She laughed and pulled a pillow out from under the quilt. The next thing he knew she’d thrown it at the foot of the bed and lain down on her stomach so she could watch the screen located on the other side of the bedroom. “Why don’t you start the one you’d like to see without telling me what it is?” she said over her shoulder.
Christina made an amazing sight with those long legs lying enticingly close to him. “What if you don’t like it?”
“I like all kinds of movies and will watch it because I want to know what makes my husband tick.”
His heart skipped a beat. “You took the words out of my mouth.” He clicked to the disk featuring a Neapolitan Mafia gangster film. “I only saw part of this when it first came out.”
“I’m sure I haven’t seen it. Italian films are hard to come by when you’re out in the bush. This is fun!”
He found it more than fun to be watching it with the woman he’d just married. She made the usual moans and groans throughout. When it concluded she turned on her side and propped her head to look back at him. “I heard that the Camorra Mafia from Naples was the inspiration for that film. Were there really a hundred gangs, do you think?”
“I do.”
“Did any cross the water into our country?”
“Three families that we know of.”
“Do they still exist?”
“Yes, but were given Halencian citizenship at a time when our borders were more porous. They’re no longer a problem. What I’m concerned about is creating high-tech jobs. Tourism and agriculture alone aren’t going to sustain our growing population. I have many plans and have been laying the groundwork to establish software companies and a robotics plant, all of which can operate here to build Halencian industry.”
“So that’s what you’ve been doing in San Francisco all these years. No wonder you didn’t come home often.”
“Are you accusing me of being a workaholic?”
Her eyelids narrowed. “Are you?”
“I make time to play.”
“Since I won’t be able to go to sleep for a long time, what can I do for you, my husband?”
“How about reading to me?”
The question pleased her no end. “You’d like that?”
“I saw a book in your suitcase. Have you read it already?”
“I’m in the middle of it.”
“What’s it called?”
“Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. He wrote about South Africa and the breakdown of the tribal system. It’s not the part of Africa I know, but it’s so wonderful I’m compelled to finish the book.”
“I never got around to reading it,” he said.
“Tell you what. I’ll read you the blurb on the flyleaf. If it interests you, I’ll read from the beginning until you fall asleep.”
“I’m surprised you don’t carry a Kindle with you. Aren’t physical books heavy to carry when traveling?”
“They can be, but I really like to hold a book in my hands. They’re like an old friend I can see peeking at me from the bookshelf, teasing me to come and read again.”
“I’ve decided you’re a Renaissance woman, Christina.”
“That’s a curious word.”
“It really describes you. You’re a very intelligent woman. I see in you a revival of vigor and an interest in life that escapes most people. You’re more intriguing than you know.”
If she was intriguing, that was something. “When did you discover that?” she asked without looking at him.
“It happened when you were just fifteen. I drove you and Elena to an old monastery in the woods above Lake Geneva. When we went inside, you were able to translate all the Latin inscriptions in those glass cases. I detested Latin and at eighteen I still needed a tutor for it. To hear you translating for us, I was so stunned at your expertise, it left me close to speechless. Do you remember that time?”
He remembered that? It caused her pulse to pick up speed. “Yes. I was showing off to you so you wouldn’t think that your sister was spending time with a complete numbskull. My mother hated it that I was such a bookworm and would rather read than go to tea with a bunch of girls who only talked about boys and clothes.”
“This conversation is getting interesting. When did you first become interested in boys?”
“Actually I was crazy about them at a very early age.” Pictures of Prince Antonio and Princess Elena were constantly in the news. From the time she was about eight, she always liked to see photos of the famous brother and sister in the newspaper accompanying their family on a ski trip or some such thing.
He was the country’s darling. By the time she met him in person, she’d already developed a crush on him that only grew after being with him. Of course all the silliness ended when she left Montreux and had new experiences in Africa. Once in a while she and Marusha would see him in the news, but until Elena’s brush with the law he’d been as distant to her as another galaxy.
Antonio broke into laughter. “The secret life of Christina Rose. How scandalous.”
She chuckled. “Marusha had plenty to tell me about tribal mating rituals of the Kikuyu. In fact, she kept me and Elena royally entertained most nights after lights went out. We’d stay up half the night talking. She had a crush on this security guard who was guarding a VIP at the Montreux Palace Hotel.
“You know how beautiful Marusha is. Well, we’d walk past him and she’d say things to him to capture his interest. He never spoke, but his eyes always watched her. He was tall, maybe six foot five, and he kept his arms folded. He was the most impressive figure I ever saw and I think he was the reason she could handle being in Montreux when she’d rather be home in Africa.”
Laughter continued to rumble out of Antonio.
