work in Africa and had a missionary zeal to help people.
He came to sit on the corner of the desk so his legs brushed hers. “But an extraordinary thing happened to me today. I’ve met someone who would be the perfect consort to come to my rescue in this emergency situation. At the same time I could help her in ways no one else can. She’s of royal blood yet is under no illusions about life or me. Better yet, she’s single and uninvolved with a man at present.”
As the portent of his words sank in, Alex’s eyes widened in disbelief. What he’d just intimated was so outrageous, an odd sound escaped her lips. She slid out of the chair to put distance between them.
“You are out of your mind and can’t possibly mean what you’re saying.”
He rose to his intimidating height. “I never say what I don’t mean,” came the words of steel. “When you get to know me better, you’ll realize I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.”
She shook her head. “So you’ll pay my mother’s debts if I agree to marry you. Then you’ll become king and two strangers will live unhappily ever after in a loveless marriage with no hope of producing an heir and both of us sneaking behind the scenes looking for fulfillment elsewhere.”
He gave a careless shrug of his elegant shoulders. “If that’s what you want.”
Alex hugged her arms to her waist. “What I want doesn’t come into it. This conversation is utterly absurd! Don’t you know that old movie script has been done and redone ad nauseum?”
One dark brow quirked. “But not to the tune of twelve million dollars. That will be my wedding present to you. In return, you’ll play the loving wife in front of other people, be it my family or the public.”
“I will not!”
“I’ve spent time with your great-uncle,” he continued talking, unfazed by her outburst. “Do you know you have the same regal bearing? I noticed it immediately. The perfect plum from the royal Grigory tree.”
She let out a strangled cry that was probably heard by everyone inside the House of Savoy.
“I meant that as a compliment, Alexandra.”
The way he said her name just now with his slight Italian accent made her body tremble. That angered her further.
“However tarnished the sordid legacy from my mother, I’m not a piece of fruit to be plucked!”
His expression grew solemn. “No. Like a gift from the gods you’ve fallen into my hands at the providential moment to save us both from a hideous fate.”
Hideous was the word, all right. The thought of going back to Los Angeles to face her mother’s creditors, to face poor Manny, let alone live with the smear tactics the media would always use against her caused bile to rise in her throat.
“I’m not asking that this arrangement last forever,” he added in a velvety tone.
“Of course not. Just a lifetime,” she blurted on a note of sarcasm.
One dark eyebrow dipped. “Who knows? Neither of us can see that far ahead into the future.”
She bit her lip. “How inconvenient for you.”
“You have no idea,” his voice grated, conveying some deep-seated emotion that caught her on the raw.
“When is your wedding supposed to take place?”
“Preferably yesterday.”
“Obviously.” She tried to hide her smile but lost the struggle.
“To answer your question, my parents have planned it for a month from today. The wedding ceremony will follow my coronation in the cathedral.”
Only four weeks? “I’m sure a royal wedding takes a great deal more time than that to organize.”
“You don’t know my parents. Everything’s been arranged. It’s only a matter of adding one detail … the name of the woman I’ve chosen. They’ve been living for this day.”
“That’s nice. I can’t say the same thing about mine. Now I’m afraid I have to go. My job is waiting for me back in Los Angeles and I have a plane to catch.” She started for the outer door once more.
“Is it your chosen career?”
When she reached it, she looked over her shoulder at him. “What? Putting makeup on movie stars? No. The job chose me and has kept me alive.”
He moved closer. Her heart did a funny kick. “What job would you choose if you could?”
That gave her pause. “You mean, in my wildest dreams?”
It was his turn to chuckle. “Is it that out of the ordinary?”
“For me, yes.”
“You want to be an astronaut?”
“No.” Her mouth curved upward once more. “This is something very down-to-earth.”
“What would that be?”
“It’s as improbable as my meeting a real prince today.”
“Why?”
“In the first place, I have to find a job where I can earn a lot of money in order to pay off mother’s debts before I do anything else.”
“And in the second place?” he queried.
“I don’t know if I could make the grade.”
“Doing what? Humor me,” he prodded.
“Plastic surgery.”
His intelligent gaze grew thoughtful. “Why that particular profession?”
“My mother was labeled the most beautiful woman in the world. Her love affair with herself was obscene. There are people out there born with facial problems who’d give everything they possessed to be able to look in the mirror and not cringe or grieve at the sight.
“If I could change one person’s looks enough to make life more bearable for them, I’d give anything to do it.”
A marked stillness pervaded the atmosphere before he spread his hands in a typical Italian gesture. “A noble aspiration. If that’s your raison d’être, then make it a reality once we’re married.”
Maybe she was hallucinating.
“Why not?” He read her mind. “Castelmare University in Capriccio has a medical school linked with the University of Genoa.”
The man was starting to get to her and that was frightening.
“Look—I was talking about my wildest dreams. The point is, not even I would want to be married to me. And lest you forget, one has to speak Italian to go to your university. For your information, I can only say one word in your
