The Prince's Forbidden Bride (The Princess Brides Book 2) Read online

  He’d hoped his proposal would make her see she could rule with real power, but it wasn’t meant to be. She was ambitious, incredibly capable, and he’d learned she had a hunger to be queen. Deep down he knew a marriage to Arnaud couldn’t possibly fulfill her.

  Trying to deal with his pain, he’d chosen these couple of days to drive to Avezzano and get this investigation over. If he’d stayed at the palace, the walls would have closed in on him.

  Now that he’d finished his work here, he was heading for Caserta, twelve miles away. He would find an isolated area to sleep out later tonight. He alerted his bodyguards he was leaving and went out to his Land Rover.

  His sister Lia phoned to give him an update on their father. Ending the call, Enrico realized that his mother had pointedly refrained from speaking to him over the last couple of days. Clearly she was still upset about his relationship with Princess Donetta. But she didn’t need to worry any longer. Donetta was gone from his life.

  After a few miles the phone rang again. Hopefully, his cousin wasn’t calling about an emergency that took him back to Saracene.

  “Chè di nuovo?”

  “Where are you?” Giovanni blurted without preamble.

  “I’m driving to Caserta.”

  “Stop the car!”

  Enrico frowned but pulled to the side of the road. “What’s going on?” After talking to Lia, he knew all was well back at the palace.

  “You’ve got to turn around and come home immediately.”

  “Why?” He was in no mood to put out another fire.

  “Because Donetta just flew in on the royal jet from Domodossola. She’s registered at the Lake Front Hotel in the palm suite and—”

  “Wait—” Enrico’s heart had almost exploded out of his chest. “Say that again!”

  “Donetta is here in Saracene!”

  He gasped. “How could she be?”

  “I don’t know. She left a message on my phone, but I haven’t called her back yet. What do you want me to do?”

  Enrico had to think. “I’d rather talk to her myself.” Santo cielo. He was still trying to catch his breath. “I’ve turned around and am on my way home. I’ll be there in forty minutes. Put a guard on her. Warn him he’s not to let her out of his sight if she leaves her room! Don’t tell him who she is.”

  “You think I’m crazy? Your mother would explode. I’ll take care of it right now.”

  “I owe you, cousin.”

  Driving over the speed limit, Enrico made one vital phone call before reaching the hotel in record time. It was midafternoon when he raced inside to her suite on the second floor. One of the palace guards stood outside the door.

  “Your Highness.”

  “Thanks for your help.” His heart refused to calm down. “You can go now.”

  After the guard nodded and disappeared, Enrico knocked.

  “Chi è?”

  That was her voice. She really was here. “Why don’t you open the door and find out?”

  “Enrico—” He heard the incredulity in her voice.

  When the door opened, the exquisite sight of Donetta dressed in casual pants and a silky plum-colored blouse robbed Enrico of coherent thought. Disbelieving, he leaned against the doorjamb for support. All he wanted to do was crush her in his arms, but he didn’t dare do that.

  “Donetta, I don’t understand. Why did you come back?”

  Her eyes blazed a seafoam green. “Did I wait too long to tell you I’ll marry you?”

  How he loved this woman! “You’ve just made me the happiest man on the planet.” He struggled to catch his breath.

  “I phoned Arnaud last night and told him I couldn’t be his wife.”

  Grazie a Dio. His dream was coming true.

  Enrico closed the door behind him and walked into the sitting room. “When you climbed those steps yesterday, I thought I’d seen the last of you. I never want to live through agony like that again. Do your parents know where you are?”

  “My sister drove me to the airport early this morning. By now they’re probably aware I’ve flown here. I’ve burned my bridges and am on my own.”

  What more could he have asked for? She’d wanted to rule with him more than marry Arnaud. Giovanni’s informant had gotten that part of the gossip right.

  “Your mother has no idea you’ve asked me to marry you, does she, Enrico?”

  “No, but her spies keep her informed and by now she has no doubt heard you’ve come back to Vallefiore.”

  “I’m sure of it,” Donetta murmured.

  “Which means we need to get married ASAP. To hell with the feud between our two countries. I plan to bring it to an end once I’m king. We have to make arrangements fast so it’ll be a fait accompli before anyone tries to stop us. The palace priest is a close friend of mine and will perform the ceremony in the palace chapel tomorrow. He’ll provide the two needed witnesses.”

  “I hope you’re sure about this, Enrico, because there’s no going back.”

  “Why do you think I invited you to the concorso in the first place? My plan has been to marry you for a long time. I’ll admit it threw me when you said you were planning to marry Arnaud, but it didn’t change my hope to make you my queen. I couldn’t let you fly back to Domodossola until you knew I wanted you to share the throne with me.”

  She rubbed her hands absently against her womanly hips. “When I was younger, I wanted to change the rules of succession in Domodossola and become queen. That dream could never have happened. But after you asked me to rule equally with you, I thought about it all the way home and decided I wanted to say yes to you.”

  “Suddenly my life is worth living again.” Enrico was overjoyed his plan had worked. There were so many things he wanted to tell her, but he needed to make immediate plans for their marriage first.