“Your sister had other interests. There was a drummer in the band that played at this one disco we were ordered not to visit. He was crazy about her and kept making dates with her. She only kept one of them. It was through him she met other guys, the kind she finally ended up with who got thrown in jail for drugs.”
“Let’s be thankful she has grown up now, but don’t stop talking,” Antonio murmured. “I could listen to you all night. What masculine interest did you have?”
Christina didn’t dare tell him that there was no male to match Antonio. His image was the one she’d always carried in the back of her mind. “Oh... I always loved men in the old Italian movies. You know, Franco Nero, Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio De Sica.”
“No Halencian actors?”
“No. I’ve liked a couple of British actors too. Rufus Sewell...ooh-la-la.” She grinned. “Now, there is a male to die for! So, which actress did it for you?”
“That would be difficult to answer.”
“You don’t play fair. You manage to get a lot of information out of me, but I ask you one question and suddenly you play possum.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you play dead like a possum when you don’t want to reveal yourself. The possum does it for protection. It’s a very funny American expression and it describes you right now. What are you hiding from? Is the truth too scary for you?”
“Have a heart, Christina. I’m not nearly so terrible a womanizer as some of the tabloids have made me out to be. They’re mostly lies.”
“That’s all right. You just keep telling yourself that. When I married you I forgave you for everything. But I’ve talked your ear off, so excuse me for a minute.”
She hurried into the other bedroom and grabbed the book from the table, and then she returned to Antonio. “Are you still in the mood to be read to, or are you ready to confess your sins?”
“Yes and no.”
He was hilarious.
“All right, then. Here’s the quote from it. ‘Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn ch
ild that is the inheritor of our fear.’” She read the rest.
A long silence ensued before Antonio murmured, “That’s very moving. Tell me something honestly. Are you going to miss Africa too much?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve spent ten years of your life there. So many memories and friends you’ve made.”
“Well, I’m hoping that from time to time I’ll be able to fly to Nairobi to keep watch over the foundation, which I plan to continue with your permission.”
“There’s no question about that.”
Good. “But our marriage is my first priority, and your needs come first and always will with me.”
“You’re wonderful, Christina, but that isn’t what I asked, exactly. Did you leave your heart there?”
“Certainly a part of it, but I could ask you the same thing. Do you feel a strong tug when you think of San Francisco and the years you spent there?”
“I’d be a liar if I didn’t say yes.”
“I didn’t expect you to say anything else. As for me, I’ve decided I have two homes. One there, where I’ve always been comfortable, and now the new one with you. I see them both being compatible. When you long for San Francisco and want to do business there, I’ll understand.”
“You’d love it there. I want to take you with me and show you around.”
He couldn’t have said anything to thrill her more. “And maybe you can fly to Africa with me for a little break from royal business.”
“We’ll make it happen.”
She studied him for a long time. “Is there a woman you had to leave who’s missing you right now? Maybe I should rephrase that. Is there someone you’re missing horribly?”
Antonio should have seen these questions coming, particularly since he hadn’t slept with her last night. “I haven’t been a monk. What about you?”
A quick smile appeared. Her appeal was growing on him like mad. “I’m no nun.”
For some odd reason he didn’t like hearing that.
You hypocrite, Antonio. Did you want a bride as pure as the driven snow? Did you really expect her to give up men while she waited four years for you to decide when to claim her for your wife?
“Who was he?” His parents’ affairs had jaded him.
“A doctor who’d come to Kenya to perform plastic surgery on some of the native children. Once I came back to Africa with the engagement ring on my finger, he left for England three days later.”
“I kept you waiting four years,” Antonio muttered in self-disgust.
A frown marred her features. “Antonio, none of that matters. I’m your wife! But you still haven’t answered my question. Is there a woman who became of vital importance to you before you had to fly home to get married?”
He got off the bed. “The only woman of importance was one I got involved with before our engagement, Christina.”
“Then you’ve known her a long time. If there’d been no engagement, would you have married her?”
“That’s hard to say. I might have if I’d decided to turn my back on my family and wanted to stay in California for the rest of my life. But when your call came telling me about Elena’s problems and I talked to her, I realized how binding those family ties really are right from the cradle.”
“I know that all too well,” she whispered. Christina had obviously been talking about the relationship with her parents.
“The accident of my being born to a king and queen set me on a particular path. To marry a foreigner and deviate from it might bring me short-term pleasure. But I feared I’d end up living a lifetime of regret.”
She shook her head. “How hard for both of you.”
Her sincerity rang so true he felt it reach his bones. “Though I continued to see her after the engagement party, nothing was the same because we knew there would have to be an end. We soon said goodbye to each other.
“In a way it was a relief because to go on seeing her would not only have made a travesty of our engagement, but the situation was totally unfair to her and you. My sources at the palace confirmed that the country was suffering and there were plans afoot to abolish the monarchy. I knew it was only a matter of time before—”
“Before you had to come home and marry me to save the throne,” she broke in. “I get it.”
