The Prince's Forbidden Bride Read online

  Sometime later he unwillingly released her. “Until next time. Have a safe flight home, bellissima,” he murmured before reaching for his horse’s reins to walk away.

  * * *

  Two years later, there’d been twenty more horse competitions where Donetta had met with Enrico. They’d enjoyed picnics and kissed each other until they were breathless. Now that they had both turned eighteen, Donetta was dying to be with Enrico again because they could really be together now for hours and hours.

  After she won the overall championship for eighteen-year-olds at the concorso in Vienna, she’d worked it out with Lorenzo to look the other way while she and Enrico went out to dinner. She promised to be back at their hotel by 11:00 p.m., and Giovanni had hired a limo for them.

  Donetta almost died with happiness when Enrico took her to a club where they could have dinner and dance. He never let her out of his arms, kissing her cheek and neck.

  “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this, Donetta.”

  “Oh, yes, I do! Thank heaven there’s another concorso next month, otherwise I’m not going to be able to handle the separation.”

  He kissed her lips before dancing them back to their table. It was already getting to be eleven o’clock, but she didn’t care. She wanted to stay out all night with him.

  “Donetta,” he said after they sat down. “There’s something I have to tell you, but I’m dreading it.”

  Some nuance in his voice told her she wasn’t going to like it. “What’s wrong?”

  “Today was my last time to ride in a concorso.”

  She blinked. “What are you talking about? We can ride in competitions until we’re a lot older. I don’t understand.”

  He gripped her hand across the table. “Next week I’m leaving for England to attend university at Cambridge. Giovanni will be going with me. I won’t be riding in any competitions from now on. There’s no time. During the next four years I’ll be spending most of my time studying. There’ll be a few visits to see my family.”

  Donetta had been so drunk with happiness the import of his statement took a minute to sink in. “I see,” she said in a quiet voice. “What will you study?”

  “Business, law enforcement, finance, economics, agriculture.”

  “I’m envious.”

  “Aren’t you going to be attending college, too?”

  “Yes. Next month, but it won’t be in England. My parents insist I get my education at Domodossola University. They don’t want me going far away.”

  “I wish you could come to Cambridge, where we could spend all our free time together after our classes are over, to study and do other things...” His words caught at her heart. “Will you be competing in more concorsos while you’re at university?”

  By now they’d been served dessert, but she couldn’t touch hers. “Maybe some of them.”

  “After the performance you put on today, I have no doubt you’ll continue to win everything. I heard what the head of the Austrian federation said to you after your win. Your ability on a horse is breathtaking.”

  “Thank you,” she said, trying to smile, but her heart was heavy.

  “It’s killing me that I won’t see you again.”

  Enrico squeezed her hand harder. “I know I’ve upset you. Now you have some idea of what the separation’s going to do to me.”

  Tears flooded her eyes. “The thought of not seeing you again... I can’t handle it. Your presence has always made the competitions more exciting for me. Everyone asks, is Prince Enrico going to win again? They think I know. And I do,” she said with a teasing smile.

  “Now you’re really flattering me. I’ll watch for your name in the competitions coming up on the lists in the next few years and try to get away to see you.”

  “Oh, please come!”

  “I don’t want to lose you, Donetta. In the meantime let’s write to each other. I’ll send you letters through your equestrian foundation and ask Giovanni to mail them.”

  She brightened. “I’ll do the same through your organization and put Prince Giovanni’s name on the envelope so he’ll send them on to you. No one will be able to monitor them. Our families will be incensed if they find out that a Montedoro and a Rossiano have been carrying on a forbidden relationship all these years.”

  “You’re right. That old ridiculous animosity over trade rights between our two countries is still a sore spot with my family. But I refuse to worry about that right now.”

  “I’ve never worried about it,” Donetta said with stunning honesty. Neither of them had talked about the people they were promised to. Both sets of parents would be enraged about what had been going on behind the scenes.

  “Much as I don’t want to, I’d better get you back to the hotel. Lorenzo will be looking for you, and Giovanni will be waiting for me at the airport. We’re flying home on the royal jet tonight.”

  That revelation brought more pain to her heart as they left the club in the limo.

  “Come closer, Donetta. I don’t want to waste one second of the precious time we have left.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed the daylights out of her until the limo pulled up in front of the hotel.

  He finally let her go. “I’ll write to you as soon as I’m in England. Stay safe and send me some pictures.”

  “I’ll be waiting for your letters and pictures, too.”

  They embraced one more time before he helped her out of the limo. She ran inside the hotel, where Lorenzo was waiting for her.

  He looked at his watch. “You’re only a half hour late. I can forgive you for that.”

  She hugged him hard. “Thank you for being my friend.”

  “Why the tears?”

  “I’ve had some disappointing news, but today was the best day of my life.”

  * * *

  Dear Donetta,

  When you told me you were participating in the concorso at Aix-en-Provence in France, I bought this book for your twenty-first birthday. It tells the history of the white Camargue horses of that region. I believe you’ll find it fascinating.

