AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nico rubbed his hands up and down her silky arms. “Where the love of my life is concerned, it’s no one else’s business. Protocol be damned! Are you ready to take the plunge with me, tesora? Yes or no.”
By the way her eyes lit up, he could tell she was excited at the thought. “You honestly believe Enzo can arrange everything by tomorrow?”
“All I have to do is get him on the phone. The decision is yours. What about your parents?”
Fausta looked dazed. “I think it would be better if we call them after we say our vows.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to do something that could sever your relationship with them forever.”
“It won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“My parents will be overjoyed when they learn that I married the son of King Carlo.”
“But you’ll be denying them the pleasure of watching the ceremony.”
She chuckled. “I’d rather avoid the pomp. Think of the money that could be used for a good cause, like the other wing of the veterans’ hospital. Honestly I know my parents will be so happy I married a prince, they’ll get over it.”
“Even if I’m illegitimate?”
“That won’t worry my parents. If they had known you’d been available all these years, I can promise that you would have been the first name on their short list.”
A burst of laughter poured out of Nico. Happy didn’t begin to describe what he was feeling. It killed him to let her go, but he had to. “In that case I’ll walk you out to your car in plain sight of our bodyguards.”
They left the apartment. When they reached the car she’d parked on the street, she turned to him. “Aren’t you going to give me one last kiss?” He’d already opened the door for her.
“I don’t dare. Looking the way you do right now, it’s a miracle I’m letting you go. Starting tomorrow, life will be a different story morning, noon and night.”
Heat suffused her face. “How can you be away from the hospital again?”
“Let me worry about that. Be ready at six in the morning when I come by for you
, bellissima. Wear casual clothes. By afternoon I’ll deliver you back to the palace and the bodyguards will think I was paying a house call on Enzo and Pippa. I’ll take my doctor bag with me. No one will know anything happened. It’ll be our secret, at least for a while.”
Her eyes swam with tears. “I love you so terribly, Nico, I don’t want to leave you.”
He felt her love to the marrow. “We badly need to be married, Fausta.” He blew her a kiss and shut the door. After she drove off, he returned to his apartment and phoned his receptionist at home.
Nico told her he wouldn’t be coming in until one tomorrow. He asked her to move the morning appointments to the afternoon schedule and he’d fit everyone in somehow. Then he got on the phone with Enzo.
“Nicolo—what’s going on?”
“How are you feeling?”
“Never been better.”
“That’s good because I’m getting married tomorrow morning and need the help only you can provide if you grasp my meaning.”
The older man laughed. “I’m glad to hear you took Pippa’s advice. As for mine...”
“I’m in love and can’t wait, Enzo.”
“Obviously Fausta can’t either. I’d better get on the phone to the priest. How soon can we expect you?”
“We’ll arrive at the castello at eight a.m. Can you arrange for the priest to meet us in the chapel for a quick ceremony? You and Pippa will be our witnesses. When we’ve said our vows, we’ll have to get right back to Domodossola so no one suspects anything, not even Fausta’s parents. That was her decision, not mine.”
“Sounds like her. That girl knows what she wants. What I want to know is, how long do you expect your marriage to remain a secret?”
