The Marcelli Princess

“Good to know.” The man had a butler? Sure. It probably came with the prince thing. Someone had to be responsible for his formal wear.

“I’m sure you have dry cleaning nearby,” he said.

“Yes. I can show you. Or will the bodyguards take care of that?”

“They will. And my laundry.”

“How nice. Proficiency with handguns and knowledge of the delicate cycle. They truly are the contemporary version of the Renaissance man.”

Rafael raised his right eyebrow in a gesture that was so familiar, her breath caught. In that moment she was transported back to her days with Diego after they had become lovers. She remembered sitting through a long planning meeting, barely able to stay awake because they’d been up all night making love. He’d caught her yawning and had raised his right eyebrow. The gesture, so unlikely in a dark and dangerous man, had caused her to giggle. Then he had smiled. The meeting had ended suddenly and he had ushered her back to his room.

She shook off the memory and her body’s visceral reaction to it. Ignoring Rafael, she glanced at Danny.

“What do you think?” she asked.

The boy didn’t speak.

His father crouched down in front of him. “This is a very unusual situation. It isn’t every day that a man finds out that he’s a father. We’re going to have to take some time and get to know each other.”

Danny’s eyes widened slightly, but again he didn’t speak.

“I am very fortunate,” Rafael continued. “Some fathers never find their children. I’m glad that didn’t happen to us.”

“Do I look like you?” Danny asked.

Mia wanted to answer but sensed this was a moment when it was better to keep quiet.

Rafael looked Danny over, then smiled. “I think you do.”

“Charlie looks like his daddy. So does Brandon. Billy looks like his mom.” He glanced at Mia, as if wondering if she understood why that was a bad thing.

She smiled. “You have the same eyes and smile. The hair color could have come from either of us.”

“You are my son,” Rafael told the boy. “You are a prince and one day you will rule Calandria.”

Mia didn’t want to think of things in those terms. Right now she would be thrilled to get Danny to eat more vegetables.

“A prince?” Danny laughed.

“It’s true,” his father told him.

From the moment Mia had found out she was pregnant, she’d thought of her child as a Marcelli. But he wasn’t anymore.

Danny lunged at his father, arms open, body quivering. Rafael pulled him close and they hugged.

She stood a little distance away, watching the moment, equally happy and sad. Of course she wanted her son to have a father, but at the same time, she realized that nothing would ever be the same again. It was no longer just the two of them against the world. They were no longer a pair-in a matter of seconds, they had become a family.

“It is very beautiful here,” Rafael said later that afternoon as he and Mia walked through the vineyards by the house.

”Things are about to get crazy,” Mia told him. “The grapes are ripening and soon Brenna will begin compulsively checking to see which are ready to harvest. From that moment on, it’s a rush to get everything picked and pressed and put into barrels.”

She forced herself to stop talking. It was one thing to be nervous around Rafael, it was another to let him know. But jeez, Rafael here? Nothing felt real.

“We don’t make wine in Calandria. There is not enough land. That which is used for agriculture is used to grow our olives.”

“Ah, yes. The famous Calandrian olives. Worth their weight in gold.”

He smiled at her. “Almost. If the price of gold is down that week.” He stopped and looked at her. “How are you-what is the phrase?-holding up?”

“I’m good. A little shell-shocked but recovering.” Give her six or eight weeks and she’d be an old pro at dealing with him.

“Me too,” he admitted with a shrug. “A short time ago, I was a carefree bachelor.”

“You’re still that.”

“Not so much. I have a family.”

Exactly how she’d thought of them earlier. Why did it make her uncomfortable coming from him? “We have Danny in common,” she told him. “But nothing else.”

His mouth curved into a smile. “Once you would not have said that.”

“It’s been a long time. We’re different people now. You more than me.”

“Because I am not the dark and dangerous Diego?”

“That’s part of it.”

He reached for her hand. “Perhaps we should get to know each other again. We have a child together, Mia. That is a bond that will never be broken.”

She was as mesmerized by his low, seductive voice as by the gentle pressure of his hand holding hers. He laced their fingers together.

There was Danny to think about, she reminded herself. Parents who got along were better than parents who didn’t. Did she want that? To get to know him? Did she have a choice? She was drawn to Rafael but couldn’t figure out how much of it was him as he was today and how much was the past.

“I agree that becoming friends is a good idea,” she said carefully.

“Excellent. Then let us begin. Tell me about your family.”

“Did you find out about them before you came here?”

“I have some basic information, but I want to hear about them from you. One can read a guidebook about a city, but until one has talked to a native, one cannot understand the flavor.”

Interesting point. “Okay. This land has belonged to the Marcellis for nearly ninety years. Not impressive by European standards, but it’s a big deal for us. My father is the third generation, and Danny the fifth. Obviously we’re Marcelli Wines. Our neighbors are Wild Sea. That’s the Giovanni family. Brenna, one of my sisters, married Nic Giovanni. The businesses are kept separate, but Brenna’s the wine queen and pretty bossy, so things are changing at Wild Sea.”

Rafael kept hold of her hand and began walking again. “Wild Sea is a much bigger company.”

“They’re huge. Brenna complains Nic is more into volume than quality, while he complains she’s morally opposed to making a profit. Neither is totally true. But it’s their passion and they argue all the time. They have five-year-old twins, Amy and Parker. Brenna’s a twin herself. The other half of that is Francesca, who’s married to Sam.”

She paused to draw in a breath. “You really want to know all this?”

“Absolutely. Brenna and Francesca are twins. Go on.”

“Okay. Francesca’s a psychologist. Sam’s a security expert. He has a daughter from a previous marriage-Kelly. She’s a dancer and I adore her. They also have twins. Eric and Haley are seven. Then there’s Katie, who’s my oldest sister. She’s a party planner in Los Angeles and is married to Zach. He has a son from a previous marriage, David, and they have two kids of their own. Valerie’s six and Liana is three.”

Rafael laughed. “Four girls. Your brother Joe was either very much in charge or tormented.”

Mia wrinkled her nose. “You’d think, but Joe didn’t grow up with us. It’s complicated, but my mom got pregnant while still in high school and she gave up the baby. Then she and my dad got married and had us and finally realized they had to find their son. But he’s a Marcelli now. He works in the winery. Darcy, his wife, is the president’s daughter, which is how I was in that picture and you saw me.”

“What if I hadn’t?” he asked, sounding as if the thought distressed him. “I could have missed finding you.”

There was an intensity that both drew her in and made her uncomfortable. In truth, she liked being with Rafael more than she should. But Grandma Tessa was right-what did she really know about the man? Still, there was enough of Diego in him to weaken her defenses. She couldn’t be with him and not remember how much she had once loved him. Or at least the man he had pretended to be. Strong, intelligent, difficult.