Not Juliet (8 page)

“Nothing
happened,” Luca hastened to put her mind at rest.

“I remember
most of it,” she said, voice wavering. “I mean, I think I do.”

Luca smiled at
her confused expression, then he sobered up. He needed to make her
understand that she would not get far working alone. She needed
him, and the faster she realized it and showed him some trust, the
faster they would progress.

“I remember a
car…”

“I borrowed
Orazio’s car to drive you to your hotel. His son rode my bike
behind us. Having way too much fun, I might add. Then he drove his
father’s car back.”

“How did you
know where I was staying?”

“Found your key
in your bag.”

“You went
through my bag?”

Luca shrugged.
What did the fickle woman want him to do? Apologize for taking her
home?

“You said you
didn’t want to camp out under the stars – although I personally
think you would enjoy it, particularly this time of year – so I did
what I had to do to make you comfortable.”

Riella sucked
in a deep breath, then she sighed and looked at him for a minute,
before asking, “Did I really throw up on you?”

Luca chuckled
and nodded. “Yeah.” She cringed. “I cleaned off the worst of it in
your bathroom; I hope you don’t mind.” She still looked horrified.
“Then I threw my t-shirt away.”

“Oh, I’m so
sorry!”

“It was only a
t-shirt.”

“I really
didn’t want you to see me like that. I didn’t even know I could get
that drunk. I hardly ever drink.”

Luca laughed.
“Yeah, I think I arrived at the same conclusion. Now, stop worrying
about last night and tell me about this morning. What were you
doing in a Roma camp?”

Riella looked
embarrassed, then shrugged and spoke quietly, face tilted as if he
were seated on the floor of the car, in front of her.

“I was looking
for someone.”

“Who?”

“You wouldn’t
know him.” Luca let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t want you to
get involved. It’s not something you should be tangled with,” she
insisted.

“Why don’t you
let me decide what I should get tangled with? I’m a big boy,
Riella.”

She pulled her
knees to her chest and stuck her thumbnail between her teeth. Luca
regretted allowing his anger to surface. Not the cleverest thing to
do when he was trying to gain her trust.

“Sorry.” He
stroked her shoulder and pulled her hand out of her mouth and into
his own hand. She let him do it. “I want to help,” he continued in
a softer tone, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze. “Despite what
you clearly think – thank you for the vote of confidence, by the
way – I’m quite capable of taking care of myself… and those I
love.”

Her eyes
widened and a small smile spread over her face.

“Do you?”

“What?”

“Love me?”

Luca grinned
and shook his head. “I thought I made myself plenty clear enough
yesterday, but obviously you need additional clarification.”

He pulled
sharply at the wheel and stepped on the brakes, only slightly more
gently than he would have needed to when executing an emergency
stop. The car stopped on the hard shoulder. Riella was on his lap a
fraction of a second later, and his lips were closing over
hers.

The touch of
her lips undid all of Luca’s carefully assembled restraint. As soon
as their lips touched, he felt his arousal growing, straining
against the material of his slacks. Damn it! How was a guy supposed
to form coherent sentences with a girl like Riella on his lap?

He searched for
her tongue and locked his around it, savoring her flavor. Not only
did she smell good, Riella tasted completely delicious, too. He
sucked on her lips and nibbled on them both, then dropped his head
to nuzzle her neck, so he could saturate his senses, get his fill
of her, enough to keep him going… maybe for another mile.

When they had
both recovered their normal breathing, or as close to it as
possible considering their circumstances, Luca stared into her eyes
and held her gaze captive. There was no way he was going to allow
her to look away.

“I love you,
Riella. I wasn’t joking last night, when I asked you to marry
me.”

Her breath
hitched. “What?”

“An answer you
have now avoided a second time,” he pointed out.

Riella looked
away and shuffled slowly off his lap and back onto her seat. “Very
well. I’ll tell you everything. I’ll tell you who I am and why I’m
here, and if you still want me after all that…” Her eyes shifted
nervously to his, then away, and she sighed. “It’s not about me
wanting you… Rather the other way around. And I honestly don’t
remember you asking me last night. I’m sorry.” She shrugged.

