Royal Chase (23 page)

I saw the whole family waiting near the steps, even the king in his wheelchair. The car came to a stop, and Kat jerked the door open. “You’re here! You’re here!” She crawled across Dante to hug me.

“Hey, darlin’!” I hugged her back. Dante winked at me when he heard that word, but I just hugged Kat tighter.

Nico told Kat to get off of his brother so that we could get out, and he directed some of the footmen to carry in our luggage. “You’re going to stay in the room next to mine,” Kat said as we climbed out of the car. “It’ll be just like old times.”

I hoped not just like old times. Not all of those times were good memories. Nico kissed me hello on my cheeks. “
Buonasera
. I’m so glad you’ve come back. It’s all Kat’s talked about for days.”

Chiara and Violetta both tried to speak to me at once, while Serafina danced around singing. I saw Rafe, and I hugged him. “I haven’t seen you in so long!”

“Good to see you,” Rafe said.

“I have to tell you, I think I’ve found the perfect girl for you. I should totally set you up.” I thought he and Genesis would get along like gangbusters. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but I suspected that Dante did have deeper feelings for me and that he’d kept Genesis around for so long only because she was my friend.

“I’m actually seeing someone right now,” he said with a weird look, before glancing at the cameras and pushing his glasses higher up his nose.

Really? I’d have to get that story from Kat later. King Dominic wheeled his chair over to me. I was pretty sure my mother would want me to curtsy to the king, but I just smiled at him instead. “It is nice to have you back again, Lemon. We’ve been very pleased with your work!”

I thanked him, and then Queen Aria kissed me hello. “We’re so glad that you’re here. We’ve missed you! We have dinner ready if everyone’s hungry.”

They didn’t seem to mind the camera crew at all, for which I was grate
ful. In the past the king had preferred not to be photographed, but I had convinced one of the press secretaries that it would be better for him to
come forward on his own terms before private pictures were taken of him
that he would have no say over (because that had almost happened when a paparazzo had tried to bribe Kat). For the last few weeks the king had
started making appearances near his home, and the people had responded
with so much love and adoration that he had increased his activities.

We all went into the dining room, and I got my old spot back between Rafe and Dante, and across from Kat.

It was like nothing had changed.

But everything had.

After dinner, we went up to the family’s lounge and played board games and talked until Serafina started nodding off. We said our good-nights, and I could feel Dante watching me as I returned my mike pack to the crew, and Kat and I walked off arm in arm.

I threw one last glance over my shoulder before we left the room, and he was still watching me with a smoldering look.

It made all the air evaporate out of my lungs.

Kat convinced me to change into my pajamas and come to her room to talk. The other girls would be flown out at the end of the evening, but because the family knew me and my job, the show had agreed to let me stay overnight.

We had so much to say to each other that the hours really did just fly by. There was a knock at her bedroom door.

“That’s for me!” she said as she ran over to open it. She came back with a tray. “My moonflowers and gelato,” she said. I smiled, loving that she had that daily romantic gift from Nico.

There were two bowls this time, and I took the second. “Do you ever think it’s weird that the royal family just took us in and liked us?”

“Why wouldn’t they?” she responded. “We’re awesome.”

“Seriously.”

She paused, holding her spoon in her mouth. She removed it and said, “I think with me it was because Nico just seemed to like me a lot right away, and that had never happened to him before. And I bonded with the girls. And I think part of what royals do is be nice and make everyone feel comfortable. So basically I suck at that part of trying to be royal, but I’m working on it.”

I took another bite. “That still doesn’t explain why they’ve always been so kind to me. Because I’m your friend?”

“Duh, because Dante’s in love with you.”

I started choking.

She reached around to hit me on the back. “You’re an important part of his life, which makes you an important part of their lives. You know how tight-knit they are.”

I knew it was one of Kat’s favorite things about being in Monterra. She had pretty much raised herself, and she absolutely loved being an almost-daughter and sister to Nico’s family.

Although I think she loved being his fiancée the most.

“So tell me. Do you love Dante too?”

Chapter 23

If the truth is out there, I think it’s playing hard to get.

“Dante told me this legend about his family,” I responded, and filled her in on the gypsy magic and promise, hoping I might distract her. I didn’t want to tell her the truth about Dante yet. Because if I told Kat, it would make everything real. It would limit all my choices. As it was now, I could still decide how things would go.

“So what you’re saying is Nico fell in love with me because of magic. Huh. That actually explains a lot.”

