must have sensed his presence and gave him a sideward glance. Again the candles flickered, turning her eyes to a shimmery silver. His bride had come to this earth with her own unique color scheme, one that resonated with him in ways he hadn’t noticed at the age of eighteen. His fifteen-year-old sister and her friend had been too young for him to appreciate the sight he was being treated to tonight.
Between her classic features with those high cheekbones and passionate red mouth, the blood was pounding in his veins. His gaze fell lower to the feminine outline of her body in her gown. While they’d danced, she filled his arms in all the right places and was the perfect height for him.
Her choice of wedding gown had pleased him immensely. She looked demure, but her coloring added the dash of sensuality he’d noticed the first moment he saw her in the chapel.
Christina might not have been aware of it, but he’d watched the males in the crowd admiring her all evening long.
For the first time he wondered how many men she’d known who’d more than admired her. Though it was a little late to question what her love life had been like prior to the actual preparations for their wedding, he couldn’t help but wonder. He felt as if he were swimming in waters over his head.
Her eyes played over him as he moved toward her. He liked the way she was looking at him. When she reached for her wineglass, he picked up his. “This wine comes from the Brunello grapes grown in this vineyard.”
Antonio swirled it around in his glass. “That’s very fitting. I’m sure it will be delicious. A toast to my wife, who has already made my life infinitely richer by simply agreeing to marry me. Salud!” He touched his glass to hers before they both drank some.
She unexpectedly raised her glass again and touched his. “To my husband. You never let your sister down or betrayed her trust. Because of that you’ve won mine. To you, Antonio. Salud! You’ll make the finest king our country has ever known.”
“If that happens, it’s because you’re at my side.” His throat swelled with emotion, making it difficult to swallow his second taste of the fruity wine.
“Shall we sit down to eat? I’m sure you’re as ravenous as I am.” She seated herself before he could help her.
They both tucked in to the heavenly food. She ate with an appetite. He liked that. Most women of his acquaintance ate rabbit food—whether to impress him or not—but not Christina. There was nothing fake about her. That was what impressed him.
When she lifted her eyes to him he said, “The little speech you gave in front of the palazzo blew me away.”
“It did?”
“How could it not? I thought no other man could be luckier than I am to have you for my wife.”
“I feel the same way about you.”
“Christina—I know I’ve put you in an impossible situation.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Antonio. I understand. That’s behind us now.”
“No, it isn’t. Not until I tell you why.”
She had hold of her wineglass stem, but she didn’t lift it to her lips while she waited for his explanation. Looking at her right now, he didn’t think he’d ever seen so beautiful a woman.
“In a word, I was afraid.”
Her delicate eyebrows frowned. “Of what?”
“That once I was in Africa where we could really be alone, you might tell me the engagement was off and send me packing.”
She sounded aghast and let go of the glass to put a hand to her throat. “I would never have done that to you.”
“Then you’re a woman in a million. Who else would have sacrificed her personal happiness for the greater good of someone, something else?”
“Our circumstances were very unusual, but I am happy.”
He shook his head. “You don’t need to pretend with me. This is truth time. I did something terribly selfish to ask you to marry me.”
A pained look entered her eyes. “Is this your way of telling me you wish we hadn’t gone through with the wedding?”
“No, Christina, no—” He reached across the table and grasped both her hands. “I’m just thankful you consented to be my bride. If you’ll let me, I’d like us to start over again. Through Elena we’ve been friends for years, but you and I don’t know each other. I want to get to know all about you. What are the things you love to do? What are the things you hope to do?”
Her silvery gaze enveloped him. “Besides grow old with you?”
“Yes. I’d like to learn it all.”
“I’m a pretty normal woman, Antonio. I like reading books and eating chocolate. I like spending time with my friends, especially your sister. I love Africa and the time I spent there helping others. But I suppose my greatest wish would be to have a family of my own. When I first visited the Kikuyu villages with all the adorable children, I hungered for a child of my own. How do you feel about children?”
“I want them too, Christina.”
“But I want to take care of them myself. Even if I’ll be queen, I want to be their mother in the truest sense of the word.”
“So you don’t want to send them away to boarding school?”
“Why? It doesn’t make sense to me that if you have a child, you would send it away as soon as possible.”
He released her hands. “You’re talking about yourself.”
“Yes.”
He saw her eyes glaze over.
“I wanted my mother and father during my growing-up years. If you and I have a baby, would you want it to leave us before it was time to let him or her go? Did you like being sent away to boarding school?”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“But did you like it?”
“No. I’ve never admitted that out loud.”
“Neither did Elena.”
“I know.”
“But we’ll be the parents,” Christina said, then added in an anxious tone, “Will our son have a choice? You say you want to know all about me. If you tell me our children will have to leave home before I’m ready to see them go, I couldn’t bear it. Why have them at all?”
Antonio got out of the chair and went around to hunker down beside her. He grasped the hand closest to him. “Look at me.” She finally did his bidding. “I was wrong not to come to Africa. We did need time to talk about all these things so I could reassure you.”
He heard her heavy sigh before she spoke. “I’m sorry I’ve turned this beautiful night into something else. Forgive me.”
“There’s
