“I must say, this” —Megan reached up to touch the stubble covering his face— “is something else. I’ve never seen you with a five o’clock shadow. Even in Venezuela.”
He froze as her warm fingers glided over his cheek and chin, then wondered if his sudden stillness alerted her to his intense reaction to her touch. If not, his desire must have shown in his eyes, for when she met his gaze with her own, she slowly withdrew her hand and lowered it to the grass.
At that moment, classical music blasted from speakers surrounding the fountain. Hundreds, if not thousands, of voices cheered as plumes of water sailed skyward in time to the music. The sight had to be spectacular, judging from the sounds of the crowd and the multitude of camera flashes, but he didn’t dare look.
Megan sat motionless, her eyes turned toward him rather than the fountain. Despite the cacophony around them, Anna didn’t stir.
In that moment, a sensation gripped his heart he’d never before experienced.
He didn’t simply admire this woman. He loved her. He loved her strength. Her independence. Her open smile. Her ability to forgive the fact she’d been blocked from informing him about her pregnancy, and that he’d become engaged so soon after leaving her. And he especially loved her honesty, when she could’ve continued to keep Anna a secret. All of it spoke to the kind of woman she was. Unique in the world. Unique in his life.
He could never, ever let her go.
But he couldn’t tell her, not until he was certain she felt the same. If he breathed a word, she’d think he was trying to manipulate her into marriage.
“No one has seen me like this,” he finally said, running a hand over his face full of stubble. “Other than during field training, when I didn’t have access to a razor for a few days, I haven’t let it grow. I’ve certainly never been photographed with it.”
A muscle jumped in her throat as she lowered her gaze to his mouth. “Good way to disguise yourself, then.”
He was losing the battle now. His fingers curled in the grass as he grappled with his overwhelming need to kiss her. To show her, even if he couldn’t tell her, how he felt. Perhaps, just once—
“Stefano? Is that you?”
Megan’s eyes rose to his in a mix of surprise and concern. The voice had come from beyond Megan, beyond the middle-aged couple seated in the grass next to her. Shaken back to reality, he leaned forward, seeking out its source.
“It’s me,” the feminine voice came again. “Ilsa.”
Then he spotted her sitting about fifteen or twenty feet away with a group of young women who, judging from their dress, were planning to spend the evening barhopping or dancing after the water show. When Ilsa saw he’d located her, she fanned her fingers in a small wave.
Cautiously, he glanced around. Everyone else’s attention was riveted on the fountain. He looked back to Ilsa and smiled, then put a finger to his lips.
“Ilsa?” Megan hadn’t moved. She seemed afraid to look. “The woman from the Grandspire party?”
“Yes.”
“She recognized you?”
“She’s known me for years.” He shrugged. “But she also understands my need for privacy. She’s been through this with my sister. She won’t give me away to her friends.”
“She said your name.” Worry crept into Megan’s voice.
“My first name only, and in a city where it’s not uncommon. No one will make the connection.” He hoped. He leaned forward to look past Megan again. The rest of Ilsa’s group laughed as they held up their cell phones to snap video of the fountain, with its high, wild sprays and multicolored lights moving in time to the music. They seemed not to notice that Ilsa had spied a friend in the crowd. Ilsa gestured toward Megan, tilting her head as if to ask whether Megan was the woman she thought.
He gave a slight nod. It was useless to deny Megan’s identity. Ilsa was too eagle-eyed by far. Not only had she picked out Megan from across the rooftop during the Grandspire fireworks and noted Megan’s interest in Stefano, she’d recognized Stefano in a crowd with a day’s worth of beard.
Ilsa smiled in acknowledgement then turned back to her friends.
“You think we’re okay?” Megan asked quietly. She still hadn’t turned around to look at Ilsa, as if afraid doing so would result in disaster. “Should we leave? Can we leave without being noticed?”
Stefano put his hand over hers, strictly for reassurance. “Like I said this morning, no one expects me here in Barcelona. No one is looking our way. We’re fine.”
