Just as he stared a beat too long at Luca’s jaw-dropping cousin, she turned toward him and suddenly their eyes locked for a split second. Recognition dawned in hers just as he pulled his glance away to avoid the inevitable confrontation. Dammit.
And suddenly his getaway escape palace vacation was turning into a long week of likely torment. So much for his sister’s wish for him to go get laid. Now he was going to have to fight himself to keep from insisting on it.
Chapter Five
Well, shoot. Somehow in the excitement leading up to the wedding week, Valentina hadn’t even considered who else might be an attendant for said nuptials. But crap if it wasn’t him standing there, just twenty-some feet away from her, looking even better than she ever remembered him, darn it.
Parker Hornsby. Her nemesis. Or was it frenemy? Because after all, well, before he was dead to her, in a manner of speaking, he was her summer crush all those years ago. Back then they were friends, or at least she’d thought they were. She had even somehow fantasized that they were on their way to something more than just friends. Until he betrayed her by dismissing her outright, like she wasn’t good enough for the likes of him.
That hurt her more than he could have ever imagined. But it changed the course of her life in some ways, forcing her to reevaluate who she wanted to be seen as in the eyes of others. And she decided she no longer wanted to be that invisible pipsqueak kid who was always kicking a soccer ball and was practically interchangeable with her many brothers. Nope.
By the time that following autumn rolled around, gone was the girl trying to keep up with a house full of boisterous boys, and in her stead was the new and improved Valentina. She started wearing makeup, even that horrible mascara, which took her weeks to master without leaving a caterpillar trail on her eyelids. She got a cute hairstyle. She became intensely fashion-conscious, devouring issues of Vogue Italia the minute they arrived and bravely teetering on high heels as she attempted to don trendy styles. And soon Valentina, the flat-chested tomboy, started to come into her own, blossoming into a stunningly beautiful young woman.
But while she was busy growing up, Parker had clearly been busy filling out, and he’d turned into one fine specimen of manhood, looking too sexy for his own good in what appeared to be a custom-tailored charcoal suit that his strong chest, broad shoulders, and tightly shaped behind filled out just right. His hair was still blond and beach-y looking, and those blue eyes... They were giving poor Valentina flashbacks to her childhood days of mooning over him, yearning for those eyes to stare into her own hazel-brown ones. Darn it, she had to admit: Parker Hornsby was cute when he was in college. But Parker Hornsby, the grown man? Ay yi yi, he was handsome as all get-out.
And now was as good a time as any to show Parker what he missed out on when he shot her down ten years ago. Boy, was she glad she’d worn the hot—emphasis on the word hot—pink dress this evening. She knew it made her legs look amazing, and it highlighted her assets just perfectly.
She would let him look all he wanted, but he wasn’t going to have the pleasure of anything more than that. No way, no how. She’d sworn him off ten years earlier, and now he could eat his heart out.
~*~
“Val,” Larkin said, waving her down. “Come here. I understand there’s a reunion of sorts in order here.”
Valentina strode with confidence in her gray velvet Manolo Blahnik stiletto-heeled vamp-toe pumps toward her cousin and his affianced. She knew she was going to have to dig deep to pull this one off, but she also knew she could handle it.
“Valentina.” Luca gestured toward her frenemy. “You remember my old friend from university, Parker Hornsby, right?”
Valentina lifted an eyebrow, feigning curiosity. “Parker,” she said slowly as if having to think about it first. “Why, yes... Parker. I remember now—you came down that one summer, didn’t you? A long time ago, right?”
Cool as a cucumber.
Parker squinted at her. “Valentina,” he said, reaching for her hand, which he pulled up to his mouth and pressed a kiss on the back of. “You’ve grown into a breathtakingly beautiful woman.”
Wait a minute. What? He was complimenting her?
Hmmm... She wasn’t prepared for praise. She was hoping maybe he’d be as big a jerk as she tried to remember him being. She pulled her hand away from his lips, placing her flute of champagne in that hand to keep it occupied and away from him. The kiss burned her flesh still, even though his lips were nowhere near her skin anymore.