Luca smiled and
gave her a quick peck on her nose, in encouragement.

With a
practiced hand, he got the car moving again, and pointed home.

“I’m
listening,” he said, a small smile on his lips.

Riella took a moment to
look for the strength within herself, and then she told him
everything, barely stopping to draw breath. She told him about her
sick father, about the threats and the fire, and how she’d tried to
piece together all the information with Kai’s help, last time she’d
visited her parents. She told him about her frustrations since
she’d arrived in Rome, how no one seemed to be willing to help her
locate Cosimo Anziano, the one man who held in his hand her
father’s fate.

Tears trickled
down her cheeks when she relayed her father’s request, and
explained how much it mattered to her to make his wish come true,
especially after everything he had done for her, and for his
people.

Luca was
silent, for the most part, but eventually he started asking
questions. She was grateful for his interest, but she still
couldn’t see how he would be able to help. She answered all his
questions truthfully, even the more personal ones about her own
life and how she’d carved out an existence on her own, away from
the caring hands of her family and friends.

Running back to
them for help had never been an option. Another tear slipped out
when she talked about the way some of her people treated her. She
felt like she barely fit in a society that cared little for the
gypsy minority, and she’d had to work hard at being accepted; then,
on the other hand, whenever she went back to camp, she felt like an
outcast. Unwanted and unwelcome, no matter where she went.

By the time she
finished, Luca was quiet, unsmiling, staring straight ahead, his
face an unmovable mask. He had one hand on the steering wheel and
one around her clutched hands. His fingers were cold and unmoving,
too. She turned to look straight at him, but couldn’t read his
expression.

She sighed,
wondering what went though that beautiful head. Was he
reconsidering his decision, regretting even now that he’d rushed
and popped a question likely to tie him to her – her problems and
her kind – forevermore?

Heavy-hearted,
Riella swallowed her sorrow and decided to set him free. She loved
him too much to make him choose. What was she thinking, opening up
her heart to him? He was no knight in shining armor, no Romeo. Luca
was just a man – a beautiful man, and one she’d love till the end
of her days, but that didn’t give her the right to put him in such
a difficult position. Especially if she loved him.

And she did,
from the bottom of her heart. She felt her soul rip apart inside
her at the mere thought of saying goodbye. Luca was a special
person, and she should set him free. She wanted to.

“Luca, I
understand if all I told you might change the way you feel…”

His head
swiveled to stare at her so fast, she jumped. A deep grimace of
pain contorted his features. Riella drew back involuntarily, as far
away as the space in the car and the link between their hands
allowed.

“What? You
think so little of me? You think I would walk away because of who
you are? Or what you are?”

Riella shook
her head, desperate to make him understand.

“I love you,
Riella. How would you like me to word that so you understand? I
love you.”

“And I love
you, Luca. I just don’t want to see you hurt. I couldn’t forgive
myself.”

“Then we’re
understood. I’ll find the gypsy king and set up a meeting with him
tomorrow. Is that soon enough for you? I have some connections. I
can make some phone calls…”

Riella couldn’t
believe her ears. Luca was still offering to help? Out of love or
some misplaced sense of indebtedness? She scrutinized his eyes, his
face. It was like staring at a mask, or a painting. Luca gave
nothing away. She’d never seen such a perfect poker face before in
her whole life.

Despite her
inability to read him, she had to make him understand her problems
were unlikely to go away easily. There was a chance he would get
hurt, trying to defend her.

“Luca.” He
didn’t turn to look at her. “Luca, you don’t owe me anything. I’ve
had the most wonderful time here, with you…”

“What are you
talking about?” His expression was darker than a raincloud, his
eyes shooting angry bolts in her direction.