His attention dropped to the still form in Megan’s lap. “On the other hand, Anna hasn’t moved a muscle in at least half an hour. If it would make you feel better to take her home, we can.”
Megan assessed her daughter before looking back to Stefano. She shifted, but didn’t withdraw her hand from beneath his. “We’ll give her a few minutes. If she doesn’t wake up, then we’ll go, but we’ll have been here long enough for you to tell her how much you enjoyed the fountain.”
He smiled. “I’d like that.”
“Me, too.”
Megan didn’t stir. Didn’t look at the fountain. And he knew, knew in his deepest soul, that she desired him even if she refused to marry him. He could see it in the light blush creeping across her cheeks and the slight part of her supple lips. In the way her breathing changed whenever he touched her or smiled at her. At the same time, she didn’t look at him in the same way other women did. It was as if she saw beyond the surface, beyond the royal title, to who he was as a man, and regarded him on that basis.
He threaded his fingers between hers and squeezed. He had to have her. No matter what it took, no matter how long he had to wait. He never considered himself a romantic, but what was their random meeting after ten years on the opposite side of the world if not destiny? In the soft glow and splash of the Magic Fountain, it certainly seemed possible.
Easing his head toward hers, he whispered, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For a perfect day.” He leaned in close enough to feel her warm breath mingle with his. Closing his eyes, he savored the moment before moving fractionally to kiss her cheek. He allowed his lips to linger against her skin for a half-beat longer than necessary for a proper thank you kiss before he pulled back, let go of her hand, and turned to watch the water arc toward the starlit sky.
He took deep satisfaction in the thready sound of her exhale before she said, “You’re welcome.”
Chapter Nineteen
Megan wanted Stefano. Badly. Worse, the man knew it.
What he didn’t know—what he could never know—was that she was falling in love with him. No, not falling. She feared she’d always loved him. Clandestine weekends spent together so he could make up for lost time with his daughter only served to show Megan that the dynamic, caring, utterly sexy man she’d met in Venezuela, the man she’d kept in her deepest fantasies for years, turned out to have matured into someone even better.
It killed her.
Which was why, as they made their way toward the parking lot that sat above one end of the Grandspire’s beachfront boardwalk, Megan took care to keep a healthy physical distance between them.
It was the first time they felt safe being together on hotel property since he’d attended the grand reopening nearly two months ago. So far, aside from the emotional havoc it wreaked within Megan, his weekend visits had gone smoothly. The only blip occurred when Stefano’s friend Ilsa had recognized them at the Magic Fountain during his first visit, but that was all it had been. A blip.
He’d even taken the chance he wouldn’t be recognized and booked a commercial flight this weekend while his jet underwent maintenance. The change meant he couldn’t send his travel bag to the airport with his pilot when checking out of his hotel, as had become his habit, but Megan offered her suite for storage and it hadn’t been a problem. Stefano had his hotel’s concierge deliver the bag while Stefano met Megan and Anna at the Parc del Laberint, an old Barcelona public area complete with a hedge maze
and a country house that offered tours. Since Anna had never visited the maze, Stefano challenged her to a race from one section to the other as Megan watched from a nearby viewing area that allowed her to cheer their progress. After a relaxed picnic lunch in the park, they’d returned to the Grandspire so Anna could gather her things for an end-of-school celebratory sleepover at her friend Julia’s apartment. Stefano planned to see Anna off, then retrieve his bag before heading to the airport.
Despite the alteration in what had become an easy routine, this weekend had been as trouble-free as all the others. Even now, as they strolled the boardwalk in the direction of the hotel parking lot, they appeared like any other family enjoying a sunny weekend. She’d chosen a simple sundress, while Stefano sported a plain white T-shirt, jeans, sunglasses, and his usual battered Red Sox baseball hat. Nothing about them stood out. If passersby glanced their direction, it was only to ensure Megan and Stefano had an eye on Anna, who’d run ahead to wait on the bench nearest the stairs to the parking lot. With as much gear as she carried for the sleepover, Anna looked like a runaway. Megan supposed she should’ve expected it when she allowed Anna to pack herself.
