Fresh cut roses, hair done up in a queenly twist, beautiful upswept eyes.
I knew without a doubt I was in the presence of a true aristocrat when the contessa approached us. She had lovely soft skin and lips as red as her roses. I couldn’t help but notice her hands when she laid the flowers on a nearby stone bench. Long, graceful fingers. Pale lucent nails. When she arched her brows, I swore they were like a frame allowing me to see into her past and picture her as a young girl with freckles dancing across her long, straight nose.
Pewter-hued, dangling earrings swayed when she moved her head. Her back was straight, making her look taller than she was. Her crisp, black sheath dress capped with a white collar gave her the look of a fashion model who just stepped off the pages of a magazine.
The Contessa de Alessi.
For the first time in my life, I got shivers I couldn’t shake. I lost my nerve. After seeing this stunning woman, I knew I was the last person the contessa would want for her son. A commoner. I had no business being here.
I got cold feet. Very cold feet.
“I can’t do it, Ricco,” I whispered. “Please, let’s go.”
“We can’t. She’s already seen us,” he said, his arm sliding around my waist as if it were the most natural thing to do. I melted into him. I couldn’t run if I tried.
But that didn’t solve my immediate dilemma.
“What will your mother say when she finds out I’m just a girl from Philly? That my tiara is made of rhinestones, not diamonds?”
“She will adore you as much as I do, bella.”
“I’m not so sure, Ricco. She’s everything I’m not. Classy. Sophisticated. A blueblood. She won’t like me.”
“You’re wrong about her, Afton,” Ricco whispered in my ear. “It was her idea to meet you.”
“Her idea?”
“Si. After we left that day, the children couldn’t stop talking about you. How beautiful and clever you are, and how you took away their pain and made them feel better with your kindness.”
I took a step back and relaxed a little, but I had to ask, “But why does she want to meet me now?”
“She knows you’re someone special to me.” He paused, squeezed my waist. “I’ve never brought a woman here before to assist me in my magic show with the children.”
Did he say what I think he said? That I was someone special?
I was still digesting that wonderful news when, in an instant, the contessa put my fears to rest with her calming, reassuring smile. I almost believed I could do this, that I could belong to this world and not mess up, that I could make Ricco happy.
It he wanted me.
I still wasn’t convinced he had anything more on his mind than casual dating. The only problem was, Mama wouldn’t be happy about that. She was convinced the count wanted to marry me. I wasn’t. I had to admit, though, having a mom who really cared about me was a wonderful new experience that I could enjoy for the first time in years without worrying about it disappearing as quickly as a ring of smoke.
“My son, Ricco, has told me so much about you, Signorina Lane,” the contessa said, looking me up and down. I wished I’d worn a summer dress like the willowy princesses you see in the tabloids instead of jeans. “How you fly high across the circus tent like an angel with wings of silk.”
“Please call me Afton.” What else should I say? I love your son, but I’m not sure how he feels about me?
“Afton is my new assistant,” Ricco said with pride.
I double blinked. His assistant? How could he do this to me? I didn’t want to be his assistant. I wanted him.
I kept smiling, refusing to let my disappointment show on my face. I was tempted to squeeze my eyes shut so he couldn’t see the tears welling up, but that might have been too dramatic.
“Has you sawed you in half yet?” the contessa asked me. She had no idea I was hurting so much my heart fluttered madly like a butterfly with a broken wing.
“Yes,” I said, squeezing the words out. “More than once.”
“Oh, Ricco,” she scolded him, “you’ll frighten the poor girl away with your tricks.”
“Nothing scares her,” Ricco said, and then he explained what happened when lightning blew out the lights in the middle of my swing-overs. How I kept my cool and didn’t lose my grip, swinging back and forth in the dark, hanging sixty feet up off the ground.
“Oh, you truly are brave!” she said, impressed.
“I would have died if Ricco hadn’t caught me in his arms,” I said in a flat voice, figuring I owed him something even if he did just ruin my life.
