He smiled. “Have you missed me?” he asked quietly.
“Every now and then.”
“You tease me.”
“A little. I was devastated when I thought you were dead. I didn’t think I’d make it. Finding out I was pregnant saved me.”
“I only had the memories of our love,” he told her. “You did love me, didn’t you? You said you did.”
“More than I should have.”
He kissed her. “So much lost. So much time wasted.”
She felt as if she’d had too much wine, except she’d only had the one glass at dinner. Still, her head was spinning and she couldn’t seem to think straight.
“What are you saying?” she asked.
“That we have been given a second chance, Mia. I have found you again. We have a son. Daniel will one day be king of Calandria. But to see him grow up as I did- it cannot be. You would change that. You are strong enough to stand against tradition.”
She took a step back. “Danny’s not going to grow up like you.”
“I know. You will not let him. We will not let him.”
Sure, he was Danny’s father, but Mia had trouble thinking of Rafael and her as a “we.”
“It is you. It has always been you,” he told her. He kissed her again, then took her hands in his. “Marry me, Mia. Marry me and be my princess.”
An earthquake would have made sense. Hey, this was California and the earth moved all the time. Locusts might have even been okay because they were in the Bible and she had seen one once in a museum. But a proposal of marriage from Prince Rafael of Calandria? Not in this reality.
“You’re crazy,” she said as she jerked her hands free of his. “Marry you? I don’t know you and you sure as hell don’t know me. Rafael, it’s been three days.”
He laughed. “I know how many hours and minutes. Would you like to hear? I thought you were lost to me and now you are found. I cannot let you go.”
He captured her hands again and kissed her knuckles. It was a pretty smooth move, but then he’d had prince lessons. What other guy stood a chance?
“Don’t say no. Give me time to prove myself. We have another chance, Mia. How many people can say that? I don’t want to lose you again.”
She didn’t know what to say. Marriage? Sure, he was the father of her child, but she’d been thinking along the lines of Danny’s spending a couple of weeks each summer in Calandria.
“I have a life,” she said. “School. Family.”
Instead of responding, he stared into her eyes. She felt his presence as tangibly as if he’d thrown a blanket across her shoulders. There was warmth and protection. And the ever-present need.
She had loved him once, she reminded herself. Or at least the man he’d pretended to be. How much had been about playing Diego and how much had been real?
“Don’t say no,” he murmured. “Give us time. Is that too much to ask?”
It was crazy. Foolish. Impetuous.
It was irresistible.
“I won’t say no, at least not right now,” she told him. “But I don’t want you to mention this to anyone.”
“Of course not.” He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “I will win you back, Mia. You will see. I will be all you have ever desired.”
With anyone else, she would have had her doubts. But Rafael was a different kind of man. In this case, she wasn’t sure she would be willing to bet against him.
6
Mia was up early the next morning. The Grands hadn’t even stirred, which meant it was her job to get the coffee going. After pouring in grounds and water, she flipped the switch, then checked out the plastic-covered cookie sheets sitting in the refrigerator.
“Cinnamon rolls,” she moaned as she hurried to the oven and dialed in the correct temperature. Caffeine and sugar. Was there any better antidote for a sleepless night?
She hovered by the coffeemaker until the hot liquid began to pour into the carafe. When there was enough to fill her mug, she pulled it out and claimed it for herself.
The first sip tasted heavenly. As the warmth slid down her throat and settled in her belly, she felt the first stirring of consciousness. Unfortunately with that came too-clear memories of the previous evening.
Had Rafael really proposed? She told herself he couldn’t have, then took another drink of coffee and realized he had.
Marriage? She wasn’t sure she wanted to get married. Besides, they barely knew each other, and while she had many really fabulous qualities, she doubted she would make much of a princess. She could barely find Calandria on a map.
Marriage? No way. She and Rafael were intelligent adults. They could find a way to share their son without resorting to what would only turn out to be a disaster.
“Good morning.”
She looked up and saw the man in question standing in the doorway. His hair was damp from his shower, his body casually clad in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, and his mouth…
Suddenly she couldn’t stop looking at his mouth. Because whatever was the same or different about him, his mouth and his voice were exactly as she remembered.
Then, without meaning to, she suddenly recalled another kind of kiss from him. An intimate one that had her screaming out her release as he licked and-
“Morning,” she managed through suddenly dry lips. She took a gulp of coffee and motioned to the nearly full carafe. “Help yourself.”
“Thank you.”
He poured himself a mug and took a drink. “Did you sleep well?”
“Not really.”
“Anything in particular keeping you up?”
“An unnatural concern about interest rates and the latest drought in Africa.”
“Really? I had no idea you were so concerned about current events.”
“Sarcasm, Rafael. That was sarcasm.”
He smiled slightly. “Yes, I know.” He took another drink. “I did not mean to distress you with my proposal.”
“Distress really doesn’t cover it. I was confused-a pretty continuous state of affairs since you showed up in my bed.” She frowned. “You could have just knocked on the front door.”
“Perhaps, but far less interesting an entrance. Besides, I have not missed being at your front door.”
Good one, she thought. The implication being he missed her bed. Or, one dared to assume, her in his bed.
“I, too, did not sleep well. You kept me up, Mia. I could not stop thinking about you.”
“Yes, well, how interesting.” She moved to the far side of the kitchen just as the oven beeped. Damn. Now he stood between her and cinnamon rolls.
He glanced at the appliance. “Are you baking?”
“Grammy M made cinnamon rolls last night. They need to go in the oven. They’re in there.”
She jerked her head toward the refrigerator. He crossed the room and removed them, then slid them into the oven.
“Better?” he asked.
“I will be in about twenty minutes.” She glanced from him to the oven. “You know your way around the kitchen.”
He grinned. “Yes, even I, Prince Rafael of Calandria, can find an oven in a kitchen. If you promise to show the proper amount of awe, I’ll cut up some fruit later.”
“You’re making fun of me.”
“I tease a little. I might live in a palace, but I do know how to exist in the real world.”
“Unlikely.”
“Why do you doubt me? I was on my own all through university. When I pretended to be Diego, I took care of myself.”
“Barely. You had an entire harem of women. I distinctly remember being stunned by the number of otherwise intelligent women so eager to do the smallest thing for you.”
He moved closer. “You are correct, but the leader of the pack always has his choice of the females. Diego was no exception. But you were not so willing to be my slave. You insisted I serve you.”