She sighed, thinking of how independent Anna had become in the last year. It was the age, Megan supposed. The girl seemed to be maturing in leaps and bounds. In no time at all, she’d be sending Anna off to college. At least it felt that way today, with another grade completed and summer upon them. Part of her loved seeing the changes in her daughter, while part wanted to grab Anna and hold on to her forever, to stop her from growing older so they enjoy more time together.
“She prefers to do things on her own, doesn’t she?” Stefano asked, as if reading Megan’s mind.
“She does.”
The weekend visits had worked to bring Anna and Stefano closer together, to the point that Stefano could now anticipate Anna’s reaction to any given situation. He knew her likes and dislikes, appreciated her creative mind, and had discerned at least a dozen ways to make his daughter laugh. When she’d turned ten on the first of June, he’d even resisted the impulse to buy Anna a pricey gift, instead taking her to her favorite ice cream parlor for sundaes. By the same token, Anna had grown completely comfortable with Stefano and loved their time together. Sometimes too much, as evidenced by the loud burp Anna let out as they’d left the park this afternoon and Stefano’s resulting applause, but Megan supposed she could live with that. Allowing Anna to build an honest relationship with her father was important. He’d be an anchor for Anna in the coming years should she ever need him.
Megan decided that she even could live with wanting the man herself. As much as she never wanted to want, she reminded herself that she met gorgeous, desirable men in her professional life every day. She never dated them, no matter how strong the temptation, no matter how the men might flirt.
But oh, Stefano was a master at the game of flirtation. He had enough experience with women to know she desired him and he played that to the hilt, coming just-so-close to touching her back or brushing an arm against hers without actually doing it. Catching her eye and flashing those dimples whenever they shared a laugh. Speaking in double entendres he knew Anna wouldn’t catch but Megan would, then continuing on in a completely innocent manner, as if he hadn’t said anything the slightest bit risqué.
Giving her lingering goodbye kisses on the cheek when each weekend ended, but never attempting more intimate contact.
For days before he visited, she’d tell herself to regard him in the same light she did the attractive men who drifted through her professional life. No matter who they were, any desire she felt for those men eventually dulled over time by the simple fact they shared a business relationship; it was a pattern she’d learned to expect, which made it easier to resist their attempts at flirtation. The costs of not resisting were too high.
But over the last few weeks, Megan recognized that something more existed between her and Stefano, something far stronger than a case of lust. Something she couldn’t resist in the way she’d resisted the other men whom she’d had the opportunity to date. When she first laid eyes on Stefano after a week apart, it was as if a switch flipped inside her, lighting her soul. It was more than the fact they shared Anna. It was in the flash of his genuine smile, the one that reached all the way to his eyes when he and Anna conspired against her, or tried to convince her, to engage in a particular activity. It was in his walk. His affable manner with shopkeepers and waiters. His quick and offbeat wit. Even—though she hated to admit it, even to herself—his instinct to protect everyone who entered his orbit.
Each hour they spent together brought out some new facet of his personality for her to appreciate. And each hour they spent together, it became harder and harder to resist—let alone hide—her growing feelings for him. She wasn’t sure how many more of these so-called casual weekends she could take without having to physically sit on her hands to prevent herself from touching him.
On the other hand, he hadn’t mentioned his marriage proposal in well over a month, meaning it was possible he’d changed his mind. In that case, maybe the situation would grow easier for her as time went on. They’d establish a visitation routine no different than that of other families with parents who lived separately.
As a bird swooped in front of them, then lit on a nearby trash receptacle, Stefano glanced sideways at Megan. Mischievous dimples deepened in his cheeks.
“Oh, no,” she said. “I know that look and it’s never good.”
His smile widened. “While we were in the maze this morning, Anna asked me how old I was when I was allowed to have a computer of my own and whether I was allowed to keep it in my bedroom.”
Megan harrumphed. “Well, you can guess why she asked that. What’d you say?”