  I plan to fly in for your competition and will be staying at the Hotel Cezanne, where you are staying. I’ll ring your room.

  We’ll spend as much time together as we can while I’m there. I’m longing to see you again. All the letters and photos have kept me going, but it’s been a century since I kissed you.

  Enrico

  After reading the book from cover to cover, Donetta kissed Enrico’s letter. It traveled to her purse, her pocket and her pillow. She had it with her when she entered the hotel. This time her staff stayed at a different hotel. So did Lorenzo, who’d flown here with her but had come only to watch her perform, not keep tabs on her.

  Once she was in her room, her pulse raced and wouldn’t subside, because she knew she’d be seeing Enrico shortly. She had brought several outfits with her, not knowing what to wear. After much indecision she chose to wear a filmy short-sleeved dress in champagne color and bone-colored sandals.

  To please him Donetta left her hair long and flowing from a side part. After applying pink, frosted lipstick, she put on hoop earrings of the same light green color as her eyes. She wanted him to take one look at her and never let her go.

  When the room phone rang, she literally jumped before picking up.

  “H-Hello?” she stammered.

  “Thank heaven your voice hasn’t changed.”

  His had grown even deeper. “Neither has yours.”

  “Are you ready?”

  “Yes,” she answered, almost out of breath.

  “Meet me in the lobby in five minutes. I’ve rented a car. We’re going to take off and find a charming spot away from the world where we can be alone.”

  Donetta came close to fainting when she saw the man of her dreams standing near the entrance, wearing a tan suit and sport
s shirt. No man came close to her picture of Enrico, who was the personification of every woman’s dream of a dark-haired prince. At almost twenty-two, he was truly breathtaking and sensuously male.

  “Bellissima,” he murmured. His black eyes played over her hungrily before he grasped her hand. They walked to the parking area and got in his car. He drove them out of the city to the suburbs and pulled up to a place called the Patio.

  “Before we get out, I have to do this.”

  “Enrico—” she cried as he reached for her and his mouth closed over hers. It didn’t seem possible that she was in his arms again and they were giving each other kiss for kiss, unable to get enough.

  Evening turned into night as they tried to make up for the years when they hadn’t been able to be together. The letters and photos hadn’t been enough.

  “If you’re dying for dinner, we’ll get out of the car, but I don’t want to let you go.”

  She shook her head. “I’m only dying for you. After your letter and gift, which I love, I haven’t been able to concentrate on anything. All I want is to be with you.”

  “We’re safer here than back at the hotel, where everyone knows us. But this is no way for us to have a relationship. One more year of schooling for both of us and then we can make plans to be together. What if we take a trip after we graduate? How about two weeks to the South Seas or a Caribbean island?”

  “I’d give anything to go away with you. Anything!”

  “Then we’ll do it. You’re so beautiful, Donetta, I think I’m hallucinating. Kiss me again.”

  After another half hour they ended up driving to a store for fruit and some quiche. “I need to get us back to the hotel. You’re performing in the morning and need your sleep.”

  “No, I don’t. I only need you.”

  The car was their sanctuary. They didn’t go into the hotel until after one. “I’d come to your room, but then you’d never get rid of me and we’d be the target of every eye. I’ll be at the stands in the morning to watch you on Blaze.”

  They rode the elevator to the second floor, where he had to get out, but they clung to each other.

  “Enrico? How soon do you have to get back to Cambridge?”

  “Tomorrow night.”

  “Why don’t we just drive away right now until you have to be at the airport. I’ll skip the competition.”

  He pressed his forehead against hers. “You can’t do that. I can’t let you. But we’ll be together all day tomorrow.” Enrico let her go and stepped out into the hall. He looked back. “Meet me in the lobby at seven and we’ll go somewhere for breakfast before you have to report to the stands.”

  “Don’t go, Enrico. I’m afraid.”

  He frowned. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because I’m too happy.”

  “You don’t know the meaning of the word yet. Buona notte e sogni d’ oro, Donetta.”

  Golden dreams. She’d been living in one since they’d met in the lobby. “Buona notte, Enrico.”

  The elevator door closed and carried her to the third floor. When she reached her room, the phone was ringing. She rushed to answer it. “Enrico?”

  “Good. You’re home safe and sound for tonight. I’ll be dreaming of you.”

  “I dream of you every night,” she confessed.

  “One of these days we won’t have to do that anymore.”

  He clicked off.

  She was slower to hang up. If he meant what she thought he’d meant, he wasn’t just talking about a two-week vacation. Filled with elation, she whirled around the room before settling down long enough to undress and get to bed.

  CHAPTER ONE

  THERE WAS NO sight more beautiful to Crown Prince Enrico da Francesca di Montedoro than the island country of Vallefiore. In the early morning light, the sun’s first rays appeared like fingers over the magnificent vertiginous mountains and sparkling waterfalls.