I was dying inside. I didn’t know I could feel so bad after feeling so good. It was awful.
“I would do anything for you, cara mia,” he said, kissing my hand. Really? He had the nerve to act like nothing was wrong? What happened to I’d never let you down. I’d be there for you always?
“My roses are calling to me,” the contessa said, picking up the gorgeous display of red blooms glimmering with dew. The meeting was over. Whatever she wanted to know, she had her answer. Too bad I got the wrong answer from Ricco. “Why don’t you show Afton around the castle? There’s lovely view of the east garden from the gallery.”
Was that an open invitation for me to keep seeing her son?
Obviously, he didn’t get the memo.
“You should be a magician, Ma-ma,” Ricco said, accenting the second syllable like the English do. “You just read my mind.”
Yeah, right.
“Then be off with you two.” She took my hand in hers. “Be careful, signorina, don’t get lost in the dungeon. Ricco has been storing his magic props down there since he was a boy.”
She wished me well and, with a lovely, Monterran smile, she scooted us off toward the castle.
Yes. The castle.
A silvery-white, fantasy structure with a medieval turret at each end and fanciful statues prancing about on the roof. Out in front was an artificial lake with ancient fountains splashing cool water and tempting me to jump in and cool off.
I was so upset I should have, but instead I stood there in awe. If I couldn’t have the count, I could at least have the grand tour.
I creaked my neck. Three stories high with more than a dozen double bay windows jutting outward, grouped in pairs on both the front and back. Grand pilasters accented the façade with a Renaissance elegance.
My God, I’d never seen a place so big.
I was blown away by its sheer beauty and elegance. I imagined how it could hold you spellbound at the first light of dawn.
I wished we would get lost in the castle so I could stay longer. Convince Ricco I loved him.
A hundred years would be nice, thank you.
* * * * *
“My ancestor, Count Guardi Carolini de Alessi, was burned at the stake in England in 1645 for practicing magic.”
Ricco winked at me and I wasn’t sure if he was telling me the truth or trying to get my attention. I couldn’t blame him. I hadn’t stopped staring at the beautiful portraits lining the gallery extending up and down the winding stairway from the ground to the first floor. From what I gathered, the original count earned his title with his daring sword skills, saving the king’s daughter from bandits on his way home from the Crusades.
“If your ancestor was as skilled as you,” I said, smug. “He would have escaped the fire.”
His brow shot up. “He did.”
Why didn’t that surprise me?
“I don’t suppose he revealed his secret to anyone?” I quizzed him.
“Only to the beautiful princess he met in Paris and then later married.”
I doubted this count had the marrying gene in his DNA, even if my mother insisted to the contrary. As Ricco continued our tour of the castle, I tried to concentrate on what I was seeing, but I was thoroughly discouraged. Not once did he give me a hint that he was still interested in me.
The magic was gone.
I stood before a long window, thinking, the white shutters opened wide to let the afternoon sun in. Its warmth beat on my face, stirring something in me. A passion to make everything right between us. I longed to kiss him, but I imagine that wasn’t in my job description.
I must have been crazy last night when I threw him out, insisting it would never work between us. Today I waited with bated breath for him to sweep me into his arms.
What changed me?
I didn’t have to look any further than the pink camellia pinned to my sweater. Its sweet scent comforted me.
Mama.
Her passionate confession and her vivid description of her life in the circus had opened up something in me, too. Cleansed my soul. I no longer carried the burden that it was my fault about what happened. To Dad. To Emma. And that gave me the courage to follow my heart.
If only I could tell Ricco that.
I concentrated on taking in the elegance that surrounded me. White on white walls with Umbrian stone floors and comfy white couches you could sink into and relax. Fresh cut flowers everywhere. His mother’s touch. Then it hit me. The contessa wasn’t judging me. Checking me out to see if I was good enough for her son. Quite the contrary. She was telling me to fight for him. Not to let him go.
My mind was made up. This game we were playing had to end. Now. I pushed down any fear I had and went for it. The whole royal enchilada.