  “Though we can’t rewrite the past, there’s nothing to prevent us from building an exciting future. Before it gets any later, and the shops close, I’m going to phone my sister Lia and ask her to buy you a wedding dress. No one will question what she’s doing and she’ll bring it here.”

  “She won’t mind? Does she know anything about me?”

  “Only that she saw you at the concorso and was introduced to you. But she’s going to find out now, and she can be trusted. While I do that, why don’t you order some dinner for us from the restaurant. Anything you think we’ll want.”

  “All right.”

  While she reached for the room phone, he pulled out his cell to make the call. “Lia?”

  “Ehi! Are you still worried about Papà?”

  “No, I’m calling for an entirely different reason and you can’t breathe a word to a soul except Marcello.”

  “This sounds serious.”

  “It is. The woman I’m going to marry has come back to Vallefiore.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “It’s Princess Donetta, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “I knew it when I saw the two of you at the concorso. Neither of you were aware anyone else existed.”

  “You’re right about that.” She was the love of his life.

  “Are you really getting married?” she cried for joy.

  “Yes.”

  “I knew you’d never marry Valentina.”

  “I couldn’t.”

  “It’s going to hurt Mamma, but this isn’t the Middle Ages and you deserve to marry the woman you love.”

  His eyes closed tightly for a moment. “Amen. Right now I need your help.”

  “You’ve got it.”

  “Donetta needs a wedding dress. We’ll be getting married in the palace chapel tomorrow. Find her the right outfit in keeping with a ceremony taking place in secret. If you hurry, you can get to the shops before they close. She’s staying at the Lake Front
Hotel in the palm suite on the second floor. I’ll be waiting for you.”

  “This is going to be so much fun, fratello caro. The princess is gorgeous.”

  His sister didn’t know the half of it. “I can always count on you, Lia. But remember, not a word to Mamma.”

  “And start a war when we know a marriage between Donetta’s country and ours is forbidden?” she cried. “Eventually Mamma will find out and have to live with it, but it will be after the fact and I couldn’t be happier.”

  “Love you, Lia. Grazie.”

  “Ciao.”

  He hung up and turned to Donetta, who looked so divine he couldn’t believe she was going to be his wife. “Lia will be here in a couple of hours.”

  “That’s so kind of her. She must be shocked.”

  “She’s thrilled I’m getting married to the woman I want to rule with me. You should have heard the joy in her voice.”

  “Fausta is excited for me, too.”

  Enrico wanted to envelop her in his arms, but he would show her how he really felt after they got married and went away. There was a knock on the door. “That’ll be room service.”

  “I’ll get it,” Donetta volunteered. “I’m sure the staff knows you and your security are here, but you should still keep out of sight.”

  “You’re right.” He disappeared in the bedroom and shut the door.

  Another minute and she said, “You can come out now, Enrico.”

  A tray of food had been set on the small round table in the sitting room. He sat on the chair opposite her. “I can’t believe we’re together at last, for good. Our past is behind us.”

  Suddenly he was starving and ate two of the hotel’s signature club sandwiches before swallowing his coffee. “After the ceremony, we’ll come back here while you change. Once we talk to your parents, we’ll have brunch with my parents.”

  “It’s going to be hard facing them.”

  “Maybe not as bad as you think. Except for the feud, they have no reason to dislike either of us once we all get acquainted.”

  Donetta laughed gently. “I agree, but our secret marriage will come as a blow.”

  “While they try to recover, we’ll be on our honeymoon.”

  “Honeymoon?”

  “Of course. We need one, don’t you think?” He had plans for them.

  “Where will we go?”

  “Do you mind if I surprise you?”

  “Of course not. I’m just thankful that Fausta is with my parents and they know exactly what has happened. But it won’t take away their pain from not being at our ceremony.”

  “But this is what we have to do in order to be married. In the end both families will come around.”

  “I admire your optimism.” She put down her coffee cup. “What about your mother, Enrico? When she hears our news, she’ll need your father’s support.”

  He reached for her hand and kissed the palm. “You know very well she’ll take it badly. We know what her dream has been. But she’ll have my sisters to comfort her and help her to understand.”

  She lifted anxious green eyes to him. “How are we going to deal with all this?”

  “By becoming man and wife.” As he said it, they both heard a knock on the door. “That’ll be Lia.”

  “Do you need me to go in the bedroom?”

  “No.” He got up from the table. “If I know my sister, she can’t wait to welcome you to the family.” Enrico hurried to answer the door.

  Lia was loaded with packages. “It looks like you bought out the store.” He kissed her cheek. “Bless you for coming to our rescue.” Enrico brought everything into the sitting room and put her purchases on the couch.

  Donetta came closer. “Princess Lia? How do I thank you for what you’ve done?”

  Enrico’s brown-eyed sister smiled and stepped forward to kiss Donetta’s cheek. “It was my privilege. I’m so excited this day has come I can hardly believe it.”

  Donetta kissed her back. “I’m still reeling. Your brother and I have known each other since we were ten years old.”

