“No,” she said, causing his heart to sink. “You can’t. Because you haven’t said you love me yet.”
“I thought that was implied.”
“Not good enough. I like art, I like poetry, I like books. I like all of the beauty laid out before me.”
He felt a smile curve his lips upward. “My face isn’t enough?”
“It’s a start. But I need the words.”
“I love you, beautiful Gabby.”
“Really?” she asked, tears filling her eyes. The good kind of tears. The kind that made his chest ache and his whole body shake at the wonder of it. “Even though I’m not boring?”
“Most especially because you aren’t boring. Because you are clever. Because you teach me things—about the world and about myself. I want to spend the rest of my life holding you, touching you, being with you. I want your lips to be the last lips I ever kiss. And your heart to be the only one I ever hold. And in case you missed it the first time, I love you.”
She smiled, the kind of dreamy smile he had never dared hope to be on the receiving end of. The kind of dreamy smile he hadn’t even known he ever wanted to be on the receiving end of. Amazing the things that his princess was teaching him. “That’s better.”
“Now can I propose to you?”
“You really want to get married, Alex?”
“Yes. Because that’s what you deserve. Forever. All in. And…I still feel like there are things inside of me that I’ll have to work through. I’m afraid that I’ll take too much from you.”
“Never. Maybe you will sometimes. But then, there will be other times when I take too much from you. We’re not in half-and-half. We are all in. Forever. When you need to be carried, Alex, I’ll carry you,” she said, taking a step forward and resting her palm on his cheek. “And I know that when I need to be carried you’ll carry me. That’s what love is. It gives. We know what it looks like when people take, when they consume and do only what pleases them. But that isn’t us. It isn’t this.”
“If I falter, Gabriella,” he said, gra
bbing hold of her chin with his thumb and forefinger, “promise me you’ll put me back on the path.”
“You have my word.”
“I can’t paint you, Gabriella. I can’t show you the way that I see you. I can’t explain it to you in terms of art, and really, I’m not all that good with poetry.”
“Lies. You’re wonderful with it.”
“I’m really not. So I’ll just say it plain, and honest. I love you. From now until forever.”
“That’s really all I need.”
“No white tigers?”
She tapped her chin, as though she were considering it. “I wouldn’t say no to a white tiger.”
“Well,” he said, “I may not be able to accommodate you there. But how about a white Christmas wedding?”
She smiled, throwing her arms around his neck and stretching up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. “That sounds just about perfect.”
EPILOGUE
A WEDDING BETWEEN a billionaire and a princess really was an amazing thing. Mostly because when titles and money were thrown around it became surprisingly easy to throw things together in only a couple of weeks.
The entire family came to help Gabriella and Alessandro celebrate their love. Love was always beautiful, but there was something particularly beautiful about watching Gabriella and Alessandro joined together. It wasn’t simply the ring she wore on her finger, or the tiara she wore in her dark hair, nor was it the earrings that glittered in her ears. It was the love that radiated between them, the strange sort of symmetry evident there.
Giovanni had to wonder if their family blood was simply destined to love a D’Oro. If there was something ingrained on a soul-deep level that was inescapable. If so, he was glad of that. As he sat, watching his beloved eldest grandson pledge his life to the granddaughter of the woman he had always loved, he felt a sense of absolute completion wash through him.
Though he imagined that had something to do with the woman sitting at his side. Queen Lucia, his true lost mistress, finally returned to him. It was a miracle.
And it didn’t matter how many years he had left to his name, because he knew they would be the happiest years yet. And he imagined there were very few people who could claim such a thing.