“Yesterday, Ricco, you couldn’t wait to tell me how you felt about me. But I was in such a crazed state over finding my mother, I sent you away. Yes, I admit I was angry, upset. Who wouldn’t be after a bombshell like that landed in their lap? But you didn’t fight for me. Tell me you loved me. No, you hired me instead as your assistant. Why? I asked myself.”
I expected him to come back with a snappy answer, but it wasn’t anger I saw in his eyes but amusement. Like he’d never had a woman challenge him before.
“Yes, tell me,” he said with a grin. His eyes, teeming with questions, pulled me in, held me captive. “I’d like to know.”
“It’s your royal ego,” I shot back. I waited for him to deny it. He didn’t, so I continued with: “You couldn’t stand it that I was the one who got away, so you dragged me here today to make a fool out of me.”
His brows crossed. I’d struck a nerve. Good.
“That’s not true, bella. I tried to tell my mother that you weren’t interested in me, but she said if you were half as wonderful as I said you were, then I was a fool if I let you go.”
“And what did she say?”
“That you’re twice as wonderful.”
“And what did you say?”
“That I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“What?” I plopped down on a comfy, white sofa, the breath knocked out of me. That was the last thing I expected to hear. “Then why the heck didn’t you say so?”
“And have you run off again?” He laughed with that sexy, velvet voice. “I’ve never had a woman disappear so often without me making her disappear. I was even tempted to lock you in the dungeon until you came to your senses.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would. I’ve spent years observing, learning, and practicing the art of magic, when in the end the moment of truth comes down to a blink of the eye,” he said. “A moment when what you thought couldn’t possibly be real becomes your own reality. As you have become mine.”
His words resonated with a truth that struck me hard.
“Seriously?” Dumb, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Si, as you Americans say, seriously. I’m asking you to stay in Monterra.”
“But I have a job back home, teaching kids.”
“I have a job for you here.”
“As your assistant,” I said flatly.
“Is that what’s making your pretty face so sad?” he said, lifting my chin. “Cara mia, I want you to stay here and teach our children.”
“Our children?”
“I’ve traveled the world, believing anything is possible, but my most difficult magic trick was making you fall in love with me.”
“Then you do love me?” I had to ask.
“Of course, I do.”
I had more than the breath knocked out of me when Ricco drew me into his arms, bent his head and kissed me tenderly. I couldn’t help but wish he’d never stop as we sank deeper into the sofa. Our kisses becoming more passionate. A minute, then two. God knows, I wasn’t counting.
Finally, I leaned back and looked up at him. I ruffled my fingers through his wild, dark hair come undone. “You’re the sexiest magician I’ve ever kissed.”
“Oh? And how many have you kissed?”
“Just one. But I will never kiss another. Promise.” I couldn’t believe this wonderful man wanted me to be his wife, have his children. “I adore you, Count Ricco.”
“And I adore you, bella. From the moment I saw you dragging your big suitcases, your eyes filled with worry over your sister. You were real, genuine. You put family first. That’s when I started to fall in love with you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were a royal?”
“And have you turn me down?” He slid his hands around my waist. “I could see how proud you were of your working class roots. I didn’t want to take the chance of you seeing me as a man out of your reach. A snob, as you so aptly put it.”
“I’m the snob. All my life I wanted to be a princess because I thought that princesses don’t feel pain, don’t get hurt. They live in a castle with a big, wonderful family.” I grabbed his hand and held it close to my heart. “But in the end, it’s not where you live or if you wear a tiara, it’s the man who fills your heart with joy when you hear his voice. The man whose touch makes you quiver all over. The man you love and who loves you.”
He brushed his mouth across my lips. “The only real magic is love, bella. I’ve searched so long for a woman I could share my life with. A woman who understands my passion for helping others with my magic. You are that woman. I swear I will love you more than any man could ever love you. You are my angel of the silks.”
“And you are the magic in me, Ricco. I love you. Now. And forever.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him with every ounce of me. “And that, my love, is no illusion.”