Royal Chase

“What about the others?” There was something going on with Genesis. At least on Genesis’s end.

“I haven’t noticed another woman since the moment I met you. Because you, Limone Isabel Beauchamp, are the kind of woman who would make a train take a dirt road.” He smiled at my raised eyebrows. “I looked it up. I wanted to be able to say it in your language.”

Then I couldn’t stop the tears, and they got heavier and stronger when he whispered, “Don’t cry. I can’t stand it when you cry.” He wiped the tears from my face with his fingers. My nose started to run, and he even had a solution for that. He handed me a white handkerchief embroidered with his initials. Who carried around handkerchiefs? There was no discreet way to blow my nose, but I did the best I could.

I tucked the handkerchief into my purse, and he reached for me. He put his hand on the back of my neck to pull me toward him. For a brief, shocking moment I thought he might kiss me, but he only rested my forehead against his. We stayed that way, so close but not close enough, his minty breath mingling with my own. There was so much warmth and love that I could have happily stayed an eternity with him just like this.

“I really want to kiss you right now and make things better.”

“I really want you to kiss me,” I whispered back.

He let out a groan and stood up. “That isn’t fair, Limone. You can’t say things like that. You’re too tempting. Because I still stand by what I told you before. I won’t make you a cheater. But if you end things with him, then . . . what did they say in your movie? ‘You should be kissed and often and by somebody who knows how.’”

I agreed. My fears and doubts clawed at me, but I wanted to stand up and tell him how I felt. I couldn’t. At least, not until I told Sterling the truth. I needed to do this the right way.

Besides, I was pretty sure my legs could not have supported me just then.

Dante gathered up his things. “I know it wasn’t fair to spring this on you, and I wanted you to have time to think things over and make a decision. I am going back to the house and will wait for you in the gazebo. There is a car downstairs waiting for you. You can either take it to the airport or back to the mansion to find me. If you don’t come back, then I’ll know it’s over and I will never bother you again.”

He came over and kissed me on the forehead, much too briefly, and then headed for the door.

“How do you feel about dogs?” I called after him.

“Dogs?” That made him stop in his tracks and stare at me. “I just told you I’m in love with you and you want to know what I think about dogs?”

I nodded.

“All right. I am pro dogs. I like them. Violetta and Chiara are allergic, so we never had pets. Why?”

It was a crazy litmus test, and I knew it. But I always said that a man who didn’t like dogs was the kind of man who would stand behind you in a bar fight. Cowardly, untrustworthy, and unreliable.

“It’s hard to explain,” I said. “I just wanted to know.”

He looked at me for several heartbeats before he said, “There are no guarantees in this world. But without risk, there’s no joy either. I love you and I will always love you, no matter what you decide.”

And then he was gone, leaving me alone with my confusion and joy and terror and love and doubt and excitement.

I stayed in that chair for a while, running the scene over and over again in my mind. It was probably the most romantic, wonderful thing a man had ever said to me. How could I waste another minute apart from him?

I had wanted to tell Sterling in person, but I wasn’t sure I could wait any longer.

Running into the bedroom, I sat down on the bed and picked up the phone to call him. It went straight to voice mail. I tried it again. “Pick up, pick up,” I said.

Nothing. It didn’t even ring. He must have had it turned off.

Which was strange, because Sterling never turned off his phone. I called his office, and there was no answer there either. I tried his landline at his condo, and that went to voice mail, too.

He wasn’t at home, he wasn’t at the office, and he didn’t have his phone on. Where could he be? I wanted to call my parents or his parents, but it was too late. I didn’t want to wake them up, because then everybody would know something was wrong.