“Let me finish,
please.” He pressed his lips together, but his frown remained.
Riella soldiered on. “I love you, Luca. Please never forget that.
But… sometimes… life is not as easy as a fairytale. And that’s what
our love, love at first sight, is – a story. Less than that: a myth
within a story. If you can still love me after learning who I am,
that would make me so happy… but still, it changes nothing. I am
part of a family that is branded for destruction.”

Luca opened his
mouth to argue but she intervened before he could utter his first
word.

“Listen to me!
My father is king. An ailing king who is barely hanging onto life,
but a king nonetheless. As such, he has challengers. Even a child
knows a time comes in a ruler’s life when others would try to
overthrow him. My father knows it too, and he isn’t fighting it. He
is in no position to defend himself physically, or hire a gang of
bodyguards to stand around for the rest of his life, watching over
him. Besides, he believes in keeping the order of the universe –
when his time comes, he won’t fight it. He will be ready to
relinquish his hold on life.”

Luca’s jaw
muscles worked, but he didn’t say anything.

“I’m doing all
I can to stop this, to give him time and peace in his last few
hours. I just hope I won’t be too late. He’s a marked man, and so
is his immediate family. Besides his wife, my mother, he has no
one. I am his only child. To be honest, I am surprised no one has
tried to do away with me yet. Maybe living away from camp convinced
any challenger that I’m no trouble, and I’m not, really.”

Riella stopped
half-way through her logical progression of thought, suddenly
putting the events of the last couple of days together. The
bulldozers tearing through that tent in the gypsy camp had been no
accident, Luca said, and the shooting the day before, down that
back alley in Florence… Out of her mind with worry, she searched
Luca’s expression. He was looking at her through hooded eyes.

“You think that
shooting in Florence was…” Her lips seemed to have lost the ability
to form words. Moments passed in frozen silence. “Me?” she squeaked
eventually, her voice strangled with fear.

“May I speak
now?” Luca asked, looking like he had no intention to shut up, no
matter what her answer was. His grip on her clenched hands was
iron-hard. She nodded once, feeling like a puppet on a string, not
entirely in control of her actions. “Just so we’re clear, let me
tell you now that you can’t get rid of me that easily. When I saw
you yesterday, in the Signoria, I fell in love with you. So, one,
love at first sight does exist. Not a myth, and not just a story.
Two, who you are and where you come from means nothing to me. I
love you, and I would still love you if your last name was
Berlusconi, or if you had green skin, three heads and walked
sideways, like a crab. Love’s like that.”

Riella couldn’t
stop a smile stretch on her face. She even giggled a little.

“Three,”
continued Luca, “I meant it when I asked you to marry me – that was
not just a silly whim – but I recognize your need to find closure
before you can give me a straight answer, one that won’t be
influenced by the bad things in your life. I will wait for you
however long it takes, but because I do have a vested interest in
seeing all these problems resolved as soon as possible, four, I’m
asking you to let me help.”

He took a
breath and Riella seized her chance.

“Luca, be
sensible. What exactly could you do to help? I’d rather you stayed
safely out of the way, so I can be sure I have a lover to come back
to, when all this is over.”

“Lover?” Luca
smiled at her use of the word. “Is that the English way of saying
‘yes’?”

Riella felt her
face heat up and had to take a couple of deep breaths before she
could say anything.

“I want you,
Luca, in every sense of the word. There has never been anyone for
me… No one I wanted, no one I trusted or
needed
the way I
need you. And I know there will never be another man for me, ever
again. Not now that I’ve met you. The way I feel for you, this kind
of love, well… it’s not for the faint-hearted.”

Luca’s lids
narrowed. He stared at her for a long moment, enough to make Riella
nervous about the road, then he pulled sharply on the steering
wheel for the second time that day and took the car down a dusty
lane, which wound its way behind a small copse of trees. What was
he up to now?

The shiny new roof of
the chapel of San Francesco d’Assisi was the first thing one could
see when slipping off the national highway and into rural Tuscany.
Father Marco owed him big, and Luca was counting on cashing in a
favor. He wasn’t sure his plan would work, but if he knew anything
about women – and he hoped he did – he knew he would eventually
bring Riella around to his way of thinking.