“Thank you,” she said with a noncommittal nod. He could have been asking her the weather forecast, she was that ambivalent. Cool as a cucumber, that was her mantra.
“It’s so great to see you two meeting up after all these years,” Larkin said. “We thought you’d both enjoy being paired up together for the wedding, so it’ll be a really fun week for you both to get reacquainted. In fact, I’m pretty sure—” She glanced at Luca to double-check, nodding her head as he nodded back, then clapped her hands happily. “Yeah, Luca made sure to seat the two of you together at every official function this week.”
Valentina’s mouth flatlined. “Ah, wow. Great. That’s so, uh, thoughtful. But really, you don’t have to do that. I’m certain you’d much rather mix and mingle everyone. Wouldn’t you?” She knit her brow, trying hard to will them into changing their grand scheme.
“Yeah, well, that is, truly, just so sweet of you guys,” Parker said. “But Valentina’s right. Surely you’d rather have us spend time with others. Seems the most, well, evenhanded way.”
Larkin waved her hand. “Nonsense. You’ll have such a great time talking about old times. Besides, it’s too late to change things now.”
Just then a bell rang, announcing that dinner was about to be served.
“Gotta run,” Luca said, grabbing Larkin’s hand and steering her toward the center of the table. “We’ll talk more later!”
Valentina turned toward her newly minted wedding-week mate. Her face fell. This was going to be the worst week ever.
Chapter Six
“So,” Parker said, taking a deep breath and releasing a sigh that spoke volumes. “Looks like it’s you and me against the world then.”
Valentina rolled her eyes. “You can say that again.” She turned to walk toward the table. “Let’s just go get this over with.”
He knit his brow. “You make it sound like it’s some sort of unpleasant experience.”
She threw him a deadpan glare. “Gee, ya think?”
“Sorry if you drew the short straw being ‘stuck’ with me. I’m sure we can rectify this situation, but I hope you’ll at least be able to suffer through the meal with me. I promise I won’t bite.”
She shook her head. “Look, you made it abundantly clear to me long ago that you wanted nothing to do with me. I’m totally good if you and I just keep it to a minimum, and as soon as we can get this straightened out, we will. But for the time being, it’s a dinner. I’m sure I can suck it up and deal with it.”
It was Parker’s turn to glare. Where’d this chick get her attitude? Suck it up? Geeze. “In the meantime, for the benefit of the bride and groom, let’s just pretend we’re having the time of our lives.”
“I’d like nothing better.” She pressed her lips together in a forced smile as she reached to pull out her seat, but always the gentleman, Parker beat her to it and grabbed it for her, causing her to nearly tumble over after losing her balance. He reached out and caught her in his arms, leaving them breast to chest, her breath soft on his neck. Her perfume, a citrusy musk combination, smelled downright erotic.
He hardly had a chance to think before she flailed her arms, trying to right herself.
“If you’d just hold on a minute, I’ll help you up,” he said, shifting to deflect that cursed burgeoning hard-on that was once again trying to make itself known against his will. How could it not, with only a few thin patches of fabric between his chest and her tight nipples? God, this was killing him. He was like a damned pub
escent boy all of a sudden.
“I’m perfectly capable of righting myself, thanks.” She grabbed hold of the hand of the seatmate to her left side who’d offered an assist, a tall, wavy-haired man Parker suddenly wanted to throttle.
“Okey dokey,” Parker said. “I’ll just make myself comfortable here, and if you deign me to be worthy of your attention, maybe give me a little tap on the shoulder then?”
She gave him a smirk. “This”—she pointed back and forth between the two of them—“will never happen, Parker. Enjoy your meal.”
~*~
Touché. In the no-good-deed-goes-unpunished department, clearly Parker’s decision not to lead on an impressionable young teenager all those years earlier hadn’t been particularly appreciated by said teenager. But surely enough time had passed that she should have gotten over that. While he certainly hadn’t been deliberately mean back then, perhaps the forcefulness with which his message was delivered had been received a little harsher than he’d hoped. They were both grown-ups now; he just knew he could reason with her.
