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CHAPTER EIGHT
BUTTHEREWASno opportunity to let go of her heart. No chance to proceed, even with caution, for there was no gentle knock at her door that night.
She slept fitfully and awoke with a jolt, unsure if she had missed the sound of Rafe’s chopper leaving. It was her last day off before Christmas, and though Antonietta knew she should head into the village to finish her shopping, she couldn’t face it.
This afternoon, perhaps, but right now she had never felt less Christmassy in her life.
She pulled on a denim skirt, a thin jumper and flat shoes and decided a walk might clear her head.
The temple ruins had been her and Aurora’s playground. As little girls they would go there to play and lose an entire day, sitting on the steps and watching each other sing, or running through the columns. Aurora had loved the remains of the altar in the cellar area and would dress it with flowers and dream out loud about her wedding to Nico.
Aurora had always known what she wanted—family and home, Nico and babies, and all that she held dear on this very spot on earth...
But Antonietta had always looked beyond. Even as a little girl she had sat hugging her knees and looking out, dreaming of places, some near, some far. Picking up the orange dirt, she would run it through her hands and imagine grains of Saharan sand. There was a whole world she hadn’t seen, and as Aurora sang, Antonietta would lie back on the stone and imagine that she lay in a glass igloo, looking up at the Northern Lights, or that she was stretched out on a manicured lawn at the Palace of Versailles...
She had tried that, Antonietta told herself now, and she had been told off for being on the grass.
Her ponderings were interrupted by the sight of Rafe, running in the distance. He was still here, then, and that brought a sense of relief in itself. His form was magnificent, his body a masterpiece, and she admired it for a stolen few moments before he noticed and ran in her direction.
‘Hey,’ she said as he approached. ‘No minders?’
‘I’m on the hotel grounds.’
‘Not technically.’
She smiled, because the ruins were outside the boundaries of the Old Monastery. Then her smile slipped and she felt suddenly a bit awkward and shy. It had nothing to do with their lovemaking. Now she knew about his royal status, she couldn’t pretend. It had been far easier not to know.
‘I thought you were leaving yesterday?’
‘That was the plan.’
‘Why did you tell Francesca that you wanted me to service your suite?’
‘I didn’t,’ Rafe said. ‘I told her I didnotwant Chi-Chi.’
‘Really?’
‘Absolutely,’ Rafe said.
He held out his hand and helped her to stand and they started walking. She offered him her water bottle and he took a long, refreshing drink.
‘The ruins are spectacular,’ Rafe said.
‘I love them,’ Antonietta agreed. ‘Aurora and I used to play here when we were little. Or rather, Aurora used to play and I used to daydream.’
‘About what?’
‘The world,’ Antonietta said. ‘This is where she and Nico were married.’ She glanced sideways at him. ‘You weren’t at their wedding?’ She would certainly have remembered if he had been.
‘No, I had prior engagements,’ Rafe said.
And usually he would have left it at that. Certainly, he rarely explained himself, and yet he found himself telling Antonietta more than he usually would.
‘Nico and I are friends, yes, but perhaps not in the way you and Aurora are. It’s more that we shared the same social scene for a while.’
‘But not now?’
‘No, not now. If that were the case I doubt Aurora would be pleased.’
