by Cat Schield
Nic hadn’t seen her flirt with any of the other men that came to the taverna, only him. He figured she knew who he was and suspected that had prompted her offer. Acid churned in his gut. Being treated like a personality rather than a person was something he hadn’t had to endure in America. He hadn’t had to be on his guard and question everyone’s motives.
“I get off in two hours,” she continued. “I would be happy to join you then.”
Natasa had made him a similar proposition last night at closing time. Nic had been moderately drunk, but not enough to wish to share the bed with this woman, no matter how attractive she was. His carefree bachelor days had ended a month ago with Gabriel’s marriage. Soon every woman he glanced at twice would become fodder for news stories.
It was worse for him being in Europe than living in America. In California he was an anonymous scientist trying to build a rocket ship. On this side of the Atlantic, he was known as Prince Nicolas, second in line to the throne of Sherdana. Avoiding reporters and paparazzi and being wary of helpful strangers had become a routine part of his life. That’s why he and his brothers had chosen Ithaca as a retreat. Homer had described the island as “good for goats” but it gave the Alessandro brothers an escape from their hectic world.
Not that Nic was a fool. He knew his “anonymity” on this sleepy island was tenuous at best. But he and his brothers maintained a low profile, and the locals generously pretended the Sherdanian royals were like any other part-time inhabitants.
“I’m afraid I’m already due for some company,” Nic said, nodding toward the harbor.
When the boat was snugly tied, three tanned hands extended to help Brooke onto the quay. She seemed to hesitate before accepting the hands of the two men nearest to her and offering the third man an engaging smile.
Natasa shielded her eyes as she gazed in the same direction Nic was looking. “Isn’t that your boat?” Her keen black eyes narrowed as she glanced at him for confirmation.
“Yes.”
“And the girl?”
“She’s staying with me for a few days.” Until the words left his lips he hadn’t realized he’d changed his mind about putting her on a plane home as soon as humanly possible. Keeping her around was a mistake, but he was feeling battered and raw. Her company was the balm his psyche needed. He just needed to keep her at arm’s length.
Natasa sniffed and tossed her head. Then, without another word, she turned to go. Nic gave a mental shrug. He’d retreated to Ithaca to come to grips with his future, not to tumble into some local’s bed. He liked his own company. In fact, most days, he preferred it. Why didn’t people understand that and leave him alone?
Reality smacked Nic right between the eyes. Soon enough he’d never be left alone again. Returning to Sherdana meant not only a return to duty, but also a complete loss of privacy and peace. Long, solitary hours in his workshop would be a thing of the past. His father and brothers would ensure that his calendar was packed with meetings, speeches and public appearances. He’d been absent for ten years, five years of studying and another five working with Glen on the Griffin project.
Now that he was returning home for good, his family would expect him to get up to speed on a variety of political, economic and environmental issues affecting the country. He would be surrounded by advisers, besieged by demands for decisions and sought after for his opinions.
Balls and state dinners with visiting foreign dignitaries would replace basketball tournaments and pig roasts with the team of specialists that he’d assembled to help build the Griffin rocket ship. Then there would be the selection of his bride. Once his mother finished narrowing the field of marriage prospects—women his brother had already
rejected—Nic would have to choose whom he would spend the rest of his life with. And he wouldn’t be allowed to dawdle over his decision because the succession needed to be secured by the birth of a royal heir.
The burden of what lay ahead of him sat on Nic’s shoulders like a sack of cement. Was it any wonder he’d kept Brooke in the dark about his true identity all these years? He would have liked to continue pretending that he was just an ordinary man instead of a royal prince in serious trouble of doing the wrong thing with the right woman. But she’d never agree to back off unless she knew his whole story.
In disgruntled admiration, Nic followed Brooke’s progress as she made her way around the horseshoe-shaped harbor. Since he’d left the house, she’d changed into an earth-toned sundress and accessorized with chunky bracelets and a peace sign necklace. Her red hair lay in a braided rope across her left shoulder. The breeze that frolicked through the streets teased the strands around her face that weren’t long enough to be restricted by the braid.
Gulls jeered as they swooped past her. She appeared oblivious to their taunts, focused as she was on scanning the quay. The hem of the sundress brushed her calves as she walked. The thin spaghetti straps were too narrow to hide a bra so he knew she was at least partially bare beneath the dress. Speculating on just how bare renewed the pounding in his head despite the aspirin he’d taken earlier.
She neared the taverna. Nic wasn’t sure she’d spotted him yet. Eight restaurants edged the water. This particular taverna was Nic’s favorite. He’d sampled enough of the menu in the years since they’d bought the villa to be able to make recommendations. The waitstaff always kept the cold beer coming while he took in the view of the vivid blue harbor, a welcome change from the beige and russet California desert where he’d spent the past several years.
