The Marcelli Princess
Page 27

Something Mia could have done, he thought as he climbed out of the limo and saw the four security guards standing by the house and in the yard. She could easily have taken her story and her plight to any one of several television news shows. But she had not, and he appreciated her restraint.
Not that his appreciation blinded him. He knew her decision had nothing to do with him and everything to do with keeping Daniel out of the limelight. Something else he appreciated.
He had handled everything badly from the first. In truth, he had never considered compromise because that was not his way. But he had also forgotten Mia's determination.
He missed her. A foolish waste of time, but there it was. He missed her and Daniel. He missed how they had laughed together. With the two of them, he could be himself.
If things had been different…, he thought, not for the first time. If she had been from another family with different lineage. Except then she would not be the Mia he knew, and he would not have her change. Despite everything, he wanted her exactly as she was.
His father would not agree, he thought as he walked up to the back door and knocked. His father wanted Mia punished and Daniel returned at any price.
Joe opened the door and motioned for him to come inside. Oliver came with him while Umberto stayed outside. Rafael wasn't sure what the other man expected to do— he was outnumbered and outgunned. Still, he appreciated the show of support.
"You have ninety minutes," Joe said, then walked out of the kitchen, leaving Rafael alone to face the Grands.
Both old women stared at him. He could read the anger and hurt in their eyes. Grandma Tessa held a butcher's knife in one hand and he sensed she very much wanted to use it on him. Grammy M chose a different tack.
"I'm very disappointed in you, Rafael," she said, her voice sounding low and frail. "You were to be a part of this family."
Her words cut him in a way he had not thought possible. "I did not…"
Did not what? Plan to hurt them? Expect to steal Daniel away?
Tears filled her eyes and she trembled slightly. "So much for being a prince," she said, then left the kitchen.
He stood there, feeling uncomfortable in a way he had not experienced before. People were supposed to do his bidding. He was the one who decided what was right and what was wrong.
Daniel ran into the kitchen. "Daddy, Daddy! You've been gone so long!"
The boy raced right up to him. Rafael bent down and instinctively caught him as he jumped. Then he pulled him close and smiled at him.
"I am here now," he said.
"I missed you."
He stared into familiar brown eyes. "I have missed you as well."
"Look what I got." Daniel held out his wrist and rubbed a small metal band. "Uncle Joe says real soldiers wear one just like this. Now I'm a real soldier."
The tracking device. Of course. "Very nice," he told his son.
"Come play with me," Daniel said. "We can play soldiers and then I want to ride my pony and then read a story. Five stories."
"That is much to accomplish. Do you know how many stories five is?"
"A lot."
Rafael chuckled. "It is indeed."
The boy felt good to hold, he thought. He'd been telling the truth when he'd said he'd missed Daniel. In a matter of weeks, the boy had become important to him. In time he, Rafael, would have to return to Calandria and then what would happen? Would he truly be forced to leave Daniel behind?
Mia walked into the kitchen. Rafael stared as need flooded him. Not just to have her in his bed, but to talk to her, be with her. Ridiculous. He would stop needing her this instant.
"It's a little hot for pony riding," she said from the doorway to the kitchen. "Let's leave that for next time. But you can play soldier in the family room. I cleared off a big space. You can have a whole war."
"Mommy, no!" Daniel protested. "I want to ride my pony. I'm the heir and I said."
"I think your mother is right," Rafael said. "It's not good to be out when it is so hot. Not good for you or Gaspare."
Daniel pouted for a moment, then squirmed to be let down. "I'll get more soldiers. I'll get them all."
"Sounds like fun," Mia said. She turned her back and returned to the family room.
Rafael followed her. All right, perhaps he had expected some acknowledgment of him for taking her side, but if she chose not to give it, he would survive.
He found pieces of white satin scattered on the coffee table. There were several bags of open beads nearby.
"I did not know you sewed," he said.
"I don't," Mia told him as she sat down and picked up a small piece of satin.
The Grands came in and took their seats across from Mia. Each of them went to work on a larger piece of satin without speaking to him.
"We're beading a vest for David," Grammy M said grudgingly into the silence. "It's a tradition in the Marcelli family. Generally we bead the bride's wedding dress. Actually, we make the whole thing by hand. Katie's in charge. She made all the girls' dresses, which was a lot of work, let me tell you."
"Mary!" Tessa snapped. "He doesn't need to know."
Mia set down her beadwork and looked at him. "Maybe he does. Maybe he needs to understand that a family doesn't have to be royal to have traditions. Maybe then he could start to understand how much we all matter to each other and know cutting off an arm or a leg would hurt a lot less than losing a member of that family."
There was another pause, but this one felt much more awkward. Three pairs of eyes glared at him. He felt their combined anger as it grew and moved closer to him.
For the first time, he understood that he hadn't just upset Mia— he'd alienated the entire Marcelli family and anyone remotely associated with them. If they had their way, he would disappear, never to be heard from again.
