The Marcelli Princess
Page 16

"I know you enjoy my touch," he began.
"Too much," she muttered. "There will be no more touching until I get things figured out."
He smiled with the contented confidence of a man who knows how to please women. "You are afraid I can seduce you."
"I'm not afraid, I'm prudent."
"A good quality in a wife."
"You could say the same thing about a dog." She shook her head. "You would have to let go of the hot-and-cold-running women at your house on the rocks."
"There have been women in my life. Of course, I'm a man. But none at the house. I take no one there, Mia. You will be the first."
Whoa. "You're serious?"
"Why would I lie? You could easily check the truth. I have not brought a woman to my house."
Good to know. "It's just I…" She clutched the arms of the chair. "You're different. I knew Diego. I understood him. But Rafael is a mystery to me."
"We are not so different. Not the Diego you knew."
"What about the real one?"
He shrugged. "He was angry. By a fluke of birth, he lost the crown. His brother never cared, but Diego was angry from the time he understood what it meant to be king."
"Did it change you to pretend to be him?"
"I am already a man ready to take what I want," he said. "But Diego was a fool." He dismissed the other man with a flick of his fingers. "Now he is dead."
The ruthlessness didn't surprise her. She'd seen it in him before. Men only crossed Rafael once. Which made his sense of humor and flashes of tenderness more fascinating. Rafael could laugh at the world. More important, he could laugh at himself.
"Why me?" she asked.
He stared directly into her eyes. "Because in all the years we have been apart, I have never forgotten you. I am very good at forgetting women."
He rose. "I wish to return home, Mia, but my business there will wait. You are the most important part of my world. I will stay here until you are comfortable with me."
"And if it takes years?" she asked, not sure she believed him.
"I am a young man. Despite what you have heard, I am also a patient one. You are worth waiting for. Take your time. I will be here."
He left and she was alone. A normal person would have felt relief, but suddenly she was lonely and wanted to call him back.
He'd always been a smooth talker. She had to remember that. No one came into a situation like this without an agenda. But he had an answer for everything and she didn't know how to deal with that.
Worse, she didn't know how to stop herself from wanting to believe it was all true.
8
"You're trying to make me feel bad on purpose," Mia muttered as she flopped on her bed.
"Not at all. I dance in the corps and I live in San Francisco, which, as you know, is about the most expensive city next to New York, so it's not like I have a lot of extra cash."
Mia eyed Kelly as the tall, slender redhead pulled on a skinny-strapped sundress Mia hadn't been able to fit into since before Danny was born.
"So go to the mall."
"Your closet is closer." Kelly turned and studied herself in the mirror. "It's too short."
"And too loose. God, I hate you."
Kelly grinned. "I happen to know you adore me, despite my height and lack of body fat." She spun in the pale green dress, then pulled it over her head. "What's next?"
"Have at it," Mia said, pointing at the closet. "My old clothes are your old clothes."
Kelly flipped hangers. Mia studied her narrow back and the clearly visible bones of her shoulders and ribs.
"Not to get too maternal on you," Mia said lightly, "but are you sure you're eating enough?"
"Uh-huh."
"But you're so— "
"I'm a dancer, Mia. In my line of work, they don't like chunky. I'll eat when I retire."
"Most people just want to garden."
Kelly shrugged, then dove back in the closet. She emerged with a long dress in a muslin bag. "I know what's in here."
"Me too." Mia sat up. "I haven't looked at that in years."
Kelly unzipped the front and pulled out the handmade wedding gown all the women in the family had lovingly beaded when Mia had been planning on marrying David.
"That was what, more than eight years ago?" she asked more to herself than Kelly. "I can't believe it. Was I ever really that young and foolish?"
"You were in love," Kelly reminded her. "I think it's very romantic."
"We were babies. Just eighteen and still in college. What were we thinking?"
"That you wanted to be together."
Mia remembered the heated longing of her first real love. "We were worlds apart," she said as she fingered the stunning beadwork. "I'd started college at sixteen, so I was already a junior. He was a freshman and had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. I was going to get my master's in international relations and be a diplomat."
Kelly settled next to her on the bed. "What happened with David? Was it horrible?"
"No. We both realized we weren't as in love as we thought. Better to find out before the marriage than after."
"But it was very close to the actual date of the wedding," Kelly said.
Mia fingered the dress. "Obviously." She looked at Kelly.
"Don't try to make the situation romantic. We were kids pretending to be grown-up. We could have made a disaster of our lives. We got lucky."
"I suppose," Kelly said. "Do you have any regrets?"
"Ian," Mia told her. "I don't even have to think about the question. When I think about how he tricked me. Used me."
She didn't want to get angry, but she could feel her temper growing.
"He didn't plan to use you," Kelly said.
Mia looked at her. "You're defending him?"
