico. Don’t you know how tragic it would it be for Basil and the prime minister to receive a message that the still unwed Princess Rossiano of Domodossola is the mistress of the commoner-turned-uncrowned-king before the throne is even his? The people would fear a potential pregnancy. If you can’t imagine it, I can. Like father, like son. It must run in the genes. The press will go ballistic with glee and tear you apart.”
“Don’t,” Nico begged and crushed her to him. “Surely by now you know how deeply I’m in love with you.”
“Actually I don’t know,” she fired back, her face awash in tears. “You couldn’t tell me how you feel until now because you didn’t dare say the words to a princess. Angelo really got to you. You’ve always felt you didn’t deserve to be with me. But now that you’ve found your life and we’re equals, you’re suddenly entitled to speak those forbidden words of love?”
“Fausta—” He tried to kiss her, but she wouldn’t let him.
“Do you have any idea how much I needed to hear you say you loved me when we were at your apartment, before you knew who you were? I would have done anything for you. But you couldn’t say the words. That’s why a relationship based on what we’ve had up to now is thin as air.”
“Don’t talk that way, amore mio.”
“Nico, we’ve spent borrowed time together for a short while. You believed it had to end and broke up with me that night at your apartment, telling me you were on a search for your parents that had to be taken alone. The real reason was that you couldn’t see us ending up together. I thought I was going to die and couldn’t believe I was still alive the next day.”
He smoothed the moisture off her cheeks. “You’ll never know what I went through.”
“Does it matter? When yo
u leave for La Valazzura, and I know you will, a royal world will await you complete with a list of princesses dying to meet you. At that point all things will be equal. You’ll have the time you need to find the right woman for you, one who will hold your heart and give you children. There’ll be no baggage and you’ll be a revered king.”
“Listen to me, Fausta. You’re the woman who holds my heart. I want children with you and no one else. Whether I become a king or remain a doctor, there’s no one else in this world for me but you.”
She shook her head. “I believe you mean it, but you’re a man suspended high between two worlds. I’m watching in agony from below.”
