“I’ll send her my own letter,” he declared. “I’ve never eaten fried bruschetta. It’s ambrosia and I don’t ever want to eat it any other way.”
She smiled at him in the firelight, which brought out her classic features and the high cheekbones that emphasized her beauty. “I think it tastes so good because we’re out of doors. I’m sure I’ve told you before that my sisters and I loved to play in the woods outside the palace. Occasionally we’d rescue a creature like a wounded bird. My sister Fausta was good at giving first aid and nursed several rabbits back to health.
“Do you know when my sister Lanza was on her honeymoon, they found a little red fox in the snow? They took care of it and she wanted to keep it, but in the end they put it in a wildlife shelter.”
Enrico ate the last of the bruschetta. “Sounds like you and your sisters had a lot of fun growing up. My sisters and I did, too.”
“I remember some of the antics you told me about in your letters.”
“Giovanni often joined us. We hiked a lot and played in the lake in front of the palace. Some nights we slept out on the sand so we could fish from our sleeping bags.”
She chuckled. “What fun! Luckily for your sisters, you were there to protect them, so your parents probably weren’t alarmed. But Papà worried about us and wouldn’t let us stay outside at night. If I could have, I would have built my own secret hideout deep in the forest by the lake and slept in it every night. I should have been born a boy.”
Laughter burst out of Enrico. Everything she said enamored him. “I can’t picture it.”
“Boys have a lot more fun and can do everything.”
“So can girls.”
“Not when you’re royal and born in my country.”
Their conversation had taken a sudden turn that brought veracity to Giovanni’s inside information about her ambition to rule on her own. Translating what she’d said, he understood that Donetta couldn’t grow up to be queen.
Enrico got to his feet to start the cleanup. He’d let the fire die down until it was time to go to sleep. “Your father let you become one of the finest equestrians in your country. As I recall, he bought you your first horse that came from a champion.”
She nodded. “You’re right about that and I love him for it.”
“Just think. Without him, we would never have met.”
They stared at each other for an overly long moment. “I’m sure that’s true.” In the next breath Donetta did her part to help him. After he suggested she go behind one of the trees for privacy, he laid out their sleeping bags with pillows side by side, adding an extra blanket for her if she wanted it.
Once he’d locked up the food and cooler in the car, he doused the embers and waited in his bag for her return. He would sleep in his clothes and put on a fresh outfit in the morning.
It looked like she’d decided to do the same thing as she walked toward him. The three-quarter moon had just come up over the mountain and the light illuminated her hair.
“Your bed is waiting for you.”
Donetta laughed gently and climbed inside. “This has been a magical day, Enrico.”
“It should have happened after I got back from England. A lot of life has gone on in the meantime.” He turned toward her, rising up on one elbow. “Donetta—what’s happened to your understanding with Arnaud? I’m asking because if it is still on and I were he, I’d be ripped apart with jealousy.”
She lay on her back, staring up into the heavens. “We were together recently. He’s asked me to marry him, but I haven’t given him an answer yet.”
“Does he know about our past?”
“No.”
“Are you going to tell him?”
“I’ll have to if I decide to accept his proposal.”
Such stark honesty caused Enrico to suck in his breath. “Why did you agree to come camping with me?”
She turned on her side toward him. “Why do you think? Though your invitation here has come years too late for my liking, I couldn’t resist accepting, if only to find out if I’d been harboring a false memory.”
“In what way false?”
He heard a troubled sigh escape. “Had I been foolish to think you’d cared for me all those years?”