“Stop it,” I said, pushing her shoulder. “That’s not true.”

“Cool story, but you didn’t answer my question. Are you in love with Dante?”

“I’m not sure of anything right now,” was my evasive reply.

“Let’s put it this way. What would your relationship status on Facebook be?” She finished her gelato and put the bowl back on the tray.

“I don’t think there’s a ‘romantically confused with disagreement over who I should end up with’ as a possible status.” I put my bowl next to hers.

“You said romantically! So there is romance!”

“I don’t know,” I sighed as I lay down on her bed. “What I do know is that I do not like being stuck in this Bermuda Love Triangle.”

“The triangle is indeed a sucky shape. All those points and edges. People get hurt.”

People would get hurt.

And I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I also didn’t want to get hurt.

But it seemed like it would be impossible to accomplish both of those things.

After Giacomo woke us early in the morning for my flight, Kat mumbled not-nice things about his mother. She hated getting up early. But she did it, because she and Nico had agreed to drive with me to the airport since Dante had to stay behind to welcome the next girl and Kat wanted extra time with me.

I hugged everyone good-bye and thanked them and said I’d miss them. Dante hugged me the longest, and I loved being in his arms. He whispered something Italian in my ear, which was both unfair and hot. How could I have ever said yes to Sterling?

We got into the limo and waved good-bye all the way out to the gate, until we couldn’t see them any longer. Nico was on his phone talking in Italian and looking through his tablet. I heard him mention the word “London,” and remembered that they had an interview there after the visits to their family home finished.

“While you’re in London, you should egg Abigail’s house,” I teased.

“Do you have her address?”

“I’m kidding, darlin’.” That was a PR scandal I needed like a hole in the head. “Future Princess Eggs Soap Star’s Home!” “Should you be saying things like that in front of him? Does he know about your vengeful side?”

“Nico? When he’s like this he doesn’t hear anything. It’s like he’s not even here. We can talk freely.”

The future king was always busy. He and Kat were scheduled to get married this December, and then there would be a coronation where his father would abdicate and Nico would become king. I anticipated a huge bump in our tourism numbers.

I hoped my best friend could handle becoming queen. It made some doubt creep back in when I considered their busy schedules. If I did end up with Dante, how could I keep my company?

“What is that look for?” Kat asked.

“If I was with him, I couldn’t work.”

“Not true. I investigated. Prince Alex has an aunt who married into his family, and she ran a PR firm while still being a princess.” She looked far too smug.

Another reason shot down.

“Then there’s the womanizing.”

“Womanizing?” Nico asked.

“I thought you said he couldn’t hear us,” I hissed at her.

She looked surprised. “Usually he can’t.”

“Why would you say that about Dante?”

I started ticking things off on my fingers. “Um, the Internet. Living in the same house with him for the last few weeks. Watching him flirt with everything that breathes from the moment we met.”

He studied me, and I could get why Kat waxed on and on about his ice-blue eyes so much. They just seemed to pierce you. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?” Color me thoroughly confused.

Nico put down his phone and his tablet, focusing his attention on me. “The Internet articles and tabloid reports were all a show for Rafe.”

“Rafe?” I was turning into a parrot.

“Rafe was engaged.”

Now Kat was the parrot. “Engaged? What? Nobody in this family ever tells me anything!”

“To his childhood sweetheart. She was murdered, and they initially suspected Rafe. There was a total paparazzi feeding frenzy. He had an alibi, and it was eventually discovered that she had been cheating on him, and the other man killed her. Rafe was completely devastated, and the tabloids refused to leave him alone.”

I exchanged shocked glances with Kat. Neither one of us had known anything about this. It was like an episode of
Dateline
.

“They hounded him relentlessly, even after he’d been cleared. So Dante stepped in and started putting on a show for the media so they’d leave Rafe alone. He dates a lot, but only with women who understand that it’s never serious and only for the publicity. My little brother is not a womanizer by any stretch of the imagination. It’s all pretend to protect Rafe. Dante is one of the most loyal, faithful people you will ever meet. In fact,” he said, giving me a pointed look, “he hasn’t been out with another woman since you came to Monterra.”

My mouth dropped open, and I put a hand to my chest, trying to prevent my heart from exploding.

As Kat would say, Oh. My.
Frak
.

He’d always wanted to be a knight, and he really was a knight in shining armor. I had totally misjudged him.

All this time I had been so worried he would cheat on me, that he couldn’t be faithful or committed, and it wasn’t true. It had all been an act. A way to take the focus off of his twin brother so that he could grieve in private.

