“That’s true. We’re excellent at meddling. I guess it’s not like that in royal circles.”
“No. My parents had an arranged marriage. My mother died when I was young and I do not remember much about her.”
“Rafael.” She touched his arm. “I know that was hard. I feel bad that I don’t know that much about your life.”
“You are not one to read gossip magazines, where my entire life has been detailed. I grew up prepared to one day rule Calandria. There are many responsibilities both then and now.”
“Even when you were three?”
“Of course. I had to learn about my country’s history, the people. I had nannies and tutors. When I was eight, I was sent to England to begin my education.”
Just like that. Sent away from all that was familiar. “Sounds barbaric.”
He shrugged. “It was necessary.”
“Because you can’t get an education at home?”
“Because that is how things are done.” He touched her chin, raising her head so that she looked at him. “You are too softhearted.”
“Gee, no one’s ever accused me of that before.”
In the night, his eyes were dark, as she remembered them. Here in the shadows, the blurring of Diego into Rafael was more pronounced. The past seemed closer somehow.
“So now you’re duty guy?” she asked, her voice low. “All for the crown and the people?”
“Something like that.”
“Any arranged marriages in your future?”
“No.”
“But you will be marrying a princess or duchess or some other kind of ‘ess’ woman.”
“It is expected.”
She really had to go check out those gossip magazines and learn a little bit more about Rafael, she thought, as he seemed to move closer.
“Since when do you do what is expected?” she asked.
“On occasion it has occurred.”
“But an arranged marriage. What if you don’t like her?”
“Then I will say no.”
“You can do that?”
“Arranged is different from forced. I accept suggestions but the final choice is mine.”
“And hers.”
“Yes. Hers as well.” He sighed. “Did you always talk this much? I remember more silence.”
“Then you remember wrong. I’ve always-”
He cut her off with a kiss.
The moment his lips brushed hers, she felt her entire body begin to melt. He had been the last man to kiss her, to touch her, to make love with her. She had mourned him, knowing she would never want to give her heart again. Not when having it broken had nearly destroyed her.
Yet here he was, so familiar. In the darkness she could pretend he was Diego once again.
As he pulled her close, she went willingly, finding comfort and need in the familiar strength of his body. His scent aroused her nearly as much as the pressure of his mouth claiming hers.
He still kissed with a combination of imperiousness and passion that left her breathless. The light touch of his tongue on her lower lip had her parting instantly. Wanting had her clinging to him, desperate for more.
He plunged inside her mouth and claimed her. Waves of passion nearly brought her to her knees as she felt the familiar desire and tasted the man she remembered.
His hands were everywhere-down her back, on her arms, at her waist. She couldn’t get close enough. She wanted to crawl inside of him and let the old emotional wounds of missing him finally heal.
“Mia,” he breathed as he kissed her cheeks, her jaw, her neck. “How I have missed you.”
It was too much. The need combined with that voice. The voice that had haunted her dreams for nearly five years.
Diego, she thought. Only not Diego. Rafael.
He raised his head. “So the fire still lives between us,” he murmured. “Tell me you can feel it.”
She drew in a slow breath. “You know I can.”
He dropped his hand to the small of her back and drew her against him. Her belly brushed against his erection.
“This is what you do to me, what you have always done.” He cupped her face and stared into her eyes. “My father has been parading all sorts of appropriate young women in front of me for years. Marry this one or the next one, he tells me. But I refuse. I know my duty to my people and yet I can’t deny the hunger of my heart. I need more than an arranged marriage. From that comes only children. My father says to take a mistress along with my wife. But that is not for me.”
He smiled. “Have you missed me?” he asked quietly.
“Every now and then.”
“You tease me.”
“A little. I was devastated when I thought you were dead. I didn’t think I’d make it. Finding out I was pregnant saved me.”
“I only had the memories of our love,” he told her. “You did love me, didn’t you? You said you did.”
“More than I should have.”
He kissed her. “So much lost. So much time wasted.”
She felt as if she’d had too much wine, except she’d only had the one glass at dinner. Still, her head was spinning and she couldn’t seem to think straight.
“What are you saying?” she asked.
“That we have been given a second chance, Mia. I have found you again. We have a son. Daniel will one day be king of Calandria. But to see him grow up as I did- it cannot be. You would change that. You are strong enough to stand against tradition.”
She took a step back. “Danny’s not going to grow up like you.”
“I know. You will not let him. We will not let him.”
Sure, he was Danny’s father, but Mia had trouble thinking of Rafael and her as a “we.”
“It is you. It has always been you,” he told her. He kissed her again, then took her hands in his. “Marry me, Mia. Marry me and be my princess.”
An earthquake would have made sense. Hey, this was California and the earth moved all the time. Locusts might have even been okay because they were in the Bible and she had seen one once in a museum. But a proposal of marriage from Prince Rafael of Calandria? Not in this reality.
“You’re crazy,” she said as she jerked her hands free of his. “Marry you? I don’t know you and you sure as hell don’t know me. Rafael, it’s been three days.”
He laughed. “I know how many hours and minutes. Would you like to hear? I thought you were lost to me and now you are found. I cannot let you go.”
He captured her hands again and kissed her knuckles. It was a pretty smooth move, but then he’d had prince lessons. What other guy stood a chance?
“Don’t say no. Give me time to prove myself. We have another chance, Mia. How many people can say that? I don’t want to lose you again.”
She didn’t know what to say. Marriage? Sure, he was the father of her child, but she’d been thinking along the lines of Danny’s spending a couple of weeks each summer in Calandria.
“I have a life,” she said. “School. Family.”
Instead of responding, he stared into her eyes. She felt his presence as tangibly as if he’d thrown a blanket across her shoulders. There was warmth and protection. And the ever-present need.
She
“Don’t say no,” he murmured. “Give us time. Is that too much to ask?”
