“And all that training? That’s to guarantee that you have the necessary skills to hopefully make it out alive. Both you and the person you’re protecting. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Seb nodded.
“It’s not a game, Seb. But after you get the training, if you get the training, you can contact me. If you have the skills required, I’ll do what I can to help you get a position somewhere.”
Angelina took his hand, threaded their fingers together. “I keep forgetting how dangerous your job is,” she murmured.
Rico shrugged. Normally working for the Mezzano royal family was not a dangerous proposition. At least not physically. He glanced at Angelina, saw the affection shining in her pretty eyes. Why had she told him she was in love with him? Didn’t she know that no matter what they felt for each other, it would never work out? How were they going to go back and pretend nothing had happened?
“You’re a good boy,” Rosa said to Rico. “You can pull some strings, right? After he does the training? And if Maria and Seb get married you could get her a job at the palace too, right?”
Rico lunged to his feet and began to pace the lobby. Everything seemed to be closing in on him all of a sudden. “Tia…”
“It’s what family does.”
He took a deep breath. Might as well get it all out in the open. “Tia, I won’t be able to pull any strings. I won’t be working for the royal family anymore.”
“What?” Rosa asked, throwing her arms wide.
“What?” Angelina asked, jumping to her feet.
He glanced at his aunt, then turned to look at Angelina. It would be cowardly to do anything else but meet her eye. “This is my last job for the palace.”
“Job?” Rosa asked, confusion clear in her tone.
“Job?” Angelina asked, anger simmering in her voice, flashing in her eyes. She rounded the sofa and approached him until she was standing in front of him, toe to toe. “You knew this before we left?”
He nodded.
“So I was just a job you had to get out of the way before you could leave the palace walls?”
Basically. “No. It wasn’t like that.”
“Then what was it like? Tell me.”
Angelina didn’t often show her hot-blooded Mezzanoan temper, but Rico thought she looked amazing, eyes blazing, color high. He wished he didn’t have to hurt her. He tried to think of the right thing to say but nothing came to mind.
“What are you going to be doing when you leave the palace?” she asked, her hands propped on her hips.
“I’m starting my own security business in the city.”
“I see. So all that talking we did, sharing our hopes and dreams, you never considered sharing that with me? Was there a reason you didn’t trust me with the news? Did you think I wouldn’t want to know you were leaving the palace? Explain this to me, Rico.”
“I’d like to hear the explanation as well,” Rosa said. “Why are you keeping secrets from your wife? From your family?”
“Yes, Rico,” Angelina said. “Why are you keeping secrets?”
Talk about the world closing in on him. He turned to Rosa. “Tia…” he said. And then he turned to Angelina, and before he thought, the words just slipped out. “Your Highness…”
Chapter Twelve
Angelina was so hurt, so angry, that she didn’t even care that Rico had outed her. Her mind whirled with so many thoughts, thoughts that had nothing to do with his family discovering the truth about who she really was. But they needed to deal with this first.
She glanced over her shoulder to Rosa, Maria and Seb. “Um…”
Rosa and Maria began to chuckle. Angelina shared a confused look with Rico.
“Bah. It didn’t take us long to realize,” Rosa said with a wave of her hand. “No one could mistake you, Your Royal Highness. So beautiful. So poised.” Rosa stepped up to Angelina and swept her tears away with her thumb. “Princess Angelina, don’t be angry with Rico for spilling your secret.”
That wasn’t the secret she was angry about. Still, she was overwhelmed. She crossed the floor to get some space. “Everyone knew? Everyone in town?”
They nodded. “Word travels fast in a small town like Tuscora,” Rosa said. “We knew there was a good reason you didn’t want anyone to know you were here. We were happy to play along.”
“Aren’t you angry that we lied to you?” Angelina asked softly.
Rosa shook her head. “Of course not. We were so glad to get a chance to know you. To see you and Rico together. It made us happy.”
“We all thought it was so romantic that you and Rico got secretly married and chose Tuscora to come and hide away for a while,” Maria said, her hand over her heart. “We would never have given you away. I mean, my cousin married the princess of Mezzano. How cool is that?”
“Oh no,” Angelina sighed. She never imagined that was what people would think.
“What?” Maria asked.
“Don’t you get it?” Seb said, that cockiness back in his voice. “They’re not really married. It was a job, he said.”
“Yeah. It was a job,” Angelina snapped. She wanted to throw an angry glare at Rico but she was afraid he’d be able to see the hurt in her eyes. She looked at Rosa instead and softened her voice. “Nothing but a job.”
“I don’t understand,” Rosa said slowly. She turned to Rico.
“Someone tried to kidnap the princess and two of my men were shot in the attempt,” Rico explained. “So we came up with a cover story and I brought her here to keep her safe.”
Rosa rushed over and threw her arms around Angelina. “I’m so glad you weren’t harmed. I can’t imagine how frightening that must have been for you. Of course, you would be safe here in Tuscora. Oh!” She turned on Seb. “Until you had to play your silly games and frighten her to death. Bah! You’re lucky my nephew didn’t blow your head off.”