He turned to Valentina, who was busy talking with the too-handsome man with smoldering brown eyes who’d helped her up. Parker felt a twinge of jealousy as he watched her laugh and smile and place her hand on the man’s forearm while she was making a point. For some inexplicable reason, he suddenly wanted—or was it needed—to be the center of her attention. But how could he do that when she was clearly giving him the cold shoulder?
He thought back to his father, who had charm in spades. Perhaps too much charm since he ended up wooing pretty much any gorgeous woman who wandered into his sphere of influence. His poor mother put up with the man tomcatting around for years before she finally called it quits. But when he wasn’t busy betraying her, he was indeed deft with a compliment.
“Would you like a dinner roll?” he said, trying to break the conversational Berlin Wall she’d erected to keep him out.
She threw him an icy glare.
“I’m not sure if I mentioned it yet, but you really have grown into a beautiful young woman,” he said, continuing with optimism. What woman could resist a little flattery? His mother had always told him to kill them with kindness. “Of course, it wasn’t hard to imagine as you were a pretty girl. Besides, I remember your mother was gorgeous as well.” He could not believe he was blathering on with platitudes in the hopes of making headway with a brick wall. More like into a brick wall. He was going to end up with a concussion at the rate he was banging his head.
Finally she turned to face him. “Look, Mr. Hornsby,” she said. “While I appreciate your kind remarks, really, there is no need to slather on false blandishments. I know you’re just trying to butter me up, and there’s no need. What’s past is past, and we can just move on and be courteous with each other and then the wedding will be over and we won’t have to deal with this any longer. Deal?”
Parker clenched his teeth. Mr. Hornsby? Was she kidding him? The good news was Parker loved a good challenge, and the obstinate Miss Romeo was going to test his mettle in that regard. Maybe more than he’d like.
Parker scrubbed his fingers through his sea-salt-foam-surfin’-safari-styled hair, wanting nothing more than to sidle up to the nearest butler with a tray full of highball glasses topped off with scotch. That would make him particularly happy right about now. But in the meantime, he was going to have to navigate his way through a meal of lobster thermidor with an ice queen to contend with.
Sometimes life was so unfair.
Chapter Seven
Valentina hoped she wasn’t too aggressively chatting up her good-looking seatmate at dinner. She’d already established that he was off-limits; his fiancée was waiting back in their room, so there was no hope with him. Shame as he was awfully easy on the eyes. Then again, so was that miserable rat bastard Parker Hornsby. But for as pleasing as that one might have been to gawk at, maybe even drool over a little, he was impossible on the psyche, and she was not going to ever submit herself to his whims if she had any say in the matter. He’d had his chance with her and he blew it.
Perhaps she wasn’t so good at recognizing that a decade was a long time and an age gap can lessen the older you get, and maybe the young version of her with Parker would have been entirely inappropriate, whereas the current version of the two of them would be perfectly socially acceptable—and she dare not think it, but perhaps even desirable.
Shame that her wounded ego refused to entertain that notion. Because he was, well, awfully easy on the eyes. And he had lovely manners. And his voice, that sort of low, soft rumble that reverberated somewhere deep in her belly when he spoke... Well, damn him for that voice. Suffice it to say, she had to continue concentrating on being really furious with him or else she’d find herself succumbing to his charms. Good thing she wasn’t that desperate.
Dinner couldn’t have ended soon enough though, and as soon as it was clear that the gathering was breaking up for the evening, she excused herself and bade a good night to those at her end of the table, then slipped away from the ballroom.
She’d spent much of her childhood visiting the palace and knew every nook and cranny as if it were her own, so she knew to take a shortcut through the part of the palace with the family apartment. She mounted the red-carpeted steps of the Grande Staircase, followed the Corridor of Elders, stopping to admire portraits of distant relatives on the walls, then turned down a darkened side hallway. She’d reached into her clutch for her phone to turn on the flashlight just as she ran headlong into someone and about jumped out of her skin.
