lived at the palace. They’d been incredibly close. A few days later Alberto sent her a letter with a picture of Stefano enclosed, looking gorgeous in a safari shirt. He’d been twenty-two in the photo, taken when he’d been working in Kenya.
“I love that smile of his, Lanza. He’s my idol and always has been. There are times when I miss him like crazy. After you and I are married, I hope he’ll come around more often. I’d give anything to see more of him.”
Lanza stoked the fire, recalling those words that had come straight from Alberto’s heart. He’d gotten his wish far too late. Stefano was back, and had proposed marriage to her.
Stefano was an important, sophisticated man of the world and had been intimately involved with various women over the years, according to the media, so there were no surprises. If Alberto had been with other women this past year, Lanza knew nothing about it, but assumed he’d had a few girlfriends in the past.
Marrying Stefano would mean having a normal intimate relationship that would produce a family in time. Her attraction for him had never changed, even though they hadn’t seen one another for a long time, but for some reason the thought of having relations with him made her nervous. She was an inexperienced and naive virgin. A shudder passed through her body.
Would she be a disappointment as his wife?
Could she bring herself to accept another royal proposal of marriage?
If she did, it might increase her father’s longevity and give him the help he needed to rule. She loved her father. Perish the thought if he died early because she’d refused to go through with this marriage. How would she be able to bear the burden of that knowledge?
Lanza was a mess.
Her sisters were right. Her favorite fairy tale had been about Cinderella, who’d met her heart’s desire at the ball and had lived happily-ever-after with her prince. But that was never going to happen to her now.
When Lanza finally turned away from the fire, she accepted the fact that she’d been a fool her whole life…
I’ll never know love or be in love.
On that note she left the apartment to find her parents and tell them she’d made her decision to accept Stefano’s proposal, but was stopped on her way out the door by her personal maid.
“This came for you personally by courier from the royal palace in Umbriano, Your Highness.”
“Thank you, Serena.”
Lanza went back into the apartment to open it. Letters of condolences had poured into the palace for days through the post, but this had been hand delivered. There was no writing on the outside of the envelope. Who would be sending her a letter?
Curious, she opened it and found a brief missive.
Dear Lanza,
What you and I are about to do is unprecedented. I’ve already had to leave the country for Kenya, where I’ll probably be working for at least six weeks. After that I must fly directly to Australia, and from there Bulgaria.
I’ll try to get to Domodossola at some point to see you. If I can’t, I’ll email you so we can talk regularly and get prepared for the wedding. Phone calls are difficult because the mines where I work rarely have cell phone service.
I’m afraid our life will have to begin after we meet at the altar.
Don’t worry about our wedding night. We’ll spend it away from everyone while we sort out the rules of engagement.
Stefano
She gasped in surprise. Before she’d even given her parents or him her answer, Stefano had already sent this message assuming she would have fallen in line with their parents’ wishes.
What on earth did he mean about the rules of engagement, unless he was implying he had a solution they could live with?
Lanza sank down on the side of the bed, confused and unsettled as she reread it. Stefano’s work truly did take him around the world. When would he have time to help her father? Maybe she shouldn’t marry him, after all.
“Lanza?”
“Just a minute.” Hearing her sisters’ voices, she quickly buried the letter beneath a cushion on her bed and hurried over to the door to open it. “Come on in.”
“We thought you might want company.”
She didn’t know what she wanted.
“Have you decided what you’re going to do?”
“Not yet. Papà said this marriage has the blessing of the cardinal. He says the citizens of both countries will accept it. But I think it seems like a sham and I feel guilty about it. Do you think it sounds honorable for Stefano to take Alberto’s place?”
Fausta eyed her with concern. “It’s a year away, and they were close. I do remember that.”
“But I don’t love him.”
“Did you love Alberto?”
She lowered her head. “No, but I liked him well enough. If I say yes and agree to marry Stefano, it will be because Papà needs a son-in-law to rely on.”
“No.” Donetta came back with a friendly smile. “That won’t be the reason. You can’t fool Fausta and me.”
“What do you mean?”
“We both know you always had a crush on Stefano. Who could blame you? As the tabloids say, he’s the dishiest bachelor on the planet.”
One year later…
A WINTRY NEW YEAR’S DAY brought thousands of people to line the streets of the capital of Domodossola for the royal wedding. A national holiday had been declared and the sound of bells rang out.
The kingdom had been preparing for this event since her betrothal to Alberto two years ago. Now that day was finally here with a different prince walking her down the aisle. Every shop was open to welcome visitors from all over Europe and beyond.
Lanza sat across from her father in the gold leaf closed carriage that took them toward the cathedral in the distance. With every step of the matched white horses in trappings of red and gold bells that jingled, huge cheers from the masses rang out to celebrate this day unlike any other. Excitement filled the air to see the king accompanying his daughter to the long-anticipated wedding ceremony.
Over the year she’d received dozens of long emails with pictures from Stefano while they’d discussed the plans for the wedding in the cathedral and the festivities afterward at the palace.
She’d asked him questions about his locations and work. He’d explained a lot of technical things about mining she’d enjoyed. His descriptions