“Tia…”
“You’re not angry that we lied about being married?” Angelina asked. Rosa still had her arm around her.
“Disappointed, perhaps,” Rosa said with a light squeeze. “I think you would have been good for my nephew. But I’m not angry. No. You did what you thought you needed to do to stay safe.”
“We didn’t want anyone to know the princess was here while we tried to discover who did this,” Rico continued to explain. “We didn’t realize you would recognize her so quickly, but we’re grateful you kept our secret.”
Secret. That reminded her. He was leaving the palace. She might never see him again. “You’re going to risk your life for people you don’t even know?”
“I’m going to choose my own jobs from now on,” he said through gritted teeth. “Choose my own hours. Live in my own home, not some rooms given to me by my employers.”
The passion in his voice was not what she expected. “Was it really so terrible to work for us?” she asked softly.
He rubbed a hand over his face. “No, Your Highness. I simply want to work for myself.”
Angelina understood that, but he hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her about something this important. She was tired of stories and explanations and lies and secrets. “I’m going to go pack.”
“Angie,” he said and it hurt her now to hear him call her that. She wished she never asked him to. “That’s premature. I haven’t heard anything more from the palace.”
“No. We’re going back. They have Phillip. We don’t need to stay here any longer. We don’t need to pretend any longer.”
Rico nodded. “We’ll stop in to say good-bye before we leave,” he told the others and then followed Angelina up the stairs to the apartment they’d called home for the past few days.
It was inevitable. The hurt. The awkward silence. After a quick call to the palace to advise them that they were coming home, Rico stood in the middle of the bedroom and watched the princess pitch her things into her bag, much harder and louder than necessary. Yeah, he got it. She was mad at him.
Rico stepped around her t
o grab his things from the closet. The memories of the time they spent together here were already turning bittersweet.
When he zipped his bag closed, she turned on him. “So you’d really planned to leave the palace guard before we ever left for Tuscora?”
He straightened his shoulders. “Yes, Your Highness. I’d already tendered my resignation before your kidnapping attempt.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t you get all formal on me. I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me. You had plenty of opportunities.”
He shrugged, doing his best to keep the gesture lazy. “It had nothing to do with this job. There was no reason you needed to be aware of my new career choice.”
“So you really don’t care about me at all?” she asked. She wouldn’t like to know how shaky she sounded. “It was only a job to you? It was all a big fake?”
Nothing they’d done together was pretend—the kisses, the conversations, the love making—but it wasn’t going to help anything to tell her that. He never imagined she’d fall in love with him. “Your Highness, I like you. I’ve come to know you better during this time we had together, and so, yes, I do care about you.” He took a deep breath. “As I do all the members of the royal family.”
She crossed her arms. “Did you sleep with any other members of the royal family?”
He frowned. “I am not going to dignify that with a response. We agreed before we ever had sex that it would stop once we returned home.” Even as he said the words, he knew it was a lousy excuse.
She lifted her chin in that royal pose. “And nothing has happened since to make you change your mind?”
“No.” He couldn’t change his mind.
Her chin quivered slightly and he felt like a total asshole. “So you don’t love me?”
“No, Your Highness,” he said, and realized in that moment that he was a bald-faced liar. He’d most definitely fallen in love with this amazing woman. With a princess. What a stupid thing to do.
“You don’t think you could ever fall in love with me?”
He was reminded again of how young she was, how vulnerable. He hated hurting her, but it was better to make a clean break. “I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
She nodded. Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “Yeah. I don’t really love you either. It was the sex, just like you said. It’s only been a couple days. No one falls in love in a couple days.” She cleared her throat. “But thanks for the dinner date and the sexual experience. Now I’ll know what to do when the next guy comes along.”
The thought of another man touching, tasting her, made his stomach roll, but Rico knew he’d have to get used to the idea.
Angelina grabbed her bag off the mattress. “I’m glad you’re leaving the palace. We won’t have to worry about those awkward meetings in the hallways. And I don’t have to look at you and remember—” Her voice broke. “Well, just…remember.” She strode out of the room and didn’t look back.
Her words cut him deeper than he expected. Her tears twisted the knife even further. He told himself that she’d thank him later. One day she’d fall in love with someone comfortable being in the public eye, someone accustomed to drinking out of crystal goblets, and to whom ordering servants about was second-nature.
He knew he wasn’t being fair to Angelina. She’d never let him feel he was anything but strong and capable. But her father was still the king of Mezzano. His was still a gardener. Rico might have more money in the bank than he ever imagined he would. He might be starting his own business. But deep down inside, Rico was still that little boy whose best friend told him he was more important because he was a prince.
There was no such thing as equality between statuses as far apart as theirs were. It was just a fact of life.
The drive from Tuscora was accomplished in silence, the air between them fraught with tension. Angelina vowed to herself that she would not beg. That she would stop acting like a needy school girl. If she’d wanted him to treat her like a woman, she had to be mature enough to accept that he would never feel for her the same way she felt for him. No amount of tears or words would change that fact.