For entertainment he liked to watch the comings and goings of the sailboats chartered by vacationers. The captains often wrestled with the difficulties presented by Mediterranean mooring, the docking technique where the anchor was dropped forty feet into the harbor and then the boat was backed up against the cement quay. Only an hour ago he’d been witness to what could go wrong when you had twenty boats snugged in side by side. One departing boat had lifted its anchor, catching its neighbor’s as it went, only to at last drop that anchor across the lines belonging to the boat on the other side, hopelessly tangling the two boats. To Nic’s amusement, much shouting and gesturing had accompanied the maneuver.
His earlier question about whether Brooke had spotted him was answered as she wove through the tables, aiming straight for him.
“Where did you get the keys to the boat?” he quizzed as she plopped a big canvas purse on the table and sat down with a whoosh of breath.
“Elena showed up shortly after you left. She fed me breakfast and told me where to find them. She’s very nice. And had flattering things to say about you. I think you’re her favorite triplet.”
Nic wondered what else Elena had said. Had the housekeeper divulged the rest of his secret?
“I doubt that very much. She’s always been partial to Christian. He’s the youngest. And the one all the ladies love.”
“Why is that?”
“He’s not as serious as Gabriel or me.”
“What does he do?”
“He buys companies and takes them apart so he can sell off the pieces.”
“And Gabriel?”
“He runs the family business.” Not the truth, but not exactly a lie.
“And your sister paints.”
“Ariana.”
“And you build rocket ships. Sounds like you’re all successful.”
Not all of them. With the failure of his life’s work, he certainly wasn’t feeling particularly successful at the moment.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I used your computer to print out some forms I needed to sign.”
Even while on vacation the Alessandro triplets were often working on a project or a deal and having a state-of-the-art computer as well as a combination printer and scanner often came in handy.
“You figured out how to turn it on?”
As brilliant as she
was when it came to learning languages or analyzing Italian literature, Brooke was technically challenged. She’d handwritten most of her first thesis until Nic had taken her to buy a laptop. He’d then lost an entire weekend to teaching her the ins and outs of the word-processing software as well as an app that enabled her to organize her research for easy reference.
“Ha-ha. I’m not as inept as you think I am.”
“That’s not saying much.”
She pulled a face at him. “You had about forty unopened emails from the team. Why haven’t you answered any of their questions?”
Nic shifted his gaze to the harbor and watched an inbound sailboat. “As I explained to you earlier, I’m done.”
“How can you walk away from your team and all the hard work they’ve put in on the project?”
Why didn’t she understand? Even if it wasn’t his duty to return to Sherdana, Nic couldn’t let go of the fact that his faulty design had destroyed the rocket and resulted in a man’s death. Besides, Glen was the heart of the project. He would carry on in Nic’s absence.
“Glen will find a new engineer,” Nic said. “Work will continue.”
The rocket’s destruction had hastened the inevitable. Nic had known he couldn’t stay in California forever. It was only a matter of time before responsibility to his country would have forced him to return home.
“But you were the brains behind the new fuel delivery system.”
And his life’s work had resulted in a complete disaster. “They have my notes.”
“But—”
“Leave it alone.” He kept his voice low, but the sharp snap of the words silenced her. An uneasy tension descended between them. “Are you hungry? If you like eggplant, the moussaka is very good.”
She pressed her lips together, but Nic could see she wanted to argue with him further. Instead, she asked, “So, what are you going to do?”
“My family is going through a hard time right now. I’m going home.”
“For how long?”
“For good.”
“Wow.”
The shaky breath she released was a punch to his gut. A week ago he’d left California as soon as the initial investigation of the accident concluded. He hadn’t spoken to her before getting on a plane. His emotions were too raw. And he’d had no idea how to say goodbye.
“I wish I could make you understand, but I can’t.”
“You’re afraid.”
Nic eyed Brooke. Her perceptiveness where he was concerned had always made him wary of letting her get too close. Maybe telling her the truth would be a mistake. Giving her access to his life would increase his connection to her, and keeping his distance would become that much harder.
“Of hurting more people, yes.”
She would assume he meant another scientist like Walter Parry, the man who’d died. But Nic was thinking about his family and her brother. And most of all her. When Gabriel’s engagement had been announced, Nic had felt a loosening of the ties that bound him to Sherdana. Gabriel and Olivia would get married and go on to produce the future monarchs of Sherdana, raising them with Gabriel’s twin two-year-old daughters, Bethany and Karina, who’d come to live with Gabriel after their fashion model mother had died a month earlier. They were illegitimate and the only children Gabriel would ever have.
Lady Olivia’s infertility—and Gabriel’s decision to make her his wife—meant Nic and Christian were no longer free to marry whomever they wished. Or, in Christian’s case, to continue enjoying his playboy lifestyle and never marry at all.
Nic cursed the circumstances that had turned his life upside down and sucked him back into a world that couldn’t include Brooke. If he’d been a simple scientist, he wouldn’t have to resist the invitation in her eyes. Nic shoved away the traitorous thought. It was pointless to dwell on what could never be.