  Lia let out a cry of surprise. “That long?”

  She nodded. “We met at a concorso in England seventeen years ago.”

  Enrico smiled. “It was instant attraction.”

  “But you never said a word, fratello. No wonder you couldn’t wait to go to every single one of them!” She laughed and turned to Donetta. “Maybe one day you’ll tell me why you’ve kept it a secret, but I won’t stay here any longer to find out. You two need time alone.”

  Donetta’s eyes misted over. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

  Lia blew a kiss to both of them and disappeared. The second she’d left the suite Donetta cried, “She’s wonderful!”

  “She and Catarina will always be on our side.”

  “I have news for you, Enrico. I know my sisters will love you. In fact I need to phone Fausta before another minute goes by, to thank her and find out how my parents are coping.”

  “You do that while I call Giovanni.”

  * * *

  She hurried into the bedroom and sat down on the side of the bed to call Fausta.

  “Donetta—thank goodness you’ve called at last!”

  “I’m so relieved to talk to you. If the parents know everything already, I’m afraid to ask if I gave Papà a heart attack.”

  “I think Mamma took it harder than he did.”

  “Was it horrible, Fausta?”

  “The second I came back from the airport Mamma called me to come to their sitting room. They knew something serious was going on. After I explained that you’d always been in love with Enrico and he’d wanted to marry you but thought it was hopeless, she sobbed and Papà’s eyes watered.

  “He thought for a minute and then said, ‘I’ll be damned. I didn’t think there was a man alive who could win my daughter’s love to the point she would do anything to be with him.’”

  “He said that?” Donetta cried in shock and surprise.

  “Cross my heart. If you want my opinion, I don’t think he was that upset when I told him everything. He knows you weren’t in love with Arnaud.”

  Donetta wiped the moisture off her face. She realized her father had pressed her to marry Arnaud because he didn’t want her to go through life alone. Deep down she knew that and loved him for it. “Oh, Fausta—”

  “Whatever they talked about after that was in private. But when I told Mamma about your history with Enrico, she was amazed when I told her that I saw for myself that the two of you were in love.”

  “I’m sure that came as a shock.”

  “Papà seems in surprisingly good spirits. Especially when I told him what you said about Enrico planning to have the problem of the old feud investigated and put to rest. He and Mamma have been in their apartment ever since. Honestly, I think everything is going to be all right.”

  “Only because you were there to intervene for me. I love you so much, Fausta.”

  “I love you, too, and I was talking to Lanza earlier about everything. She said that after what she and Stefano went through when Alberto died before they found happiness together, they both agree it won’t be long before Arnaud is going to be thankful for what you did.

  “He’s been spared a life of unhappiness. Stefano will tell you himself that what you did today was a courageous act he admired, even if it caused pain at the time.”

  Her phone was dripping wet. “Thank you for telling me that.”

  “Both Lanza and I are overjoyed you’re going to marry Enrico.”

  “Your support means everything to me. I know you’re both going to be crazy about him when you get acquainted with him. Fausta? If there’s an opportunity, will you let the parents know we’ll be phoning them in the morning, unless you think tonight would be better.”

  “I think tom
orrow will be fine,” Fausta answered. “It’ll give Mamma time to warm to the idea that when Enrico is crowned king of Vallefiore, you’ll be the queen. Know what I mean?”

  Donetta knew exactly what she meant. She’d become a real queen in her own right once she married Enrico. But all she wanted was her husband’s love.

  A knock on the door brought her to her feet. “I’ll talk to you soon. Buona notte.”

  She dashed to the door and threw it open. Enrico’s black eyes searched hers. “How did it go?”

  “Much better than I could have hoped for.”

  “Grazie a Dio. I want to stay with you all night, but Mamma has her own news sources. Giovanni told me word has reached her that the royal jet from Domodossola flew in and you are staying here at the hotel. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had already put her own construction on everything.”

  She sucked in her breath. “Anything is possible.”

  “For that reason I’m going to go back to the palace for the night, but I’ll be here first thing in the morning. We’ll grab a quick breakfast and head for the chapel. When it’s over, we’ll come back here to change clothes and talk to your parents. Afterward we’ll brunch with my parents before we leave on our honeymoon.”

  Enrico reached for her and gave her a warm kiss on her lips, his first demonstration of affection, but it wasn’t like that morning when they’d watched the wild horses.

  “You know I don’t want to leave when there’s so much to talk about. That’s why our wedding needs to happen tomorrow. I don’t want to give my mother time to come up with a reason to delay our wedding. Knowing her feelings, she would try.”

  Donetta nodded and followed him to the door of her suite. “I’ll see you in the morning. Come early,” she begged.

  “You don’t need to tell me that.” He kissed her cheek before striding swiftly down the hall on those long, powerful legs.

  She couldn’t wait for morning to come. Realizing she was getting married in about eight hours, she took out the wedding dress to inspect it. The Italian-designed gown had a simplicity Donetta loved. She held it up to her in front of the floor-length mirror of her hotel bedroom.