HAD ACTED a fool the day that Sophia had received her makeover. He had... He had allowed his facade to crack. He had allowed her to reach beneath that rock wall that he had erected between himself and anyone who might get too close.
He never acted a fool. And he resented the fact that Sophia possessed the power to make him do so.
His entire life was about the crown. The country.
His mother had driven the importance of those things home before she died. In an exacting and painful manner. One that had made it clear it was not Luca who mattered, but San Gennaro. The royal name over the royal himself.
He had shaped himself around that concept.
But Sophia had looked...
Thankfully, it was time. The guests had all arrived for the ball, with Sophia scheduled to arrive fashionably late so as to draw as much attention as possible.
His attention had been fixed on her far too much in the past few days. Sadly, everything his body had suspected about her beauty had been confirmed with this recent makeover. This stylist had managed to uncover and harness the feminine power that had always been there. And she had put it on brilliant display. Those curves, not covered anymore, but flaunted, served up as if they were a rare delicacy that he wanted very much to consume.
And of course, other men were going to look at her this way. Other men were going to dance with her.
Another man was going to marry her. Take her to his bed.
It was the plan. It was his salvation. Resenting it now... Well, he was worse than a dog in the manger, so to speak. Much worse.
He made a fox and a hen house look tame. Of course, if he were the fox he would devour her. He would have no one and nothing to answer to.
He was not a fox. He was a king.
And he could not touch her. He would not. He would honor that final request his father had made. To keep her safe. To see her married to a suitable man.
He was not that man, and he never could be.
Even if their relationship wasn’t as it was, he would not be for her. He might have been, once. But that possibility had been destroyed along with so many other things. He had very nearly been destroyed, too. But as he had set about to rebuild himself, he had made choices. Choices that would redeem the sins in the past. Not his sins to redeem. But that mattered little.
He was the one who had to live with the consequences. He was the one who had to rule a country with strength and unfailing wisdom.
And so, he had purposed he would.
But that did not make him the man for her.
Thank God the ball was happening now. Thank God this interminable nightmare was almost over.
She would choose one of the men in attendance tonight. He would be certain of that.
He stood at the back of the room, surveying the crowd of people. All of the women dressed in glorious ball gowns, none of whom would be able to hold a candle to Sophia, he knew. None of whom would be able to provide him with the distraction that he needed.
“This is quite lovely.” He turned to see his stepmother standing beside him. She had been traveling abroad with friends for months, clearly needing time away to process the loss of her husband. Though she was back now, living in a small house on palace grounds.
It suited her, she said, to live close, but no longer in the palace.
She had lost a significant amount of weight since the death of his father, and she had not had much to lose on that petite frame of hers to begin with. She was elegant as ever, but there was a sadness about her.
She had truly loved his father. It was something that Luca had never doubted. Never had he imagined she was a commoner simply looking to better her station by marrying royalty. No, there had been real, sincere love in their marriage.
Something that Luca himself would never be able to obtain.
“Thank you,” he said.
“And all of this is for Sophia?”
“Yes,” he said. “It is as my father wished. He wanted to see her in a good marriage. And I have arranged to see that it is so.”
“Yes,” she said, nodding slowly. “But what does Sophia think?”
“She has agreed. In that, she has agreed to try to find someone tonight. And if she does not, she has six months following to choose the man that she wishes. But I have confidence that one of the men tonight will attract her.”
“I see,” she said.
“You do not approve?”
“I married your father because I loved him. And one of the wonderful things that came with that marriage was money. With money came the kind of freedom that I never could have hoped Sophia to have if we had remained impoverished. I hate to see it curtailed.”
“This is not curtailing her freedom. It is simply keeping with what is expected of those in our station. I have explained this to Sophia already.”
“Yes, Luca. I have no doubt you have. You are very like your father in that you are confident that your way is always correct.”
“My way is the best for a woman in her position. You must trust that I am the authority on this.”
“You forget,” his stepmother said, “I have been queen for a sizable amount of time. I did not just leave the village. So to speak.”
“Perhaps not. But I was born into this. And you must understand that it is difficult to marry so far above your station. That is not an insult. But I know that it took a great deal for yourself and Sophia to adjust to the change. I know that Sophia still finds it difficult. Can you imagine if she married someone for whom this was foreign?”
“You make a very good point.”
“This ball, this marriage, is not for my own amusement.” It was for his salvation. However, he would leave that part unspoken.
Suddenly, the double doors to the ballroom opened, and all eyes turned to the entryway. There she was, a brilliant flash of fuchsia, her dark hair tumbling around her shoulders. She was even more beautiful than he had remembered. Golden curves on brilliant display, her skin gleaming in the light.
“Oh, my,” her mother said.
“She got a new stylist,” he said stiffly.
“Apparently.”
Sophia descended the staircase slowly, and the moment one foot hit the bottom of the stair, her first suitor had already approached her. The Swede.
Sophia would probably be disappointed he didn’t have a sheep on a leash to entertain her. Or a sweater.
“You do not approve of him?” his stepmother asked.
“Of course I approve of him. I approve of every man that