“Christina—” He approached her and grasped her hands. “Do you think it’s possible for us to forget the past? You know what I mean. When I said my vows in the chapel, I meant what I said. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life. Can you still make that same commitment to me after knowing what I’ve told you?”
Her marvelous eyes filled with tears. “Oh, Antonio, I want you to know that when I made my vows at the altar, I was running on faith. Now that faith has been strengthened by what you’ve just admitted to me. If we have total honesty between us, then there’s nothing to prevent us from trying to make this marriage work. You’ve always been the most handsome man I’ve ever known, so my attraction to you isn’t a problem.”
He kissed her fingers. “Can you forgive me for staying away from you before the wedding?”
“We’ve already had this discussion.”
He slid his hands to her upper arms. “No woman but an angel like you would have sacrificed everything to enter into an engagement that didn’t consider your own personal feelings in any way, shape or form. Forgive me, Christina. I don’t like the man I was. I can only hope to become the man you’re happy to be married to.”
Her eyes roved over his features. “I liked the man you were. That man loved his sister enough to save her and their family from horrible embarrassment and scandal. She wasn’t just any sister. She was the princess of Halencia, my friend. I loved you for loving her enough to help her.
“You have no idea what she did for me. She was the only person in my world besides my great-aunt Sofia who was good to me. Elena was the person I cried to every time I was hurt by my parents, especially my father, who wished I’d been born a boy.” The tears trickled down her flushed cheeks.
Antonio sucked in his breath. “Grazie a Dio, you’re exactly who you are.” He started kissing the tears away. When he reached her mouth he couldn’t stop himself from covering it with his own. The taste of her excited him. Without her wedding dress on, he could draw her close and feel the contours of her beautiful body through the thin fabric of her shirt. Her fragrance worked like an aphrodisiac on his senses, which had come alive.
“Bellissima.”
CHAPTER FIVE
THE FIRST TIME Christina had heard Antonio use the word bellissima, he’d said it in a teasing jest outside the door of the bridal suite. Just now he’d said it because she could sense his physical desire for her. After last night, there was no mistaking their attraction to each other. But she needed to use her head and not get swept away by passion until they’d spent more time together.
He’d wanted to put off making love to her last night. She was glad of it now. They did need more time to explore each other’s minds first. Antonio might have walked away from the love of his life in San Francisco, but that didn’t mean the memories didn’t linger.
Christina could make love with him and pretend all was well, but she knew that until she held a place in his heart, then making love wouldn’t have the same meaning for either of them. She wanted their first time to happen when it was right.
As soon as he lifted his mouth, she eased out of his arms. Avoiding his gaze she said, “I’m going to freshen up before dinner. Where do you want to eat?”
“How about the other bedroom? There’ll be other films to pick from. Your choice. I’ll tell the steward to bring it in ten minutes.”
“Good. After our fabulous lunch, I can’t believe I’m hungry again.”
When he didn’t respond, she left him to use the rest
room. Some strands of her hair had come loose. It was smarter to just undo it and brush it out. Before he brought their dinner, she pulled out the pillows and propped them against the headboard. After taking off her sandals, she reached for the remote and got up on the bed. Before long Antonio walked in carrying a tray.
“Put it here between us.” She patted the center of the bed.
“The steward still won’t breathe a word of where we’re going.” He put the tray down. Sandwiches and salad.
“Loyal to the end.” She smiled at him. “In the meantime this looks good.”
“I think so too.” He joined her on the bed and they began to eat.
“Do you mind if we talk? We haven’t discussed how we’re going to live. In the fairy tales the prince takes his bride to his kingdom and they live happily ever after, but we never get to see how they live.”
He smiled. “I have my own home in one wing of the palace. Our bedroom and living room overlook the Mediterranean. It’s totally private and will be our home. My office is on the main floor adjoining my father’s. My parents have their own suite. You’ve already visited Elena in her suite, which is in the other wing. But we’re far enough apart to lead separate lives.”
She poured them both more coffee, then sat back to drink hers. “Is it going to feel terribly strange bringing a wife into your world?”
He finished off the rest of his sandwich. “I thought it would. In fact, I couldn’t comprehend it. But after being with you, I’ll feel strange if you’re not with me. I’ve discovered that I’ve slipped into the husband role faster than I would have thought and I’m enjoying every minute of it.”
Christina studied him for a moment. “Today I feel like we’re beginning to get to know each other and aren’t afraid to be ourselves. That was my greatest fear, that you’d be different from the man I knew as Elena’s brother. I’ve worried that in living with the man you’ve become, I’d feel invisible walls that kept us strangers. But I don’t feel that way at all when I’m around you.”
His Princess of Convenience Page 7
