The Marcelli Princess

him of Diego and Quentin when they had been young.

Still holding the boy’s hand, Mia crouched next to the child and smiled. “Danny, do you want to say hello?”

Danny stuck his forefinger in his mouth and regarded Rafael thoughtfully. “Are you really my daddy?” he asked softly.

“Yes, I am. I am Crown Prince Rafael of Calandria and you are my heir.”

Danny frowned. “I’m not air. I’m a little boy.”

Mia smiled. “He means you’re going to be like him when you grow up.”

Danny turned and buried his face in her shoulder. Mia wrapped her arms around him. “Sorry,” she told Rafael over the boy’s head. “He’s not usually shy, but this is a big deal.”

“Of course. Anyone would be confused by the situation.”

“You’d think a boy would know his own father,” Tessa said, glaring at him.

“Rafael is his father,” Mia said. “I don’t have any doubts.”

“We should have breakfast,” Grammy M said. “Come on, Danny. I’ve made hot chocolate.”

The boy let go of his mother and went with Grammy M to the table. He glanced at Rafael several times, as if trying to figure out what having a father meant.

Mia stood. “It’s going to take time for all of us to adjust,” she said.

He was close enough to inhale the scent of her skin. Something floral with the hint of a woman’s heat. Instantly he could remember what it had been like to be with her. They’d come together in a fiery passion that had defied logic and some of the laws of physics.

Did that fire still exist between them? He would not mind if it did. Seducing Mia would not only be pleasurable, it would aid his plan.

“I do not mean to rush anyone,” he said. “We will-what is the phrase?-make it up as we go along.”

She smiled. “I’d like that.”

“Good.”

She had known him as Diego as well as anyone, he thought. But she didn’t know him as Rafael. If she did, she would realize that he never allowed himself to simply go along with circumstances. He always had a goal and he always achieved it.

Danny’s eyes were wide, but he didn’t squirm.

Mia crouched in front of her son and took both his hands in hers. “Remember when you had to get a shot and I told you it would hurt?” she asked.

Danny nodded.

“And when we went to the dentist for a cleaning and I said it wouldn’t hurt and it didn’t?”

He nodded again.

“This won’t hurt at all. Okay?”

He looked from her to Umberto, then opened his mouth and closed his eyes. The tall, burly bodyguard stuck the swab into the boy’s mouth and rubbed it against his cheek.

“I am finished,” he said in thickly accented English.

Danny blinked. “That’s it?”

Mia grinned. “Uh-huh. Did I say it wouldn’t hurt? Did you believe me?”

As she spoke, she tickled Danny’s sides. He laughed and pretended to push her away, while cuddling closer.

“It was okay,” he said between bursts of laughter.

Umberto nodded and left with the swab. Joe stepped out of the corner.

“They’ll rush it through,” he told her. “It should only be a few days.”

Mia pulled Danny onto her lap and glanced at her brother. “Still having doubts?”

“More like false hopes,” he admitted. “I don’t like this.”

“I don’t know how I feel,” she admitted. Too much had happened too quickly. Four hours ago she’d been asleep in her own bed and now a man she thought dead and buried had strolled back into her life. And not just any man.

“Is he really a prince?” she asked.

“Pretty much.”

Impossible, she thought. “I’ve never been very good at reverence.”

“You’d better learn to curtsy.”

She couldn’t imagine that ever happening. “It’s a new century. Royalty isn’t like it was before.”

Joe smiled. “They’ve let go of their love of a good beheading.” His smile faded. “I don’t know what to hope for,” he admitted. “Danny needs a father, but this guy?”

“I do have interesting taste in men,” she said, still unable to get her mind around all that had happened.

Grammy M walked into the dining room. “He’s leaving,” she announced. “Just like that. Prince Rafael is leaving.”

“Going back to Calandria?” Mia asked, wanting him gone and not gone in equal measure.

“Worse. A hotel. Tessa says he’s not staying here, which is just ridiculous. I’ve never seen her like this before. She was always difficult and stubborn, but not like this. Imagine takin’ an instant dislike to little Danny’s father.”

Danny looked up at Mia. “Daddy stays here.”

She wasn’t sure if it was a question or a request. She turned to Joe. “What does your military training say?”

“We can keep an eye on him in either place.”

There weren’t that many hotels around the hacienda. Santa Barbara was the closest town, and as it was summer, the main tourist season was in full swing. Would he even be able to find a room nearby? Did she care?

“He could stay in the house,” Grammy M said eagerly, “and those other two can use the guest cottage. That will get them out of the house. We shouldn’t have guns in the house. Not with little fingers about.”

Or even the whole boy, Mia thought. Technically there was room. Her parents were gone for a few months and the hacienda was big. “All right. Sure. Invite Rafael to stay.” Assuming royalty was willing to bunk with the common man.

Grammy M held out her hand to Danny. “Come on, then. Let’s go see if we can be convincin’ your father to grace us with his presence.”

Mia let the older woman lead Danny away.

“I’m not excited about the ‘gracing us with his presence’ attitude,” she admitted when she and Joe were alone. “The situation is already difficult enough.”

Joe moved close and put his arm around her. “We’ll be fine.”

“You sure about that?”

“Almost.”

“Great. What can we do to move you to be completely sure? Because I’d like that better.”

“You scared?”

Scared? Sure. And nauseous and apprehensive and a whole lot of other things.

“I saw him die, Joe. I’ve spent the past five years feeling guilty about the fact that he saved my life only to lose his own. Now he shows up and tells me he’s not who I thought, he’s not dead, and hey, ‘I rushed to your side as soon as I found out you were still alive yourself.’ There should be a limit on surprises in a twenty-four-hour period.”

“Agreed. I’m going to call in a few favors and get extra security around the house.”

Mia didn’t like the sound of that. “Is there a problem?” Her body tightened with sudden cold. “Do you think once the DNA test is back he’ll try to kidnap Danny?”

“Don’t go there. We don’t know enough, Mia. I want to be cautious.”

“Cautious is good. Be the king of caution. You’re good at that. In the meantime, I’ll try to muddle through. This is all good, right? Like you said, Danny needs a father and who better than his biological one.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“I’m not. I should be, but I’m not. I feel like I’m overreacting by expecting the worst. I don’t know. It’s all