He would make it up to her. He would make it all up to her. He just hoped she felt the same about him, because now that he had her back in his arms he didn’t think he could let her go. Ever.
Slowly her weeping turned to hiccups and her flood of tears to a trickle. He mopped her face and hugged her again and kissed her damp mouth gently. He wanted to repeat his apology, but he was afraid she would weep all over again.
But Kiki was made of sterner stuff than that. One last sniff, the hijacking of his handkerchief, and she wiped her eyes and blew her nose resolutely. ‘I’m sorry. That was torrential. Thank you for letting me soak your shirt.’
The knot in his stomach loosened. ‘You are very welcome.’
She sniffed again and smiled, with a tiny wobble still in evidence. ‘Thank you, anyway. I think I needed that.’
He watched the old Kiki emerge and sat back on his side of the car with bemusement and wonder. Relief expanded in his chest as he realised she had already begun to forgive him. Now all he had to do was forgive himself.
* * *
Kiki screwed up the handkerchief after one last trumpeting blow. If he still fancied her after this then there was hope for them yet. But that thought and all it involved was terrifying.
‘Thank you for listening, and for being here now.’ She glanced around at the grove of olives across the road. ‘But perhaps we should talk of something else.’
He didn’t move.
‘Or head back to the castle?’
The way his gaze moved across her face made her cheeks burn. His grey eyes were softer than she’d ever seen them, and he kissed her fingers and brushed her cheek with a gesture. More heat to her red face, and she looked away, embarrassed, suddenly remembering again that this man was a prince and she’d sobbed all over him.
‘How was I so fortunate as to find you?’ He shook his head in wonder, and as if unable to help himself reached and took her hand.
They both gazed down at the ring he’d insisted she wear. The huge square diamond flashed with reflected light even when there didn’t seem to be any beams to catch. It wasn’t hers. Not really.
He leaned forward and spoke very slowly and gently. ‘So, my question is this. To the world we are already engaged. But the man who demanded this did not deserve you.’
He stroked the ring on her finger and drew it off. To her dismay, she felt bereft. So this was where they faced the truth. She drew in a breath and steadied herself for the end.
He raised her hand to his lips and caressed her knuckles with his mouth. ‘May I start again?’
She blinked, not sure what he meant. A crazy, stuttering hope like a flame caught in a cross breeze tossed her into confusion. Start again? With what?
Stefano searched her face, saw her turmoil, and knew it was time to be brave as this woman had been brave. To lose himself for ever and hand her the power to destroy his world if she willed it. He’d never thought he would see this moment.
He drew a deeper breath. ‘Do you know that I love you?’
Her eyes flared and she opened her beautiful mouth and closed it. Then finally she said, ‘No.’
His tension increased as she shook her head. How to convince her? ‘I love you and wish to spend my life with you. To respect and honour you. But only if this is what you want too.’
He saw the fear, understood she had glimpsed what that would mean and seen not all of it was good. None knew more than he that he asked for an enormous commitment. ‘Will you share my life with me as my princess. Do me the honour of being my wife? Wear this ring always?’
She looked down at the ring in his hand. Remembered the weight of it. Could she? Rules and etiquette... Royal crises and functions... Their work at the hospital would keep them busy enough. She thought of the women, of the first of many friends she could make, of those she could help.
Then Kiki imagined a life never seeing Stefano again, losing her dream of dark-haired arrogant little boys like Stefano and tiny little girls in pink tulle, and there was no contest. She would not be alone. She would have Stefano the person. Not the heir to the throne. Just her gorgeous man. Stefano.
She leaned across and kissed him softly on the lips. ‘I love you. Will always love you. And that’s enough for me.’
He slid the ring back on her finger with immense satisfaction. ‘Then that is a yes.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
KIKI’S BROTHER NICK and her sister-in-law had arrived to save her. Instead they accepted an invitation to the Prince’s Cup.
This year, when the glitterati arrived on the Friday night before the race, a huge stage had been set in the centre of the racetrack with the sea as its background and festooned with a thousand lights.
There was to be a magnificent celebration for the engagement of Prince Stefano Mykonides and his bride-to-be Dr Kristina Karine Fender and the whole island was invited.
Open-sided marquees were provided for the guests to wander through, eat and drink, barbecue steaks, and strange Australian damper, while they listened to music from among the world’s greatest musicians—including Kiki’s favourite Australian band, flown over at the last minute.
