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‘Of course. But one day, you will find your other half, and you’ll understand, when you love that person, that the idea of losing them suddenly becomes a form of torture. It wasn’t just the thought of losing your father that made me realise how much I loved him, but the idea of jeopardising our family.’
‘And so you realised you loved him, and then I was born,’ Amelia said, studying her mother with every ounce of her concentration, looking for any hint of emotion that might betray the truth of Amelia’s parentage.
But Anna-Maria smiled beatifically and nodded. ‘You were a living, breathing testament to our love. A reminder every day of how much our marriage meant to us both, of why we would always fight for it, and each other.’
Amelia let out a soft breath. Was that true? Could she be both evidence of an illicit affair and a talisman to faithfulness? If what her mother was saying was true, and Amelia could read between the lines because she had a greater knowledge of the subject than her mother realised, was it possible that by cheating on the King, and recognising that her affair would potentially end her marriage, she decided to recommit herself to the King, to love him properly and fully? It made sense. In which case, Amelia supposed she could have been just what Anna-Maria had described.
‘One day, you will fall in love, just as Anton has, and I will look forward to meeting the person who captures your heart.’ She put an arm around Amelia. ‘You are so special, darling. No matter what, don’t forget that.’
CHAPTER TEN
‘OH, WHAT A SURPRISE,’ Anton remarked under his breath. ‘Amelia’s late.’
Something shifted inside Benedetto, an irritation, an impatience, a quickness to judge he’d never felt towards his friend. He tried to suppress it, but when Anton looked at Benedetto with a grin, Benedetto didn’t return it. If anything, his expression was ice cold.
‘She’ll be here,’ Anna-Maria said. ‘And in the meantime, let’s carry on.’
The rehearsal was long and involved and as Benedetto was to stand with his best friend as a groomsman, alongside Rowan, who was best man, he was an integral part of proceedings. But so was Amelia.
Where was she?
Far from taking the cynical tone of voice his friend had adopted, he felt worry begin to fray at the edges of his mind. She wouldn’t have run away again, he was sure of it, but it also seemed strange that she’d be late for something as important as this. He gave the rehearsal about a tenth of his focus and spent the rest of his time looking at his watch surreptitiously and kicking himself for not having taken her phone number in exchange for giving out his own.
‘This is where the bridesmaid will take the bouquet.’
‘If she shows up,’ Anton drawled, earning a sharp gaze from his mother and a placating hand on the arm from his fiancée. At that exact moment, the doors to the chapel opened and a clearly flustered Amelia jogged in.
‘You’ve already started,’ she said as she drew near the group.
‘Yes, an hour ago, when the rehearsal was scheduled for,’ Anton sniped.
‘My schedule says three o’clock,’ she responded tersely, brandishing her phone. ‘And I’ve literally just got out of the dress fitting. Why did no one call me?’
They all looked at each other, but when Amelia’s eyes came to Benedetto, he hoped she could see how proud he was of her for speaking up to Anton.
‘Oh, dear.’ Vanessa spoke first, moving to Amelia and looking at her phone. ‘You’ve been sent the old timetable. I’m so sorry, that’s our mistake completely.’ Benedetto liked Vanessa more and more. ‘There have been so many changes in the last week, everything’s tweaked and you’ve received the schedule that was valid up until a couple of days ago.’
‘It’s fine.’ Amelia’s manner softened immediately in deference to her future sister-in-law, and perhaps in response to the obviously conciliatory tone in Vanessa’s voice. ‘I’m sorry to have missed so much.’
‘Oh, it’s nothing complicated. I’ll have a printed guide sent to your room, but other than walking in with me, and taking my bouquet, the main thing is to stand at my side and smile serenely.’
‘That I think I can manage,’ Amelia replied. There were smiles all round, except from Benedetto, who had a deluge of unfamiliar emotions cresting in his belly.
After the rehearsal, when Benedetto wanted nothing more than to leave with Amelia, and ideally whisk her back to the boat for a few hours of actual privacy, he couldn’t even get close enough to her to speak. Frustration bubbled beneath his skin as he watched her disappear into a limousine, bookended by the King and Queen.
She suddenly seemed incredibly untouchable, and he hated that...
Amelia’s feet were killing after a full day spent in heels, which she hadn’t worn for the longest time. In fact, she’d barely worn closed-toe shoes at all since leaving Catarno. She flicked on the TV in her room, smiling at the footage that came up of Anton and Vanessa meeting well-wishers outside the palace. They were a very handsome couple and Anna-Maria was right—Vanessa was clearly an excellent match for Anton.
Amelia was on her way to the bathroom to fill the tub when a knock sounded at her door. Not the main door, but the smaller door from her study. With an unsteadiness to her legs suddenly, she crossed the room and wrenched it inwards, smiling instinctively at the sight of Benedetto on the other side.
His eyes flared with hers and before she could make a joke about the contortions he had to perform to get through the space, he was in her room and dragging her into his arms, kissing her hard, fast, slamming the door shut with his foot and fumbling the lock before lifting her, legs cradled around his waist, and carrying across the room.
She squawked as he dropped her onto the mattress then felt breathless when he simply studied her as though she were a piece of delicate artwork. Her pulse quickened.
She pushed up, reaching for him, as he came towards her, and their bodies melded once more, twisting together, legs, arms, lips meshed, hearts racing, clothes being shucked with so much urgency that something made a ripping noise and Amelia laughed softly, but only for a minute, because then he was taking her, and it was more, so much more, than she’d ever known. His possession of her was so fierce and absolute, so breathtakingly swift, so full of hungry need that something powerful seemed to be emerging in her mind, with his every thrust and movement, a voice was sounding, a bell tolling, a knowledge forming that she couldn’t quite grasp but knew better than to ignore.
It was all too hard to capture though. Passion was driving logic from her mind and as he moved, she pressed her nails into his shoulders, ran her fingers down his back, dug her heels into his spine for better purchase and then with a sound of frustration she rolled, moving him to his back so she was on top, in control, taking him in and arching, every part of her rejoicing in all of this, in all the perfection and pleasure that came from being with the man that she loved.