And I’d accused him of being a cheater and a liar, and he’d let me believe it. He hadn’t corrected me or told me how wrong I was.

No, even when it cost him something he wanted, he’d let me go to protect Rafe.

I owed him an apology. A thousand apologies. I felt sick. He was noble and kind and I was distrusting and awful. He deserved better.

“That was the one thing you were most worried about and it isn’t even true!” Kat interrupted my self-flagellation.

I couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t collect my thoughts, and I didn’t know how to make this right.

It changed everything.

I was tempted to have them turn the car around, but I decided that I wanted to be free when I went to tell him that I was in love with him. As soon as Dante eliminated me from the show, I would fly back to Atlanta and end things with Sterling. I supposed I could have called him, but ending an engagement a few days before the wedding seemed like a face-to-face sort of thing.

I hated the idea of hurting Sterling. I hated disappointing my parents and their friends.

But I hated the idea of being apart from Dante even more.

“Are you okay?” Kat finally asked, probably surprised by my inability to speak.

“I’m just in shock, I think,” I managed. “He really hasn’t dated anyone in the last six months?”

“No. And Dante’s never been serious about anyone. We both know how hard it is to find a woman who will love you for yourself, and not because of your title or your money.” Great, now I was getting it from Nico. That’s all I needed. More guilt.

“Or someone who won’t love you just because of that unbelievably gorgeous face of yours,” Kat said to him.

“Gorgeous?” Nico raised one eyebrow and smiled. “The feeling’s mutual.” He moved in. They were seriously about to make out. I did not want to see that.

“Other people are still in the car!” I said.

I saw Nico mouth the word
later
, and Kat got all giggly and love-struck.

That kind of relationship was what I had always wanted for her, and I was so happy that she had it, but I was also feeling a tad bit envious of it. It’s what I thought I had with Sterling, but sitting here with the real thing, even I had to admit that I didn’t.

Sterling and I would never be like Nico and Kat.

But Dante and I just might.

We arrived at the airport, and the driver went to get my bag from the trunk. I hugged both Nico and Kat at the curb outside of the departure terminal. “Promise me you’ll be nice to Genesis. She’s my friend, and she’s so sweet and genuine. You’ll like her.”

“Why wouldn’t we be nice to her?” Kat sounded confused. I couldn’t say what I imagined she might do, because I could see her trying to sabotage Genesis in some misguided attempt to help me and Dante get together. But as far as I was concerned, Genesis wasn’t even a part of this.

It was between me and Dante.

“No reason. You do have my total permission to make Abigail’s life miserable, though.”

Her eyes lit up. “Done.”

Taylor passed along an e-mail from Kat a couple of days after I got back to California. She said she hadn’t gotten to meet Genesis, as she and Nico had been called away to meet some famous visiting celebrity. I was glad they did, because it was what I would have told them to do. We couldn’t miss out on any chance to bring more publicity to Monterra.

Then she went on to say that Abigail’s visit was an unmitigated disaster.

So, Serafina did her “let’s be best friends and watch
Frozen
” routine, and asked if she could wear Abigail’s shoes. Abigail told her that if she touched any of her stuff, she would smack her across the face!!! Can you even imagine??? Who would hit Serafina??? She came crying into my room, and I decided that it was open season. I mean, I was just going to ignore her and be polite if I had to talk to her, which I thought was big of me considering that she tried to kill you. She brought it on herself, because nobody threatens my soon-to-be little sister.

And I won’t bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that Serafina organized a slight frog infestation in her room and “lost” all of Abigail’s makeup. Chiara accidentally cut a huge hole in her dinner dress when she told her she’d try to tailor it. I did research on her online, and dropped little tidbits of gossip about her previous relationships into the dinner conversation. The king didn’t feel well, and Rafe refused to come downstairs. Nico wouldn’t even look at her. Poor Queen Aria tried to fix things, but there was nothing she could do. I figure Abigail will probably cry in her interviews about how awful we all are, but most of the bad stuff happened off camera and I have an excellent PR woman to release a statement to the contrary.

Why has Dante kept this luna-chick around???

Miss you!

Part of me wanted to gloat when Abigail and Dante returned to the mansion, but I thought Kat had done a pretty good job of handling her for me.

Genesis and I were in the kitchen making lunch and talking about Monterra, carefully leaving out any personal details, when Harris came in with Abigail. “I need to speak to you ladies for a moment if I could.”