He'd faced adversity before. Many people resented who he was, pointedly reminding him that he was a prince only by an accident of birth. In school, other boys had wanted to be smarter or stronger or faster. They had taken great pleasure in defeating him in the classroom or on the playing field. There were women who wanted to be with him simply to say they had, and others who wanted to make him fall in love so that they could break his heart. Simply because he was Prince Rafael of Calandria.
But this was different. This was personal. The Marcellis hadn't especially cared he was a prince before, and that title certainly didn't influence them now. They hated him for what he had done. For his acts, not his title.
Which meant they could have liked him for the same reason.
Over the past few days, he had wrestled with his own temper and frustration. He resented having to come up with a new plan and take more time to achieve what he wanted. He'd never once considered what he might have lost.
Not just Daniel, but all of them. Mia and the rest of the Marcellis.
Did he care?
He couldn't answer the question. Shouldn't he be able to instantly say no? He was here for a single purpose. Nothing else could get in the way.
Yet sometime in the past few weeks Daniel and his family had become entwined. He wasn't sure he could have one without the other. He wasn't sure he wanted to.
If he lost, he would lose more than the heir, his son. He would lose his family and the woman he had never been able to forget.
14
"Back to the hotel?" Oliver asked as he and Rafael walked toward the limo.
It was the logical choice, Rafael thought. He had finished his visit with his son. It wasn't as if he had business in town or knew other people.
Perhaps that was the problem. He had too much time on his hands. At home there were matters of state and different organizations to occupy his day. But here, now that he was in exile at that ridiculous hotel, he had nothing.
"A computer store," he said. "I will purchase a laptop and work from the hotel."
Oliver nodded and opened the rear door of the limo. Rafael glanced back at the house. No one stood at a window watching him go. No doubt the women inside had carefully distracted his son so Daniel would not miss him. He had been in the boy's life for such a short time. Would he now be forced out of it?
He knew that technically Mia couldn't exclude him forever, but there were subtle ways to make him matter less. If he had always been in the boy's life, she would have a more difficult time, but he had not. He was new and exciting, but not permanent. Not yet.
The thought of not seeing Daniel, of not watching him grow from a small boy to an active teenager, made his chest ache. The sensation was unfamiliar and uncomfortable.
"Your highness?" Oliver prompted, still holding open the door.
Rafael took a step forward then stopped. He would not lose his son, nor would he lose Mia.
But how? How would he make things better with her? How could he…
A bit of information came into his brain. Before flying out to meet the Marcellis, he had asked his staff to research them thoroughly. If he recalled correctly, Brenna Marcelli had had a rocky start with her husband. Nicholas Giovanni had planned to secretly buy the Marcelli vineyard and strip the family of everything. His plan had been discovered in time to stop it.
Yet Brenna had still married him. So she had forgiven him.
"The winery," Rafael said as he stepped into the limo. "The main offices."
"Yes, your highness."
* * *
Brenna's office was large and cluttered, with a huge map of the winery filling one wall. The massive desk had a heavy masculine style, and when Rafael entered the room and saw it, he wondered if it had belonged to her grandfather.
She was on the phone. When she glanced up and recognized him, her entire body stiffened. Her expression closed, her mouth tightened, and she quickly ended the call.
"Get your slimy royal ass out of my office," she said as she came to her feet and pointed at the door. "I don't want to see you or talk to you. I hope you get some horrible wasting disease brought on by a congenital defect inherent in lying, selfish, bastard princes."
He closed the door behind him and crossed to her desk. "I see that Mia gets her verbal skills honestly. It is a fascinating trait in the Marcelli women. I wish to speak with you."
"I have no interest in listening." She reached for the phone. "I can call security. Actually, I can call my brother. The ex-SEAL. He doesn't like you much, and seeing as he's a man who could take you out with a Q-tip, I'd be a little worried if I were you."
Rafael held out both hands, palms up. "Am I so frightening as all that? You have to call in reinforcements because you are afraid that by listening to me you might change your mind?"
"You're manipulating me."
He smiled slightly. "I doubt it will work on you, but it is necessary to try." He stepped closer. "Hear me out, Brenna. What harm is there in that? We both know I'm unlikely to influence you in any way. Later, when I am gone, you can call Mia and mock me behind my back. Think how that will bring you both pleasure."
She sat back in her chair. "Fine. But only because of the mocking. I'm really going to do that."
"I'm sure you are." He claimed the seat opposite hers and wondered how to begin. "I wish to make amends with Mia."
"Why?"
"I did not plan for things to go this way."
"Right. You just wanted to steal Danny, then leave town. I'm sorry we got in the way of that. What a serious bummer."
"Brenna, you deliberately misunderstand me."
"Oh, no. I understand you perfectly. Mia's right. You're sorry about getting caught, but you're not the least bit sorry about what you tried to do. You don't care about anyone, not even Danny."
He narrowed his gaze. "Of course I care about my son."
"I don't think so. Oh, sure, Danny as heir is really important to you, but that's about your country and tradition. It's not as if Danny is a real person to you. It's not as if you care about his happiness."