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‘It’s my wedding in three days,’ Anton said, but now Benedetto saw through the air of relaxation. ‘I’m not angry about anything.’
Benedetto was too good a study of dark emotions though. ‘Why?’ he pushed.
Anton compressed his lips, gave up the pretence. ‘Why do you think?’ He spread his hands outward. ‘She broke my mother’s heart. And kept breaking it, every day she stayed away, every message she did not respond to, every time she refused to see us. Each Christmas and birthday she missed. She’s selfish, Ben. Yes, I’m angry with her. But I can’t think about that now, because in three days I’m getting married in a ceremony that will be broadcast across the globe, and viewed in person by thousands, including the heads of state of most countries in the world. So Amelia is the furthest thing from my mind.’
CHAPTER NINE
‘LOOKING FOR SOMEONE?’
Despite her older brother’s insufferable arrogance, she was surprisingly glad to see him. She turned to face Anton, not sure what greeting to expect from the sibling who was much older than her, far more serious, and incredibly dedicated to his duties.
‘No,’ she denied, only realising when Anton asked the question that she had been wandering the corridors of the palace in the hope of seeing Benedetto. Even though she’d ended things between them, she still wanted to see him, and she couldn’t explain why.
‘You put us all through hell, you know,’ Anton murmured, standing in front of her, his autocratic face wiped of emotion.
She should have expected this from Anton. A lecture. After all, he had been the one to send Ben, to tell him everything about Amelia, and Ben had clearly thought the worst of her initially.
‘It’s good to see you too.’
He paused. ‘I am glad you’re home.’
‘Well, you made sure of that, didn’t you? At least I can add being kidnapped to the bucket-list items I’ve ticked off.’
‘My understanding is you chose to return of your own free will, when the option was given to you.’
So Anton and Ben had discussed it? What else had they spoken about? Her pulse ratcheted up a gear.
‘It seems as though my friend has become your knight in shining armour.’
Amelia’s cheeks flushed a telltale pink but she worked hard to maintain a neutral expression. She wouldn’t be drawn on what Ben had become to her. How could she answer that anyway, when she didn’t even know herself?
‘He told me what you did for him,’ she said instead. ‘When Sasha died. That was very kind of you, Anton, very decent.’
Anton stared at her long and hard. ‘He told you about Sasha?’
Amelia stiffened. Had she inadvertently revealed more about their relationship than she’d intended anyway? ‘A week on a boat is a long time,’ she pointed out. ‘We talked about a lot of stuff.’
‘Sasha isn’t stuff, she’s— He doesn’t open up about it. Ever. Maybe because you’re my sister,’ Anton reasoned, ‘he presumed you already knew.’
Amelia let that settle between them, lifted her shoulder. ‘Perhaps.’ And something about his egotistical presumption endeared him to her, so she closed the distance between them, pressed a kiss to his cheek. ‘I’m glad to see you, even though you drive me crazy.’
He lifted one dark brow. ‘Do I?’
‘Yes. Now, when do I get to meet your fiancée? I hear she’s got the patience of a saint.’
At that, Anton laughed softly. ‘I know you’re teasing me, but in fact, you’re right. Vanessa is—beyond compare. She’ll be at dinner tonight.’
‘Dinner?’
‘Just the family.’
Amelia’s heart sank. I’m not family, she wanted to scream. But how could she avoid this? What could she possibly say? And at least Benedetto wouldn’t be there. For as much as she wanted to see him, from a distance at least, she wasn’t sure she could trust herself to be in the same room as him and act as though he meant nothing to her.
Avoiding him was a far better idea.
As soon as Benedetto saw Amelia, he wanted to stop the clock and wind back time, he wanted to remove every last vestige of her princess life and return her to the wild, free spirit she’d been on his yacht, with hair all tousled and windswept, skin warm from the sun, face bare of make-up, clothes loose and floaty in concession to the heat, feet almost always bare. He wanted to go back to before she’d told him they should stop seeing each other and kiss the words right out of her mind. He just wanted to kiss her...
This Amelia was so different. Despite the fact it was a ‘quiet family dinner’, she was dressed to the nines. This was Her Royal Highness Princess Amelia Moretti, and she was every inch the princess indeed.