As a gift and gesture of acknowledgment Stefano had set up a huge screen—a never-ending light show depicting the glory of his betrothed’s homeland. From harbour to Outback, it showed soaring scenery, a bird’s-eye view circumnavigating the whole coastline and across the continent. From Barrier Reef, to Uluru, the screen breathed life into a continent thousands of miles away, so that his people understood that he was a part of that world as his bride was now a part of theirs.
And through it all Kiki and Stefano walked among the people, shaking hands, smiling at each other and at the world. For Kiki, the magnitude of the spectacle had started as a challenge—but then she’d met people she knew: Dr Herore and her husband. Rosa’s family plus Sheba and the new baby. Elise had brought her son, and to Kiki’s surprise, Jerome. Stefano had whispered that Elise had asked for his thoughts on adoption.
She began to enjoy meeting the hundreds of people they spoke to, all eager to wish them well and ask about the wedding.
Kiki’s brother Nick and his very pregnant wife, Tara, shook their heads repeatedly at his little sister’s surprise rise to fame.
Wilhelm and Miko from the ship were there, and audaciously, Miko kissed Kiki’s hand right in front of her fiancée. Kiki laughed and Stefano growled good-naturedly about it being his last chance to do so.
But finally, well after midnight, it was over, and Stefano kissed her as soon as they were through the door of their apartments.
‘I have been waiting to do this all night.’
It felt so good to have his arms around her and feel the world just disappear.
She sighed happily as she lay back in his arms. ‘When I marry you will the wedding be big?’
He laughed ruefully. ‘Bigger than you can imagine. It will be a marathon. But at the end we will have each other.’
She leaned across and kissed him softly on the lips. ‘Then that’s enough for me.’
EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER, in the red silk-lined formal throne room of the palace, arranged in front of the huge gold fireplace and the soaring portraits of the current ruler and his late princess, in the presence of Prince Paulo, Prince Theros and his wife Princess Marla, a dozen dignitaries, and the bride’s four siblings and their partners, a civil ceremony of marriage was carried out by His Excellency the Mayor, Bruno Valinari.
Kiki, dressed in coral-coloured Dior, sat straight-backed, her hands folded demurely in her lap, as she listened to the long legal discourse required before Stefano could legally make her his princess.
Finally the moment came, and without hesitation his voice decreed his intention. ‘I pledge my life and legally bind myself to Kristina Karine Fender. My
Princess.’ And then softly, with joy and belief as he met her eyes, ‘My Kiki.’
The Mayor said, ‘For ever?’
‘I do.’
Her eyes stung, but she knew she couldn’t cry. She wondered if princesses were allowed to cry. She’d meant to ask Elise.
Then it was her turn, and she listened, minute after minute, to the legal jargon mixed with advice in the way of royal wedding ceremonies for the last five hundred years on this sovereign island discovered by pirates and ruled by physicians.
The longer the discourse went on the more nervous she became. Her heart began to pound. She would miss her cue, would stumble, would open her mouth and no sound would come out.
Suddenly she became conscious that tomorrow, in the cathedral, it would be a thousand times worse, with millions upon millions of television viewers. What if her words got stuck?
The Mayor’s words seemed to join together in her ears, so she couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended, and the lump in her throat grew so large she could barely breathe. Her mouth dried and she began to shake as a surge of adrenalin coursed through her body and made her want to stand up and run.
Finally she understood those movies where the bride bolted...
Then gradually, as if directed by a hand other than her own, she lifted her eyes to the portrait of Stefano’s mother, which seemed to glow above the gold fireplace. The beautiful woman there smiled down at her.
My love to you both. The words were as clear as if she were sitting beside the mother-in-law she would never meet. See only one person or the occasion will overwhelm you.
Finally Kiki felt the knot that had tied her tongue ease and drift away as if it had never been. Look, speak and smile at one person and you will be in control of the room. Kiki sighed and closed her eyes.
When she opened them, the room had narrowed to the one person who mattered the most—the man she loved with all her heart and who would stand beside her anywhere. Joined to Stefano, she would never be afraid again.
All nervousness fled.
Finally the moment came, and she was so very ready. ‘I pledge my life to you, Stefano Adolphi Phillipe Augustus Mykonides.’ She smiled. ‘My Stefano.’
The Mayor said, ‘For ever?’
‘I do.’
And they were wed.