Stefano pinched his lips as if considering his response. “Well, naturally I told her that in Sarcaccia, children may have computers whenever they want without having to ask their parents. I explained that the government pays for all the costs of—”
“You didn’t!”
“Of course not.” He chuckled. “I said, ‘Anna, are you asking me because you’ve recently asked your mom if you could have a computer for your bedroom?’ and she confessed that she had.”
“Did she also tell you I said no on both counts?”
“I guessed that part. Little devil.” He smiled in Anna’s direction. She sat on a bench near the parking lot stairs with an over-the-top look of annoyance on her face meant to ridicule the adults for taking so long to make their way down the boardwalk. “I told her that you’re a pretty good judge of when she should get certain privileges and that your word is the law.”
“Thank you.” Megan tipped her head and looked at Stefano. “Must say, I’m surprised you didn’t offer to buy her the latest model with all the bells and whistles and have a professional set it up in her room, rationalizing that it’s all in the name of education.”
“Now who’s the devil? You know I wouldn’t do that.” He sidestepped the distance between them and wrapped one arm around her shoulders in a friendly hug. The unexpected contact sent a flash of warmth through her from head to toe, probably exactly what Stefano intended. “Well, unless it meant she could take online cooking lessons.”
“Wow. You really like to torture me,” she replied as he released her, thankful she sounded like she was referring to cooking lessons.
“Are you shocked?”
Shocked wasn’t the descriptor she’d use, but she arched an eyebrow in response.
At the same moment they approached the bench, a dark blue Audi sedan circled the parking lot before stopping near the top of the wooden stairs connecting it to the boardwalk. Anna popped off her seat and screened her eyes for a better look, then waved as the car door opened. Julia’s mother, Marta, stepped out and waved in return.
Megan told Anna, “Mrs. Pettite will bring you back to the hotel tomorrow at noon. Be sure to thank her for inviting you.”
“I will. Bye, Mom.” She gave Megan a hug, th
en ran over to Stefano, who had stopped in the shade of a large palm tree where he’d be obscured from the parking lot. A smaller man might’ve been knocked over as Anna launched herself at his waist. “Bye, Stefano!”
“See you soon, amore mia,” he said, returning the hug. “Be good for your mother this week.” He adjusted her backpack straps before she took off, her pell-mell run scattering a flock of birds that had gathered around a discarded baguette alongside the walkway.
Megan called out her thanks to Marta Pettite while Anna sprinted up the stairs, climbed into the back of the sedan, then collapsed in a fit of giggles with Julia. As Marta pulled out of the lot, Stefano took the seat Anna vacated and scooted to the side, inviting Megan to join him on the bench. “She’s lucky to have such good friends. Does she spend the night away often?”
“Maybe once a month. Sometimes we have Julia or another of Anna’s friends to our place. They love having breakfast at the hotel the next morning. Santi sends up waffles with chocolate sauce if he knows Anna has company.” She couldn’t keep the wistfulness from her voice as she added, “It’ll be hard to give up those treats from Santi when we leave. Wherever we end up, I’ll need to get Anna back here to visit.”
“The man does make a fine meal,” he agreed as he removed his sunglasses and set them atop the brim of his hat. “So does this mean you’ve started interviewing?”
“Not yet. Soon, though.” She’d been too wrapped up in Stefano’s reappearance in her life and follow-up calls from the grand reopening to actively pursue open positions, though she had several promising leads to pursue. But as she and Stefano sat side by side on the shaded bench, gazing out over the sun-drenched beach and the water beyond, part of her wondered, would it be so bad to accept his offer?
There were certainly positives to living and working in Sarcaccia. Working at one of the island’s luxury hotels or, better yet, working on the development of a new conference center, especially one as modern and extensive as the facility being planned, would provide her the intellectual challenge she craved. Such a position would be long term, meaning Anna could finish her schooling in one location. Her parents would love to visit from Minnesota, since Sarcaccia offered plenty of activities for tourists and provided a good jumping-off point for trips through Italy, Monaco, and the south of France.
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