It was unfortunate, but it happened all the time, didn’t it? All the sad songs. All the tragic movies and books. No one would write all those stories or sing all those songs if heartbreak wasn’t universal. Even her esteemed royal position couldn’t save her from that.
She turned away from Rico and stared out the window at the scenery rushing by, at the sun slowly sinking below the hills. Eventually her eyelids grew heavy from holding back the tears and she fell asleep.
Her family was waiting anxiously for her when they reached the palace. As she stepped from the car, she could see it was a gorgeous night. The sky was a deep midnight blue and the stars twinkled above like playful winks. She’d never felt less like winking. Angelina wanted nothing more than to retreat to her room where she could curl up in a ball, hide away, and forget all about soft kisses in the moonlight.
There would be no hiding, however. Vittorio and Mia rushed out to meet the car, sweeping her up in a group hug. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed them until that moment. When they released her, she saw someone else step into view.
“Stefano!” She hadn’t seen her other brother since their father’s birthday ball. She smiled for the first time since she’d left Tuscora and threw her arms around his neck. “What are you doing here?”
After he swung her around in a circle, he set her feet back on the ground. “How could I stay away when I heard my sister was in danger?”
“It’s so good to see you.” Out of the corner of her eye, Angelina saw Rico and Vittorio talking together on the other side of the car. Mia hovered beside her like a mother hen. “How long are you home?” Angelina asked. Spending time with Stefano would keep her occupied so she wouldn’t think about how she’d acted like a fool with Rico.
“Sadly, I’m leaving in the morning to return to my unit, but only to take care of the final details.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve decided to leave the military.”
Angelina couldn’t stop the soft gasp of surprise. “But I thought you wanted to make it your career.”
Stefano sighed. “Papa wanted me to make it my career.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Right now? Talk with Rico and then get some sleep.” He kissed her cheek. “You look tired, Angie. You should get some sleep too. We’ll have plenty of time to talk when I get back home.”
Mia put her arm around Angelina’s shoulder to lead her into the house as if she was some fragile flower in danger of crumbling. And at the moment perhaps she was. Angelina looked back at Rico as Mia urged her forward. He caught her glance for a long moment and then turned back to her brothers without a word or a smile. Nothing to hint that they were more than passing strangers.
That angered her more than anything. She was not going to pretend they had not shared anything. She clenched her hands and was reminded of the ring she still wore. Taking it off her finger hurt her heart more than she thought it would.
“Just a minute,” she said to Mia. Angelina turned and walked over to Rico. She handed him the ring and he calmly took it with nothing more than a nod. She wanted to yell at him or slap his face or kiss him senseless, but in the end she merely turned away and followed Mia into the palace.
Rico watched the princess walk away with that royal lift of her chin. He knew her well enough now to know the gesture was a self-defense mechanism and not an indication of arrogance. His chest felt hollow. He turned the ring over and over with his fingers while Prince Vittorio continued to give him a run-down of what had happened in the palace for the last few days.
“You haven’t changed your mind about leaving us?” Vittorio asked after he completed his update.
“No, Your Highness. I’ve already begun hiring and we should be up and running within the next few weeks.”
“Vittorio mentioned you’d given your notice,” Stefano sai
d. The younger prince had matured in the years he’d served in the Mezzano army. “We’ll be sorry to lose you.”
“Thank you, but you needn’t worry. The palace guard is made up of excellent, well-trained men.”
“Thanks to you,” Vittorio said.
Rico shrugged. He almost dropped the ring he’d still been worrying through his fingers. He slipped it on before he lost it.
“Rico?” Vittorio said, impatiently, as if the prince had called his name more than once. He placed his hand on Rico’s shoulder. “Are you all right?”
Rico looked up from where he’d been staring at his hand, at the ring on his finger. It didn’t feel right there. It didn’t seem to belong there anymore. He’d gotten used to seeing it on Angelina’s finger. “Sorry. What did you say?”
“I asked if you had a moment to tell me about your plans for your new business,” Stefano said.
“Of course. Shall we walk?”
Vittorio left them to go inside to Mia. Rico resisted the not altogether unexpected urge to check on Angelina and strolled the property with Stefano. He had to let the princess go. She was no longer his responsibility.
“Santori Security will provide private security personnel both for individuals and special events,” Rico told the younger prince. “We’ll also offer security systems for homes and businesses. We will be able to design, install and monitor, if required. I’m hiring people trained in all areas.”
“Impressive. Do you have a full staff yet?” Stefano asked as they headed down the winding drive.
“Not yet. Now that I’m back and can put all my time and energy into the effort, we should have a full staff soon.”
“I don’t know if you’re aware that I’m leaving the army,” Stefano said slowly. Rico would have been surprised if Vittorio hadn’t mentioned it a few minutes before. Rico thought the middle child in the royal family had been on the fast track to General.
“I’ve put more than my allotted time in service,” Stefano went on. “I’ve been considering making the change for a while, but the attempt on Angelina made my decision easy. I should have been close, where I could be of some use, rather than hundreds of miles away running training drills.” They paused a moment to chat with the two guards at the gate, then started back toward the palace.
Her Royal Bodyguard Page 14