“Ack!” She dropped her phone.
“Eek!” said a female voice attached to a body that quickly bent down to retrieve the phone, handing it to her readily.
“Who the hell are you?” Valentina said, relieved it was a woman. Not that she had anything to fear in the secure palace environment, but still. Dark, spooky halls in castles can unnerve a girl, especially when strangers pop up out of nowhere.
The girl stepped out of the shadows. She was beautiful: medium height and athletic-looking with long, wavy blond hair and soft blue eyes. She looked like she belonged on a beach, not lurking in the shadows of an ancient castle.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I’m afraid I got a little lost looking for my apartment. I can’t quite tell you how I ended up here, but I apologize if I scared you.”
Valentina stood back and assessed the stranger. She wore a beige cashmere V-neck sweater with a white T-shirt beneath it, and faded matchstick skinny jeans. She had bunny slippers on her feet.
Valentina started to laugh. “Oh my God,” she said, pointing at the girl’s feet. “Those.”
“I know, right? Only I would get lost in a castle in my bunny slippers. Only thing worse would have been if I was in my pajamas. I hope you can point me toward home before I run into someone important who might have me beheaded for spying or being inappropriately attired for castle-strolling.” Her eyes opened wide and she covered her mouth with her hand. “Please tell me I didn’t just insult you by suggesting you aren’t important.”
Valentina shook her head. “Not to worry. I am decidedly not important in the royal pecking order here in Monaforte. By the way, I’m Valentina.”
A wash of relief flooded the woman’s face. “Thank goodness! I apologize again. I’m Gisele. I just need to find apartment eleven. Have you any clue where it might be?”
“I’m headed that direction myself. I’m number thirteen, so looks like I’m right next door to you. You’re here for the wedding?”
Gisele nodded. “Yes. Although I got a little bored tonight, so figured I’d do some exploring. I thought for sure I’d be able to retrace my steps, but maybe I needed to leave a trail of bread crumbs in my wake.”
“Good thing there wasn’t a wicked witch waiting to toss you in her oven.” Valentina winked at her as they followed another narrow hallway. Gisele stared as they passed a suit of armor.
“I’m not worried about that. I’ve got a mean left hook.” Gisele
grinned and pretended to slug the armor.
“I like a woman who can fend for herself.”
“Any girl with a brother has to do that.”
“Tell me about it,” Valentina said. “I’ve got six. I could take any one of them if I had to.” She looked upward, rethinking that notion. “Well, I could have when we were all little and they weren’t quite so brawny and tall and strong. But still.”
“I hear ya. Though I never had to worry about that with my brother. We were always the best of friends.”
Valentina smiled. “So sweet,” she said. “Those kind make the best husbands, don’t they? If they love their sisters, they’ll take good care of their partners.”
“And yours aren’t like that?”
Valentina shook her head. “Oh gosh, of course they are. They all take wonderful care of me. But they are men, and they are Italian, so I guess they can get a little strong-willed and bossy. But my brothers are the best.”
“Well, now that we’ve established we both come from good stock,” Gisele said with a nod. “I’m so excited to be here for this wedding. Although with this jet lag, I’m currently more enamored with the idea of finding my room again so I can get to sleep. I hadn’t realized quite how exhausted I am.”
“This is going to be a fabulous event,” Valentina said. “Although I unexpectedly found myself avoiding someone tonight I’d just as soon have never seen again. I’m hoping I can dodge him as much as possible over the next several days.”
“Oh, that’s a shame,” Gisele said. “Sounds unpleasant.”
“Just a really annoying person from my past,” Valentina said. “No one I’m going to waste another breath worrying about.”
“I agree. No sense in bothering with someone like that.”
“Say,” Valentina said, thinking there was no better distraction from that annoying man than a new friend. “If you’d like, I’d be happy to show you the ropes. I know this place can be a little bit intimidating.”
Red Carpet Romeo Page 4
