Кэрол Мортимер – Diamonds are Forever: The Royal Marriage Arrangement / The Diamond Bride / The Diamond Dad (страница 9)
Her pulse throbbed against her temples. By the timbre of his voice you’d never guess the turmoil going on inside of him, but she knew.
“What princess will you choose?”
“I have no idea. If we had more time I’d let you pick her for me. Somewhere over the Atlantic I’ll have to make my choice. We’re almost there. Where shall we drop you?”
She closed her eyes tightly. “You really want to go through with this?” It was a stupid question of course.
In the quiet that followed, his hand slid over her wrist. “Let’s put it this way. I would never have come into Defore’s office otherwise.” While she digested that revelation he added, “If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, be very sure, Alexandra. There’s no going back.”
Her breath caught. “I know.”
In the next instant he lifted her hand and kissed the palm. It set off a charge that ignited every atom of her body.
Lucca felt her quiver. She was frightened, but not too frightened to have agreed to his proposal. He’d counted on her desire to pay back her mother’s debts being greater than any other consideration and she hadn’t disappointed him. Later he would deal with his guilt over allowing her to think he was in love with Sofia. Right now his overriding emotion was one of exquisite relief bordering on triumph.
They drove the rest of the way in an electrifying silence he felt no compunction to break. She could change her mind at any moment. He wouldn’t be able to relax until she was safely on board the jet and they’d attained cruising speed.
When Lucca was on business for the monarchy, he traveled with a staff of twelve, not including the pilot, copilot, steward or his bodyguards. By the time they reached the plane, everyone in his entourage had assembled ahead of him. At seven in the evening there was still plenty of light.
As Alexandra climbed out of the limousine, the sun gilded the white-gold strands of her hair swirled among the darker blond shades. She reminded him of an aviatrix who’d just jumped down from her biplane and pulled off her cap to reveal a riot of jaw-length curls. There was nothing artificial about her. She wore no lipstick, but with her wide, seductive mouth it wasn’t necessary.
His first impression of her hadn’t changed. She was totally unaware of herself. He found himself studying her naturally arched brows. They framed large, sad, luminous gray eyes set in a classically shaped face. Sometimes they were inscrutable. Other times when she talked about the debt she couldn’t pay, he was shaken to the gut by their emotional intensity.
The woman he’d chosen for his bride had an innate glamour that couldn’t be manufactured or purchased. He saw shocked wonder in the eyes of his pilot and staff as he introduced her. Not only was he flying back to Castelmare with his intended, but they’d just learned that Princess Alexandra Grigory was Kathryn Carlisle’s daughter.
He could hear their minds making comparisons between the screen idol and her flesh-and-blood offspring. Alexandra’s impenetrable gaze added a certain mystery to her demeanor that set her apart from her mother.
After a word to his pilot, Lucca joined her. Once up the steps he ushered her through the body of the plane to his study. “As soon as we’re in the air, the steward will show you to your cabin where you can freshen up.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, not looking at him as she found a place to sit. In case she was getting cold feet, it was too late to renege on their arrangement now.
Per his instructions the pilot started the engines. Lucca noted with satisfaction that the Fasten Seat Belts sign had flashed on. The sound of her strapping herself in was music to his ears. For the first time all day he was able to let go of the tension gripping him. He fastened his.
Soon they were taxiing out to the runway. He glanced at her striking profile. She had a proud nose. He liked that. He liked everything about her. “Once we’ve reached altitude, I’ll ask dinner to be served.”
“I’m afraid I’m still full from lunch.”
“Even so, you might change your mind later.”
In a few minutes the engines screamed and they were moving faster. Soon the wheels left the tarmac and the jet was airborne.
Lucca felt a sense of excitement he hadn’t experienced since he was a young boy taking his first ride in his father’s plane, but this time it had nothing to do with power and everything to do with his passenger.
All his life he’d known the day would come when he would have to marry someone royal like himself. But to reach his midthirties and still not feel as much as a spark for one of them had thrust him into a living nightmare from which he hadn’t awakened until this morning.
Who could have imagined a scenario as unlikely as the one he’d commandeered in Defore’s office? Meeting Alexandra had constituted nothing short of a miracle. Their marriage would solve Sofia’s problem, as well.
She glanced over at him with those hypnotic eyes. “Were you talking to me?”
It was better she didn’t know what was going on in his mind. “I was telling you the seat-belt light has gone off. We’ve reached cruising speed. I’ll ring for the steward.”
By the time she’d unfastened hers, the other man appeared and requested she follow him. The second she was out the door Lucca rang one of his bodyguards and gave him a flurry of instructions he wanted followed immediately. While he waited for his bodyguard to appear, he phoned the galley and advised them to prepare some sandwiches and fruit.
In a few minutes Paolo the bodyguard entered the study, carrying a square eight-by-eight inch metallic box by the handle. Lucca took it from him and placed it on the conference table where he ate his meals.
They walked to the door and he thanked him before getting on the phone to his secretary working in the rear compartment of the jet. Bringing home a bride-to-be at the midnight hour meant dictating a ton of new instructions. When Alexandra reentered the cabin, his breath caught to realize he hadn’t been hallucinating after all. She really was on the plane with him. He rang off to give her his full attention.
“Come and sit at the table. There’s something I want to show you.”
Her gaze fastened on the box, then swerved to his with an expression that held traces of pain. “If that’s what I think it is, I don’t need to see it. If I never lay eyes on another diamond again, it will be too soon.”
He grimaced. “Nevertheless, you need to look at this. Every wife should know how her husband makes a living. Sit down and close your eyes.”
She complied, wondering exactly what he meant. He opened the box and removed the smaller black jewel case, then lifted the lid. “You can look now.”
Alex couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her throat. Nestled against silver velvet lay the teardrop-shaped diamond almost the size of an American half dollar. It was a shade of green, darker than peridot but lighter than emerald.
“The true color of nature,” he spoke her thoughts.
“I didn’t know a diamond could be green. The hue of the stone is utterly incredible.”
He nodded his dark head. “Its color was caused by the crystals in a volcanic pipe coming into contact with a radioactive source at some point during its lifetime. The phenomenon is so rare in a diamond this size, the Ligurian is rated among the top five diamonds in the world.”
“Why do you call it that?”
“Castelmare is situated on the Ligurian coast we share with Italy.”
“I’m ashamed I don’t know my geography better.”
“Don’t be. The majority of people haven’t heard of it, either. In 1906 my great-grandfather started buying diamonds from the owner of a mine in South Africa, and they established a business relationship.
“As a result, he created a diamond-cutting industry in Castelmare to augment the kingdom’s prosperity. Today it’s a thriving concern. People from all over the world flock there to buy diamonds, which brings us a good percentage of our wealth.”
“I had no idea,” her voice trailed. “Forgive my temper. That’s twice today.” Already she was aware her soon-to-be husband soon-to-be king was a hardworking man, as well as a monarch.
With jewelry stores in New York and around the globe, this little lesson about the Ligurian diamond was just the beginning of many others. One of the most daunting would be to learn Italian. Help!
“I’ve already forgotten.” He was a much kinder person than she was. Her Carlisle temperament had a nasty habit of coming out at precarious moments.
By agreeing to their unique marriage arrangement, she was entering a brand-new world. Only now did she realize how much she would have to learn, starting with this rare gemstone.
“It’s the most exquisite thing I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s flawless from the inside out. You have no idea how rare that it is.”
There was a reverence in his voice. She wondered if he was thinking about something else. Someone else …
“How many karats is it?”
A pause ensued before he said, “It is 44.16. Go ahead and hold it up so you can view the facets’ reflections.”