“I can’t believe you’re really going to give it all up,” she said. “You and my brother were excited about the future. The pair of you would get so caught up in a new discovery you wouldn’t have noticed if a tornado swept the lab away. You love being a scientist.”
“I do, but...” In the three weeks since the rocket had blown up, he’d lost confidence in his abilities. Yet his passion continued to burn. The opposing forces were slowly tearing him apart.
“What are you going to do when you go home?”
“My brothers are interested in luring technology-based companies into the country. They want me to be their technical consultant.”
He tried to inject some enthusiasm into his voice and failed. While he agreed with Gabriel that Sherdana’s economy would benefit from an influx of such businesses, he wasn’t excited about his role in the process. His whole life he’d been actively engaged in creating technologies that would shape the future. The idea of promoting someone else’s vision depressed him.
“Sooo,” she dragged the word out, “you’re never coming back to California?”
“No.”
“If this is about the rocket...”
“It’s not.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on with you.” She looked more than puzzled. She looked worried. “It’s not like you to give up.”
Nic knew she deserved a full explanation, but once she found out he’d been keeping a huge secret from her all these years she was going to be furious. “There’s a little something about me you don’t know.”
“Oh, I think there’s more than a little something.”
He ignored her sarcasm. “It’s complicated.”
“It’s okay. As you pointed out earlier, I have two doctorates. I can understand complicated.”
“Very well. I’m not an ordinary scientist.” He lowered his voice, wishing he’d had this conversation with her at the villa. “I’m Prince Nicolas Alessandro, second in line to the throne of Sherdana.”
“A prince? Like a real prince?” Her misty-green eyes blurred and she shook her head as if to rid her brain of his admission. “I don’t get it. You sound as American as I do.”
“I went to college in Boston. In order to fit in, I eliminated my accent.” Nic leaned forward, glad that there was a table between them. He longed to pull her into his arms and kiss away her unhappiness. That was something he could never again do. “My country is Sherdana. It’s a small kingdom tucked between France and Italy.”
“How small?”
“A little less than two thousand square kilometers with a population of just over four hundred thousand. We’re mostly known for our—”
“Wines.” She slapped her palm on the table. His beer rattled against the hard surface. “Now I remember why the name is so familiar. Glen had bottles of Sherdanian wine at one of his recent parties.”
Nic remembered that evening without pleasure. “It was his way of sending me a message. He wanted me to tell you the truth.”
She stared at Nic with dawning horror. “You jerk. I’ve known you for five years. And you’ve kept this huge thing from me the whole time? What did you think I was going to do with the information? Sell you out to the press? Torment you with Disney references? Well, that I would have done, but you’re a prince—you could have handled that.”
Nic waited for her rant to wind down, but she was on a roll and wasn’t going to be stopped until she had her say.
“I thought we were friends.” Below the irritation in her voice, she sounded as if her heart was breaking. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
“I’ve concealed my identity for a lot of years. It’s a hard habit to break.”
“Concealed it from strangers, coworkers, acquaintances.” The breath she needed to take wasn’t available. “How long has my brother known? Probably since you met. You two are as close as brothers.” She shut her eyes. “Imagine how I feel, Nic. You’ve been lying to me as long as I�
��ve known you.”
“Glen said—”
“Glen?” She pinned him with a look of such fury that a lesser man would have thrown himself at her feet to grovel for forgiveness. “My brother did not tell you to lie to me.”
No. Nic had decided to do that all on his own. “He told me you’d never leave it alone if you knew.”
“Are you kidding me?” Her eyes widened in dismay. “You were worried that I’d come on even stronger if I knew you were a prince? Is that how low your opinion is of me?”
“No. That’s not what I meant—”
“I came here looking for scientist Nic,” she reminded him. “That’s the man I thought I knew. Who I’ve—”
“Brooke, stop.” Nic badly needed to cut off her declaration.
“—fallen in love with.”
Pain, hot and bright, sliced into his chest. “Damn it. I never wanted that.” Which was his greatest lie to date.
“Was that how you felt before or after we became intimate?”
“Both.” Hoping to distract her, he said, “Do you have any idea how irresistible you are?”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“It’s supposed to explain why I started a relationship with you six months ago after I’d successfully withstood the attraction between us for the last five years.”
“Why did you fight it?” She frowned “What happened between us was amazing and real.”
His breath exploded from his lungs in a curse. “A month ago we had this conversation. I thought you understood.”
“A month ago you claimed your work was the most important thing in your life. Now I find out you never had deep feelings for me and didn’t mean to mislead me about where our relationship was heading. But I’ve always been of the opinion that a woman should react to how a man behaves, not what he says, and you acted like a very happy man when we were together.”
“I was happy. But I was wrong to give you the impression I could offer you any kind of future.”
“Because you don’t care about me?”
“Because I have to go home.”