  From his vantage point atop the highest peak, he could see his country was surrounded by the deep blue waters of the Ionian Sea splashing against rocky shoreline cliffs and hidden grottoes.

  He’d always likened his country to a dazzling blue-green jewel whose lakes and villages made up its many facets, including the plains where the wild Sanfratellano horses ran free.

  His eyes followed the lay of the land over rolling hills and orchards to palm-studded sand. Everything could grow here in its subtropical climate. But as his father, King Nuncio, had told Enrico when he was a boy, without more fresh water to irrigate, it couldn’t flourish as it should.

  From that day on, Enrico had a dream that one day he’d find a way to bring much-needed water to all parts of the eleven-thousand-square-mile island. Now, at the age of twenty-seven, he and his cousin Giovanni, always his best friend and now his personal assistant, were slowly fulfilling that dream.

  Today he’d come to the topmost point of the new water treatment plant to talk to the foreman, Giuseppe, and work out a few small problems. They talked for several hours and discussed the results of the huge project he and Giovanni had developed. At this point other countries wanted to adopt it.

  After saying goodbye to the foreman, he climbed back in his Land Rover, surrounded by his bodyguards. He headed down the mountain for the palace in Saracene an hour away. The capital city was located on Lake Saracene, the large, brilliant light green body of water resembling those in the tropics.

  Donetta possessed eyes that same color. He remembered the last time he’d looked into them before kissing her senseless. Those two days in Aix-en-Provence had been heaven. She’d once again won another competition, filling him with pride. He’d come close to kidnapping her for good before he came to his senses.

  Consumed with ideas for the two of them after graduation, he’d returned to Cambridge more anxious than ever to finish his studies and fulfill his desire to be with her on a permanent basis.

  But right before his graduation, his world had come close to falling apart when he’d learned the tragic news that his father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and his mother needed him. He had to fly home immediately and forgo his graduation ceremony.

  What made the situation worse was his mother’s insistence that the palace keep the world in the dark over the king’s diagnosis. She didn’t want the citizenry to learn that the disease had taken over completely and he could no longer function. This meant Enrico was forced to settle into his duties as crown prince the second the jet touched down.

  Enrico was put under further pressure when his mother arranged for Valentina to be a visitor to the palace. The queen was demanding he marry her. Both sets of parents had been good friends for years and she expected Enrico to propose immediately. At the time of the marriage, an official coronation would make Enrico king. Only then would it be revealed that King Nuncio was ill.

  Enrico had no intention of marrying Valentina, but the visits had been captured in the news, creating the excitement of a coming royal wedding for the country. To end this nightmare, he’d told his mother there would be no wedding in the foreseeable future while he was attempting to run the affairs of the kingdom.

  His desire to take Donetta on a two-week trip had been thwarted by circumstances beyond his control. In his next letter to her, he told her the vacation would have to be put off and he wouldn’t be writing any letters for a while.

  Without giving away the secret about his father, he explained his work for the country had become too involved. When the time came, he would get in touch with her again.

  He’d received a response that said she understood how busy he must be and hoped to see him again soon. “I miss you, Enrico.” He could hear her voice that tugged on his heart. That was the last letter from her.

  Now it was five years later and he still couldn’t stop thinking about her and wishing they could meet again. Did she still miss him? How would they really feel about each oth
er after such a long absence?

  At the age of eighteen Enrico had already made up his mind over the woman he wanted in his life. In his wildest fantasy he’d even dreamed of Donetta becoming his bride, despite knowing such a marriage would raise a furor with their families.

  Because of the two-hundred-year-old dispute that had made their countries enemies, Enrico had never told anyone about her except his cousin. But not even Giovanni knew the extent of Enrico’s feelings.

  Enrico needed to find out how much of their relationship had been driven by rebellion, and how much had been based on a genuine and deep love for the each other. Ever since he’d competed on one of his special horses in an international concorso ippico held in England, he’d admired Princess Donetta Rossiano’s ability in the dressage event.

  For a ten-year-old she was a marvel, much better than any of the guys on all the teams represented from around the world. He’d approached to tell her so and was struck by the shimmering green color of her eyes, which had grown fierier as she’d matured.

  She, in turn, had complimented him and had admired his horse. As they’d talked, she’d asked lots of questions about the breed he’d chosen, revealing her exceptional intelligence.

  Enjoying her company, he’d spent time with her at the various tracks after each concorso. He liked being with her when she trained before an event. Drawn to her like crazy, he’d laughed and flirted. Her discipline and composure made Donetta stand out from the others. He’d been fascinated.

  Over the years Enrico had watched the beautiful princess from Domodossola with the long, flowing silvery gold hair compete in dozens of concorsos just as he had. By the age of twenty-one she was all grown up, with a keen intellect and opinions on subjects that kept him riveted. On top of everything else she was the best jumper and by far the most stunning young woman he’d ever seen or known.

  There was no woman like her and he had to see her again. Although she no longer competed in concorsos, she now ran the equestrian organization for her country’s entrants.