Diamonds are Forever: The Royal Marriage Arrangement / The Diamond Bride / The Diamond Dad

Her cheeks went crimson. “Then the bodyguard made it up!”

“A lie to me could cost him his job and worse.”

Alex shivered. “It was all a big mistake. I shopped too long and then I got hungry.”

“You could have eaten at the palace. That’s your home now.”

“But I didn’t want to bother anyone this late.”

Instead of commenting, he asked a question. “How did you like your trenette?”

“Trenette?”

“It’s what you had for dinner. Pasta Ligurian style.”

“Oh … I loved it!”

“Bene.”

She darted him a furtive glance. “Your parents will probably hear about my big faux pas and consider me unfit to be your wife. They’d be right!”

“I’ll tell them about it as soon as we get back to the palace, then it won’t matter when they hear it distorted on the news.”

Alex let out a small cry. She was a fool, just like her mother whose antics were made into the news every night of the week.

“Like parasites, the paparazzi live on their hosts. Over the years I’ve learned the best defense is offense,” he explained.

She stared at her hands. “How will you explain about my being in town without you?”

“The truth always helps. I’ll tell them I had a lot of business and you didn’t want to bother me on my first day home. You went exploring in town and stopped for something to eat, unaware some man had his sights set on you. Tomorrow Papa will remind you that you’re not in America now. Mama will laugh and accuse me of being jealous. The whole incident will be forgotten.”

Maybe, but Alex knew Lucca could never be jealous. He would have to be in love with Alex for that to happen.

“Let’s hope.”

He reached for her sack. “I wonder what you bought.”

She was afraid he would laugh. “Touristy things. Didn’t my bodyguards tell you?”

His expression remained impassive. “They’ll only report if you’re in danger.” A sobering thought. “May I see?”

Since he appeared so determined, she didn’t try to stop him. “Go ahead.”

The book came out first. “This isn’t the best history,” he pointed out seconds later, “but it’s not the worst, either.”

“I wouldn’t know, since I can’t read Italian yet. I bought it for the pictures.”

He suddenly lifted his head and gave her a long, unsmiling look. “After the coronation and our marriage, a plethora of new books will appear in the shops. You’ll be in every one of them and every account will say that Princess Alexandra is the most beautiful of all the brides of the House of Savoy.”

Lucca could tell superb lies. She rolled her eyes. “If you insist.”

His laughter helped dissipate her worry that he was upset with her for the second time since their arrival in his country.

He pulled out the next item and thumbed through it. “I approve of your pocket phrase book. It’s how I began to learn English.”

For some reason his comment reassured her.

After scanning the map, he said, “This needs a little help. I’ll fix it when we get back to the palace.” He returned everything to the sack. “I noticed you’re not wearing my pin.”

“No. It’s too precious to flaunt.”

He grasped her hand, entwining their fingers. “You’re my fiancée now. After what you told Regina, I couldn’t very well give you an engagement ring. Wear the pin for me?”

“You mean, all the time?”

“Yes, all the time.”

She sucked in her breath. “If you wish.”

“Is it such a burden?” he whispered.

“Lucca—surely you understand the worry I have about losing it. The stone is irreplaceable.”

“What good is it if it’s never worn?”

“You really feel strongly about this, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“All right,” her voice trembled.

“Grazie.”

The limo pulled to a stop beneath the north portico of the palace. Lucca cupped her elbow and ushered her inside. They parted company at the second floor.

“Buonanotte, Alexandra.” After pressing a light, unexpected kiss to her parted lips, he strode swiftly toward his parents’ suite. She knew he was on his way to put out a fire the media would have started.

Little did he know the damage he’d done to her at the restaurant. That deeply searching kiss for the crowd’s benefit had fanned the flames of a conflagration growing inside her with no power to contain it.

CHAPTER SIX

LUCCA checked his watch. Five to twelve. Alexandra’s first day of learning Italian with Professor Emilio ought to be over by now. He was retired from the university, but according to Regina, the older man still did tutoring.

He left his palace office on the main floor and hurried up the steps to the third floor where the schoolroom was located, but his excitement dissipated when he opened the door and heard Alex laughing quietly with a man who couldn’t be much older than Lucca.

The sight of the two of them enjoying each other’s company in this intimate atmosphere shook him to the roots, something that hadn’t happened to him before where a woman was concerned.

One look at the tutor’s face and body language and Lucca knew Alexandra had him enchanted just as she’d done that idiot college kid at the restaurant last night. It didn’t take a two-hour lesson for her to work her magic. Lucca ought to know because to his great surprise, it was beginning to work on him.