“You might be the only one who thinks that. Because when I finally came to my senses and started screaming for help, my mother entered the room. When she rushed over to my father, she asked me what had happened. I told her we’d been fighting and he’d collapsed. She looked at me as though it was all my fault. Then she made me promise not to mention a word of what had happened to anyone, including my sister.”
“That’s a huge secret for a kid to keep. Is that why there’s a distance between you and your mother?”
He shrugged. “Everything was different after that. She had to become the regent and it was a position she didn’t want, but she said that duty must be upheld. So I guess she holds that against me too.”
Bianca placed a finger on the side of his jaw, encouraging him to meet her gaze. “And you’ve been blaming yourself all of this time?”
“It was my fault. If I hadn’t been so insistent on having my way, things would have been different.”
“Or they might have happened the same way. I don’t think anything you said or did would have changed your father having a heart attack. And did you ever think your mother was trying to protect you? Maybe she struggled stepping into such an important role and by taking a firm line, it was her way of proving to everyone, including herself, that she was up to the challenge.”
He paused, giving Bianca’s words some serious thought. “I never thought of it that way. My mother always seemed so calm, so in control.”
“Maybe you only saw what she wanted you to see.”
His gaze searched Bianca’s. “You really don’t think I had any part in my father’s death?”
“I don’t. And I think if he was here, he’d tell you the same thing.”
Those are the words that he’d longed to hear. He just hadn’t known it. And having shared his deepest-held secret with Bianca, they now had a bond he knew would never be broken.
* * *
Her heart raced.
She’d never felt as close to anyone as she did in that moment—
A great big boom shook the ground.
Bianca instinctively reached out for Leo. Her fingers wrapped around his muscular bicep.
“Relax,” he said. “Everything is okay.”
Was it? Okay, that is. Because she was beginning to wonder if those passageways had taken them back in time and they were suddenly a couple hundred years in the past. The boom could be that of a canon aimed at the palace. When she was with Leo, it was easy to believe that anything was possible.
But then again, maybe she’d had one too many sips of champagne. As another softer boom filled the air, she braced herself for the palace to shake, but instead she saw the sky fill with light—colorful shades of pink and blue.
Fireworks. She breathed more easily. And then quickly withdrew her hand from Leo’s arm. She moved to the stone wall at the edge of the tower. There wasn’t a soul near them. They were so high up that it felt as though they were in the sky with millions of stars sparkling around them.
And then she felt Leo’s presence just behind her. She waited for him to reach out and touch her. Her traitorous heart picked up its pace in anticipation.
When she turned her face to him, he said, “I’m sorry. I handled this night all wrong.”
He looked at her like she should say something here, but if he was waiting for her to disagree with him, he’d be waiting a long time.
As the silence stretched between them, Leo cleared his throat. “It’s just when I saw Donatello flirting with you and you enjoying it...it bothered me.”
When his gaze lifted to meet hers, she searched his brown depths. Not finding the answer she was looking for, she asked, “Why did it bother you who I was talking to?”
He stepped closer to her, so close that they were practically touching. All the while the booms of the fireworks sounded in the background and the sky lit up with a rainbow of colors.
And then he reached out to her, caressing her cheek ever so gently. “Because every time you smiled, I wanted you to be smiling at me. And when you let out that contagious bubbly laugh of yours, I wanted it to be because I made you happy. And when you danced, I wanted it to be my arms wrapped around you, holding you close.”
She lifted her chin ever so slightly. And then in a breathy voice, she asked, “You did?”
He gave a slight nod of his head. “I did. Do you know how hard I’ve been fighting my attraction to you?”
“I have some idea. I’ve been doing the same thing.”