* * *
When they stepped out onto the balcony of the palace the square below it was filled with Stefano’s people—her people now—and the roar of the crowd swelled like the roar of a train, building in intensity and promising to carry her into a new life and new experiences.
Stefano turned her to him and she lifted her face for their first kiss as man and wife. As his lips touched hers the roar of the crowd doubled until they broke apart and smiled at their world.
* * *
On the morning of their cathedral wedding Stefano and Kiki lay entwined, heavily asleep, smiles on their faces and hands clasped.
Elise didn’t want to wake them, so she sent Jerome in.
‘Wake up!’
The young boy had a part to play today and he wanted to get started.
* * *
Four hours later in the bride’s chambers it was time to leave for the cathedral. It was good to have Nick’s hand to stop her trembling, but Kiki could see that today it seemed her big brother was the more nervous one.
Nick had told her that yesterday he’d thought she would faint from fright. He had been worried his little sister had chosen far too public a road for herself. But today she was a new woman, and she could see the look of love and awe on his face and it gave her even more confidence.
Her dress had been created by the principal of a famous Parisian couture house, with lace inserts from its high neck to under her bodice, and sewn with a thousand crystals and the fall of a thousand pearls. The train had her six attendants scurrying, and made Nick shake his head in male confusion.
And the veil... A thousand hours of stitching and twenty yards long, it was so thin and insubstantial it was like looking through a cobweb.
Nick scratched his chin. ‘I have no idea how they’re going to get this dress into the car.’
Kiki shrugged and twitched her sleeve straight. ‘Don’t worry. They’ll have an expert do it. And it’s a very long car.’ Already she had learnt.
Her brother raised his brows, threw back his head and laughed.
‘What?’
She did not want to be fashionably late. She couldn’t wait to see Stefano.
Nick glanced at the open door held by a liveried footman and then back at his radiant sister. ‘You’ve changed.’
She lifted her head. ‘I’ve accepted and I’m blessed.’
She would take everything in her stride. One thing at a time. Because at the end of the day would be Stefano.
‘I’m Stefano’s wife. I’m going to be a very good one. And I’m not going to worry about the small stuff unless I have to.’
* * *
They did get the dress into the Rolls Royce. Just. With a hundred perfect folds so that it would leave the car as beautiful as it had gone in.
The streets were lined with flag-waving residents as Kiki and Nick drove slowly towards the cathedral. They passed huge screens set up on walls to televise the wedding to those outside. In the two cars behind, her six attendants followed: her own three sisters, Nick’s wife Tara, two small royal flower girls and one little page boy, smiling so hard the scars on his face shone white in the sunlight.
Jerome’s was the face of joy projected around the world which encompassed the celebration for the people in the streets. Finally their favourite prince had wed. They loved their new princess, and they were all invited.
* * *
Stefano arrived at the cathedral first, and the crowd roared their approval that he had shunned protocol and chosen to arrive first and wait for his commoner wife. He turned, waved, and entered the building.
Theros accompanied him nervously down the long red carpet to the marble altar at the front. Every red velvet seat was taken. Every foot of space was jammed with bodies and cameras.
Theros kept patting his pocket, where the rings sat. He and Marla had eloped to avoid this very spectacle. This was frighteningly huge.
Nervous of crowds, and frightened of the cathedral, he was diffident about following his brother, but his own bride had been so sure he could do it and he was determined he would.
Stefano recognised his brother’s distress. ‘Thank you for standing by me, Theros.’ He looked around and spoke quietly, so the microphones wouldn’t pick it up. ‘I wanted to marry here. Mama is here, and I want her to meet my new princess.’
Then the music started, played by the minstrels in the gallery on golden horns: a serenade on the bride’s arrival. Stefano felt his heart trip. So much he had asked of a woman not born to this, and to every new challenge she had risen, teaching him so much about true inner strength. So brave was his bride, and he could not wait for her to stand here beside him and before God.
Then she was at the door, on the arm of his new brother-in-law.
She was a vision. An angel in white with her head high. Through the fine mist of her veil her eyes were searching, finding his, and the music swelled. But it was no match for the swelling in his heart as the woman of his dreams walked slowly towards him. Everything else faded. There was just this woman, fearlessly announcing to the world that she would love him for ever.
As he would love her.
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781460307571
Copyright © 2013 by Fiona McArthur
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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The Prince Who Charmed Her Page 15
