The Prince's Christmas Vow

“We aren’t?” She knew that she shouldn’t be so eager, but she just couldn’t help herself.

“If you eat something, we’ll continue this fantasy.”

She still didn’t have much of an appetite. “Does chocolate count?”

His lips pressed together as he considered her request. “How about some crackers and cheese with a side of chocolate?”

“If I must.” Crackers actually didn’t sound so bad, after all.

“Good. Why don’t you go wait for me out on the terrace? We should have some privacy there and then I might do more than just talk.”

“Promise?”

His eyes glittered with unspoken promises. “I do.”

As he walked away, her feet came back down to earth. As much as it pained her to admit, she couldn’t let this fantasy go on. It’d be too painful when it was over. When he returned, she steeled herself to be brutally honest with him. He deserved to know what he was getting himself into.

A couple of minutes later, he joined her in the cool evening air. Luckily, no one had decided to come outside to admire the stars. They had the whole terrace to themselves.

He handed her a plate of finger foods. “Here you go. Make sure you eat the crackers.”

“But there’s something I need to tell you first. Something I should have told you a long time ago.”

The smile slid from his face. “If this is about you inheriting Alzheimer’s, I know.”

She set aside the plate. “You know?”

He nodded. “And it doesn’t matter. I just wish you’d have told me sooner.”

“I couldn’t, because I knew you’d do this. You’d be a knight in shining armor and do the gentlemanly thing.”

“Which is what?”

She pressed her hands to her hips and lifted her chin. “You’d say that none of this matters. That we can do anything as long as we’re together.”

He couldn’t help but smile just a bit. “That is exactly what I’d say. And I’d be right.”

She shook her head. “Stop being so gallant. You have more than yourself to think about. You’re the prince. The future ruler of Mirraccino. You are expected to produce the next heir to the throne.”

“And...”

“And I can’t give you that heir. Don’t you see, I have a fifty-fifty chance of inheriting the same disease? I can’t—I won’t pass that on to my children.”

His brows drew together. “So you don’t know if you have the disease?”

She shook her head. “There’s DNA testing, but I haven’t had it done yet.”

“Why not?”

Her voice grew soft, hating to have to admit this to a man who never had to inquire about the price before purchasing whatever his heart desired. “I couldn’t afford the tests. My mother’s medical expenses take everything I earn.” But aside from the cost, she was afraid. “And I didn’t know if I could deal with the results while I was watching what it was doing to my mother. She needed all of my focus and positivity.”

“And this design job—”

“I needed it in order to pay for my mother’s care. Her doctor has been warning us that the time was coming when she’d need more than I could give her while holding down a job. My mother insisted all along that she didn’t want me caring for her to the end. I thought that if she could stay here at Residenza del Rosa that it would be close enough to the apartment that I could visit her every day.”

Demetrius nodded as though at last the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. “I just wish that you would have trusted me. I would have helped you through all of this.”

She blinked repeatedly. “It isn’t you I didn’t trust. It was me. I’d been running so long, so hard that I didn’t know if I could be the strong, sturdy person that my mother needs me to be.”

“It looks to me like you’re an amazing daughter.”

“I’m doing my best. I was trying to protect you, too. I didn’t want to become a burden to you. You have a country to run—people counting on you—”

He reached out, cupping his hands over her shoulders. “Don’t you know by now that there’s nothing and no one more important to me than you? I love you. I have since the day we met.”

That was it. The dam broke. She lowered her head as a tear splashed onto her cheek. “I love you, too. But you would be better off without me. I’m all wrong to be a princess.”