How To Propose To A Princess (The Princess Brides 3)

“I know, and I’ll never forget. Angelo was the best. As for Enzo, he was the one who talked to my teachers at the village school and took interest in everything I did. One day I was invited to the castello. When I look back now, I know Angelo didn’t like it, but he had no choice except to let me go.”

“I bet he gave you a talking-to before you left,” Fausta surmised.

Nico nodded. “He told me it was a great privilege no one was given unless they were also born of a king. He said that I had to be the one exception, but I mustn’t presume anything or expect such a gift to ever come my way again.”

She stirred. “So that’s when you learned that there was a line drawn between a commoner and a royal, one you could never hope to cross.”

“Exactly. You can imagine how Angelo must have felt today when he came face-to-face with Princess Rossiano, who’d driven here with me. I know he’s still trying to figure it out.”

“He handled his shock very well. So did you when you found out I’d been to the castello before.”

Nico nodded. “When I first saw the castello and entered it as young teen, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. But instead of obeying Angelo’s counsel, I waited for the attention Enzo showered on me and went there many times.

“Then came a day when he told me my grades at school were excellent, and he was sending me to the university in Turin. I couldn’t wait to go. I was overwhelmed by his generosity to me.”

“Angelo probably couldn’t believe it,” she murmured.

“I know he wasn’t happy about it. I admit I was surprised he didn’t want me to take advantage of the scholarship. He said I’d presumed too much and hadn’t learned my lesson. When he warned me that I could never belong to the duca’s world, it pierced me with pain and guilt.”

“Of course it did!”

“I knew he was jealous of the duca who could do things for me he couldn’t. It really hurt him when Enzo talked with Prince Lorenzo, who arranged to find me a position at the hospital in Domodossola.”

“

That’s why you ended up in my country? I had no idea. How wonderful for you.”

“I’m indebted to Enzo in so many ways, you can’t imagine. And even though I told Angelo I loved him and would always repay him for his kindness, I knew it was hard on him. But I saw the division between the two men in countless ways and knew what Angelo had said was true about that invisible line.”

Fausta let out a deep sigh. “It is true, Nico. I found it out in my own painful way four years ago.”

“What do you mean?”

“Forgive me if I accused you of being afraid. It’s because of an experience in my life that changed the way I look at everything now.”

“Go on,” Nico urged. “I want to hear it all.”

“Let me go back to the beginning. Tano, the chauffeur for my father, lives on the estate with his wife and children. His son Dego was my age. My first memories of childhood include them and my sisters. As we grew up, my friendship with Dego turned to love. We were excited to go to the university here in Domodossola together and eventually marry.

“One day my father told me he’d sent Dego to Rome, Italy, to attend the university there.”

A groan escaped Nico because he knew what was coming.

“It turned out my father offered to the pay the college tuition and lodgings for Dego as a thank-you for their service to our family. With tears in Tano’s eyes, he praised my father for what he’d done. But the man had no comprehension that he might as well have cut the heart out of my body.”

“Fausta—” With every revelation she was removing the scales from Nico’s eyes about her perfect life. It answered one question. She’d been in love with a commoner before. Deeply in love.

“I was desolate, knowing immediately what had happened. My father had arranged everything. My sisters had warned me Papa would find a way to separate me and Dego, but I didn’t want to believe he could do anything so terrible. Within a year Dego had met and married a girl from Italy.”

“I’m so sorry,” Nico whispered.

She lifted her eyes to him. “It’s all in the past. When I got over the first wave of pain, I was furious with Dego because he didn’t fight for me. In my naivete, I’d thought he’d loved me so much, he would have found a way for us to be together and get married no matter what my father did. I hated it that he’d been so afraid.

“In time I realized he couldn’t have loved me the way I needed to be loved, otherwise he would have stayed in Domodossola and married me. My father wouldn’t have prevented our marriage if Dego had insisted on it. At that point I stopped living in a fantasy world. It taught me a huge lesson.”

Nico rubbed his forehead. “I hear everything you’re saying,” he commiserated, “but as you told me, your father hasn’t stopped pressuring you to marry someone he has picked out for you. Palace security knows every move you make and keeps him informed where I’m concerned.”

Her head reared, causing her molten hair to float against her shoulders. “He can pressure until doomsday, but I’ll do what I want.”