"Of course not. I think it's awful that he tried to kidnap Darcy and hold her for ransom. I'm just saying when you met Ian, he was a regular guy."
"He was a domestic terrorist in disguise. That doesn't exactly fit my definition of normal."
"You know what I mean. It was only after he realized Darcy was here that he hatched his plot." Kelly flopped back on the bed. "Hatched his plot. That sounds so exciting."
"Darcy nearly died," Mia said flatly.
"Oh, I know. I didn't mean in her circumstances. Just in general. Besides, you can't regret Ian."
"Why not?"
"If he hadn't been a total dick, you wouldn't have become a spy and gone to Calandria. You wouldn't have met Diego, a.k.a. Danny's father, and you wouldn't have gotten pregnant. I know you, Mia. You would never regret Danny."
Kelly had her there, Mia thought as she smiled. "I can't regret him. He's my world. But the rest of it kind of blows."
Kelly rolled onto her stomach. "I have a secret that you're not going to like."
Considering how much Mia didn't like Etienne, she wasn't sure she wanted to hear. "What is it?"
"I don't like Rafael."
"You don't know him."
"I've spoken with him a few times. He's too… I don't know. I can't put my finger on it, but he's not a nice man."
Mia didn't think her niece by marriage was in a position to cast judgment in the man department. "And here I thought only Grandma Tessa and Joe didn't like him. Joe wouldn't like him on principle, because he's a sweetie who loves his sister. I'm not sure what's up with Grandma Tessa."
"Does it matter?" Kelly asked. "Isn't the important question whether you like him?"
"I like him," Mia said cautiously.
Kelly rolled her eyes. "I'm not talking about the mild affection one would have for an acquaintance. I mean like as in 'This guy is incredibly cool and I must have him.' "
"Is that how you feel about Etienne?"
"We're not discussing Etienne. I know Rafael proposed."
Mia groaned. "Did he take out an ad?"
"The Grands told me, which means they've told everyone. You know they believe the phrase 'Can you keep a secret?' actually means 'Tell everyone you know.'"
"He said the words," Mia told her. "I'm not sure he means them. He's a prince. I'm not sure he's able to simply marry whomever he wants."
"A prince. Sometimes I forget that." Kelly slid to the floor and began stretching. "I want to be you when I grow up. I want your life."
"No you don't," Mia said. "I'm not a good example, Kelly. I'm the cautionary tale. Trust me, you need a different role model."
Kelly stretched her legs in front of her and then bent over until her forehead rested on her knees. When she sat up in a graceful, fluid movement Mia couldn't dream of replicating, she said, "But you're happy, right?"
"For the most part." When she didn't think too much about everything going on. "And you?"
"Delirious. I'm living my dream, dancing with the most amazing company on the planet. What's not to like?"
Mia wasn't sure, but she sensed something was off in Kelly's world.
"You have Etienne," she reminded her niece. "Does he play into this?"
"Most of the time. I don't want to settle down," Kelly said. "I take lovers. Usually the one who buys me the best presents gets to keep me until I'm bored."
It was something Mia would have said at Kelly's age, so why did it sound so wrong now?
"Kelly, I'm all for having fun, but you should also think about finding relationships that actually mean something."
"Like Ian?" Kelly asked innocently. "I distinctly recall you saying you were just using him for sex. And aren't you the one who constantly threatened to sleep with all Joe's Navy SEAL friends and let the others watch?"
Mia winced. "I didn't mean it."
"Maybe I don't mean it either. Maybe I'm just being outrageous. Jeez." She stood and walked to the door. "You used to be fun. What happened with that?"
Kelly stalked into the hall and disappeared. Mia stared after her, not sure exactly what had gone wrong. Apparently being confused about one's life was contagious and Kelly had just caught the bug.
* * *
"Look!" Danny demanded. "I'm tall."
He stood with his back to the wall, his hand at a sharp angle, pointing up so that the place he marked on the height chart was at least three inches higher than his head.
"You are growing," Mia said, feeling both proud and wistful. Her little baby wasn't a baby anymore.
Rafael lined up several small race cars on the floor. "The men in my family are tall," he said. "You will be tall, too."
"Did you hear that?" she asked Danny. "You are going to be tall."
Danny beamed. Mia didn't bother pointing out that she was barely five foot three, the runt of the Marcelli litter by several inches.
Danny stepped away from the wall and grabbed his scepter. No matter how many times Mia managed to put it on a top shelf, it found its way to the floor. She was beginning to think Rafael had a hand in that.
"Tell me about your birthday party," Rafael said.
Danny grinned. "I have cake and presents and everyone comes."
"I'm looking forward to your party and you turning four. It is a very great age."
Danny looked at Mia. His eyes widened as if he'd just that moment understood his father would be at his birthday party. His mouth stretched into a grin as big as the morning and he launched himself at his father.